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diff --git a/26372.txt b/26372.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a263a9d --- /dev/null +++ b/26372.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5132 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Panther Eye, by Roy J. Snell + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Panther Eye + +Author: Roy J. Snell + +Release Date: August 20, 2008 [EBook #26372] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PANTHER EYE *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +Mystery Stories for Boys + +PANTHER EYE + +------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +[Illustration: "She's tied. There's terror in her eyes...."] + +------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Mystery Stories for Boys + +PANTHER EYE + +By +ROY J. SNELL + +The Reilly & Lee Co. +Chicago + +------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Copyright 1921 +By +The Reilly & Lee Co. + +All Rights Reserved + +Made in U. S. A. + +Panther Eye + +------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER PAGE + I A Mysterious Death 7 + II "Fifteen Men on the Dead Man's Chest" 18 + III A Fight in the Night 32 + IV Chukche Treachery 43 + V The Big Cat 54 + VI In the Grip of Terror 68 + VII The Mystery of Mine No. 1 79 + VIII Three Men Disappear 90 + IX Startling Perils 101 + X Playing a Lone Hand 117 + XI Dangling in Mid Air 132 + XII The Russian Dagger 144 + XIII Cio-Cio-San 156 + XIV Nearing the City of Gold 164 + XV Trapped 178 + XVI The City Of Gold 186 + XVII Kidnapped 198 + XVIII Under Machine-Gun Fire 208 + XIX Johnny Goes Into Action 219 + XX Some Mysteries Uncovered 229 + +------------------------------------------------------------------------- + + + + +PANTHER EYE + +CHAPTER I + +A MYSTERIOUS DEATH + + +"He is dead!" + +Johnny Thompson felt the grip of the speaker's hand on his arm and started +involuntarily. How could this strange fellow know that Frank Langlois was +dead--if he was dead? And was he? They were surrounded by inky blackness. +It was the thick darkness of a subterranean cavern, a mine. This was a +gold mine. Three minutes ago their electric torch had flickered out and +they had been unable to make it flash again. + +"C'mon," said the other man, "Pant," as the laborers called him, "we don't +need that thing." + +To his utter astonishment, Johnny had felt himself urged forward by this +Pant with the easy, steady, forward march of one who is certain of every +step. Twice they had turned to avoid mine-props. They had gone back into +the mine perhaps a hundred feet. Now, with not a spark of light shining +out of the gloom, they had paused and his companion had uttered those +three words: + +"He is dead." + +Was the man they had come to seek really dead? If he was, who had killed +him? How did Pant know he was dead? Surely in that Egyptian midnight no +man could see. + +As Johnny threw an involuntary glance to the spot where Pant's face should +be, he gasped. Had he caught a yellow glow from one eye of the man? He +could not be sure about it, for at that instant the electric torch flashed +on again as suddenly as it had gone out. + +Johnny's eyes followed the yellow circle of light. Then with a low +exclamation he sprang forward. There, not ten feet before them, lay the +form of Frank Langlois. To all appearances he was dead. Again through +Johnny's mind there flashed the telegraphic questions: + +"Who killed him? How did Pant know?" + +Thrusting the torch into Johnny's hand, his companion leaped forward and, +with a cat-like motion, dropped down beside the prostrate form. Tearing +away at jacket and shirt, he bared the breast and placed his ear close +down upon the cold flesh. + +"Dead all right," he sighed at last. "Wonder what killed him?" + +He still crouched there, as a cat crouches beside its kill. As if he +searched for the answer to his last question, his eyes roved about the +floor. + +This moment of silence gave Johnny time to study Pant, to recall what he +really knew about him. + +He was a strange chap, this Pant. He never bunked with the other laborers +of the outfit, but had a private little pup-tent affair that he had made +of long-haired deer skin and canvas. In this he slept. He was slight of +build but wiry. Possessed of a peculiar supple strength and agility, he +easily surpassed other men of greater weight in everything he undertook, +both of labor and sport. One queer thing about him was that he always wore +a pair of glasses with smoked lenses of such large proportions that they +hid his eyes completely; he was never without them. One more thing, he +always wore the Eskimo cut of garments; in cold weather, deer skin; in +warm weather and at work, blue drill; but always that middy-styled cloak +with the hood attached. And the hood was never off his head, at least not +in waking hours. He had dressed that way even in Seattle, where Johnny had +signed him up to join his outfit on this perilously uncertain search for +gold in the Seven Mines which were supposed to exist in Arctic Siberia, at +the mouth of the Anadir River across from Alaska. + +And yet, with all this strange dress, the man was not an Eskimo. Johnny +knew that from the looks of him and from his talk. Indeed, in a burst of +frankness, the man had once told him that when very young he had been +picked up in New York by some orphan asylum and sent west to be raised by +a rancher; that he had soon run away from his foster home and had, since +that time, lived by his wits, sometimes in western cities, sometimes in +the wilds of the Rocky Mountains. He had made three trips to foreign +countries and yet, as nearly as he himself could calculate, he was not now +more than nineteen, a mere boy, but certainly a most mysterious one. + +Johnny's mind took up the problems of the new enterprise upon which he was +entering. How would this tragedy affect his work and, most of all, the +minds of his men? + +Johnny, as you will remember from reading "Triple Spies," the first book +of his thrilling adventures, had been in this vast, silent, and mysterious +land of snow before. He had traveled over three thousand miles of it and +had experienced many a strange adventure. Not least of these was the +rediscovery of the Seven Mines of Siberia. These mines had first been +discovered by an American prospector who, having crossed Bering Strait one +summer with natives in their skin boats, had explored the Arctic Siberian +rivers. He believed that there was an abundance of the precious yellow +metal on the Kamchatkan Peninsula, just as there was in its twin +peninsula, Alaska. In this he had not been disappointed. But when it came +to mining this gold, many problems arose. Chief among these was the fact +that the land belonged to the Russian Czar, from whom a concession must be +secured. + +He had, at last, sold his secret to the Big Five of Chicago, five of the +world's richest men. These men had secured the needed concession and had +shipped large quantities of mining machinery and coal to the mouth of the +river when the Czar's government suddenly went to smash. Everything was +dropped for the time being and there matters stood when Johnny had come +upon the mines. Some of them were well opened up for operation, but the +machinery lay rusting in the sheds. + +When he had made his way back to Chicago, about six months previous to the +opening of our story, he had had serious matters to attend to, matters +which were vital to the very foundations of his Government. After these +had been settled and the Big Five, having learned that Hanada, Johnny's +Japanese friend and school mate, who had made the entire Siberian journey +with him and had previously worked in the Seven Mines, had been killed by +a mysterious shot, fired from the depths of Chicago River, they turned to +Johnny, as the one who could best aid them in solving the knotty problem +of working the Seven Mines. + +Johnny, with his long experience as a soldier in eastern Russia, was able +to tell them frankly that there would be practically no chance of +obtaining a concession of any value from the uncertain government that +existed in that region. + +They had called in their lawyers, who advised that they proceed to work +the mines on the old concession, given them by the Czar. "The concession," +they explained, "does not expire until January, 1925. That being the case, +it still holds good, even though the government has changed hands, just as +a lease to bore for oil on a certain farm would hold good even though the +farm changed hands." + +"Yes," the rich representatives of the Big Five had smiled, "but there is +a royalty of 25 per cent which was to have been paid to the Czar. Now it +should go to the people. But how? To whom should this now be paid?" + +At this juncture, Johnny had one of his occasional inspirations. + +"Leave that to me," he had exclaimed. "Make me foreman of the enterprise +and every ounce and penny's worth of that royalty will go to relieve the +sufferings of those freezing, starving, and naked refugees I saw pouring +into Vladivostok from the interior by tens of thousands. You appoint one +person and send that person over to assist the Red Cross in distributing +the benefits and I will get the gold down to them, never fear." + +"Good!" one of the rich men had exclaimed. + +"And, just to show you we're with you, we'll make it 35 per cent." + +Now, Johnny remembered all of that. He remembered too how he had picked +his miners, and his crew for the big gasoline schooner which was to bring +them to the scene of their labors, and his two air men who were to man +their emergency transportation--an airplane. He remembered with what high +hopes he had landed on those bleak shores and had taken up the task of +making his men comfortable for the long winter. Only yesterday the housing +work had been completed, and to-day, while the other laborers were going +over the rusted machinery, he had sent his best man, Langlois, into the +most promising looking mine to discover the conditions there. The man had +not returned. After four hours of waiting, he had called to Pant, and +together they had entered the mine. They had found that death had already +broken through their guard. + +"Let him lie as he is," Johnny said to his companion. "We will bring in +the doctor and two other men. This is a land without law. There will be no +coroner's inquest. That is all the more reason why we must be careful to +avoid all appearance of foul play. When men are 'on their own' everything +must be done in the open." + +Before turning toward the mouth of the mine, he cast one sweeping glance +about the place. Beyond the body there was a pool of water. It was evident +that a warm spring must enter the place near this shallow pool, for the +walls on all sides were white with frost. In the middle of this pool, +driven into the earth was a pick. It was rusty and its handle was slimy +with dampness. Close to the end of the handle were the marks of a man's +fingers where his firm grip had ground off particles of the black rot. It +seemed evident that the pick had lain on the floor of the mine, that +Langlois had taken it up and driven it into the earth which had been +softened by the water. Then death must have come, for he lay not three +feet from the handle of the pick. + +"Dead," Johnny whispered to himself as he turned away, "but how?" + +Half way to the entrance, Johnny paused, put his hand on his companion's +arm, then stood in the attitude of listening. He seemed to feel rather +than hear an almost undetectable shudder that set the air about them and +the rock beneath their feet to vibrating. + +"What is it?" whispered Johnny. + +"I don't know," said his companion, and there was a noticeable tremor in +his voice. + +They were destined to feel that earth-tremble many times before they +solved the mystery of the mine. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +"FIFTEEN MEN ON THE DEAD MAN'S CHEST" + + +The two men who, with the young doctor, accompanied Johnny and Pant back +to the mine were old friends of other days, David Tower and Jarvis, +one-time skipper and engineer of the submarine in that remarkable race +beneath the ice and through the air told about in our second book, "Lost +in the Air." Like all worthy seamen, they had found that money "burned +holes in their pockets," and before six months had passed their share of +the prize money had dwindled to such a meager sum that the fitting out of +a private expedition to go north in search of the fabled City of Gold, the +gleam of whose domes they had glimpsed, was not to be thought of. When, +therefore, they had discovered that men were being signed for a trip to +Arctic Russia with the well-known feather-weight champion boxer, Johnny +Thompson, at its head, they hastened to put their names on the "dotted +line." And here they were, two of Johnny's most valued men. + +Both worked hard at the labor entrusted to them. But ever and again, as he +straightened up to ease his cramped back, Jarvis would whisper to Dave: + +"It's all right this 'ere Seven Mines, but, man, think how rich we'll be +when we git to that City of Gold. I 'ates to think how rich we'll be. +We'll buy reindeer or dogs from the bloody, bloomin' 'eathen and we'll +trim our sails for the nor'west when this hexpedition's blowed up and +gone." + +Dave had always smiled and hoped. + +But now, there lay before them a sad task. One of their comrades, a fine +young college fellow with all of life before him, had been "bumped off." +It was their duty to determine, if possible, who was responsible for this +tragedy, and, if occasion seemed to warrant, to avenge it. + +With bowed heads, they stood beside the quiet form while the young doctor +went about his examination. + +For fully ten minutes the mine was silent as a grave. Only the faint drip, +drip, drip of water from the warm spring and the almost inaudible +tremble-mumble of the throbbing earth disturbed the deathlike stillness. + +At last the doctor straightened up with a sigh. + +"Not a scratch on his body," he announced, "not a sign of anything." + +"Heart disease?" suggested Johnny. + +"Impossible. I was particularly careful to see that every man of the +expedition had a good strong heart. Low temperatures are hard on bad +hearts. Langlois was exceptionally well equipped in this matter. Indeed, +he told me that he had climbed Mount Evans in Colorado last summer, +fourteen thousand and two hundred feet, without a murmur from his heart. +Couldn't be that." + +"Poison?" suggested Johnny. + +"Not a sign of that either. Of course, to be sure of that, one must make a +post-mortem examination. Let's get him out of this damp, black hole." + +They were soon moving out of the dark and forbidding interior of the mine +toward the welcome sunlight that flooded the entrance. + +As they approached this entrance, the unreliable flashlight flickered out +for a second, and, in that second, Johnny experienced a distinct shock. +Again, it seemed to him that he caught the gleam of a round, yellow ball +of light, such as one sees when looking toward a cat in the dark. When the +light flashed on, Pant had moved, but Johnny concluded that he might +easily have been standing where the ball of light had shown. + +As he prepared to leave the mine, Johnny paused for a moment, trying to +sense once more that strange earth shudder. It seemed to him that it was +less distinct here than it had been further back in the mine. But of this +he could not be sure. It might easily be that the slight sounds and the +sensations of light and air here dulled his sensibilities, making it +harder for him to catch the shudder. + +The post-mortem revealed no signs of poison. They buried Langlois the next +day in the grave that had been picked and blasted out of the solidly +frozen earth of the hillside looking over the ice-blocked sea. + +It was a solemn but picturesque scene that struck Johnny's eye as he +neared the grave. Before him stood his comrades with bowed and uncovered +heads. In the distance stretched the unmeasured expanse of the +ice-whitened sea. Beyond, on the other side, lay the equally unmeasured +expanse of snow-whitened land. Far in the distance stretched the endless +chain of mountains, which to-day seemed to smoke with the snow blown a +quarter mile above their summits. In the foreground, not a hundred yards +away, was a group of perhaps fifty people. These were Chukches, natives, +very like the Eskimos of Alaska. They had come to witness from afar the +strange scene of the "alongmeet's" (white man's) burial. + +The scene filled Johnny with a strange sense of awe. Yet, as he came +nearer to the grave, he frowned. He had thought that all his men stood +with uncovered heads. One did not. The man who had been the first to +discover the dead man, Pant, stood with his fur hood tied tightly over his +ears. + +Johnny was about to rebuke him, but the word died on his lips. "Pshaw!" he +whispered to himself, "there's trouble enough without starting a quarrel +beside an open grave." + +Jarvis, who was the oldest man of the group and had been brought up in the +Church of England, read a Psalm and a prayer, then with husky voice +repeated: + +"Ashes to ashes and dust to dust." + +The hollow thump of frozen earth on the rude box coffin told that the +ceremony was over. + +One by one the men moved away, leaving only two behind to fill the grave. + +Johnny strode off up the hill alone. He felt a great need to think. There +was to be no more work that day. He would not be missed. + +As he made his way slowly up the hill, his dark form stood out against the +white background. Short, but square-shouldered and muscular, he fairly +radiated his years of clean, vigorous living. + +And Johnny Thompson was all that one might imagine him to be. A quiet, +unobtrusive fellow, he seldom spoke except when he had something worth +saying. Since childhood he had always been a leader among his fellows. +Johnny was a good example to others, but no prude. He had played a fast +quarter on the football team, and had won for himself early renown and +many medals as a light weight, champion boxer. He never sought a quarrel, +but, if occasion demanded it, Johnny went into action with a vim and rush +that few men of twice his weight could withstand. + +Now, however, his thoughts were far from pugilistic. He was thinking of +the immediate past and the future. Every man in his crew was aware of the +fact that 35 per cent of the output of these mines went to the homeless +starving ones of the most hopelessly wrecked nation on the face of the +earth. And though for the most part they were rough men, they had all +worked with the cheerful persistence which only an unselfish motive can +inspire. Langlois had not been the least among these. Now he was gone. Who +would be next? + +Every man in the crew knew the dangers they were facing. To the south were +the anti-Bolshevik Russians, who, not understanding Johnny's claims and +his motives, might, at any time, launch an expedition against them. To the +southwest were the radical Bolsheviki, who, obtaining