He sat beside her on the ground. "Something doing," he said,
"something big! Listen hard, and don't give it away in your face. Go
on sewing as if I was just passing the time of day."
"I'm listening," she said quietly.
"You know I told you I'd been prospecting," Jack began. "Well, I made
a rich strike on the little creek that comes down from Tetrahedron
peak. I staked my claim there, and two claims adjoining mine for
whoever I might want to go in with me on it. The names and dates
aren't entered on the two stakes yet, and of course if these people
find them they have a right to enter their own names. Baldwin Ferrie
has doped it out that there's gold on that creek, and that's where
they're off to now. You and Davy must get there first."
"But how can we?" she said. "They're starting."
"It will take them three hours to make the mouth of Seven-Mile Creek
against the current," he said. "You can ride it in one. Davy is
getting the horses. If you can get yourselves across the river before
they come up, the claims are saved."
Mary went on with her quick, even stitches without a break. "Tell me
exactly how to go," she said.
"Six miles west by the Fort Erskine trail, and then down to the river.
You leave the trail where it turns to the north, under three big pines
that stand by the themselves on the bench. Look sharp and you will
find a trail that I blazed down to the river. At the end of it I left
a little raft for crossing back and forth. If it has been washed down
you'll have to knock another one together. Cross the river, and land
at the lower side of Seven-Mile Creek. You'll find my landing-place
there, and a good trail back to the little creek, and my old camp. The
first square post is a hundred feet upstream from the campfire. You
can't miss it. Keep on going until you come to the second post, and
the third one."
"What must we do when we find the posts?" she asked.
"Read the notice on the first one, and that will show you. It reads:
'I, Malcolm Piers, hereby give notice of my intention to file a claim,'
and so forth. And signed and dated at the bottom. The inscriptions
are all written on the other two. All you have to do is to fill in
your name on the second one, 'I, Mary Cranston,' and so on, and on the
third post Davy writes, 'David Cranston, Junior.'"