"But he claims to be my uncle!" exclaimed Jack.
The tone in which these words were uttered, and Jack's anger over the claim of relationship, caused Bob and Jake to break out into a roar of laughter.
"We'll take your word for it," said Bob, as soon as he could speak; "but we can't waste any more time here. Follow along after me, and Jake will bring up the rear."
Bob at once set off to the spot where they had left their provisions, and, having picked them up, led the way down the almost perpendicular side of the ravine until they reached the bottom. Now and then he would look over his shoulder at Jack, who was following close behind him, and would break into another peal of laughter.
"So you didn't want that fellow to claim relationship with you?" said he. "Well, I don't blame you. He has done nothing but tell us one pack of lies after another ever since we met him. The only thing that had the least speck of truth in it was that we should find you here at the haunted mine."
This remark was made in a low tone, so that it did not reach the ears of Claus, who was following some distance behind. If Claus had not seen already that he was in a "fix," he ought to have seen it now.
"Now, perhaps you wouldn't mind telling us what you are going to do with us," Jack ventured to say, in reply.
"Well, the men there at Dutch Flat are hot on our trail now," asserted Bob.
"Because our mule got away from us when we tried to shove him over the bluff. We wanted to destroy everything we had that we could not carry on our backs, but he got away from us. Banta warned us against coming up here, and we fooled him by making him believe we were going straight down to Denver; but he will be after us now. If he comes, he had better take us unawares; that's all."