“There’s two reasons,” answered Rick. “One is Uncle Tod might make ’em—he could bring a lawsuit or something and make ’em put the river back where it was before.”
“That’s a good reason, but I guess from the way Sam Rockford talked there isn’t much law out here,” said Chot.
“Well, there’s some law, or it can be brought here,” declared Rick. “But the main reason, I think, why the men made gates to turn the river back into the tunnel, is so they could use the water themselves. Use it at Uncle Tod’s camp, I mean.”
“How could they use it there?” Chot wanted to know. “Your Uncle wouldn’t let ’em!”
“Not while he was there,” agreed Rick. “But—s’posin’ he left—gave up—then anybody that wanted to could jump the claim.”
“That’s so,” burst out Chot. “You mean your uncle might give up if he thought Lost River wouldn’t come back?”
“That’s it,” answered Rick. “And maybe these men figure on that.”
Chot paused for a moment to let this “sink in,” as he afterward said, and then exclaimed:
“You mean they moved the river just to make his mine go dry, and they want to drive him out and jump the claim themselves—is that it, Rick?”
“That’s my idea,” answered Ruddy’s master. “They built this dam and put in the water gates. Then they shut off Uncle Tod’s water supply and his mine went dry, while theirs could be worked. I reckon they figured that he’d give up—not knowing what happened to Lost River. Then, when he quit they planned to come in and take his claim.”