"There's some excitement in that camp, as it is," exclaimed Tom,
who had a pair of binoculars at his eyes. "Gage, Eb and Josh
are crowding around the new arrival. Take the glasses, Harry.
Note how excited they are about something."
"Gage is stamping about and looking wild," Harry reported. "He
looks as though, for two cents, he'd tear his hair out. And Eb
has thrown his hat on the ground and is stamping on it. I wonder
what the trouble can be?"
Two hours later Jim Ferrers rode into camp at the head of his
new outfit. He had the two-mule team and wagon, and seven men,
all miners and armed. Two of the men rode the ponies that Reade
had instructed Jim to buy.
"Jim," called Tom, as he ran toward their mining party, "have
you any idea what's wrong with the Gage crowd?"
"I've a small notion," grinned the guide. "The man who was sent
over couldn't file their claim to the ridge."
"Couldn't file it! Why not?"
"Because every man in that crowd has exhausted his mineral land
privileges taking up claims elsewhere.
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