Brime and the three boys held many consultations as the days passed. The boys were bent on making an effort to locate Kinney's source of treasure-trove, and so asked a multitude of questions. Some of these Jerry answered readily, but in other cases his memory failed him. "Wait till we-uns git up thar at Gold Fo'k," he would say. "Mebbe ole Jerry's mind'll be freshened a bit by seein' the ole place agin. Thet map's a-goin' to help a heap; an' I do reckon we'll git our paws on the stuff thet's hidden away in the five-fingered cave." In the end Frank and Lanky came to believe that they must wait until Mr. Wallace gave the word for the little expedition to set forth. Then, if luck favored them, all might yet turn out well. "There's only one thing that bothers me," Lanky said the afternoon they gave up trying to squeeze more information from the willing but helpless Jerry Brime. "I can guess what it is," chucked Frank. "Nash Yesson?" "And his crony, Lef Seller," admitted the smiling Lanky Wallace. "They may be hanging around here; for they are stickers, all right. Then again, for all we know, the pair may be up at Gold Fork raking the ground over with a fine-tooth comb, looking for the lost claim." "What of it?" Frank asked complacently. "A heap of others did that same thing years ago and only found themselves up against a blank wall. I tell you, Josh Kinney was a cute one and knew how to keep a secret." "Glad to see you feel so confident, Frank. With Jerry along to revive his memory of things and that little chart to help, I guess we've got a better chance to spot that claim than anybody ever had before. But that was startling news you had in the last letter from Buster Billings, our fat chum back in Columbia." "Well, I'm not much surprised about Lef," said Frank, shaking his head as he spoke. "We always knew he was a bad egg, up to every kind of mischief he could think of." "But to make away with something like two-hundred-and-fifty dollars which his father had given him to pay some bills!" exclaimed Lanky. "They said he lost it at the races, betting on losing nags," he added musingly. "And now," Frank went on to say, "Buster tells us Mr. Seller reports five thousand dollars in Liberty Bonds missing; and he adds that suspicion strongly points to his own son, Lef, as the one who robbed the home safe." "Well, Lef is in a section of country right now where Lynch law often overtakes a rascal; and believe me, Frank, if he's caught red-handed in any of his ugly tricks out here he'll not have an indulgent dad to help him out of the fix." "As long as we have any reason to believe that precious pair still hang out around here, Lanky, we've got to keep our eyes peeled for trouble. What under the sun are you sniffing like that for? Think you smell a skunk around?"