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Cattle had disappeared, horses rustled and Ramon was suspected of knowing more about them than he should. Yet it was Kie Wicks behind him, threatening and driving him on, that made Ramon the character he was.
"But what good would it do him to get rid of the professor?" asked the sensible Shirley. "Kie Wicks knows we are all backing the old man, so what would be the use of making away with him?" "That's true," agreed Bet with a puzzled frown. "If I thought that Kie Wicks had a hand in this I'd... I'd...." "What would you do, Bet?" asked Shirley. "I'd tell him right to his face what I think of him."
He frowned at the tunnel dug into the bank, then his frown became a scowl and a ferocious one, for a man was standing there studying the workings, so intent on it that he did not hear the approach of the rider. "What you doing there?" roared Kie Wicks. And as the man turned he recognized the little professor whom he had met at Judge Breckenridge's ranch the previous day. Kie laughed to himself.
Kit ran home first, for she was sure that she would find Young Mary there, and she wanted to see the girl alone. With the other girls she might be shy. So it was Bet who called the Judge aside, to a safe distance, from Kie Wicks' eager ears, and told him of the capture of the tunnel. "And those fellows said that Kie put them up to it and that it is Kie who took the old man.
"Ramon Salazar is a cross-eyed Mexican with a lame leg, and Kie Wicks is a coward. I guess The Merriweather Girls could beat them with their eyes shut." "That a girl, Kit! Of course we can," cried Bet indignantly. "And we will!" The Judge chuckled at their flare of independence, and turned to Joy, the timid one. "What about you, Joy? Do you want to help the girls fight for the claim?"
So it was agreed that the boys would camp with the professor and keep Kie Wicks at a safe distance. But Kie had had enough. Word leaked out that they had not found any treasure. Kie did not want the claims. He was not a mining man by temperament and hated the toil and privation that went into the working of claims in the hills.
"I can bet a nickel on it that he thought you might get interested and dig for the treasure and maybe find it." Suddenly Kit jumped up, "And I bet a dime on top of that that Kie Wicks was back of it." "And I have reason to think you are right, Kit. Kie came in one day, saw the map and claimed that Ramon had stolen it from him, but when I offered it to him for nothing, he refused.
His eyes narrowed to pin-points when he saw the professor examining the wall of the cliff. "What's he got there?" he muttered to himself. "But he can't put anything over on me. If I could get my hands on Ramon, I'd teach him to do as I tell him. If he had stuck around, I'd know what all this fuss is about." But that was all that Kie was to know for some days.
Just as they reached the end of the canyon and prepared to take the trail to the ranch house, a slouching figure rose from the side of the canyon. It was Kie Wicks. "Well, well, and what are you folks doing in the canyon this morning?" he asked, for all the world as if he owned the whole district and feared that they were stealing from him.
However as Ramon Salazar and Kie Wicks will reap the benefit, I think we might go on to other promising spots and let them have a free hand here. You are only girls and can't fight men like them." No other remark could have roused all the spunk in the girls. "I don't see why we can't hold our own against any man," sniffed Kit.
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