Leaving the lower
ledge and back-trailing on the higher one, he stopped opposite the
place where he had found the nuggets. He dismounted, sought carefully
about, and to his joy found more nuggets exactly like the ones picked
up on the opposite lower side.
"He took the pick from the saddle and worked at the wall facing him,
and discovered a rich lode running straight in through the solid rock.
He was so excited that he started off without staking a claim or
otherwise marking the place. But he soon remembered and went back. He
made out a correct claim and fastened it to a tree, then piled up the
necessary heaps of stone with his stakes in the middle. Doing all he
could think of to legally hold the right to mine the ore, he started
back along the dangerous ledge. It was so dark by this time, that he
could not find the way he came, and knowing it was almost impassable,
he permitted the horse to choose a way out by going up the mountain-
side, and so he finally reached the summit. Here he camped for the
night and early in the morning he kept on till he struck Top Notch
Trail, but so circuitous had been the route that he never could
describe the pathway his horse took.
"Unfortunately, he had left Patsy home that day to guard supplies in
the cabin, and he did not return there at once, thinking it wiser to
first file his claims in Oak Creek. The clerk asked for section-corners
or distances from the nearest surveyor's blaze, but Montresor had not
found any.
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