knowledge of these +rich deposits of gold, might start a land force across country to secure +this much needed medium of exchange. Then there were the Chukches. Wild, +superstitious tribes of spirit-worshipping people, they might come down +from the north in thousands to wipe out this first white settlement +established on their shores. + +Johnny's men had known of all these perils and yet they had freely and +gladly joined the expedition. His heart swelled with joy and pride at +thought of the trust they had put in him. + +Yet here was a new and unknown peril. The death of Langlois could not be +fairly laid at the door of either Chukches or Russians. Could it be +charged to some treacherous member of their own group? Johnny hated to +think so, yet, how had it happened? Then, too, there was that strange +earth-tremble; what caused that? + +Already his men were growing superstitious in this silent, frozen land. He +had heard them saying openly that they would not work in the mine where +Langlois died. Ah, well, there were six other mines, some of them probably +as rich. They could be worked. But was this peril to follow them into +these? Was his whole expedition to be thwarted in the carrying out of its +high purposes? Were the needy in great barren Russia to continue to freeze +and starve? He hoped not. + +As he rose to go, he saw a small dark object scurry over the snow. At +first he thought it a raven. But at last, with a little circle, it +appeared to flop over and to lie still, a dark spot on the snow. + +Johnny approached it cautiously. As he came close, his lips parted in an +exclamation: + +"A phonographic record!" + +He looked quickly up the hill, then to the right and left. Not a person +was in sight. + +"Apparently from the sky," he murmured. + +But at that instant he caught himself. They had a phonograph in their +outfit. This was doubtless one of their records. But how did it come out +here? + +As he picked it up and examined it closely, he knew at once that it was +not one of their own, for it was a different size and had neither number +nor label on it. + +"Ho, well," he sighed, "probably thrown away by some native. Take it down +and try it out anyway. Might be a good one." + +At that, he began making his way down the hill. + +He was nearly late to mess. Already the men were assembled around the long +table and were helping themselves to "goldfish" and hot biscuits. + +"Boys," Johnny smiled, "I've been downtown and brought home a new record +for the phonograph. We'll hear it in the clubroom after mess." + +"What's the name of it?" inquired Dave Tower, all interest at once, as, +indeed, they all were. + +"Don't know," said Johnny, "but I bet it's a good one." + +Mess over, they adjourned to the "clubroom," a large room, roughly but +comfortably furnished with homemade easy chairs, benches and tables, and +supplied with all the reading matter in camp. + +Many pairs of curious eyes turned to the phonograph in the corner as +Johnny, after winding the machine, carefully placed the disk in position, +adjusted the needle, and with a loud "A-hem!" started the machine in +motion. + +There followed the usual rattle and thump as the needle cleared its way to +the record. + +Every man sat bolt upright, ears and eyes strained, when from the woody +throat came the notes of a clear voice: + + "Fifteen men on the dead man's chest, + Yo--ho--ho, and a bottle of rum. + Fifteen men and the dark and damp, + My men 'tis better to shun." + +Again the machine appeared to clear its throat. + +A smile played over the faces of the men. But again the voice sang: + + "Fifteen men on the dead man's chest, + Yo--ho--ho, and a bottle of rum. + Fifteen men and the dark and damp, + My men 'tis better to shun." + +Again came a rattle. A puzzled expression passed over Johnny's face. The +same song was repeated over and over till the record was finished. + +A hoarse laugh came from one corner. It died half finished. No one joined +in the laugh. There was something uncanny about this record which had +drifted in from nowhere with its song of pirate days and of death. +Especially did it appear so, coming at such a time as this. + +"Well, what do you make of it?" Johnny smiled queerly. + +"It's a spirit message!" exclaimed Jarvis, "I read as 'ow Sir Oliver Lodge +'as got messages from 'is departed ones through the medium of a slate. +'Oo's to say spirits can't talk on them wax records as well. It's a +message, a warnin' to us in this 'ere day of death." + +Smiles followed but no laughing. In a land such as this, every man's +opinion is respected. + +"More likely some whaler made a few private records of his own singing and +gave this one to the natives," suggested Dave Tower. "They'd take it for +something to eat, but, when they tried boiling it and had no success, +they'd throw it away. That's probably what's happened and here we have the +record." + +"Anyway," said the doctor, "if he's a sailor, you'll have to admit he had +a very fine voice." + +There the matter was dropped. But Johnny took it up again before he slept. +He could not help feeling that this was sent as a warning not from the +spirit world, but from some living person. Who that person might be, he +had no sort of notion. And the message gave no clue. He repeated it slowly +to himself. + +"What could you make out of that?" he mumbled. + +Then he turned over in his deer-skin bag and went to sleep. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +A FIGHT IN THE NIGHT + + + "Fifteen men on the dead man's chest, + Yo--ho--ho, and a bottle of rum. + Fifteen men and the dark and damp, + My men 'tis better to shun." + +For the fiftieth time Johnny heard those words ground out by the record +that had rolled down the hill to meet him. Fifty times he had searched in +vain for its meaning. For that it was not chance that had sent it rolling +to his feet, but purpose, the mysterious purpose of an unknown some one, +he was certain. + +If the man had something to say to him, why did he not say it? Why veil +his meaning in an apparently senseless song? It was getting on his +nerves. + +He sprang to his feet and began pacing the floor. For the first time since +the record came into his hands, he had an idea. Somewhere, he had read +part of that song, perhaps all. But where? He could not think. + +He came to a stand beside Dave Tower, who was reading. + +"Dave," he exclaimed, "part of that song, or all of it, is printed in a +book. What book is it?" + +"Your memory's poor," grinned Dave, "'Treasure Island,' of course--only +the first two lines, though. It's the song the old one-legged pirate used +to sing." + +"Sure," smiled Johnny. + +Turning, he left the room. + +In a moment he had his parka down over his head and was out in the open +air. He wanted to think. + +The yellow light of the moon was cut here and there by dark purple shadows +of the night. Not a breath stirred. He walked slowly up the hill, watching +the golden streamers of the northern lights streaking across the sky. It +was a perfect night. And yet, it was to be marred all too soon. + + "Fifteen men and the dark and damp, + My men 'tis better to shun." + +Johnny repeated the last two lines of the song. So these were the words +the mysterious singer had improvised to sing with those which were well +known by every live American boy. What could he mean? Why had he sung +them? + +Suddenly it all seemed clear to him; the man was being watched and dared +not do a thing openly. He wished to send them a warning. This was his only +way. And the warning was doubtless to tell them to stay away from the +death trap where Frank Langlois had perished. + +"Well," Johnny exclaimed, as if addressing the person who had sent the +message, "if that's all there is to it, we've already complied with your +wish." + +He turned and looked back down the hill. A few hundred yards away a hole +yawned in the hard crusted snow. Twenty yards from this was a cone of +black earth twice the height of a man. This was their pile of pay dirt. +For five days now, they had been working on the second mine of the seven. +The pay dirt they had struck was not as rich as they hoped to find, but it +would repay the labor of sluicing. It was growing richer each hour. They +hoped in time to uncover the mother-lode. This would pay for panning and +yield a rich reward. + +It was placer mining. Beside the mine entrance stood a steam thawer, a +coal-heated boiler such as is used for driving a sawmill or grist-mill +engine. From this a wire-wound hose extended into the interior of the +mine. The mine was fifteen feet underground, but even here the earth was +frozen solid. Attached to the hose was a sharp pointed iron pipe. This +pipe was perforated in hundreds of places. When it was driven into the +earth and the steam turned on, it thawed the flinty soil and rendered it +pliable to the pick and shovel. + +"Yes," Johnny heaved a sigh of satisfaction, "yes, sometime, perhaps in +two or three months, we will send by reliable reindeer carriers our first +gift of gold to the orphans of Russia." + +He made his way up the hill to the point where he had found the +phonographic record, for he was curious to know the lay of the land above +that point. He wanted to know where this strange person had been hiding +when he set the disk rolling. + +"It's strange, mighty strange," he whispered, as he looked up at the +cliffs which towered skyward some three hundred yards above the spot where +he stood. + +Then suddenly he stopped short. Had he seen a dark shadow flit from one +little ridge to another? The surface of the hill was very uneven. He could +not tell. + +At first he was inclined to turn back. But he had started for the rocky +cliff and he was not given to turning back. He went on. + +As he moved forward, his thoughts were again of that strange fellow who +had made the record on the disk. + +"Couldn't be a native" he murmured. "No native has a voice like that. If +it's a strange white man, why doesn't he join us? Perhaps--" He stopped +short in his tracks. "Perhaps it's one of our own number. Perhaps it's +Pant. He's queer enough to do or be anything." + +His mind hung on that last word--anything. Yes, he might not be a man at +all. Might be a girl. Why always that hood drawn tight? Why the goggles? +And, being a girl, she might be more than an adventuress. Possibly she was +a radical, a Russian spy, who had joined his crew to thwart his purposes. +Who could tell? + +"Humph!" he shook himself free from these reflections. "Lot of chance of +all that being true. There's witchery in this moonlight. And yet, stranger +things have happened. Whatever you say, Pant's a devil. Who else could see +in the dark?" + +He was standing almost directly beneath the rocky cliff. Suddenly with the +quickness of thought, a small brown figure sprang at him. Then another and +another. + +Right at his face sprang the first one. Not one nor two of these could be +too quick for Johnny. Like a shot his right arm curved out. With a +screaming shudder the man leaped in air and went crashing down the hill. +The second, seized by his fragile squirrel-skin parka, tore himself away. +The third landed upon Johnny's back. Like an infuriated bucking bronco, +Johnny went over on his back, crushing the wind out of the fellow on the +hard packed snow. But the second man, dressed now in a garment of crimson +hue, which he had worn under his parka, was upon Johnny's chest. His arm +was entwined in Johnny's left in a jujutsu hold. His hand flashed to the +white boy's chin. With such a hold even a small man could do much. The man +pinioned beneath, having regained his breath, added his strength to the +other in holding his adversary flat to the snow. Johnny dug his left elbow +into this one's face, while his right arm turned beneath the arm of the +man on his chest and reached a position of half-nelson behind the man's +head. He was now in a position to break this assailant's neck. Bones +snapped as he applied the terrific muscles of his right arm and the brown +man's muscles relaxed. Johnny's head and arms were free. With the speed of +a wild-cat, he sprang to his feet, faced about, then, with a bounding +leap, cleared the remaining assailant and went tobogganing down the hill. +He had seen five others of the brown villains approaching. He had had +enough for this night--more than enough. + +The snow was hard packed; the descent for many yards was steep, and Johnny +gained a momentum in his downward plunge that threatened disaster. Now he +careened over a low ridge to shoot downward over a succession of rolling +terraces. Now he slid along the trough of a bank of snow. One thought was +comforting; he was escaping from those strange brown men. Shots had rung +out. Bullets whizzed past him, one fairly burning his cheek. It was with a +distinct sense of relief that he at last bumped over a sheer drop of six +feet to a gentler incline where he was quite out of their sight. + +By digging in his heels, he brought himself to a stop. Hardly had he done +this than he sprang up and raced back up the hill to the last rocky ridge +over which he had glided. From the top of this he might be able to see the +men without himself being seen. + +As he thrust his toe into a crack and braced his elbows, he peered up the +snowy slope to the cliffs above. All was bathed in a glorious moonlight, +but not a creature stirred. He watched for fully five minutes with no +result. When about to drop to the snow again, he thought he detected a +movement to the left of where he had been looking. Fixing his eyes on that +point, he watched. Yes, there it was; something was passing out from +behind a rock. A gasp escaped his lips. + +What appeared to be a gigantic golden coated cat had moved stealthily out +upon the snow, and was gliding toward the upper cliffs. + +"Whew!" Johnny wiped the cold perspiration from his brow. Still he +stared. + +The creature moved in a leisurely manner up the hill until it disappeared +around the cliffs. + +Johnny looked to the right and down the hill. The light of the clubroom +was still burning. He beat a hasty retreat. + +It was a surprised and startled group that looked him over as he appeared +at the door, ragged, bruised and bloody. Eagerly they crowded about to +hear his story. + +When he had washed the blood from his face and drawn on clean shirt and +trousers, he took a place by the open fire and told them--told them as +only Johnny could. + +"Well, what do you make of it?" He threw back his head and laughed a +frank, boyish laugh, as he finished. "Some wild and woolly adventure, eh? +Who were those little men? And what does it all mean?" + +"Means the natives are getting superstitious about our effect on the +spirits of their dead whales and are planning to treat us rough," +suggested Dave. + +"Natives!" exploded Jarvis, "Them ain't any natural 'eathen. Them's +'eathen frum further down the sea. I 'ates to think what a 'ard lot they +is. Dave and me's seen a 'eap further north than this. 'E's got spies +everywhere, this 'eathen 'as." + +"Struck me a little that way too," smiled Johnny. "That fellow I tore the +clothes off was wearing silk undergarments. Show me the Chukche who wears +any at all, let alone silk." + +"Sure!" exclaimed Jarvis. + +"But if they're around here, why don't we see them?" objected one of the +miners. + +"The big cat's 'ere. Johnny saw 'im," scoffed Jarvis. "You 'aven't seen +'im, 'ave you? All that's about ain't seen. Not by a 'ouse full." + +"What about the big cat?" exclaimed Johnny. "I thought I was seeing +things." + +"E's a Roosian tiger," stated Jarvis. "I've seen the likes of 'im fur +north of here." + +"To-morrow," said Johnny, "we'll take a day off for hunting. Big, yellow +cats and little yellow men are not good neighbors unless they've agreed in +advance to behave. Move we turn in. All in favor, go to bed." + +A moment later the clubroom was deserted. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +CHUKCHE TREACHERY + + +The proposed hunt for "big yellow cats and little yellow men" did not come +off, at least not at the time appointed. Morning found the tundra, the +hills, everything, blotted out by a blinding, whirling blizzard. It was +such a storm as one experiences only in the Arctic. The snow, fine and +hard as granulated sugar, was piled high against the cabin. The door was +blocked. Exit could be had only through a window. + +Dave Tower, in attempting to make his way to the storeroom to secure a +fresh supply of canned milk and evaporated eggs, found himself hopelessly +lost in the blinding snow clouds. Possessed of singular presence of mind, +he settled himself in the lee of a snow bank and waited. In time, a pencil +of yellow light came jabbing its way through the leaden darkness. His +companions had formed themselves in a circle and, with flash lights +blinking here and there, sought and found him. After that, they remained +within doors until the storm had spent its fury. + +It was a strange world they looked upon when, after three days, they +ventured out once more. The snow was piled in ridges. Ten, fifteen, twenty +feet high, these ridges extended down the hillsides and along the tundra. +Through one of these, they tunneled to Mine No. 2, making an enclosed path +to the mine from the cabin. + +"From now on, let her blow," laughed Johnny when the tunnel was finished; +"our work will go on just the same." + +When the men were all back at work, Johnny thought once more of the big +yellow cat and the little yellow men. The storm had wiped out every trace +of his struggle with the men and every track of the cat. But the native +village? Might he not discover some trace of his assailants there? He +resolved to visit the village. Since his men were all employed, he would +go alone. + +An exclamation of surprise escaped his lips as he rounded the point from +which the rows of dome-like igloos could be seen. Where there had been +nineteen or twenty homes, there were now sixty or seventy. What could this +mean? Could it be that the men who had attacked him but a few days before +were among these new arrivals? At first, he was tempted to turn back. But +then there came the reflection that Nepossok, the old chief who made this +his permanent home, was friendly to him. There would be little chance of +treachery in the broad light of day. + +He hurried on and walked down the snow-packed streets of a northern nomad +village. + +Reaching the old chief's tent, he threw back the flaps and entered. He was +soon seated on the sleeping platform of the large igloo, with the chief +sitting solemnly before him and his half naked children romping in one +corner. + +"Many Chukche," said Johnny. + +"Il-a-hoite-Chukche. Too many! Too many," grumbled the old man. + +Johnny waited for him to go on. + +Twisting the string of his muckluck (skin boot), the old man continued: +"What you think? Want'a dance and sing all a times these Chukche. No +want'a hunt. No want'a fish. Quick come no cow-cow (no food). Quick +starve. What you think?" + +"Perhaps they think they can live off the white man," suggested Johnny. + +The old man shot him a sharp