“We may as well go into camp near the mouth of this stream,” said Dick.  “For from this spot we’ll make our first hunt for the treasure.”

“I hope with all my heart that you find it, lad.  But if you don’t, don’t be too disappointed.”

“I want to find Sam and Tom first.  I shan’t hunt for the treasure until I know of them.”

“That’s right.  We’ll go on a hunt this afternoon, jest as soon as we’ve had some of these fish broiled for dinner.”

If there was one thing which John Barrow could do to perfection, it was to broil fish, and the meal he set before Dick half an hour later was so appetizing the lad could not help enjoy it, in spite of his anxiety over his brothers’ prolonged absence.  The fish was as sweet as a nut, and both lingered some time over the meal, until all that had been broiled were gone.

“And now to find Tom and Sam,” said Dick, at last, as he leaped up from the log upon which he had been sitting.  “What shall we do with our things?”

“Here is a hole in the rocks,” answered the guide.  “We’ll hide them there and cover them with stones.  I don’t think anything will disturb the things between now and nightfall.”

The stores were placed in the cache and carefully covered, so that the wild animals might not get at them, and then they saw to it that their firearms were ready for use.  A minute later they were off, on the hunt for Tom and Sam.

CHAPTER XXI.

A pair of prisoners.

It is high time that we return to Tom and Sam, and learn how the two Rover boys were faring in their unequal contest with Dan Baxter and his followers.

As we know, it was Baxter himself who attacked Sam, while big Bill Harney threw Tom to the ground.  Jasper Grinder went to Baxter’s assistance, while Lemuel Husty ran to aid Harney.

“Let go of him!” cried Sam, and managed to hit Baxter a glancing blow on the cheek.

“I’ll not let go yet,” answered Baxter, and bore the youngest Rover to the earth.  Over and over they rolled in the snow, until Grinder caught Sam by the legs and held him still.

“That’s right, Grinder, hold him!” panted Dan Baxter.  “Don’t let him get up!”

But Sam was not yet subdued, and getting one foot clear at last, he kicked Jasper Grinder in the ear.

“Oh! oh! my ear!” screamed the former teacher.  “He has kicked my ear off.  You scamp, take that!” And letting out with his foot, he gave Sam a vigorous kick on the side.  At the same time Baxter struck the boy in the head with a stick he had been carrying, and then Sam suddenly lost consciousness.

In the meantime Tom was having a similar struggle with Harney and Husty.  But the boy, though strong, was no match for the two men, and they soon pinned him to the ground and held him there as in a vise, while he was nearly choked by the big guide, who had clutched him by the throat.