"Let's sit down away over here and have a look at it," the Judge suggested. "And if anyone is spying on us, he'll not be apt to suspect anything."
Judge Breckenridge examined the disc carefully then spoke.
"Now there is a possibility—a slight one, we'll say, that there is a treasure in that vault somewhere. Do you think your friend Ramon is suspicious?"
"It's hard to say," Kit burst out. "Kie Wicks may be watching us this minute from over the hill across the canyon."
"We will want to carry on the work as quietly as possible, but if Kie hears about a treasure, we'll not have a minute's peace," said the Judge, rising and surveying the ground. "The first thing we ought to do," he continued, "is to stake out a claim covering this wall. Then we'll own it."
"Yes, and have Kie Jump that claim, if he is watching us." Bet shrugged her boyish shoulders.
"We'll get ahead of him on that. We'll stake the claim and I'll send a man over to record it first thing in the morning, and tonight we'll have a watchman—two in fact. We'll not leave the tunnel unguarded for a minute until we find out what it contains."
"Oh, please, Judge, let us guard it!" cried Bet.
"No!" There was a harsh, decided ring in the Judge's voice and the girls did not urge him further. That "no" meant exactly that.
"I think it might be a good idea for me to go back to the ranch and get Tommy and some of the boys to move the professor's tent up here and Tommy and Seedy Saunders might stay for a few nights to guard your claims. You'll have all the excitement there is in it, even if there is no treasure."