"Put it up to the Chief. Tell him just
how the matter stands. Let him decide."
"All right; I'll do that," agreed Thorne.
In due time the reply came. It advised circumspection in the matter; but
commanded a full report on the facts. Time enough, the Chief wrote, to
decide on the course to be pursued when the case should be established
in their own minds.
Accordingly Thorne detached Bob and Ware to investigate the mineral
status of the Basin. The latter's long experience in prospecting now
promised to stand the Service in good stead.
The two men camped in the Basin for three weeks, until the close of
which time they saw no human being. During this period they examined
carefully the various ledges on which the mineral claims had been based.
Ware pronounced them valueless, as far as he could judge.
"Some of them are just ordinary quartz dikes," said he. "I suppose they
claim gold for them. There's nothing in it; or if this does warrant a
man developing, then every citizen who lives near rock has a mine in his
back yard."
Nevertheless he made his reports as detailed as possible. In the
meantime Bob accomplished a rough, or "cruiser's" estimate of the
timber.
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