"Never mind who put us Jerry. We're here, ain't we?"
Stark spoke up. "You can't keep news of a gold strike when the wind blows, Lee. It travels on the breeze."
The harm was done, and there was no use in concealment, so Lee reluctantly told them of his discovery and warned them of the stakes already placed.
"And see here, you fellers," he concluded, "I've been forty years at this game and never had a creek named after me, but this one is goin' to be called '"No Creek" Lee Creek' or I fight. Does it go?"
"Sure, that's a good name, and we'll vote for it."
"Then go as far as you like," said the miner, dismissing them curtly.
"I'll step along with the boys and show them where our upper stakes are," volunteered Stark, and Runnion offered to do the same, adding that it were best to make sure of no conflict so early in the game. The five disappeared into the woods, leaving the others at the cabin to make preparations for the homeward trip.
"That man who did the talking is a tin-horn gambler who drifted in a month ago, the same as Runnion, and the others ain't much better," said Gale, when they had gone. "Seems like the crooks always beat the straight men in."
"Never knowed it to fail," Lee agreed. "There's a dozen good men in camp I'd like to see in on this find, but it'll be too late 'gin we get back."
"Dose bum an' saloon feller got all de bes' claims at Klondike," said Poleon. "I guess it's goin' be de same here."
"I don't like the look of this," observed the Lieutenant, thoughtfully. "I'm afraid there's some kind of a job on foot."
"There's nothing they can do," Gale answered. "We've got our ground staked out, and it's up to them to choose what's left."
They were nearly ready to set out for Flambeau when the five men returned.
"Before you go," said Stark, "I think we'd better organize our mining district. There are enough present to do it."
"We can make the kind of laws we want before the gang comes along," Runnion chimed in, "and elect a recorder who will give us a square deal."
"I'll agree if we give Lee the job," said Gale. "It's coming to him as the discoverer, and I reckon the money will be handy, seeing the hard luck he's played in."
"That's agreeable to me," Stark replied, and proceeded forthwith to call a miners' meeting, being himself straightway nominated as chairman by one of the strangers. There was no objection, so he went in, as did Lee, who was made secretary, with instructions to write out the business of the meeting, together with the by-laws as they were passed.