This was all heard by the eagerly listening boys, concealed so close at hand. Very interesting it all sounded, too; although Frank did not see that they were really adding to their stock of information, except that they knew now the number of those who opposed their aims and to what infamous ends Yesson and his companions were ready to go to further their schemes. "Then let's clear out and get busy," suggested Malachi, who seemed to be an aggressive type of fellow. "Get busy, Rick Muddy, an' hustle that stock of grub along, to load on your cayuse, you bein' the lightest built in the whole bunch." This told the story. It was these men who had visited the deserted mining camp shortly before Mr. Wallace and his prospecting party reached Gold Fork. Frank had already discounted this fact. Indeed, he had reached that decision at the time he first discovered the marks of hoofs along the upper canyon. The small man with the big head showed no sign of disobeying orders. Undoubtedly he knew Malachi's bad qualities, and did not dare rebel. So the peeping boys in the junk heap among the friendly rocks watched the men carry forth some packages. These undoubtedly contained their store of food to carry them over during their stay in that unalluring vicinity. When the clatter of hoofs finally announced the men had indeed gone, every boy from Frank down breathed a sigh of relief and they came out of hiding. "A rough crowd, take it from me!" exclaimed Lanky Wallace. "Are you sure they're all gone?" asked nervous Paul Bird. Lanky chuckled. "What do you take me for, Paul--a bonehead?" he asked. "Sure, I counted 'em as they rode off, and there were six in the lot. From the way that ugly-looking Zeke turned and looked back several times, I kind of imagined he had some scheme in view that he was half tempted to pull off." "Good riddance then to bad rubbish," Paul remarked, showing by his manner that he had feared there might be a discovery made, when the results would hardly have been pleasant for the boys from Rockspur Ranch. "Lucky for us we hid our stores and took the ponies off to pasture," Frank observed, as they re-entered the deserted hotel. "If they'd seen the bunch it would have been good-bye to our chances for riding back home. As it is, they've seen nothing to tell them that the Wallace treasure-hunters are already on the ground and ready to follow their noses to Josh Kinney's lost claim." "Why, look here!" burst out Paul just then. "What's this mean?" He was holding some object up gingerly. It turned out to be a cowboy hat, once a beautiful Stetson, but now horribly shabby, as though it must have seen several years' hard usage. Both Lanky and Frank experienced fresh interest. "Say, that wasn't on this old three-legged table when we came into this place!" exclaimed Lanky, frowning, as he took the article in his own hands, and turned it around.