Produced by D. Alexander and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) HIDDEN GOLD BY WILDER ANTHONY FRONTISPIECE BY G. W. GAGE NEW YORK THE MACAULAY COMPANY COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY THE MACAULAY COMPANY PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA [Illustration: At the sharp crack of the rifle, Moran stopped short.] CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I THE COMING OF THE SHEEP 11 II A MEETING AND A PARTING 23 III JEALOUSY 35 IV THE GATHERING STORM 44 V TREACHERY 57 VI MURDER 73 VII THE OLD TRAIL 84 VIII HIGHER THAN STATUTE LAW 93 IX THE BATTLE AT THE RANCH 106 X THE SENATOR GETS BUSY 114 XI TANGLED THREADS 129 XII DESPERATE MEASURES 144 XIII INTO THE DEPTHS 156 XIV A DASTARD'S BLOW 171 XV THE FIRST CLEW 181 XVI TRAPPED 200 XVII A WAR OF WITS 212 XVIII A RESCUE, AND A VIGILANCE COMMITTEE 234 XIX BAFFLED, BUT STILL DANGEROUS 250 XX THE STORM BURSTS 262 XXI WITH BARE HANDS AT LAST 272 XXII CHURCH-GOING CLOTHES 283 HIDDEN GOLD CHAPTER I THE COMING OF THE SHEEP From his seat on the top of a high ridge, Gordon Wade looked into the bowl-shaped valley beneath him, with an expression of amazement on his sun-burned face. Pouring through a narrow opening in the environing hills, and immediately spreading fan-like over the grass of the valley, were sheep; hundreds, thousands of them. Even where he sat, a good quarter mile above them, the air was rank with the peculiar smell of the animals he detested, and their ceaseless "Ba-a-a, ba-a-a, ba-a-a," sounded like the roar of surf on a distant coast. Driven frantic by the appetizing smell of the sweet bunch-grass, the like of which they had not seen in months, the sheep poured through the gap like a torrent of dirty, yellow water; urged on from the rear and sides by barking dogs and shouting herders.