"Where did they go to?"
"I don't know. They said something about following you up and spying on you, to see if you had found the treasure."
"Creation!" ejaculated Dick, and ran outside again. "We've made a mess of it!" he said. "They followed us up, and more than likely they've got the treasure box this minute!"
It was found that but little in the camp had been disturbed, excepting that Sam's gun had been taken off. What to do was now the question. Sam could not walk further.
"Better stay here," said Dick. "If the Baxter crowd comes back, you can hide."
Then he, Tom, and John Barrow set out to return to where the treasure had been left. They were still some distance away when they discovered Dan Baxter, Bill Harney, and Lemuel Husty making their way along the snow-covered trail. In a few minutes they came up to the party.
"Baxter, where are you bound?" demanded Dick, striding up.
"You know well enough."
"We are after thet treasure," came from Harney, and it was plain to see that he and Husty had been drinking heavily.
"The treasure is ours, Baxter, and you can't touch it."
