“Look along the rim,” suggested Zeke, ignoring the flippant manner of the Go Ahead Boy.  “What do you see about a mile ahead of us?”

“I don’t see anything different from what I said,” laughed Fred.

The other boys, however, were silent for a time while they peered intently in the direction indicated by the guide.

Suddenly Grant said in a low voice, “Zeke, do you mean that tree yonder?”

“That might be it,” replied the guide.

As he spoke two large, black birds suddenly arose from a branch of the distant tree and flying lazily disappeared beneath the rim of the Gulch.

“That’s it!” exclaimed John eagerly.  “That’s it!  That’s the tree Simon Moultrie marked out in his diary.  Zeke,” he added excitedly, “isn’t that the Two Crow Tree?”

“It may be,” replied Zeke.

“Then let’s go ahead and not stop until we get there.  It isn’t more than a mile or two away, is it?”

“About that,” replied Zeke.

The suggestion of the Go Ahead boy was at once adopted.  The entire party increased their speed and rapidly moved forward.

Twenty minutes had elapsed when they stood beneath the tree which had been discovered by Zeke.

“What kind of a tree is it?” inquired Fred.

“It’s a Two Crow Tree,” retorted George glibly.

“I wish I was dead sure of that,” spoke up Zeke.

“Don’t you think it is?” demanded Grant.

“Yes, I think it is, but of course I can’t be sure.”

“What shall we do now?” demanded Fred.

“Cook our dinner here and decide what we’ll do next.”

As soon as the simple meal had been prepared the young prospectors were summoned to the repast.  Their interest was so keen, however, in the tree under whose branches they were seated that all the Go Ahead Boys were ready to declare that the first landmark indicated by Simon Moultrie had been found.

“The only thing for us to do,” said Zeke after he had listened to all that the boys had to say, “is for Thomas Jefferson and myself to leave you here while we go ahead to see if we can find anything that looks like Tom’s Thumb.  If we find it then we may be pretty sure that we’re on the right track.”

“How will you know?” inquired John.

“Have to use our common sense,” said the guide sharply.

“Did you ever see Tom’s Thumb?”

“If I did I didn’t know it by that name,” said Zeke.  “What do you boys think we had better look for?”

“I say a rock shaped like a man’s thumb,” said Fred.

“I don’t,” spoke up John.  “What I would look for would be a place in the mountains ahead.”

“I suggest a formation in the rim of the Gulch,” said George.

“What do you say?” demanded Zeke as he turned to Grant.

For some reason the guide manifested greater confidence in the judgment of Grant than in the opinions of the other boys.