"
Mr. Foger seemed to ignore Tom and his friends. Abe Abercrombie
strode forward.
"Look here, you Fogers!" he exclaimed without ceremony, "was you
calculatin' on stakin' any claims here?"
"If you mean are we going to dig for gold, we certainly are,"
replied Andy insolently, "and you can't stop us."
"I don't know about that," went on Abe, grimly. "I ain't goin' t'
say nothin' now, about th' way you stole th' map from me, an' made a
copy, but I am goin t' say this, an' that is it won't be healthy fer
any of you t' git in my way, or t' try t' dig on our claims!"
"We'll dig where we please!" cried Andy. "You don't own this
valley!"
"We own as much of it as we care to stake out, by right of prior
discovery!" declared Tom, firmly.
"And I say we'll dig where we please!" insisted Andy. "Hand me a
pick," he went on to another of the natives.
"Wait jest a minute," spoke Abe calmly, as he put his little store
of nuggets in the pocket of his fur coat, and drew out a big
revolver. "It ain't healthy t' talk that way, Andy Foger, an' th'
sooner you find that out th' better. You ain't in Shopton now, an'
th' only law here is what we make for ourselves. Tom, maybe you'd
better get out th' rifles, an' your electric gun, after all. It
seems like we might have trouble," and Abe cooly looked to see if
his weapon was loaded.
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