"Wonder how he happened to leave out that one?" snapped Kit.

Bet held out her hand for the blank. "Let's see which one it is. Oh, girls, what a shame! It's the most unpromising claim of all. That's the last one we located, the one we called, 'Little Orphan Annie.'

It's too mean for anything." There were tears of disappointment and anger in Bet's eyes.

"Do you want it recorded?" The girls heard the clerk's voice but it seemed to come from far away.

"What's the use of one claim? You can't make a mine out of just one miserable claim!"

"I don't care, I want it anyway!" Bet shrugged her shoulders defiantly.

"I told you there was a hoodoo on those claims," Joy spoke cheerfully, as much as to say, "I told you so."

Joy's pessimism was all that was needed to decide Bet.

"Yes, we'll record it, and we'll be locating some more soon," she announced with determination. "We are not going to let Kie Wicks and Ramon Salazar beat us. We'll get even with them somehow."

"They wouldn't have dared to do this if we were men. Just because we are girls, they think they'll get away with it."

"Oh, by all means!" Joy taunted provokingly, "Be sure to locate some more claims and let that man take them away from us again."

Bet turned her back on Joy and watched the clerk as he put the blank through the usual routine and then turned to leave the office. The Merriweather Girls were the owners of one very unpromising copper claim.

They dragged wearily out into the fierce sunlight. There was a discouraged droop to their shoulders, but Bet suddenly straightened.

Her eyes were flashing as she said:

"I have a hunch! Something tells me that we are not down and out on this deal."

Joy squatted on the steps of the General Mining Supply Company's office and laughed. "You ought to win with a disposition like that, Bet Baxter. I don't admire your judgment, but I do like your s.p.u.n.k. I'm with you. I'll never say a discouraging word again."

"I don't know why, but somehow that Little Orphan Annie claim is going to help us win out!"

"But how?" whispered Kit to herself.

CHAPTER XIII

_THE "ORPHAN ANNIE" CLAIM_

Disappointments could not long dampen the spirits of The Merriweather Girls. Youth soon conquered discouragement and by the time they were awake the next morning, they were happy and ready to take the next step in the adventure.

But Judge Breckenridge, with his strong ideas of justice, was not so easily appeased. And when the girls told him of what had happened he sat for a long time with a worried frown on his brow, then got up and walked in the court. It was plain to be seen that he was agitated about the claim jumpers.

"If you are bothered about us, Judge Breckenridge," said Bet, linking her arm in his and skipping into step beside him, "You might just as well not think about it. We didn't like it at first either, but now we don't care at all--not much, I mean. It will save us lots of work.

And probably we couldn't be mine owners very well, anyway."

"You're a great little girl, Bet!" The Judge patted her hand affectionately. "You're a sport, all right. Now, _I'm_ mad clean through!"

"That's what I thought, and I have never seen you angry before."

"I'm sorry, child, I didn't mean to have you see me in this mood, ever," said the Judge with a trembling voice.

"But I'm so glad I did. I usually snap and snarl when I have a temper spell, and I did not know it could be done in such a dignified way. I think it was wonderful!"

The Judge stopped short in his walk and laughed, his voice echoing through the patio.

Enid heard it in her own room and came on the run to see what amused her father so greatly. When she saw Bet, she smiled.

"I might have known it was you. Dad always laughs at you." And the tall girl slipped up at the other side of her father, and snuggled close with her head on his shoulder.

"Two daughters are better than one!" The grey-haired man clasped his girl to him as if he had not seen her for weeks. Then turning to Bet he said:

"Aren't you going to work your one claim?"

"Is it worth it?" she asked.

"I think I would. You can get a Mexican to do the a.s.sessment work, and he'd be glad of the money. You never can tell what may happen,"

advised Judge Breckenridge.

"I had a sort of hunch that we ought to keep it, but then again in the night I decided that it would be foolish. We can go elsewhere and locate more claims."

"I'll take a trip over there with you this afternoon and have a look at 'Little Orphan Annie.' Tommy Sharpe is threatening to lay in wait for Kie Wicks with a shotgun."

"Tommy's a fool! He always was!" exclaimed Enid impatiently. "He can't imagine there is any way of getting the better of a person except by shooting him. He even wanted to go after Sol Curtin. I believe he had the notion that he could do it all by himself. He's a funny boy!"

The Judge frowned. Although a year had pa.s.sed since Enid had been found, the father could not talk, without emotion, of the man who had kidnapped his daughter when she was a child. Sol was in jail and would be there for many years, but still the father was uneasy.

"This Kie Wicks makes me think of Sol," he said bitterly. "And I want you to keep as far away from him as possible. Have a man do the work for you if you keep this claim near his."

That afternoon the Judge rode with the girls down Lost Canyon, through the Iron Gate to the smaller creek and picked their way around the boulders of the river bed.

About a mile from the claim, they met Professor Gillette. He had been far over one of the hills in search of the ruins. Half a dozen arrowheads were his reward. He was preparing a belated dinner in the creek-bed, over a smouldering fire.

The girls were impatient to go on, and dragged the Judge away from his friend.

"Come on up over that hill when you finish your lunch," invited the Judge. "I have to obey, so I'm off."

"What made you think of coming away up here to locate claims, Kit?" the Judge asked as they brought their horses to the summit.

"Dad said there were some good claims over this way, and I've had experience. I've lived out here all my life and know how they go about their location work."

"I'll say your view is worth as much as 'Orphan Annie,'" enthused Judge Breckenridge, as he looked over the ranges of mountains and the deep-cut canyons.

"But views are not worth a Mexican dime out here. You can't cash in on a good outlook," returned Bet with a chuckle. "It's the mine that counts. Now tell us, don't you think we made a good job of locating those claims?"

"I think you did, Bet. However as Ramon Salazar and Kie Wicks will reap the benefit, I think we might go on to other promising spots and let them have a free hand here. You are only girls and can't fight men like them."

No other remark could have roused all the s.p.u.n.k in the girls.