glance. + +"Eh--eh," he grunted. + +"But they can't," said Johnny firmly. "You tell 'em no can do. White man, +plenty grub now. Many white men. Many months all a time work, no come open +water. No come grub. Long time, no grub. See! You speak Chukche, this." + +"Eh--eh," the old man grunted again. Then as a worried expression came +over his face, "What you think? Twenty igloo mine. That one chief mine. +Many igloos not mine. No can say mine. T'other chief say do. Then do. Not +do, say mine. See? What you think?" + +From the old chief's rather long speech, Johnny gathered that Nepossok was +chief over only twenty of the families of the village; that the others +were under another chief; that he could tell them to hunt and fish, to be +prepared for a food scarcity later, but that they would do as they pleased +about it. + +Johnny left the igloo with a worried expression on his face. If these +natives had moved to this village close beside them with the notion that +they would be able to trade for or beg the food which he had stored in his +warehouse, they were doomed to disappointment. And having been +disappointed, doubtless they would become dangerous. + +This last conclusion was verified as he went the rounds of the village +peering into every igloo. There were rifles in each one of them, good ones +too--high power hunting rifles for big game--lever action, automatic. In +every igloo he found men stretched out asleep, and this on a splendid day +for hunting. They were but waiting for the night, which they would spend +in wild singing, tom-tom drumming and naked dances. + +Johnny did not find the people he had come to seek. In none of the igloos +did he see a single person resembling, in the least degree, the little +yellow men who had attacked him on the hill. + +All this but confirmed his own opinion and that of Jarvis, that somewhere +in these hills there was hiding away a company of Orientals, spies of +their government, perhaps. But where could they be? + +Johnny was not surprised, two days later, when, on coming out of his +storeroom, he found a dark-faced and ugly Chukche looking in. + +"Plenty cow-cow," the man grimaced. + +"Ti-ma-na" (enough), said Johnny. + +"Wanchee sack flour mine." + +"No," said Johnny, closing and locking the door. + +The man departed with a sour look on his face. He returned within an hour. +With him was a boy. Between them they carried the most perfectly preserved +mastodon tusk Johnny had ever seen. + +"Flour?" the man said, pointing to the tusk. + +Johnny could not resist the temptation to barter for the tusk. He yielded. +The man carried his flour away in triumph. + +After that, not a day passed but a half score or more of the natives came +sneaking about the cabin, the storeroom, and the mine, begging for food. + +As the days wore on, as famine came poking his skeleton form into the +igloos of the improvident natives, the condition became truly serious. + +Johnny dispatched a messenger inland to discover if it would be possible +to obtain deer meat from the Reindeer Chukches living there. When he found +that a few deer might be obtained, he began trading sparingly with the +coast natives. They had little to trade, and the little he could spare +would only postpone the disaster that seemed hanging over the camp like a +cloud. The natives would not hunt or fish and each day found them growing +more insolent and threatening. + +This to the eager young miner was a great trial. Mining operations were +going on splendidly. Mine No. 2 yielded a richer pay dirt each day. +Indications were that in a very few days they would be mining the +mother-lode from that digging and would be storing away pure gold in moose +hide sacks, some to be sent to the men whose wealth had made the +expedition possible and some to the orphans of Vladivostok. + +It was at this time that the native with the dark and frowning visage came +with the announcement that he had located some immense tusks of extinct +monsters, a short distance inland. He begged Johnny to go with him to look +at them and assured him that if they pleased him, they should be brought +to the coast for barter. + +"All right, come sun to-morrow, I go," said Johnny. + +"I better go along," said Pant, when the native had left. + +"Go if you want to," said Johnny. + +Next morning, just at dawn, the three men started on their quest for the +ancient ivory. + +The way led first up the frozen river bed, then over low-lying hills to a +stretch of tundra. At the distant border of the tundra towered high +cliffs, flanked by snow-blown mountains. Toward these they journeyed, +tramping along in silence. + +As they neared the cliffs, Johnny fancied that he saw some dark creatures +moving among the rocks. The distance was too great for him to know whether +they were human beings or animals. + +It was with a creeping sense of danger and a feeling of thankfulness for +Pant's companionship, that, after arriving at the cliffs, he found himself +being led into a dark cave in a hill of limestone rock. + +"U bogak ivory" (look, here is ivory). The native whispered the words as +if afraid the extinct monsters would waken from the dead and demand their +tusks. + +He had lighted a single tallow candle which gave forth a sickly, +flickering light. + +The place seemed fairly spooky. Only the pit-pats of their footsteps +wakened dull echoes through the vaulted cavern. Johnny could not help +feeling that there were more than three men in this cave. In vain he +strained his eyes to catch a glimpse of the walls to right and left of +him. + +They had gone perhaps seventy-five paces into the darkness when there came +a sudden indistinguishable sound. Johnny thought it like the dropping of a +small rock, followed by a half suppressed exclamation. A chill crept up +his spine. + +They moved on a few paces. Again came a sound. This time it was like two +steps taken in the dark. At the same instant, fingers gripped his arm. He +sprang into an attitude of defense. + +"Stop," came a whisper in his ear. "Place's full of natives." It was Pant. +"When I knock the candle to the floor, you drop flat and crawl for the +door." + +For a second Johnny stared in the dark at the place where Pant's face +should be. He caught again the puzzling gleam of yellow light. + +"All right," he breathed. + +Ten seconds later, as the candle executed a spiral curve toward the floor +and flickered out, Johnny dropped flat and began to crawl. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE BIG CAT + + +Hardly had Johnny and Pant disappeared over the hill that morning in their +quest for the supposed old ivory of rare value, when things began to +happen in the neighborhood of the camp. Dave Tower and Jarvis had been +detailed to inspect Mine No. 3, with a view to opening it as soon as the +mother-lode had been reached in No. 2. Armed with pick and shovel, they +had crossed the first low ridge, which made a short cut across the bend of +the river, when Jarvis suddenly whispered: + +"Hist! Down! The cat!" + +Dave dropped to his knees, eyes popping at the sight just before him. Not +twenty yards from them was a huge tiger. With head up, tail lashing, he +seemed contemplating a leap which might bring him over a third of the +distance between them. Two more leaps, and then what? Dave's hair prickled +at the roots; a chill ran down his spine; cold perspiration stood out on +his forehead. + +"If only we had a gun," he whispered. + +"Keep yer eye on 'im," the Englishman whispered. "Don't flinch nor turn a +'air. 'E's a bad un." + +For fully three minutes--it seemed hours to Dave--the great cat lay spread +flat to the snow. Then a nervous twitch of his paws told that he was +disturbed. Dave's hands grasped the pick-handle until it seemed they would +crush it to splinters. + +But what was this? The creature turned his head and looked to the right. + +In another second they saw what the tiger saw. A clumsy, ponderous polar +bear, making her way inland to some rocky cavern for a sleep, had +blundered upon them. + +"Ship ahoy!" breathed Jarvis. "Twelve feet long, if she's an inch, and a +bob for a tail at that." + +"Look!" whispered Dave. "She has her cub with her." + +"And the cat sees 'er. 'Oly mackerel, wot a scrap." + + * * * * * + +When Johnny Thompson dropped on hands and knees in the cavern after the +Eskimo's candle had flickered out, he felt his arm seized by the twitching +fingers of Pant, and, half by his own effort, half by the insistent drag +of his companion, who seemed to be quite at home in this dungeon-like +darkness, he made his way rapidly toward the door. + +Complete darkness appeared to have demoralized the forces of evil that had +been arrayed against them. Soft-padded footsteps could be heard here and +there, but these persons seemed to be hurrying like frightened bats to a +place of hiding. Twice they were stumbled upon by some one fleeing. + +Johnny's mind worked rapidly. + +"Pant," he breathed, "if they strike a light and hold it, we're lost!" + +"Got your automatic?" + +"Sure." + +"Take time to get hold of it." + +"Got it." + +"Shoot at the first flash of light. That'll fix 'em. They're cowards. All +natives are." Pant jerked out the sentences as he crawled rapidly. + +They were none too soon. In another moment a match flared. Seemingly in +the same instant, so quick was Johnny's movement, a blinding flash leaped +from the floor and a deafening roar tore the tomb-like silence. + +Johnny had fired at the ceiling, but this was quite enough. The light +flared out. There was no more lighting of matches. + +Creeping stealthily forward, avoiding the overturning of the smallest +stone or bit of shale which might betray their position, they soon neared +the entrance. + +"Gotta make a run for it," breathed Pant. "Automatic ready?" + +"Ready." + +"Give 'em three rounds, then beat it. Make a dash to the right the instant +you're outside. Ready?" + +Johnny felt the hand on his arm tremble for an instant, then grip hard. + + * * * * * + +When the great, white bear and her cub came upon the scene on that +snow-domed hill where Jarvis and Dave cowered before the tiger, the point +of interest for the tiger was at once shifted to the fat and rollicking +cub. Here was a juicy feast. And to the great cat, inexperienced as he +must have been in the ways of the creatures of the very far north into +which he had wandered, the cumbersome mother seemed a rather insignificant +barrier to keep him from his feast. One spring, a set of those vicious +yellow teeth, a dash away, with the ponderous mother following at a +snail's pace--that seemed easy. He carefully estimated the short distance +between them. + +But if these were the sensations that registered themselves on the brain +cells of this tawny creature, he had reckoned wrong. + +He had made just two springs when the mother bear right about faced and, +nosing her cub to a position behind her, stood at bay. + +Seeing this, the tiger paused. Lashing his tail and crouching for a +spring, he uttered a low growl of defiance. + +The bear's answer to this was a strange sound like the hissing of a goose. +She held her ground. + +Then, seeing that the cat did not spring again, she wheeled about and +began pushing the cub slowly before her. + +"Will 'e get 'im?" whispered Jarvis. + +"Don't know," answered Dave. "If I had a rifle, he wouldn't. Whew! What a +robe that yellow pelt would make! Just prime, too!" + +Lashing his tail more furiously than before, the tiger sprang. Now he was +within thirty feet of the bear, now twenty, now ten. It seemed that the +next spring would bring him to his goal. + +But here he paused. The mother was between him and his dinner. He circled. +The bear circled clumsily. The cub was always behind her. The tiger stood +still. The bear moved slowly backward, still pushing her cub. Again the +tiger sprang. This time he was but eight feet distant. He growled. The +bear hissed. The crisis had come. + +With a sudden whirl to one side, the cat sprang with claws drawn and paws +extended. It was clear that he had hoped to outflank the bear. In this he +failed. A great forepaw of the bear swung over the tiger's head, making +the air sing. + +She nipped at the yellow fur with her ivory teeth. Here, too, she was too +late; the tiger had leaped away. + +The tiger turned. There were flecks of white at the corners of his mouth. +His tail whipped furiously. With a wild snarl, he threw himself at the +mother bear's throat. It was a desperate chance, but for a second it +seemed that those terrible fangs would find their place; and, once they +were set there, once the knife-like claws tore at the vitals of the bear, +all would be over. Then he would have a feast of good young bear. + +At the very instant when all this seemed accomplished, when Jarvis +breathed hoarsely, "Ah!" and Dave panted, "Oh!", there came a sound as of +a five-hundred-pound pile-driver descending upon a bale of hay. + +Like a giant plaything seized by a cyclone, the tiger whirled to the right +twelve feet away, then rolled limply over and over. + +"Ee! She packs a wallop!" breathed Jarvis. + +"Is he dead?" said Dave. + +The bear moved close to the limp form of her enemy and sniffed the air. + +"Looks like she got 'im," grinned Jarvis, straightening his cramped +limbs. + +For the first time the mother bear seemed to realize their presence, and, +apparently scenting more danger, she began again pushing her cub before +her, disappearing at last over the next low hill. + +"Bully for 'er!" exclaimed Jarvis. + +For some time they sat there on the crusted snow unable to believe that +the tiger was dead, and unwilling to trust themselves too close to his +keen claws and murderous fangs. Finally, Dave rose stiffly. + +"Let's have a look," he muttered. + +"Sure 'e's done for?" + +As they bent over the stiffening form of the great yellow cat, Jarvis gave +the head a turn. + +"Broke!" he muttered; "'is neck is broke short off! I say she packed a +wallop!" + +"And the skin's ours!" exclaimed Dave joyously. "What a beauty! We'll skin +him before he freezes." + +Suiting his action to his words, he began the task. He had worked in +silence for some time when he suddenly stood up with a start. + +"What's that?" he exclaimed. + +"What's what?" + +"My knife struck metal--a chain about his neck!" + +"Somebody's pet!" exclaimed Jarvis, "and a bloomin' fine one!" He bent +over to examine the chain. + +"But whose?" asked Dave. + +"'Ere's the tag. Take a look." + +"Looks oriental. Some numbers and letters. I can't read them." + +"Sure," grinned Jarvis. "Ain't I been tellin' y'? It's the bloody bloomin' +'eathen from the islands down the sea-coast. They're 'angin' about 'ere. +They'll be lettin' out a 'ole menagerie against us some fine +day--elephants, lions, mebby a hyena or two, and who knows what?" + +He stood and stared at Dave; Dave stared back at him. + + * * * * * + +As Johnny Thompson prepared for the dash out of the cave, where he and +Pant were to have been trapped, he realized that it was a desperate move. +Pant had seen only lances and harpoons. There were doubtless rifles in the +natives' hands as well. He knew very well their intentions: they feared +him as a leader and, hoping to trap him here, had planned to end his life. +One by one, they would pick off his men. At last there would be a rush and +the remaining few would be killed. Then the supplies would be theirs. In +this land without law, they had nothing to fear but the failure of their +plans. If he could escape this one time, he would be on his guard; he +would protect himself and his men. + +"C'mon," Pant cried. "Three shots; then for it." + +Three times the automatic shook the walls of the cavern. Then they were +away, out in the open breaking for cover among the boulders that lined the +cliff. + +Now they were dodging from rock to rock; now, for a second, Johnny saw the +natives swarming from the cave like bees; now, they were hidden from +sight; and now, he paused for an instant to send a bullet over the head of +a runner who ran too well. + +Soon they had lost themselves among the hills. Only once, in the five-mile +run home, did a native appear on a hilltop. He beckoned, then +disappeared. + +After a time, when near camp, they slowed down to a walk. + +"Pretty close," smiled Johnny, slipping his gun into his pocket. + +"I say," murmured Pant, "do you think they were the same ones that +attacked you back here on the hill a few nights ago?" + +"No. Their work's too crude. These others were real chaps." + +That night, after darkness had fallen over the hills, Johnny went into +Mine No. 1 with a flashlight alone. Having reached a point where Langlois +had been found dead, he sat down on a frozen ledge and stared at the +rust-reddened pick-handle, which seemed to point an accusing finger at him +for bringing that fine fellow here to meet his death. What had killed him? +This was as much a mystery as ever. + +There were many mysteries about this place; there was that earth-tremble +that, to-night, was more noticeable than ever; there were those strange +brown people who had attacked him on this very hill; there was the tiger +slain that very day and skinned by Dave and Jarvis; there was the oriental +chain and tag about the beast's neck. Johnny seemed surrounded by many +mysteries and great dangers. Was it his duty to call the deal off and +desert the mines? Sometimes he thought it was. Ice conditions were such +that it might yet be possible to get their gasoline schooner into open +water and go pop-popping south to Vladivostok. But there would be those +there who waited and hoped for gold to aid them in the battle against +hunger, disease and death. Could they go empty-handed? + +Rumors of a new peril had drifted in that day. A Reindeer Chukche, coming +from a five days' journey into the interior, had told of great numbers of +Russians pushing toward the coast. These could be none other than +Bolsheviki who hoped to gather wealth of one kind or another by a raid on +the coast. If the Chukche was telling the truth, the stay of the white men +could be prolonged by only a few days at the most. + +At the same time, the mining crew had reported indications that they would +reach the mother-lode in No. 2 within three days. + +"We'll chance it that long," Johnny said, with an air of determination, as +he rose and left the mine. + +He was crossing a ridge of snow, when, as once before, his eye was caught +by a spinning black object. + +"Another phonograph record! Another warning!" he exclaimed. "Wonder what +it will be this time?" + +Johnny whistled thoughtfully to himself, as he strode forward to pick up +the little black messenger. