But Merritt
simply replied, "Fairly so," and relapsed into silence. He wakened into
sudden energy, however, when, a half an hour later, in making a shortcut
to headquarters he came upon an old abandoned trail. It was somewhat
overgrown, but the Supervisor turned into it and followed it for some
length, finally arriving at a large spring, one of the best in the
forest, which evidently had been known at some time prior to the Forest
Service taking control, but now had passed into disuse. But Merritt was
even more surprised to find beside the spring a prospector of the old
type, with his burro and pack, evidently making camp for the night.
"Evenin'," said Merritt, "where did you get hold of this trail?"
"Allers knew about it," said the prospector. "I s'pose," he added,
noting the bronze "U. S." on the khaki shirt, "that you're the Ranger."
"Supervisor," replied Merritt. "Locating a mineral claim, are you?"
"Not yet," the other replied; "I ain't located any mineral to claim yet.
I'll come to you for a permit as soon as I do. But I'm lookin' for
Burns's lost mine."
"You don't believe in that old yarn, surely?" questioned the other
surprisedly.
"Would I be lookin' for it if I hadn't doped it out that it was there?"
"Where?"
"Oh, somewheres around here. I reckon it's further north. But if you
don't take any stock in it, there's no use talkin'."
"I'm not denying its existence," said Merritt, "but you know dozens of
men have looked for that and no one's found it yet.
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