Page:Dave Porter in the Gold Fields.djvu/120

106 "And are you sure the mine is valuable?" queried Phil, after a pause.

"It must be, otherwise my uncle wouldn't have been so anxious about it."

Again the boys went over the papers and also the map, talking the proposed trip over from various points of view. They all agreed that locating the lost mine would be no easy task.

"Supposing somebody else locates it?" said Phil, presently. "Couldn't he lay claim to it?"

"I don't know about that—I suppose so, since the mine is now completely lost."

"I hope you can find this Abe Blower and get him to go with us," said Dave. "An old prospector like that ought to know that territory well."

"Blower does know it—so they say."

"Did you ever meet him?" questioned Phil.

"No, I never even heard of him until Uncle Maurice died and left his property to mother."

"Then you don't know what kind of a man he is?"

"Oh, he must be pretty nice, or my uncle wouldn't have had him for a friend. I've no doubt that he is rough—many of that sort are—but I feel certain"

Roger stopped short, as a strange crashing in some bushes back of the summer-house reached his ears and the ears of the others.