"Yes, sir! Everything on this hyar ground--fixtures an' improvements, an' don't you touch a finger to 'em," boomed the giant. "You an' your gal have got that dry prospect. Go over an' mine. Mebbe you can mine an' mebbe you can't, for you'll be drier'n ever as soon as we move that sluice to whar it belongs." "Haw, haw!" gibed Ike and the other man. "You can wait for a dew." "No! You can wait for that sluice!" retorted Sol. He spurred his horse and in a jiffy was beside it. "You dare to lay hand on this or interfere in any way and I'll show you what a Californy Forty-niner knows about protecting property." "Ain't that our sluice?" "Not an inch, now. You claim the cabin and all improvements on that other prospect--we claim the sluice and all improvements on this prospect. I reckon what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. This sluice is all on the True Blue ground." "Hooray!" cheered the willing crowd. "You'll have a sluice without water. Mebbe that's how they mine in Californy!" jeered Pine Knot Ike. "That thar water's ourn as soon as it comes down the leetle draw ag'in. So we'll jest natterly turn it off on you." "Not by a jugful!" objected Sol. "That girl's filed on her water rights in this little draw, when her claim was recorded." He ran rapid eye along the Golden Prize surface. "And I reckon there doesn't any water go with that other prospect, anyhow! I've an idee the hundred feet ends short of the water." "So have I," asserted Harry. "Give me room, gentlemen. Just to prove that my notion's correct I'll measure. That claim was only stepped off, in the beginning." Harry fished a surveyor's tape from his pocket (evidently he had come prepared) and from the first claim stake, near the cabin, measured the length of the Golden Prize ground. The one hundred feet ended three yards away from the little stream course! "The two properties join, so that puts the natural water on the True Blue ground," triumphantly proclaimed Sol. "Mebbe, when thar is water; but thar won't be any after we've started to use again on our other workin's up at the head," retorted the giant. "You tried that once, but you can't do it a second time. We've filed our rights on the water coming down this draw, and here it is, and by miners' law we're entitled to our share." "So are we, then, by thunder!" shouted the giant. "As long as there's water flowin' past, we're goin' to have some of it. That's miners' law, too. We can ditch some of it over----" "No, you can't!" A new voice struck in, and a new figure appeared. Archie Smith! He held his side and panted for breath. "What _you_ got to do with it? Why can't we?" "Because you couldn't have bought this claim even if you paid over the money. Do you want to sell? Do you want them for neighbors?" demanded Archie of Harry. "We should say not!"