"I wish I could get up to him?" Teddy said, as if requesting advice
on the question of a nearer approach to the boy. "I'd like to see if
it is the prince!"
"The prince isn't a Boy Scout!" declared Jimmie. "Besides, this boy
is too old to be the prince! The prince is only seven years old--just
a little baby."
"Anyway, I'm going to make a sneak up there," insisted Teddy.
Before Jimmie could stop him he was away, crawling on hands and knees
through the heavy shadows of the cliffs which lay about the camp-
fire. Jimmie watched him anxiously for a moment and then started to
follow him. The two were not far away from the lad, and were
thinking of doing something to attract his attention when a stone
rolled into a crevice with a great bumping sound. The boys dropped
down on their faces and waited, their hearts beating like trip-
hammers as the men around the fire sprang to their feet.
"What was that?" demanded a hoarse voice. "Who is out there?" he
added, turning to the darkness beyond. "I'm going to shoot out that
way in a minute!"
"I like this!" whispered Jimmie. "This is some adventure! What?"
CHAPTER VII
A MINT IN THE MOUNTAINS
"Why," the old woman said, stepping closer to the group of boys,
"that's Buck!"
A heavily-built man with a scraggly beard stepped away from the
corral and approached the group by the fire, his stubby fingers
twining in and out of his unkempt whiskers as he walked along, his
eyes fixed on the fire and those about it.
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