"Why, don't you remember that he said that whoever tried to come in here to find the lost mine was certain to get into trouble? It seems to have worked pretty well with us so far. I lost my way and you fell and bruised your leg, to say nothing about trying to slide over the precipice and land in the valley below."
"I guess what Thomas Jefferson said didn't make you lose your way," replied George.
"I know," acknowledged Fred thoughtfully. "But how do you account for it that he should have said what he did and then before we get very far on our way into the Gulch something happens to both of us and something may have happened to John, to say nothing about Grant and Zeke."
"I guess you're tired and nervous, Pee Wee," said George, who was aware of the feeling in the heart of his friend.
"Well, all I can say," declared Fred, "is that I hope there won't be anything worse happen to us than has come already."
"Why should there be anything worse?"
"There shouldn't, that's just what I mean."
"Of course we've got a job ahead of us. It isn't any easy thing to locate a valuable claim. If it was there wouldn't be anything in the copper, or silver, or gold, or whatever the metal is that we want to get. That's why men use gold for money. It's so scarce and so hard to find and then after you have found it it's harder still to mine it. Hark," he added abruptly, "it seems to me I heard somebody speak."
Both boys listened intently and a moment later Fred declared, "You're right, Pop, there is somebody coming."
The sound of voices was faintly heard coming from the direction in which Thomas Jefferson had gone in his search for Grant and Zeke.