"Hush!" said the marine marvel. "The dreadful ordeal through which I have lately promulgated myself made it necessary for me to take something in the way of medicine. Mr. Merriwell, there have been riotous doings since you departed."
"Any trouble in regard to the new mine?" asked Merry, somewhat anxiously.
"Oh, no; nothing of that sort. I have been tending strictly to business. At the suggestion of Mate Hodge, I gathered up in Cottonwood, Central Butte, Stoddard, Bigbug, Cherry and elsewhere a score of hale and hearty laborers and piloted them safely to the valley, where they now are. He then sent me hither for supplies and other needed articles. I have secured half a dozen more good men, who will journey with us to the valley."
"Now, Wiley," said Frank, "tell me about these men you say you have engaged. What sort of men are they?"
"They are charming," assured the sailor. "You remember your Terrible Thirty."
"Well, they are men of the same class. They are the real thing."
"But I am afraid such men are not just what we want, cap'n."
"What we need are miners, not fighting men. It happened that I was able to control the Thirty, and they proved valuable to me at that time. You remember that as miners I couldn't retain one of them. You say you have picked up some more men here?"
"I'd like to look them over, cap'n. Where are they?"
"If you will perambulate with me, I will present you to the bunch. I have them corralled not far away."
"Lead on," said Frank. "I will look them over."
Wiley led the way straight to a saloon, which they entered. As they walked in, several men were drinking at the bar, and Merry distinctly heard one of them, a huge, pockmarked fellow, say:
"It sure is ten chances to one the gent loses his mine afore he ever sets eyes on it again."
Frank recognized the fellow at a glance. He was a desperado with a bad reputation, and was known as Spotted Dan.
"There they are," said Wiley. "Those fine boys I have collected. You can see at a glance that they are the real thing."
He was confident that the words of Spotted Dan referred to him, and in a twinkling his mind was made up.
"Mates," said Wiley, calling the attention of the ruffians, "it gives me untold pleasure to introduce you to Mr. Merriwell, the owner of the mines I told you about."