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +IN THE GRIP OF TERROR + + + "Oh, there's honey in the rock, my brother, + There's honey in the rock for you." + +Johnny was listening to the second phonographic record. In high-pitched +falsetto note the singer had repeated these words over and over. That was +all. If the other message had seemed void of meaning, this one appeared +doubly so, for here there were no improvised lines, only these two taken +from a threadbare religious song. What could it mean? + +Johnny did not puzzle over this long. There were too many other important +matters to attend to. Dangers confronted them. He did not fear the natives +for the present. But the Bolsheviki? If they were coming this way, then +here indeed was peril enough. + +"Dave," he said, after a long period of musing by the fire, "I'm going to +take the team of gray wolf-hounds with a two-day supply of food and go see +what all this talk about Russians means. I won't be in danger of being +followed by natives, for I shall start long before sunrise. I'd send the +boys with the airplane, but the sight of the machine would give us dead +away. I can probably obtain the information we need concerning their +numbers, rate of travel and so on, and not be seen at all. + +"I shall leave matters in your hands. Push the mining in No. 2 to the +utmost and get the richest of the mother-lode panned as speedily as +possible. A hundredweight of gold would mean much. Should I fail to +return, and should conditions seem to warrant the abandoning of camp, send +the plane out to look for me. If they fail to locate me, take no chances. +Clear the ice with the schooner as quickly as you can. I shall be all +right. I came to this place from Vladivostok once by reindeer, and went +north to Bering Strait the same way. I can take care of myself." + +"All right," said Dave, a trifle anxiously. "I'll do just as you say. Good +luck, and may you come back." + +They gripped hands for a second, then parted. + +In the meantime, over in the corner, with a discarded shirt thrust into +the horn of the phonograph as a muffler, Pant was playing that newly-found +record over and over. A puzzled frown wrinkled his forehead above the +goggles. + +Presently he sat up straight, and, tearing the muffler away, started the +machine. His hands trembled as he sank back in his chair, limp with +excitement. He allowed the record to grind its way out to the very end, +then he nodded his head and murmured: + +"Yes, that's it, 'money in the rock.' _Money_, plenty of it." + +When Johnny started out at four o'clock the next morning, he set his dogs +zig-zagging back and forth to the land side of their cabin. He was hunting +the invisible trail of the Reindeer Chukche who had come from the interior +the day before. When once the dog-leader had come upon the scent of it, +the team bounded straight away over the tundra. + +The cabin soon faded from view. First came the frozen bed of the river, +then a chain of low-lying hills, then broad stretches of tundra again, +with, here and there, a narrow willow-lined stream twisting in and out +between snow-banks. The steady pat-pat of his "mucklucks" (skin boots) +carried him far that day, but brought him no sight of the reported +Russians. + +After a brief sleep, he was away again. He had traveled for eight hours +more, when, upon skirting the edge of a long line of willows by a river's +brink, he imagined he caught sight of a skulking figure on the further +bank. He could not be sure of it. He pressed on, his dogs still trailing +the reindeer sled. If they had come near the Russian camp, the trail would +doubtless have made a direct turn to right or left of it to escape passing +too closely. The Chukches avoided these Russians as merchant ships of old +avoided a pirate bark. Contact with them meant loss of their reindeer, +perhaps death as well. + +So, confident in his false security, Johnny pushed on. But just as he was +about to emerge from the river-bed, a dozen armed ruffians of the most +vicious-looking type sprang from the willows. + +"Whoa!" + +Resistance was useless; Johnny stopped his team. He looked back and, to +his disgust, he saw that their camp was pitched on the other side of that +long row of willows. These shrubs had been caught by the frost when their +leaves were yet green. The leaves had not fallen off, and, even at this +time of year, formed a perfect screen, a fact for which Johnny was later +to be profoundly grateful. + +In vain he attempted to play up in a friendly fashion to the Bolsheviki. +They looked upon him as an enemy and a hostage, for, in the first place, +did they not know that American soldiers had, for many months, guarded a +section of the Trans-Siberian Railroad against their armies? And, in the +second place, did not Johnny drive a splendid team of gray wolf-hounds, +which would be of great service to them in their march to the coast? They +did not understand how he came there. They asked him all manner of foolish +questions, to which he gave quite as foolish answers, and, when this was +at an end, they fitted a rusty pair of "bracelets" to his feet, and, +thrusting him inside a vile-smelling tent, gave him vermin-infested +blankets to sleep in and sour brown bread to eat. + +"Here's a pretty mess!" he stormed silently to himself. "There's at least +a hundred of them. They must travel slowly, but even so, four days will +bring them to the coast; then, unless the unforeseen happens, it's the +ocean for our outfit, or perhaps worse than death. And if anything goes +wrong, it's all my fault because I failed to consider that this bunch +would have moved forward from where the Chukche saw them. I only hope the +boys find out in time." + +He listened for a while with aching heart to the wail of his dogs, who had +been turned into their snowy beds without their supper, and, at last, from +sheer exhaustion, he fell asleep. + +Two days later he was led toward a peculiar square cabinet that had been +set up in the snow. Beside it was a pile of glowing embers left from a +fire of willows. The ten men who marched beside him were not armed. Since +they pressed about him on all sides, cutting off all chance of his escape, +no weapons were needed. + +They had not told him what they meant to do. What the cabinet was, what +the bed of coals meant, he could not even guess. Malignant grins gave the +faces of the men a look that made his blood run cold. He had seen such an +expression only once before, and that in the movies when Indians grinned +at the prospect of burning an enemy at the stake. + +He was soon inside the cabinet with one of his guards. This cabinet was +divided into two compartments, each about four feet square. As soon as he +entered one of these, he was told to remove all his clothing and was then +handed a large, coarse towel. At this, he heaved a sigh of relief and even +chuckled a little at his fright. He was merely being given a bath--a +Russian steam-bath. He had heard of such baths, and was now thoroughly in +favor of them. + +"A bath is a bath," he whispered to himself as he twisted the towel about +his hips, "and a great luxury in this country." + +He was pushed into the other compartment. It was stinging cold out here. A +second guard appeared with a great metal can filled with the glowing coals +from the fire Johnny had seen outside. He set this down upon a small +stand, the top of which was on a level with Johnny's waist, and backed +out. A third man appeared with a bucket of water and a huge gourd. Taking +a position directly in front of the door, this guard dipped a full gourd +of water and poured it on the coals. Instantly a dense cloud of steam rose +to the ceiling. This much steam, Johnny figured, would give one a +comfortable bath. But at that moment, with a fiendish leer on his face, +the man threw on another gourdful, then another. The door slammed and a +bar thudded into place. + +Immediately Johnny took in the full horror of his situation. He was to be +steamed alive. Already the dense, white cloud was descending. Lower and +lower it came. He crouched down to avoid it. In another moment, it would +engulf him. No man could live in such a place. + +His mind worked like chain-lightning. This cabinet? How was it fastened +down? How strongly? His fingers felt for the lower edge of it. Working +them down and under, he secured a hold. Then, with all his superb +strength, he heaved away. Something snapped, but still the thing held +firm. He heaved again. The touch of steam on his back lent him new power. +Crack! Crack! Then the uprooted cabinet swayed a second and then crashed +into three of the gaping spectators. + +Johnny leaped forward. A burly fellow seized his arms. Using an old +college trick, Johnny fell backward, taking the man with him. Then, with +his foot on the other's stomach, he sent him whirling into two other men, +and, before they could recover from their astonishment, Johnny went +sprinting down the side of the long row of willows, which had proved his +downfall two days before. + +He was headed for home. No Russian, nor Russian dog-team, could catch him. +But he was clad only in a towel, and there were many miles of snow between +him and his friends. + +Suddenly, from the rear, there came the ki-yi of dogs. + +"Hounds!" he murmured in despair. "Unhitched from the sled. They'll catch +me. I can't escape them." He stared wildly to right and left as he ran, +but saw no way of escape. + + * * * * * + +After Johnny Thompson had left camp in search of the Bolshevik band that +eventful morning, he was no more than out of sight when a slight figure +crept from a snow-buried pup tent to the right of the cabin and went +gliding away up the hill in the moonlight. It was Pant. Rapidly he scaled +the snow-packed hillside. Arriving at last at the foot of the rocky cliff, +he began a minute examination of those cliffs. Once he climbed to a dizzy +height by clinging to the crags. It was a cat-like feat which very few +persons could perform, but he did it with consummate ease. At another time +he dropped flat on his stomach and crept into a broad crevice between the +rocks. He was gone for a long time, but finally appeared grimy with dirt +and empty-handed. + +"'Money in the rock,'" he murmured. "'Money in the rock for you.'" + +Then, as if discouraged with his quest, he turned and started down the +hill. + +He had covered half the distance when something caught his eye. A black +spot, the size of a baseball, had bounced mysteriously past him. + +In a twinkling, he was away in mad pursuit. Slipping, sliding, bounding +over the glistening surface, turning a somersault to land on his feet and +race ahead, he very soon came up with the thing where it had lodged +against a protruding flat rock. + +His fingers grasped it eagerly. Here was a third message from the unknown +one. Perhaps this would explain all. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE MYSTERY OF MINE No. 1 + + +When Johnny Thompson saw that the wolf-hounds were on his trail, though he +was without weapons of any kind and practically destitute of clothing, he +decided to put as great a distance as possible between himself and the +Russians, then to turn upon the pack and sell his life dearly, if indeed +it must be sold to a murderous pack of half wolves. + +As he sped forward, through his mind there ran all manner of stories told +round northern camp fires. The stories had to do with these same Russian +wolf-hounds. A man had once picketed his dogs near him in a blizzard and, +creeping into his sleeping bag, had slept so soundly throughout the night +that he did not realize the drifting snow was burying him. He had awakened +to struggle against the weight of snow but could not free himself. Months +later, when the spring thaw had come, his bones had been found picked +clean by his wolf-hounds. A child at Nome, Alaska, playing with his +father's team, was scratched by one of them. The smell of blood had set +them wild. They had attacked him, and before help could arrive had torn +him in pieces. These stories flooding his memory lent added speed to his +stalwart limbs. + +He ran three miles, four, five miles. But at each added mile, the yelp of +the hounds came more distinctly to him. Now he could hear the loud flap as +they sucked in their lolling tongues. + +He was becoming fatigued. Soon he must turn and stand at bay. He looked to +the right and left of him. A cutbank presented a steep perpendicular +surface against which he might take his stand with the knowledge that they +could not attack him from the rear. + +"But shucks!" he half sobbed. "What's the use? I'll be frozen stiff before +they get courage to attack me." + +To the cutbank he ran, then, turning, waited. + +With rolling tongues, the dogs came hurrying up to form themselves into a +circle, seven gaunt, gray wolf-hounds grinning at one naked boy. + +Then Johnny, catching the humor of the situation, not only grinned back, +but laughed outright, laughed long and loud. What he said when he had +finished was: + +"Bowsie, you old rascal, why didn't you tell me it was you?" + +It was his own team. Having been unhitched at the time, they had +recognized the stride of their master and had deserted with him. It was +indeed a joyous meeting. + +There was, however, no time to be wasted. The bitter cold air made +Johnny's skin crinkle like parchment. His feet, in contact with the +stinging snow, were freezing. + +Two of the dogs still wore their seal-skin harnesses. These Johnny tore +off of them and having broken the bindings, wound them in narrow strips +about his feet, tying them firmly around his ankles. + +So, with his feet protected from the cold, he took up the fifteen miles of +homeward race, the seven dogs ki-yi-ing at his heels. + +Five miles farther on, he came upon a cache built by some Reindeer +Chukche. In this he found a suit of deer skin. It was old, dirty and too +small, but he crowded into it gratefully. Then with knees exposed and arms +swinging bare to the elbows he prepared for a more leisurely ten miles +home. He was quite confident that the lazy and stolid Russians were not +following. + +Johnny was well within sight of the friendly hill that sheltered his cabin +from the north wind, when, with a sudden gasp, he stopped and stared. +Coming apparently out of the very heart of the hill, an immense brown +object extended itself along the horizon and at last floated free in air. + +To understand this strange phenomenon, we must know what had been +happening at camp, and what Pant had been doing since finding the +mysterious black bill. + +The ball was covered with black paper. This much, Pant discovered at once. +The rest he left to the seclusion of his pup tent and the light of a +candle. + +When at last he unwrapped the paper, he found nothing more than a film, a +small, moving-picture film. This had been developed, dried, then rewound +on a spool. The remainder of the inner contents of the ball was nothing +but blank paper with never a scratch of writing upon it. When Pant had +examined each scrap carefully, he held the film to the light. There were +pictures on it. As his keen eyes studied them, his expression changed from +that of puzzled interest to intense surprise, almost of horror. + +For a full half hour he sat there holding them close to the light, then +far away; tipping them to one angle then another, mirroring them on the +retina of his eye until nothing could efface them. Then, having rerolled +and rewrapped them, he hid them away among his deer skins and turning +over, fell asleep. + +He was awake again by sunrise, and without pausing for breakfast went +directly to the entrance of Mine No. 1. Having entered without a light, he +made his way to the back of the cavity. There he paused to listen. The +earth shudder seemed to fairly shake the rocks loose about him. One pebble +did rattle to the floor. The next instant there came the clang of rocks on +metal. A light flashed. It was in Pant's hand. In the gleaming circle of +light from his electric torch, a brightly polished disk of metal appeared. +It was eating its way through the frozen wall of sand and rock. One second +the light flashed, the next second Pant was hurrying from the mine as if +his life depended upon it. + +Dashing down the hill, he broke into the mess-room where the men were +assembled for hot-cakes and coffee. + +"Arms! arms!" he panted. "Rifles, automatics, anything. A pick, two picks. +C'mon." + +The men, believing that he had gone mad, stood staring in speechless +astonishment. + +"C'mon, can't you?" he pleaded. "It's the yellow men, the dirty little +yellow men. They've got an infernal machine for cutting out the pay dirt +in blocks. They've looted Mine No. 1 while we slept. That was the +earth-tremble. C'mon, can't you? Bring rifles! Anything. We'll get them +yet!" + +Catching a glimmer of his meaning, the men dashed to the bunkroom and +clubroom, to appear a moment later armed with such weapons as they could +find. + +Arriving at the entrance of Mine No. 1, Pant held up a finger for +silence. + +"Arms ready," he whispered, "your left hand on the shoulder of the man +ahead of you. I'll lead." + +Without a light, he entered the mine and beckoned the men to come on. With +soft and shuffling tread they followed, like a chain gang entering a +dungeon. They took fifty paces, then they halted. A light flashed. +Instantly every man gripped his weapon. + +It was only Pant. What they saw before them caused involuntary +ejaculations. A hole some eighteen inches square had been cut in the +frozen wall. + +For a second they listened. The silence was so complete that the ticking +of a watch sounded like the beat of an alarm clock. + +"They've gone," whispered Pant. "C'mon." + +His light blinked out. There followed the sound of garments rubbing +against the walls. The man behind Pant felt him one instant, the next he +was gone. He had crawled through the hole. There was nothing to do but +follow. One by one, thrusting their rifles before them, they crawled +through this narrow door from the mine. To what? They could not even +guess. + +"'Tis fair spooky," whispered Jarvis to Dave. "'Ow does 'e know 'ow 'e +should go? Can 'e see in the dark? 