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Action by a sheriff upon a contract to indemnify him against liability arising from the claims of- certain parties upon property which was in his custody, and which he delivered to the defendant upon re *271 ceiving said contract. Judgment passed for the plaintiff, and the defendant appeals.

The general features of the case are as follows: An action was brought against two mining companies by the defendant, Wadsworth, who, it appears, was acting in the interest of Wells, Fargo & Co., which corporation was the real owner of the claims. A writ of attachment was issued in the case, and under it the sheriff took possession of certain personal property of the mining companies. Thereupon certain of the miners who had claims for labor, and who contended that they were preferred creditors, gave notice of their claims to the sheriff and to the attaching creditor, under section 1206 of the Code of Civil Procedure, as amended in 1874, which provides, in substance, that if such claims are undisputed, the sheriff shall satisfy them out of the property in his hands, and that if they are disputed, the claimants shall establish their validity by action, which must be brought within ten days.…