Part 18 (1/2)

”It's a good thing I've watched Dad and other folks build their monuments. Now I know just how to do it.” Kit was jubilant. It was thrilling to be able to show the girls the way to locate claims.

Kit took the blank that had been filled in and placed it in the center of the monument. ”There!” she exclaimed. ”The first time we come back here we'll bring a tin can and put that paper in it and bury it in the rocks again. That will keep it dry.”

”What a funny thing to do,” laughed Bet.

”It's the rule up here. We're doing it the same as all the prospectors did. Every claim was located that way!” Kit carefully covered the blank, then folded up another, a duplicate and handed it to Bet. ”Keep this one.”

”What for?” asked s.h.i.+rley.

”That is the one we send in to be recorded at the County Office.”

”I'm excited!” cried Bet as she dropped beside the pillar of rock in the center of the claim. ”Isn't it just too wonderful for anything to own a mine like this? I feel rich already. And just think there may be a big mine on this very spot some day!”

”Bet, you should have been a prospector. Every old miner in the hills thinks that his own particular claims are going to be the biggest mine in sight,” laughed the Arizona girl. ”As soon as he builds a monument he begins to talk of private cars and mansions.”

”I almost wish I were a prospector. It must be lots of fun to have marvelous hopes of success. If I hadn't come a girl, I'd be a prospector. Just think of it, not having anything to do in life but roam around the hills and look at the rocks!” Bet lost herself in her dreams.

”And build funny little play monuments!” added Enid.

”Yes, and half starve to death before you get ore enough mined to sell,” Kit reminded her.

”Oh, Kit, that isn't fair to wake me up so rudely. Why not dream pleasant things while you're about it?” Bet laughed. ”Where do we locate the next claim?” They followed Kit to some distance from the monument and when they had found sufficient outcropping they repeated the same process.

There was a hot breeze that seemed to intensify the heat of the sun and brought the aromatic scent of the greasewood. The wild beauty of the canyon was not lost on the girls. From the cliff they could see down into the depths, they could hear the rippling of water over the rocky bed of the creek, the flash of a bright bird in the trees would bring them out of their day dreams. It was good to be alive, good to be roaming through the hills looking for romance and adventure.

”I'm glad we gave up the idea of hunting for treasure,” declared Bet with a shade of contempt in her voice as she paced off the required number of feet for marking the fourth and last claim. ”Somehow or other that seems silly now. This is far more important and worth while.”

”After seeing those excavations that were made, I could never think of it seriously,” Enid said quietly. ”Kie Wicks must have spent a fortune trying to find treasure in that spot.”

”Yes, but not _his_ fortune! He formed a company and sold stock, so it wasn't his own money he spent,” Kit reminded them.

The girls stood looking over their claims with affectionate glances.

”I love them, Bet, and I'd just hate to have anyone else do the digging. Why can't we do it?” asked Kit.

Enid spoke up. ”Don't do it, girls. Take my advice and hire it done, it will be cheaper in the end.”

”Maybe Enid's right,” agreed Bet. ”We mustn't get too ambitious or we'll miss half the fun.”

”Say, when do we eat?” demanded Joy suddenly. ”I'm famished! I can't do another thing until I get my lunch.”

”Poor starved child!” laughed Enid. ”Do you suppose you could roll down the hill so we can build a camp fire by the stream? If you think you can't, we might fix up a stretcher and carry you.”

Joy answered with a toss of her head and a puckered-up grin. ”I think I can manage to crawl there, if I am sure of a feed immediately.”

The girls scrambled down the steep cliff side and began to unpack the lunch. Joy chose a large granite rock in the middle of the stream and perched thereon, she surveyed her surroundings.

”Isn't that a lovely copper stain? And to think it's coming from our mine!” she enthused in a mocking tone, while the other girls unpacked the lunch or hustled around to find sticks for a fire.

Their lunch preparations were to be quite elaborate, roast potatoes and corn on the cob and steak. Enid and Kit built the fire with care and soon a bed of coals was ready. While the two girls worked over the fire and s.h.i.+rley gave attention to spreading the feast, Bet sat on the cliff, dreaming of the mine to be.

”This is adventure! This is romance!” she cried to her friends.