'Ow'd 'e come by the name Pant +anyway?" + +"Langlois give it to him," Dave whispered back, "the fellow that was +killed here, you know. He claimed Pant could see in the dark and began +calling him 'Panther Eye.' The men cut it down to 'Panther,' then to +'Pant.' That's all I know about it." + +"'E's rightly named," growled Jarvis, as he fumbled his way through the +hole in the dark. + +"This way," came the low whisper of Pant. "As you were, hand to +shoulder." + +Only the soft pat-pat of their footfalls on the floor of what appeared to +be a narrow runway broke the tomb-like silence of the place. Now and +again, as they moved forward, Dave Tower felt his shoulder brush some +unseen object. Each time he shivered and shrank back. He expected at any +moment to hear the roar of rifles, to find himself engaged in deadly +combat with the mysterious robbers who had looted the mine of its treasure +while they worked within a stone's throw of it. + +Twice they paused. A silence so deep that it was painful ensued. No sound +came. They marched solemnly on. And now, they had struck a steep incline. + +"Down low; down low; down low," came whispered back from man to man. + +They stooped to an almost creeping posture and began to climb. The ascent +was steep as a stair. Twice Dave lost his footing, and once came near +sending his rifle crashing to the frozen earth. Some one behind was less +fortunate. There came the clang of steel, then deathly silence. + +Again they crept upward. Suddenly a ray of light cut through the gloom. In +another second, they were in a veritable flood of light. And yet, as they +glanced rapidly to right and left, they saw walls of rock. Above them too +was a vaulted ceiling. Only before them was light. What could it mean? + +In an instant they knew. Leaping toward the opening, they expressed their +surprise in unchecked exclamations. + +"A balloon! A balloon!" + +It was true. It seemed to them, as they looked, that the whole side of the +mountain had burst open and allowed a giant dirigible balloon to float out +from its depth. + +What had really happened was evident. These robbers, having located the +rich mine and having no concession to mine it, had discovered this natural +cave and had cut a channel from it to the place of the gold deposit. They +had reached the point by balloon. Having deflated it, they had stowed it +away in the cave and had blocked the entrance of the cave with snow. The +next blizzard had defaced every sign of their presence. Doubtless there +had been a small secret entrance to the cave which none of Johnny +Thompson's men had discovered. + +"They're gone!" exclaimed Dave. + +"And I 'ates to think 'ow much gold they took with 'em," mourned Jarvis. + +"Quick, the airplane!" shouted Pant, turning to the two aviators. "There's +a machine gun on it. We'll halt them yet. I better go with you. Some of +the rest of you explore the interior here. They may not have taken the +gold." + +Dave Tower snapped on his flashlight, and, after taking one more look at +the giant black "sausage" in the sky, turned to assist the others in the +exploration of the looted mine. He had little hope of discovering the +treasure, but he did want to see how they had accomplished the task. + +One more question crowded its way to the front: "How had they killed Frank +Langlois?" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THREE MEN DISAPPEAR + + +It was the dirigible balloon that Johnny Thompson saw as he rounded the +point of the hill in his wild flight from the Bolshevik band. + +With his dogs grouped about him, he stood and gazed at it in speechless +astonishment. Where had it come from? What was its mission? Whither was it +going? These and many other questions sped through his mind as the balloon +rose lazily in air. + +Scarcely a moment had passed when a sound arrested his attention. It was +the thunder of a powerful gasoline engine. He guessed that it was the +motor of his own airplane. He had not long to doubt, for in a second the +machine came swooping into sight. It made directly toward the clumsy +sausage. Lithe and bird-like it tore away after the balloon. + +Was this a friendly visit or an attack? The answer came in a series of +noisy punctuations--the rat-tat-tat of a machine gun. + +This balloon then was an enemy. Dimly the truth entered Johnny's mind. He +was beginning to connect the balloon with the little yellow men who had +attacked him, and with the earth shudder, but how it all fitted in he +could not tell. Who was the enemy? + +His eyes were on the two ships of the sky. The airplane, having circled +close to the cabin of the balloon, had fired a volley, whether directly at +it or above or below it, he could not tell. Now the plane circled close +again. But what was this? A man was climbing to the upper rigging of the +plane. Now he was standing, balancing himself directly on top. Johnny +recognized the slim figure of Pant. Now the plane, with engine dead, +drifted toward the cabin of the balloon. They were almost even with it. +There came three snorts of the engine and the plane shot beneath the +cabin, then out on the other side. But Pant? Where was he? He was not on +the upper surface of the plane nor climbing down on the rigging. + +Johnny sat down dizzily. Cold perspiration stood out on his brow. The +excitement, following hours of fatigue and near starvation, was too much +for him; his head swam; his eyes blurred. + +But he shook himself free from these sensations and gazed skyward. He +expected to see Pant come crashing down to earth. He did not. There could +be but one answer: he had leaped in midair for the underrigging of the +cabin of the balloon and had caught it. What a feat! It made Johnny's head +dizzy to think of it. He did not doubt for one moment that Pant would do +it. But what could be his purpose? Had the balloon broken loose? Was it +drifting free, a derelict? This he could not believe, for the thing had +seemed to travel in a definite direction. Besides, if this was true, why +the machine-gun fire? Had they killed the only occupants? Johnny hoped +not. He hated death. Whatever the men had done, he hoped they had not been +killed. But why had Pant taken such chances? + +Then as he looked, he saw a package drop over the side of the cabin. It +fell straight downward, with tremendous velocity. But there came a sudden +check. It was attached to a parachute. The parachute had opened. Its +course was now marked by a little down-rush, then a pause, then a rush +again. + +He had been so intent on his observation of this that he did not realize +that once more an object had fallen from the car. This time it was a man. +He also was attached to a parachute. + +As he came into Johnny's circle of vision, the boy rose and waved his +arms, crying with a hoarse shout of joy: + +"Pant! Pant! Good old Pant! He's safe!" + + * * * * * + +When Dave Tower and Jarvis led the little band of miners back through the +cave, they found, as they had expected, that a small tunnel had been cut +out of the frozen earth to form an entrance to the mine. Before entering +this tunnel, they paused to look about them. Ranged about the walls, piled +tier on tier, were black cubes of sand and gravel. From these came the +glitter of yellow metal. These were cubes of pay dirt which would yield a +rich return when the spring thaw came. Bits of cable, twisted coils of +wire, a pair of rusty pliers, told that electricity had been employed as +power for mining. + +A smooth spot on the cave's floor showed where some form of engine had +been set. That the power of the engine had been supplied by gasoline was +shown by a great pile of empty one hundred gallon steel tanks which had +been stolen from the company's supply in the sheds. + +Dave picked up the pliers and rubbed the rust from them. + +"They're Orientals all right," he mused. "Pliers got their stamp on 'em. +But say! These boys sure had some ideas about mining placer gold. A man +could take their machine to Alaska and make a fortune. Let's have a +look." + +"Sure! Sure!" came from a half score of throats. + +They hurried down the narrow tunnel to find themselves in the mine. Here, +as in the cave, they found cubes of pay dirt piled high on every side. At +the end of it all was a low square machine with a buzz-saw-like wheel +extending from it. The power wires, still attached to it, had been cut +some ten feet from it. + +"'E's a clever one!" said Jarvis. + +"I'll say so," agreed Dave. + + * * * * * + +Before Pant leaped from the balloon, after throwing overboard the two +hundredweight sack of gold which the yellow men, in their fright at the +machine-gun fire, had deserted in the outer cabin, he performed one other +valuable service. He threw over the heavy anchor, which was attached to a +steel cable. + +The anchor shot like a plummet for the ground and proceeded to hang itself +securely in a corner of rock. The progress of the balloon was instantly +halted. Still filled with terror at the machine-gun fire, the yellow men +took to their parachutes. On landing, they made good their escape by +losing themselves in the rocky ledges which rose up from the sea shore. It +was useless to pursue them there. + +By the time all this had happened, Dave and Jarvis, with their men, had +come out from the mine and had joined Johnny, who, still prancing about in +his ridiculous costume, was rejoicing with Pant over the sudden enriching +of their treasure-hoard. + +"Get a windlass," said Dave. "We'll bring that giant bird to earth. There +may be more treasure aboard her." + +In due time the balloon-cabin touched the snow and the men swarmed upon +it. + +They were disappointed in their hope of finding further treasure, but they +did find a solitary man. He was a white man and was totally unconscious +from a blow on the head. + +"Dave, you and Jarvis stay here and see what you can do for the chap," +said Johnny. "All the rest of you come with me. We've got work ahead of us +and a plenty. The Bolshevik band will be here in less than twenty-four +hours. We'll have to float our schooner, load the provisions and gold and +beat it." + +He turned once more to Dave and Jarvis. "If you bring him to consciousness +and can manage it, carry him to the ship. Otherwise I'll send two men to +help you when we are through loading." + +Wild hours of tireless labor followed for the the main gang. To bring the +schooner from the bank to the water-channel, a quarter of a mile over the +ice, was no mean task. It was at last accomplished. After that, the +loading went on rapidly. + +Nothing had been seen of Dave and Jarvis when the last case of provisions +had been brought aboard. + +Johnny chose two of the men and went round the hill to assist in bringing +the injured man to the ship. Imagine his astonishment when, on rounding +the curve, he saw that the balloon was gone. + +"Gone!" he murmured, dazed at the suddenness of it. + +A hasty examination of the surroundings gave them no sign of the missing +men. + +"Must have broken loose and sailed away with them." + +At that instant he caught the gleam of a light on the western sky. + +"Camp fire of the Bolsheviki. We can't wait another moment," he muttered. +"And it wouldn't do any good if we did. They're gone." + +He turned and led his men back to the ship. + +A half hour later the little schooner was pop-popping her way through a +narrow channel to open water beyond. She carried, besides her crew and +provisions, a hundredweight of gold taken in the last three days from Mine +No. 2, and twice as much taken from the robber yellow men. Thirty-five per +cent of this would do wonders in Vladivostok. Johnny was sitting and +thinking of these things and of a wireless message he had received but a +few days before, when he suddenly began wondering where Pant was. + +"Say," he exclaimed, turning to one of his men, "where's Pant? Haven't +seen him since we put out." + +Sure enough, where was he? They searched the ship. He was not to be found. +At last Johnny spied a note pinned to his spare parka. It was written by +Pant. + +"Dear Johnny," it read, "you will pardon me, I am sure, for leaving your +service at this time. But you won't need me down there and Vladivostok +sounds too tame. Up here there is real adventure. + + "Good-bye, + "PANT." + +Johnny looked at the man beside him and the man looked at him. + +"Queer chap," murmured Johnny. "But a real sport at that." + +"No use to try to find him." + +"Not a bit." + +"Queer chap," Johnny murmured again, "Queer eyes." + +"That Pant was just short for Panther Eye," said the miner. "Men gave him +the name. One of them claimed he was hunting panthers once with a skillful +surgeon. A panther tore his right eye out. The surgeon shot the panther +and grafted an eye into Pant's empty socket. The fellow claimed he'd seen +him with those yellow goggles off. Said his pupil contracted in the light +like a great cat's eye. But you can't believe half those men tell you." + +"No, you can't," said Johnny. "I guess every chap has a right to have a +secret or two about himself and keep them. Pant had his and kept it. +That's about as far as we'll ever get on that mystery. What say we go to +chow?" + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +STARTLING PERILS + + +In the harbor at Vladivostok a thirty-ton gasoline schooner threaded its +way through narrow channels left by ocean liners and gunboats toward a +deserted water-front where half-dismantled warships of ancient Russian +design lay rotting in the sun. Straight to a rickety wharf they made their +way. + +Hardly had they thrown a line over a swaying post when two men sprang +across the narrow space. + +"Watch your step!" + +It was Johnny Thompson who spoke. The man with him was the young doctor of +his outfit. + +As they cleared the dock and entered a side street of this metropolis of +eastern Russia, they walked with a heavy tread; their step lacked the +elasticity that their youthful faces would warrant. They were either very +weary or very heavily burdened. No burdens were visible, though something +might be concealed beneath their greatcoats. There was, indeed, a +bulkiness about their forms from shoulder to waist, but in this Arctic +clime, coming as they had from the north, one might easily credit this to +sweaters. + +As they reached the shadow of a building, Johnny stopped and fumbled in +his pocket. At the same time his gaze wandered away toward the north. + +"Wonder where Pant is now?" he grumbled. "I miss the little rascal, don't +you?" + +"Sure do." + +"Wonder what made him drop us flat that way?" + +"Can't say. Had a reason, though. He always had a reason, and a good one. +There was something he wanted to do." + +"Hope he does it quick and gets on down here. He's been part of my +bodyguard so long, I confess I don't feel safe in a new place like this +without him." + +Johnny stopped fumbling in his pocket and drew forth three yellow slips of +paper. + +"Here's the messages. I wrote 'em all down. Mighty little good they'll do +us." + +He read them aloud: + +"'When can you come across?'" + (Signed) "M." + +"'We must produce. At once.'" + (Signed) "M." + +"'Am in danger. Come across.'" + (Signed) "M." + +"What does a fellow get out of that, anyway?" he grumbled. "What does this +fellow 'M' expect? The first one reached us after we'd been operating two +months, the second a month later, and the third a month after that. What +does he think this land is like? Three thousand miles! But then, I suppose +the rotten Russians did it. Made threats, likely." + +"Doesn't give any address," commented the doctor. + +"Not a scratch. We'd better go to the Red Cross headquarters, wherever +that is. Let's hunt it up." + +Again they took up their heavy, even tread and came out from the narrow +street onto a broader one, which appeared to lead to the business section +of the city. + +As Johnny sniffed the pungent odor of spring in the twilight air, he was +forcibly reminded of the time consumed in that journey from the mines to +Vladivostok. He regretted the many delays. When they occurred, he had +fairly fumed at them. He realized now that "M," whoever that might be, the +agent sent from Chicago to superintend the distribution of supplies for +the refugee orphans, might have been compelled to leave Russia before +this. That the Russians, disturbed by a thousand suspicions and fears, +would not tolerate a stranger who had no apparent purpose for being in +their land, he knew all too well. The agent could state the purpose of his +presence in the beginning and get away with it, but when months had +elapsed and nothing had been done, what dark suspicions might be directed +against him? + +Johnny heaved a sigh of resignation. Nothing that had happened could have +been avoided. Time and again ice-floes clogging the waters of those +northern seas had threatened to crush their craft, and only by long +detours and many hours of tireless pulling away from the giant cakes had +they found a passage. The journey could have been made by reindeer in the +same length of time. As he thought of that, his heart skipped a beat. What +if the little yellow men who had come so near making away with that two +hundredweight of gold had succeeded in securing reindeer, and had made +their way to Vladivostok? What would they not risk to regain possession of +the gold that had been snatched from them? + +As he thought of this, he picked his steps more cautiously along the +slippery streets. He cast a glance to the right and left of him. Then he +started and plucked at his companion's sleeve. + +"Hist!" he whispered. "Watch the alley to the right!" + + * * * * * + +When Pant so abruptly deserted Johnny Thompson's service, leaving only a +vaguely worded note to tell of his going, he had, indeed, a plan and a +purpose. So daring was this purpose that had he taken time to think it +through to its end, he might never have attempted it. But Pant thought +only of beginnings of enterprises, leaving the conclusions to work +themselves out as best they might, effectively aided by his own audacity. + +His purpose can best be stated by telling what he did. + +When he left the schooner that night and crossed over the shadowy shore +ice, a blizzard was rising. Already the snow-fog it raised had turned the +moon into a misty ball. Through it the gleaming camp fires of the +Bolshevik band told they had camped for the night not five miles from the +mines. + +The blizzard suited Pant's purposes well. It might keep the Russians in +camp for many hours, and would most certainly make an effective job of a +little piece of work which he wished to have done. + +With a watchful eye he skirted the cabin they had left but a brief time +before. A pale yellow light shone from one of the windows. Either the +place was being looted by natives, or the yellow men had taken refuge +there. The presence of a half-score of dogs scouting about the outside led +him to believe that it was the natives. Where, then, were the Orientals? + +Breathing a hope that they might not be found in the mines or the machine +sheds, he hurried on. With a hand tight gripped on his automatic, he made +his way into Mine No. 1. All was dark, damp and silent. The very ghost of +his dead comrade seemed to lurk there still. Who was it that had killed +Frank Langlois, and how had it been done? Concerning these questions, he +now had a very definite solution, but it would be long before he knew the +whole truth. + +Once inside the mine, he hastened to the square entrance that had been cut +there by the strange buzz-saw-like machine of the Orientals. The wall was +thin at this place. With a pick he widened the gap until the machine could +be crowded through, and with great difficulty he dragged it to the +entrance of the mine. Once here his task was easier, for the machine was +on runners and slid readily over the hard-crusted snow. With a look this +way, then that, he plunged into the rising storm. Pushing the machine +before him, he presently reached the mouth of Mine No. 3 in which three +days of steam-thawing had brought the miners to a low-grade pay dirt. The +cavity was cut forty feet into the side of the bank which lay over the old +bed of the river. + +Having dragged the machine into the farthest corner, he returned to the +entrance and at once dodged into the machine sheds. To these sheds he made +five trips. On a small dog-sled he brought first a little gasoline engine +and electric generator, next eight square batteries, then some supplies of +food, a tank of gasoline, and