noon
asked Dick eagerly . `` Not more than two or three miles . We 'll have to hunt up the landmarks , '' answered the old miner , but hunting landmarks had to be deferred to the next day . Then they set about it in earnest , and by noon they were on the same ground which Anderson Rover 's mining partner had traveled so many years before . They were trying to put down the first of their stakes when a pistol shot rang out , and Dick received a slight wound in the hand . Looking up the mountain side they saw Arnold Baxter 's savage face gazing down at them . Behind the father was his son Dan , and close by stood Roebuck .