some skin garments from the storeroom. His +last journey found the first gray streaks of dawn breaking through the +storm. He must hasten. + +With a long knife he began cutting square cakes of snow and fitting them +into the entrance of the mine. Soon, save for a narrow gap well hidden +beneath a ledge of rock, the space was effectively blocked. + +He stretched himself, then yawned sleepily. + +"It's a poor game that two can't play at," he muttered. "Now, if I can get +this machinery singin', we'll see what Mine No. 3 has saved up for us. +Unless I miss my guess, from the way the rock lays, she'll be a rich +one." + +With that he crept into his sleeping-bag and was soon lost in the land of +dreams. + +Pant's first act, after awaking some six hours later, was to connect four +of his batteries in series, then to connect the ends of two wires to the +poles of the series. The wires were attached at the other end to a socket +for an electric light. + +When the connections were completed he screwed in a small bulb. The +filament in the lamp glowed red, but gave no light. + +Two batteries were added to the series, then two more. At this, the light +shone brightly, dispelling the gloom of the place and driving the shadows +into the deepest recesses. + +With a smile on his lips, the boy twisted a wire into a coil, connected it +to the battery circuit, watched it redden, then set his coffee-pot over +it. + +He was soon enjoying a cup of hot coffee and pilot bread. + +"Not so bad! Not even half bad!" he muttered good-naturedly to himself. +"Electricity is great stuff. Now for the mining stunt!" + +He listened for a moment to the howl of the blizzard outside, then began +busying himself with the machinery at hand. Connecting the batteries to +the gasoline generator to give it a "kick-off," he heard the pop of the +engine with evident satisfaction. He next connected all his batteries in +series and, having connected the engine, ran wires from it to the motor in +the strange, mining buzz-saw. There followed a moment of suspense, then a +grunt of disgust. + +"Not enough voltage. Gotta get more batteries to-night. Dangerous, too. +Storm's going down. Bolsheviki coming in. Natives prowling an' yellow men, +don't know about. Gotta do it though." + +At that he sat down on his sleeping-bag, and, with arms outstretched, like +Jack London's man of the wild, he slept the uneasy sleep of one who hunts +and is hunted. + +Night came at last and, with it, wakefulness and action. Cutting a hole +through the snow-wall, which under the drive of the storm had grown to a +surprising thickness, he crept out and slid down the hard bank, leaving no +tracks behind. + +The storm had abated; the moon and stars were out. As he dodged into the +store sheds, he fancied that he saw a shadow flit from sight at the other +end. + +Working rapidly, he unearthed four fresh batteries. They were heavy +affairs. A sled improvised from a plank and a bit of wire would aid him in +bringing them up the hill. He had just arranged this contrivance and was +about to turn toward the door, when a sudden darkening of the patch of +moonlight admitted by the open door caused him to leap behind the massive +shape of a smelter. He peered around the edge of it, his breath coming +rapidly. + +Through his mind sped the question: "Bolsheviki, natives, or yellow men?" + + * * * * * + +Upon freeing itself from the frozen claybank, the sausage balloon, with +Dave Tower, Jarvis and the unconscious stranger on board, rose rapidly. + +In their wild consternation, Dave and Jarvis did not realize this until +the intense cold of the upper air began to creep through the +heavily-padded walls of the cabin. + +At this, Jarvis dropped on his stomach and stared down through the +plate-glass on the floor. + +"Shiver my bones!" he ejaculated, "we're a mile 'igh and goin' 'igher!" + +At this word Dave dashed for the door. He had it half open. A blast of air +so cold that it seemed solid ice rushed its way through the opening. + +Immediately Jarvis threw himself against the door. + +"What'll y' do?" he stormed. "I 'ates to think 'ow stiff you'd freeze +h'out there in the 'alf of a second." + +Dave shook with the cold and the excitement. The stranger in the corner +groaned. + +Jarvis sprang to the gasoline motor. + +"If we can get 'er started we'll 'ave some 'eat." + +After five minutes of fumbling about with stiffening fingers, he +straightened up with a sigh. + +"Can't make 'ead nor tail of 'er. These bloomin' 'eathen; they make such +queer riggin's." + +Dave did not answer. He had discovered a series of sealed wet batteries +lined against the wall and, having dragged one of these loose from its +wiring, prepared to test it out with a piece of insulated wire. + +In a second there came a blinding flash. + +"Charged! Charged to the gunwale!" he exulted. "Now if we can only hook +them up with the heating system of this cabin, we're all right. Give us a +hand." + +Jarvis, catching his idea, began searching for the connecting wires of the +heating system, while Dave connected the batteries in series. + +"'Ere they are," he exclaimed suddenly. "Right 'ere, me lad." + +Soon a life-sustaining warmth came gently stealing over the place. + +"Take hoff 'alf the batteries," suggested Jarvis, "'alf's a plenty. +There's no tellin' 'ow long we'll be sailin' in this hark." + +This was hardly done when their attention was attracted by the stranger. +He had groaned and turned over. + +"Now that it's warm enough," suggested Dave, "we'd better try to help the +poor fellow back to consciousness. If he hasn't suffered a concussion of +the brain, he'll live yet, and perhaps he can tell us things. There are +plenty of questions I'd like to ask him." + +"Yes," exclaimed Jarvis eagerly. "'Oo killed Frank Langlois." + +They went to work over the man. Having removed his outer garments, they +unbuttoned his shirt and began chafing his hands, arms and chest, till +they were rewarded by a sigh of returning consciousness. + +"Where am I?" the man whispered, as he opened his eyes. + +"You're all right," answered Dave quickly. "Drink this and go back to +sleep." + +He held a cup of steaming malted milk to the man's lips. He drank it +slowly. Then, turning an inquiring look on Dave, he murmured, "American?" + +In another second he was lost in a sleeping stupor. + +Dave twisted himself about and gazed down at the panorama of purple +shadows that flitted along beneath them. + +"Patient doing well," he murmured at last. "Going due north by west. Forty +miles an hour, I'd say. Beautiful prospects for all of us, Mr. Jarvis. +Going right on into a land that does not belong to anybody and where +nobody lives. Upon which hundred thousand square miles would you prefer to +land?" + +Jarvis did not answer. He was dreaming day dreams of other adventures he +had had in that strange no man's land. + +Finally he shook himself and mumbled: + +"No 'opes. No 'opes." + +"Oh, I wouldn't say it was as bad as that," smiled Dave. "Let's have a cup +of tea." + +"Yes, let's," murmured Jarvis. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +PLAYING A LONE HAND + + +Hardly had Johnny Thompson in Vladivostok uttered his warning to the +doctor than a figure leaped out at him from a dark doorway. Not having +expected an attack from this direction, Johnny was caught unprepared. A +knife flashed. He felt a heavy impact on his chest. A loud snap followed +by a scream from his assailant. There came the wild patter of fleeing +footsteps, then the little drama ended. + +"Hurt?" inquired the doctor, a deep concern expressed in his tone. + +"Nope," Johnny smiled. "But I'm afraid the rascal's ripped a hole in one +of my moose-hide sacks. The gold is leaking out." + +"Hang the gold!" ejaculated the doctor. "Let it go. It's done its +part--saved your life. An armor of gold! I'd say that's some class!" + +"That's all right," said Johnny, still keeping an eye out for other +assailants. "But sentiment won't buy biscuits and honey for starving +children. Gold will. Give us a hand at stopping the leak." + +"Go easy," admonished the doctor, "you'll give the whole thing away." + +They worked cautiously, revealing nothing to a possible prying eye. When +the task was completed, Johnny stooped to pick up the hilt of the broken +blade. He turned it over and over in his hand, regarding it curiously. + +"Oriental, all right," he murmured. "I wonder if those little rascals +could have beaten us here." + +"Come on," exclaimed the doctor impatiently, "this is no place for +wondering. I'm for a safe place inside somewhere." + +A few turns brought them to Red Cross headquarters, and to one of the big +surprises of Johnny's rather adventurous life. He had hardly crossed the +threshold when his lips framed the word: + +"Mazie!" + +Could he believe his eyes? Yes, there she was, the girl chum of his +boyhood days, the girl who had played tennis and baseball with him, who +had hiked miles upon miles with him, who swam the sweeping Ohio river with +him. The girl who, in Chicago, having tried to locate him, had come near +to losing her life in a submarine. + +"Mazie! Mazie!" he whispered. Then, "How did you come here?" + +"By boat, of course," smiled Mazie. "How'd you think?" She took both his +hands in hers. + +"But, Mazie, this is a man's place. It's dangerous. Besides, what--" + +"What's my business? Well, you see, I'm your agent. I'm going to spend all +that splendid gold you've been digging to help the orphans. I'm 'M.' It +was I who did all that frantic wireless stuff. Did you get it?" + +"I did," smiled Johnny, "and if I'd known it was you I would have come on +by wireless." + +"But now," he said, after a moment's reflection, "as Jerry the Rat would +say, 'Wot's de lay?'" + +Mazie sighed. "Honest, Johnny, have you the gold? Because if you haven't, +it's 'Home, James,' for me. These Russians are the most suspicious people! +They've threatened to put me aboard ship twenty times because I wasn't +making good. I wasn't feeding anybody, as I have said I would. And, oh, +Johnny!" she gripped his arm, "the last three days I've been so +frightened! Every time I ventured out, day or night, I have seen little +yellow men dogging my footsteps; not Japanese military police, but just +little yellow men." + +"Hm," grunted Johnny, "I fancy Doc and I met one of them just now. He +seemed to know us, too. Here's his dagger." + +"Broken?" exclaimed Mazie. "How?" + +Johnny stepped to the door of the small parlor and closed it. + +"Gold," he whispered, "an armor of gold." + +From beneath his coat he drew a sack of gold. + +"Yes, Mazie, we've got the gold--plenty of it. Again I ask you, 'Wot's de +lay?'" + +Mazie clasped her hands in glad surprise. For fully three minutes she +acted the part of a happy child dancing around a Christmas tree, with +Johnny doing the part of Christmas tree and delighted parent all in one. + +At last, she came down to earth. + +"What we need is food and shelter for the poor little wretches. Oh, +Johnny, I can't tell you--" + +"Don't need to," interrupted Johnny, "I soldiered in this God-forgotten +hole for nine months. Tell me what we can do first and fastest." + +"Well, there's a great empty hotel down in the street St. Jacobs. It has a +wonderful dining-room, big enough for a thousand women and children. We +can rent it for gold." + +"For gold," said Johnny, setting a sack of gold on the table. + +"Then we can get rice and sweet potatoes from China by ship, for gold." + +"For gold," again echoed Johnny, banging three heavy sacks on the table. + +"Oh, aren't you the Midas!" exclaimed Mazie, clapping her hands. + +"But, Johnny," she said presently, "there's one more thing. It's hard, and +I'm afraid a bit dangerous. Rice and sweet potatoes are not enough for +starving people." + +"I'll say not." + +"They need soup. Many would die without it. Soup means meat. We must have +it. The nearest cattle are a hundred miles away. The Mongols have them. +They are the border traders between China and Russia, you know. They have +cattle--hundreds of them. They can be bought for gold." + +"For gold," smiled Johnny, patting his chest which still bulged +suspiciously. "I'll be off for the cattle in the morning. I'll leave Doc +here to do what he can, and to look after you." + +"Good!" exclaimed Mazie, clapping her hands again. "The Red Cross will +supply you a band of trustworthy Russians to help drive the cattle here. +The Mongols won't dare bring them." + +"All right," said Johnny. "And now, what about the supposed hospitality of +the Red Cross? I'm hungry. So is Doc." + +"Right this way," and Mazie hurried through the door. + +Half an hour later the two were enjoying such a meal as they had not eaten +for months; not because of its bountifulness, nor richness, but because it +was prepared by a woman. + +"To-morrow," said Johnny, as he murmured good-night, "I am to venture into +one more unknown land." + +"Yes, and may your patron saint protect you as he has done in the past," +said Mazie. + +"My patron saint is a miss," smiled Johnny, "and her name is Mazie. +Good-night." + + * * * * * + +Realizing that he was trapped, the instant that forms blocked the door of +the machine sheds at the Seven Mines, Pant tackled the problem of escape. +If these were natives or yellow men, they would treat him rough. If they +were Bolsheviki, he could hope for no better fate. His only hope lay in +escape. The place had no other door and no open windows. He must gain his +freedom by strategy. Evidently, he must play the cat-and-mouse act about +the piles of supplies and machinery. + +As he dodged back to a position behind a large ore crusher, he managed to +catch sight of the two men. + +"Bolsheviki!" he gasped inaudibly. "What giants!" + +Full-bearded giants they were, reminding him of nothing so much as of +Bluebeard in the fairy books, or the Black Brothers in "The Lost River." + +Seeming to scent him, as a dog scents a rat, they moved cautiously down +the narrow passage between piles. As yet, they had not caught sight of +him. Hope rose. Perhaps they would pass by him. Then he could make a dash +for it. Yet, this was not entirely satisfactory. They would follow him, +would see where he had gone, if he escaped to the mine. Then all his plans +would go glimmering. + +Instantly there flashed through his mind a bolder and, if it worked, a +better plan. Moving close to the crusher, he put his hand to the great +hopper that rested on and towered above it. This was made of iron and was +fully eight feet wide and quite as deep. His keen eye measured the +aperture at the bottom. No giant, such as these were, could crowd through +that hole. And the hopper was heavy. Applying all his strength to it, he +felt it give ever so slightly. It was not bolted down; it was merely +balanced there. He would be able to topple it over. And, once over, it +would be a difficult affair to handle, especially from beneath. + +As he waited, his heart thumped so loudly that it seemed the Russians must +hear and charge down upon him. + +They came on cautiously, peering this way then that. He caught the gleam +of a knife, the dull-black shine of an automatic. It was a man hunt, sure +enough--and he was the man. Now they were five paces from him, now three, +now two. His breath came in little inaudible gasps. His muscles knotted +and unknotted. + +And now the moment had come. The men were even with the crusher, on the +opposite side from him. Gathering all his strength, he heaved away at the +hopper. There followed a grinding sound, a shout of warning, then a dull +thud. The enemy were trapped. + +Pant spun round the crusher like a top. Seizing the wire he had arranged +for his improvised sled, he rushed toward the door, dragging the batteries +after him. + +A glance backward came near convulsing him with laughter. One of the +Russians had succeeded in thrusting his head through the narrow opening at +the top of the inverted hopper. Here he stuck. To the boy, he resembled a +backwoodsman encircled by a barber's huge apron. + +But there was little time for mirth; business was at hand. New problems +confronted him. Were other Bolsheviki near the shed? If so, then all was +lost. + +Poking his head out of the door, he peered about carefully. There was not +a person in sight. The wind had risen. + +"Good!" he muttered, "it will hide my tracks!" + +He was soon speeding across the snow. In another five minutes he was +peering like a woodchuck from his hole in the snowbank. His batteries were +already inside. If he had not been observed, he had only to block his +entrance and leave the wind to plaster it over with drifting snow. + +As he looked his brow wrinkled. Then he dodged back, drawing the snow-cake +door after him. The two Russians had emerged from the shed. + + * * * * * + +For hours on end the balloon, with Dave Tower, Jarvis and the stranger on +board, now hundreds of miles from the mines, swept over the barren +whiteness of unexplored lands. The sun went down and the moon shone in all +its glory. The fleeting panorama below turned to triangles great and +small--triangles of pale yellow and midnight blue. Now and again the earth +seemed to rise up toward them. By this Dave and Jarvis knew that they were +drifting over snow-capped hills. When it receded, they knew they were over +the tundra. Sometimes they caught the silver flash and gleam of a river +the ice of which had been kept clear of snow by the incessant sweep of the +wind. + +As Dave crouched by the plate-glass window staring down at that wonderful +and terrible spectacle of an unknown land, he asked himself the question: +"Was this land ever viewed by mortal man?" + +The answer could be only a surmise. Perhaps some struggling band of +political exiles, fighting their way through summer's tundra swamps and +over winter's blizzard-swept hills, had passed this way, or lingered to +die here. Who could tell? Surely nothing was known of the mineral wealth, +the fish, the game, the timber of this unexplored inland empire. What a +field to dream of! + +His mind was drawn from its revels by a groan from the stranger. He was +awake and conscious. Propping himself half up on an elbow, he stared about +him. + +"Where am I?" He sank back, an expression of amazement and fear written on +his face. + +"Who are you?" asked Dave. + +"I--why--I," the man's consciousness appeared to waver for a second. "Why, +I'm Professor Todd from Tri-State University." + +"What were you doing with the Orientals?" + +"Orientals?" The man looked puzzled. "Orientals? Oh, you mean the natives; +the Chukches. Why, I was studying them. Getting their language, taking +pictures, getting phonographic records, and--" + +Suddenly the man's face went white. + +"Where--where are we?" he stammered through tight-set lips. The balloon, +caught in a pocket of thin air, had caused the car to lurch. + +"Taking a little trip," said Dave reassuringly. "You're all right. We'll +land after a bit." + +"Land? So we are on a ship? I've been sick? We're going home. It is well. +Life with the Chukches was rotten, positively rotten--positive--" + +His voice trailing off into nothingness. He was asleep again. + +Dave stared at him. Here was a new mystery. Was this man lying? Had he +been in collusion with the Orientals, and was he trying to hide that fact; +or had the rap on his head caused a lapse of memory, which blotted out all +recollections of the affair in the case and mine? + +"Look, Dave!" exclaimed Jarvis suddenly, "as I live it's the City of +Gold!" + +In the east the sun was just peeping over the horizon. But Jarvis was not +looking in that direction. He was looking west. There, catching the sun's +first golden glow, some object had cast it back, creating a veritable +conflagration of red and gold. + +Dave, remembering to have viewed such a sight in other days, and in what +must have been something of the same location, stared in silence for a +full minute before he spoke: + +"If it is," he said slowly, "there's only one salvation for us. We've got +to get down out of the clouds. The last time I saw that riot of color it +was on the shore of the ocean, or very near it, and to drift over the +Arctic Ocean in this crazy craft is to invite death." + +He sprang for the door which led to the narrow plank-way about the cabin +and to the rigging where the valve-cord must hang suspended. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +DANGLING IN MID AIR + + +Before dawn, the morning after his interview with Mazie, Johnny was away +for the camp of the Mongols. There was a moist freshness in the air which +told of approaching spring, yet winter lingered. + +It was a fair-sized cavalcade that accompanied him; eight burly Russians +on horseback and six in a sled drawn by two stout horses. For himself he +had secured a single horse and a rude sort of cutter. He was not alone in +the cutter. Beside him sat a small brown person. This person was an +Oriental. There could be no mistake about that. Mazie had told him only +that here was his interpreter through whom all his dealings with the +Mongols would be done. + +He wondered much about the interpreter. He had met with some fine +characters among the brown people. There had been Hanada, his school +friend, and Cio-Cio-San, that wonder-girl who had traveled with him. He +had met with some bad ones too, and that not so long ago. His experiences +at the mines had made him, perhaps, unduly suspicious. + +He did not like it at all when he found, after a long day of travel and +two hours of supper and pitching camp, with half the journey yet to go, +that this little yellow person proposed to share his skin tent for the +night. At first he was inclined to object. Yet, when he remembered the +feeling that existed between these people and the Russians, he realized at +once that he could scarcely avoid having the interpreter for a tent-mate. + +Nothing was said as the two, with a candle flickering and flaring between +them, prepared to slip into their sleeping-bags for the night. + +When, at last, the candle was snuffed out, Johnny found that he could not +sleep. The cold air of the long journey had pried his eyes wide open; they +would not go shut. He could think only of perils from small yellow people. +He was, indeed, in a position to invite treachery, since he carried on his +person many pounds of gold. He, himself, did not know its exact value; +certainly it was thousands of dollars. He had taken that which the doctor +had carried, and had left the doctor to do what he could for the +sufferers, and to assist Mazie in her preparations of the great kitchens +and dining-room where thousands were to be fed. + +For a long time, he thought of treachery, of dark perils, reaching a +bloody hand out of the dark. But presently a new and soothing sensation +came to him. He dreamed of other days. He was once more on the long +journey north, the one he had taken the year previous. Cio-Cio-San was +sleeping near him. They were on a great white expanse, alone. There was no +peril; all was peace. + +So great was the illusion that he scratched a match and gazed at the +sleeping face near him. + +He gave a little start at the revelation it brought. Certainly, there was +a striking resemblance here to the face of Cio-Cio-San. Yet, he told +himself, it could not be. This person was a man. And, besides, Cio-Cio-San +was now rich. She was in her own country living in luxury and comfort, a +lady bountiful among her own people. + +He told himself all this, and yet so much of the illusion remained that he +fell asleep and slept soundly until the rattle of harness and the shout of +horsemen told him that morning was upon them and they must be off. + +He looked for his companion. He was gone. When Johnny had dressed, he +found the interpreter busily assisting with the morning repast. + +"Just like Cio-Cio-San," he muttered to himself, as he dipped his hands +into icy water for a morning splash. + + * * * * * + +After his escape from the two Bolsheviki in the machine shed, Pant sat by +the entrance to his mine in breathless expectancy. The two Russians +certainly had not seen him enter the mine, but others might have done so, +and, more than that, there was grave danger that they would track him to +his place of hiding. + +He was not surprised when his alert ear caught a sound from without, close +at hand. He only crowded a little further back into the corner, that the +light from the broken-in entrance, providing it was discovered and +crushed, should not fall upon him. + +His heart thumped loudly. His hand gripped his automatic. He expected +immediate action from without. His hopes of reaching the mother-lode of +this mine vanished. He thought now only of escape. + +But action was delayed. Now and then there came sounds as of footsteps and +now a scratching noise reached his ear. The crust of the snow was hard. +Perhaps they were attempting to tear it away with some crude implement, a +stick or board. + +As he listened, he heard the whine of a dog. So this was it? One of their +hounds had tracked him down. They were probably afraid of him and would +wait for him to come out. + +"In that case," he whispered to himself, "they will wait a long, long +time." + +He did not desert his post. To be caught in the far end of the mine meant +almost certain torture and death. + +As he listened, he heard the dog's whine again and again, and it was +always accompanied by the scratching sound. What could that mean? A hound +which has found the lair of its prey does not whine. He bays his message, +telling out to all the world that he has cornered his prey. + +The more the boy thought of it, the more certain he became that this was +not one of the Russian hounds. But if not, then what dog was it? Perhaps +one of Johnny Thompson's which had escaped. If it were, he would be a +friend. + +Of one thing Pant became more and more positive: there were no men with +the dog. From this conclusion he came to a decision on a definite course +of action. If the dog was alone, whether friend or foe, he would +eventually attract attention and that would bring disaster. The logical +thing to do would be to pull out the snow-cake door and admit the beast. +If he were one of the Russians wolf-hounds--Pant drew a short-bladed knife +from his belt; an enemy's dog would be silenced with that. + +With trembling fingers he gripped the white door and drew it quickly away. +The next instant a furry monster leaped toward him. + +It was a tense moment. In the flash of a second, he could not determine +the character of the dog. His knife gleamed in his hand. To delay was +dangerous. The beast might, in a twinkle, be at his throat. + +He did not strike. With a supple motion he sprang to one side as the dog +shot past him. By the time he had turned back toward the entrance, Pant +recognized him as a white man's dog. + +"Well, howdy, old sport," he exclaimed, as the dog leaped upon him, ready +to pull him to pieces out of pure joy. + +"Down, down, sir!" + +The dog dropped at his feet. In another minute the snow-door was in its +place again. + +"Well, old chap," said Pant, peering at the dog through his goggles. "You +came to share fortunes with me, did you? The little yellow men had a +tiger; I've got a dog. That's better. A tiger'd leave you; a dog never. +Besides, old top, you'll tell me when there's danger lurking 'round, won't +you? But tell me one thing now: did anyone see you come in here?" + +The dog beat the damp floor with his tail. + +"Well, if they did, it's going to be mighty tough for you and me, that's +all I've got to say about it." + + * * * * * + +Upon opening the door to the cabin of the balloon, after catching the +gleam of the supposed domes of the City of Gold, Dave Tower found, to his +great relief, that they had dropped to a considerably lower level than +that reached by them many hours before. He was able to stand exposure to +this outer air. + +He began at once to search for cords which would allow gas to escape from +the balloon. + +"Should be a valve-cord and a rip-cord somewhere," he muttered to himself, +"but you can never tell what these Orientals are going to do about such +things." + +As he gazed away toward the north, he was sure he caught sight of dark +purple patches between the white. + +"Might just be shadows and might be pools of salt water between the +ice-floes. If we land on the ocean, good night!" + +Hurriedly he searched the rigging for dangling cords. He found none. If +there had been any, they had been thrown up and tangled above by the +tossing of the balloon. + +Dave stared dizzily upward to where the giant sausage drifted silently on. +It was a sheer fifty feet. To reach this there was but one means, a +slender ladder of rope. Could he do it? Could he climb to the balloon and +slit it before they reached the ocean? + +It was their only chance. If the City of Gold was not a complete illusion; +if human beings lived there at all, they might hope for food and shelter. +There were chemicals in the cabin for re-inflating the balloon. A fair +wind, or the discovery of the method of operating that Oriental engine, +might insure them a safe voyage home. But once they were out over the +ocean--his heart went sick at the thought of it. + +Gripping the rounds of the ladder, he began to climb. It was a perilous +task. Now with a sinking sensation he felt the ladder apparently drop from +beneath him. The balloon had struck a pocket of air. And now he felt +himself lifted straight up a fleeting hundred feet. + +Holding his breath, he waited. Then, when the motion was stable, he began +to climb again. He had covered two-thirds of the distance, was staring up +at the bulk that now seemed almost upon his very head, when, with a little +cry, he felt his foot crash through a rotten strand. It was a second of +dreadful suspense. Madly he grasped the rope sides of the ladder. His left +hand slipped, but his right held firm. There, for a fraction of time that +seemed an eternity, supported by only one hand, he hung out over thousands +of feet of airy space. + +His left hand groped for the ropes which eluded his grasp. He gripped and +missed, gripped and missed. Then he caught it and held on. He was holding +firmly now with both hands. But how his arms ached! With his feet he began +kicking for the ladder, which, swinging and bagging in the wind, seemed as +elusive as a cobweb. At last, when strength was leaving him, he doubled up +his knees and struck out with both feet. They fell upon something and +stuck there. They had found a round of the ladder. Hugging the ropes, he +panted for breath, then slowly worked himself to a more natural position. + +"Huh!" he breathed at last. "Huh! Gee! That makes a fellow dizzy!" + +He had climbed ten steps further when a cry of joy escaped his lips: + +"The valve-cord!" + +It was true. By his side dangled a small rope which reached to the +balloon. + +Gripping this he gave it a quick pull and was rewarded at once by the hiss +of escaping gas. + +"Good!" he muttered to himself, as he prepared for his downward climb. +"Trust an Oriental to make things hard. Suppose they thought if they had +it any closer to the car the children might raise the dickens by playing +with it." + +He swung there relaxed. They were dropping. He could tell that plainly +enough. Now he could distinguish little lines of hills, now catch the +course of a river, now detect the rows of brown willows that lined its +banks. + +He looked for the gleam of the City of Gold. There was none. The sun had +evidently climbed too high for that. + +His eyes roamed to the north. Then his lips uttered a cry: + +"The ocean! We can't escape it!" + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE RUSSIAN DAGGER + + +Johnny Thompson, with his interpreter by his side, found himself in the +camp of the Mongols. It was a vast tented city, a moving city of traders. +Down its snow-trod streets drifted yellow people of all descriptions. Men, +women and children moved past him. Some were young, some very old. All +appeared crafty and capable of treachery. + +"It was against these people that the Chinese built their great wall," +said Johnny thoughtfully. "I don't wonder." + +"When do we see his highness, the great high chief who deals in cattle?" + +His interpreter smiled. "I have just come from there. We may go to see him +now." + +Johnny twisted one shoulder as if adjusting a heavy burden, then turned to +follow the interpreter. + +He did not like the looks of things; he longed to be safely back in +Vladivostok with Mazie. There were times like this when he wished he had +not taken it upon himself to play the fairy godfather to Russia's starving +hosts. But since he had undertaken the task, however difficult it might +prove, he must carry on. + +He soon found himself sitting cross-legged on a floor so deeply imbedded +in soft, yielding skins that he sank half out of sight beneath them. +Before him, also reposing in this sea of softness, was a Mongol of unusual +size, whose face was long and solemn. He puffed incessantly at a +long-stemmed Russian pipe. + +Forming the third corner of the triangle, was the little interpreter. + +The two members of the yellow race conversed in low tones for some time. +At last the interpreter turned to Johnny: + +"I have told him that you want to buy cattle, much cattle. He say, how +much you want to pay? How you want to pay? How much you want to buy?" + +"You tell him that I saw six of his cattle out here just now. They are +very poor. But we will take them--maybe. Ask him how much?" + +"He say, have you got gold?" + +"You say," grinned Johnny, "that we have got gold. We don't need a +button-hook to button up our purse, but we've got gold. We pay gold. How +much?" + +The interpreter puckered up his brow and conveyed the message. The Mongol +mumbled an answer. + +"He say, how much you want pay?" + +"Tell him for six cattle I pay one pound gold. All same." + +He drew from his pocket a small leather sack, and unlacing the strings +held it open before the Mongol. + +The crafty eyes of the trader half closed at sight of the glistening +treasure. His greedy fingers ran through it again and again. Then he +grunted. + +"He say," droned the interpreter, "how much cattle you want to buy?" + +"Maybe three hundred," stated Johnny casually. + +The interpreter started, but delivered the message. + +The Mongol, upon receiving this word, sprang from the furs like a jack +from his box and hot words rushed rapidly from his lips. + +When he had finished, the interpreter explained that he said Johnny was +jesting with him. It was impossible that anyone would buy three hundred +head of cattle with gold in the starving land of Russia. + +The Mongol sank back to his place among the furs, and the bickering was +continued. For two hours it waged, ending finally by the promise of the +Mongol that, in the morning, the cattle should be at hand; that they would +be better than those Johnny had seen; and that Johnny's "beggarly" price +of one pound of gold for six cattle would be accepted. + +Once the bargaining was over, the Mongol was transformed in a second's +time into the most charming of hosts. Johnny and his interpreter must dine +with him. Yes, indeed! They must sleep in his tent that night. They should +talk long and of many things. It was not often that he had the honor of +playing host to such a rich and clever guest. Indeed, it was not. But they +should not converse so long together that Johnny and his most excellent +interpreter should be robbed of their night's repose. + +Several hours later, Johnny was buried to the point of smothering beneath +rugs of fur that would bring the price of a king's ransom. His mind was +still in a whirl. Perhaps it was the tea, perhaps the excitement of big +business, and again, it may have been a premonition of things to happen. +Whatever it may have been, he could not sleep. + +His racing mind whispered to him of treachery out of the night. It had +been a wonderful evening. They had been treated to a feast such as he had +seldom dreamed of. Surely these Mongols could concoct from beef, rice, +sweet potatoes and spices the most wonderful of viands. And, as for tea, +he had never tasted real tea before. The aroma of it still haunted his +nostrils. + +And the Mongol had told him many things. He had traveled far, had this +trader; he had seen much. He spoke of Russia, of China, Japan and India. +He told of matters that made Johnny's blood run cold, of deeds done in +that border-land between great countries, each seething with revolution +and bloodshed. Not that he, the Mongolian, had done these things, but he +had seen them accomplished. And he had traded for the spoils, the spoils +of rich Russians driven from their own land and seeking refuge in another. +He was a trader. It was his business. He must have profit. What should one +do? If he did not take the riches, another would. But as for committing +these deeds himself, Confucius forbid it; he had scowled to show his +disapproval. + +At the same time, as Johnny thought it all through, and felt the hard +lumps about him that were sacks of gold, he found it very difficult to +fall asleep. + +His interpreter, lying not an arm's length away, breathed with the steady +ease of one in deep slumber. The Mongol had drawn a curtain of ermine +skins between them and his own bed. Could it be that this interpreter had +made his way into the good graces of Mazie only to turn murderer and +robber at the proper time? Johnny had only Mazie's word that the person +could be trusted, and Mazie was but a girl, not accustomed to the +deep-seated treachery in the oriental mind. + +He had traveled far that day; he had talked long and dined well; he was a +healthy human being; and sleep came at last. + +How long he had slept, he did not know when he was awakened by an +indescribable sensation. Had he heard something, felt something? He could +not tell. He breathed on, the steady deep breath of a sleeper, and did not +stir, but he opened an eye a mere crack. A shadow stretched across him. It +was made by a person who stood between him and an oriental lamp which +flickered dimly in the corner. His eye sought the place where the +interpreter lay. The skins were too deep there and he could not tell +whether he was there or not. + +The shadow shifted. The person was moving into view. He could see him now. +He was short and brown of face. + +"The interpreter!" These words formed themselves on his lips, but were not +spoken. + +The next second he knew it was not the interpreter, for there came a stir +at his side as the interpreter sat up. + +So there were two of them. Treachery! Well, he should not die alone. His +hand gripped the cold steel of his automatic. He tilted it ever so +slightly. Fired from where it lay, it would send a bullet crashing through +the crouching interpreter's chest. He was about to pull the trigger when +something arrested his attention. + +A blade gleamed in the hand of the interpreter. Even in this darkness, he +recognized the weapon as one he had taken from a would-be murderer, a +Russian Chukche. He had given it to a very good friend, a Japanese +lady--Cio-Cio-San! + +A cold chill ran down his spine. Had he come near killing a friend? Was +this one crouching in the act of defending him against an enemy? Cold +perspiration stood out upon his brow. He made a tremendous effort to +continue breathing evenly. He could only take a desperate chance and await +the turn of events. + + * * * * * + +Hardly had Dave Tower discovered the imminent peril of drifting out over +the ice-packed sea, than a ray of hope came to him. Scattered along the +mainland of this vast continent there was, here and there, an island. +Should they be so fortunate as to drift upon one of these, they might be +saved. + +Hurriedly climbing down from his perilous perch, he hastened to inform +Jarvis of their position. + +"Blind my eyes!" exclaimed Jarvis. "Wot don't 'appen to us ain't worth +'appenin'." + +Then Dave told him of his hope that there might be an island ahead. + +"I 'opes so," said Jarvis, as he seized a glass and rushed outside to scan +the broken surface of the sea. + +In the meantime, the balloon was sinking rapidly. It was only a matter of +time until the cabin would bump upon an ice-pile. Then it was doubtful if +even the quickest action could save their lives. + +They brought the stranger, who was now able to sit up and stare about him, +to the outer deck. He gazed down at the swaying, flying landscape and was +badly frightened when he discovered that they were in midair, but Dave +reassured him, while Jarvis brought sleeping-bags and boxes of food to a +position by the rail. + +"If the worst 'appens, we'll at least h'eat and sleep on the floe until it +'eaps up an' buries us," he grumbled. + +"Land ahead!" exclaimed Dave suddenly, throwing down his glasses and +rushing inside the cabin. He was out again in a moment, bearing on his +shoulder a coil of steel cable, and dragging a heavy land anchor after +him. + +"We may be able to save the old boat yet," he yelled excitedly. "Jarvis, +bring out the rope ladder." + +Jarvis hastened inside and reappeared almost immediately with the ladder. + +"It's an island," said Dave, "and, as far as I can judge, we're only two +or three hundred feet from its surface when we get above it. We'll throw +over the anchor and if it catches somewhere, we'll go down the ladder. In +time the balloon will lose gas enough to bring her to earth." + +"You 'ave a good 'ead, me lad," approved Jarvis. "'Ere's 'opin' it 'appens +that way!" + +It did happen that way, and, in due course of time, the three men found +themselves on the brow of a low plateau which seemed as deserted as the +pyramids of Egypt, and quite as barren of life. + +"One thing's sure," said Dave. "We've got to get the gas back into that +old cloth tank and catch a fair wind, or get that engine to working, if we +don't wish to starve." + +"Aye," said Jarvis. + +"There's a strange pile of rocks up on the ledge there. I'm going for a +look at it," said Dave. + +He returned in a few moments, mingled excitement and amusement on his +face. + +"Jarvis," he smiled happily, "we're not so badly off, after all. Here we +are right back in old United States of America!" + +"United States?" Jarvis stared. + +"Says so in this message I found in a brass can. Says--" + +Dave broke off suddenly. Something on the crest to the right of them had +caught his attention. Grasping his automatic, Dave went skulking away in +the shadow of the hill. + +Jarvis, too, had seen it and awaited the outcome of this venture with +eager expectancy. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +CIO-CIO-SAN + + +Hardly had Johnny Thompson's finger lessened its pressure on the trigger +of his automatic, than the interpreter sprang straight at the figure that +cast the shadow. + +A scream rent the air. + +With a spring, Johnny was on his feet, just in time to see one of the +figures drop. In the dim light he could not tell which one. He stood there +motionless. It had all happened so quickly that he was stunned into +inactivity. + +In that brief moment bedlam broke loose. The Mongol chief sprang from +behind his curtain. Other Mongols, deserting all night games of chance, +came swarming in on all sides. Their jargon was unintelligible. Johnny +could not tell them what had happened, even had he rightly known. + +The fallen man was dragged out upon the snow, where his blood made a +rapidly spreading dark circle on the crystal whiteness. He was dead beyond +a doubt. + +Slowly the group settled in a dense ring about some one who was talking +rapidly. Evidently the survivor of the tragedy was explaining. Was it the +interpreter or the other? Johnny could not crowd close enough to tell. + +He flashed his electric torch upon the fallen body. The sight of the hilt +protruding from the chest, over the heart, gave Johnny a start. His +interpreter had won. It was his knife that had made the fatal thrust. The +dead man was undoubtedly Oriental and not a member of the Mongolian +tribe. + +That knife! Johnny started. How had this person come into possession of +that blade which he had given to Cio-Cio-San? That Cio-Cio-San would not +give it away, he was certain. What then had happened? Had it been stolen +from her, or was this strange interpreter, who had doubtless just now +saved his life, Cio-Cio-San herself? It seemed unbelievable, yet his mind +clung to the theory. He would soon know. + +Slowly the crowd dispersed. The killing of an Oriental in such a camp as +this was merely an incident in the life of the tribe, a thing soon to be +forgotten. Two servants of the chief bore the body away. Once more Johnny +found himself sitting in the triangle with his interpreter and the Mongol. +In his hands he held two knives; one he had drawn from the heart of the +dead man and had cleansed in the snow; the other was the one dropped by +the murderer. This last one evidently had been meant for him. + +The Mongol was profuse in his apologies, while he lauded to the sky the +bravery of the little interpreter. The slain man, he explained, was no +member of his company. He was one of three who had camped on the outer +edge of the village that very night. Doubtless they had followed Johnny +with the purpose of murdering and robbing him. He had sent at once for the +other two men, but they had fled. He hoped now that his guests might sleep +in peace. + +After delivering this message, he bowed himself back through the curtains. +Johnny and the interpreter were left alone. It was a dramatic moment. The +interpreter's fingers twitched nervously. Once the brown eyes fell upon +the knives Johnny held, but instantly they flashed away. Johnny had drawn +a freshly lighted fish-oil lamp to his side. + +"Friend," said he in a low tone, "you have done me a great service this +night. Will you do me but one more?" + +"Gladly, most gracious one." + +The small head bent low. + +"Allow me." Johnny took one of the brown hands, and began rolling up the +loose sleeve of the brown-skin parka. The brown face blanched a trifle. He +uncovered a sleeve of pink silk, and beneath that a slender brown arm. On +the arm, a finger's length beneath the elbow, was a triangular scar. + +Johnny sighed, then carefully rolling down the sleeve, dropped the hand. + +"It is enough," he smiled, "you are my old and very dear friend, +Cio-Cio-San. You have to-night added greatly to the debt of gratitude +which I owe you and can never repay. But why did you come? And why, most +of all, are you in disguise? Why are you in Russia at all? Why not in your +beloved Japan?" + +Cio-Cio-San sighed as if relieved at feeling the mask removed. + +"I came to Russia to find a very dear relative who had lived with my +family in the interior of Russia before this revolution came upon us. I +met Mazie; your so good friend. She pressed me into her service. Who could +refuse? I was glad to be of help. + +"Then, because there was no Japanese man who could speak for you to the +Mongols, she asked me to go. And, because it is unsafe for a woman to go +on such a journey, undisguised, I dressed as a man. So, there you have it +all. I am glad you know, you are a man of great honor. You will not tell +others. You will protect me from them." There was no question in her +voice. + +Johnny put out his hand in silence. Her small brown one rested in his for +a moment. + +Then in drowsy silence they sat by the sputtering lamp until the tinkle of +bell, the clatter of harness, the shout of drivers, and the distant lowing +of cattle, told them it was another day. + +That day's business was quickly brought to a close. Before the sun was +high in the heavens, Johnny found himself once more tucked beside his +interpreter in the cutter, slowly following his Russians, who drove a +splendid herd of cattle over the snow-clad fields and hard-packed roads +toward Vladivostok. Johnny owned that herd. Soon it would be supplying +nourishment to the hungry little ones. + +The return journey was crowded with recollections of other days, of those +days when he and Cio-Cio-San had followed the glistening trail to the far +Northland. But, as the spires of the cathedral in the city loomed up to +greet him, Johnny's mind was filled with many wonderings and not a few +misgivings. He was coming to the city of eastern Russia which more than +any other had seen revolt and counter-revolt, pillage and sudden death. In +that city now, starvation and disease stalked unmolested. In that city, +the wary Japanese military police maintained order while many a rampant +radical lurked in a corner to slay any who did not believe in his gospel +of unlimited freedom and license. Into that city Johnny must go. Every man +in it craved gold and food, and Johnny had both. He would use it for the +good of the sufferers, if he was given time. But those who rob and kill, +do not wait. He was troubled about Mazie. He had trusted gold to her care. +Had he acted unwisely; subjected her to needless perils? + +He thought of the Oriental who had attempted to take his life back there +in the Mongol's camp. There had been a strong resemblance between this man +and the band of men who had attempted to rob Mine No. 1. Had they secured +reindeer and made their way to Vladivostok? If so, they would dog his +trail, using every foul means to regain possession of the gold. And Mazie? +If they had entered the city, had they discovered that part of the gold +was in her hands? He shivered at the thought of it. + +At last, leaving the cattle in a great yard, surrounded by a stone fence, +some five miles from the outskirts, he drove hurriedly into Vladivostok. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +NEARING THE CITY OF GOLD + + +The creature for which Dave had gone on a double-quick hunt, after the +balloon had landed on the desert island, was a reindeer. He had probably +crossed over on a solid floe from the mainland. It was his last crossing. +Soon Dave came back dragging two hundred pounds of fresh meat behind him. + +"No more 'gold fish' in cans," he exulted. "No more evaporated milk and +pickled egg. We eat, Jarvis, we eat!" + +"That's fine," smiled Jarvis, "but what's all the words you been spillin' +about this bein' America?" + +"Oh!" laughed Dave. "That was something of a joke, though this island +really does belong to old U.S.A. Captain DeLong, an American, whose ship +was crushed in the ice near this island, was its first discoverer. He +claimed it in the name of his country and christened it Bennett Island. It +says that in the message he left in his cairn. But that don't feed us. I'm +starved. There's driftwood on the beach. C'mon." + +Soon they were roasting strips of delicious venison over a crackling fire. +Supper over, they lay down with faces to the fire and talked over +prospects for the future. The stranger was with them, but had little to +say. He seemed puzzled at the unusual circumstances of the journey and was +constantly asking when they would return to the native village at the +mouth of the river. + +"Evidently," said Dave, after a long and fruitless attempt to draw from +him any account of his life with the Orientals in the mine, "the rap he +received on his head blotted out all memory of those days. If we can't get +that particular stretch of memory in working order, we may never know how +Frank Langlois was killed, nor who it was that sent us strange messages on +phonographic records and moving-picture films. I'm hoping his memory'll +come back. A sudden shock may bring it round at any time." + +Their conference regarding the future resulted in a determination to wait +for a change of wind which would insure them a safe trip to the mainland. +In the meantime, Dave would prepare the chemicals for immediate inflation +of the balloon and Jarvis would study over the Japanese puzzle of a +gasoline engine which would not respond to his touch. + +Jarvis' work netted nothing. Three days later an onshore wind arose, and +the balloon, wafted upward on its gentle crest, brought the explorers back +to the mainland. + +"Land! Land! And the City of Gold!" exclaimed Jarvis, as the evening +clouds lifted and gave them a momentary view of that strange golden gleam +which for so long had haunted their dreams. + +Once before, many months ago, the two of them had neared the spot on an +ocean craft, but duty to marooned comrades had called them back. Now they +had only themselves to think of, and the City of Gold, if city it be, +would offer to them a haven of refuge. + +What wonder that their hearts beat wildly as they caught its gleam and +realized that in a very few moments they would be landing within a quarter +of a mile of that mysterious city, which, according to the natives whom +they had met long ago, did really exist as a place of many people and much +gold. + +"Pull the cord! Pull the cord!" shouted Jarvis excitedly. "We're nearin' +shore." + +He had spoken the truth. As Dave gripped the cord attached to the gas +valve on the balloon and in his imagination heard the hiss of escaping gas +and felt the drop of the balloon, his thoughts sobered. After all, what +did they know about these strange people? What sort of treatment would +they receive from them? If they landed they might, in less than an hour, +be dead. Might it not be better to allow the balloon to rise and to +attempt a journey back to some Russian town? But instantly he realized +that this gale which was coming would carry them to the heart of +Bolsheviki Russia. What chance would they have there? + +"Pull the cord! Pull the cord!" insisted Jarvis. + +Mechanically, Dave's hand came down. The hiss of air was followed by the +sagging drop of the car. The die had been cast. + + * * * * * + +For an hour, after admitting the white man's dog to his secret mine, Pant +sat listening for any sound that might tell of his discovery. After this, +heaving a sigh of relief, he turned at once to the work that lay before +him. He realized that whatever he did must be done soon. + +Dragging the newly acquired batteries back to where the others were lined +up along the wall, he attached one of them to the circuit, then threw in +the switch which should set the buzz-saw mining machine into operation. An +angry spit and flare was his only reward. + +Nothing daunted, he cut in another battery, then another. As he touched +the switch after attaching the third battery, a loud whirring sound +rewarded him. + +"Eureka! I have found it!" he cried, leaping high in air. "Now we win!" + +The dog barked loudly at this singular demonstration, but since the +vault-like mine was sound proof, it mattered little how noisy was his +rejoicing. + +The cutting machine was instantly set in operation. The sing of the wheel +against the frozen earth was deafening. The earth-tremble, started by the +machinery, could not fail to make itself felt outside the mine. But when +he realized that only the yellow men knew the cause of such a tremble and +that they were many miles from that spot, making their way south with dog +team or reindeer, Pant had little fear. He would find his way to the +mother-lode, would melt snow from the inside of the bank by the mine's +entrance, would wash out the gold; then, if only he could evade the +Russians and the Chukches, he would begin the southward journey. + +Hour by hour, the stacks of dark brown cubes of frozen pay dirt grew at +the sides of the mine. Hour by hour, the yellow glistened more brightly in +the cubes. Yet he did not come to the mother-lode. He slept but little, +taking short snatches now and then. Sometimes he fell asleep at his task. +One thing began to worry him; the gasoline was running short. With no +gasoline to run his motor, there could be no electric current, no power. + +Now and again he fancied that men were prowling about the snow-blocked +entrance. He knew these were only fancies. Sleepless days and nights were +telling on his nerves. When would the rich pay come? + +At last, while half asleep, he worked on the upper tiers of cubes, there +came a jarring rattle which brought him up standing. The wheel had struck +solid rock. This meant that there was a ledge, a former miniature fall in +the river bed. At the foot of this fall, there would be a pocket, and in +that pocket, much gold. The gasoline? There was yet enough. To-morrow he +would clean up the mother-lode. Then he would be away. + +He stumbled, as in a dream, to his blankets, and, wrapping them about him, +fell into a stupor that was sleep and more. + + * * * * * + +As the balloon, in which Dave Tower and Jarvis rode, drifted toward the +shore of the mainland, Dave, shading his eyes, watched the yellow gleam of +the City of Gold darken to a purplish black, then back to a dull gray. + +"Man, it's gone. I 'ates to look," groaned Jarvis. "It's gone, the City of +Gold." + +Dave had been expecting something like this to happen. "Probably the +surface of some gigantic rock, polished by wind and rain, reflecting the +rays of the sun," was his mental comment. He did not have the heart to +express his thoughts to Jarvis. + +They drifted on. Suddenly Dave dived into the cabin and returned with a +pair of powerful binoculars. He turned these on the spot where the shining +City of Gold had been. + +What he saw brought an exclamation to his lips. It died there unuttered. +"After all," he thought to himself, "it may be nothing, just nothing at +all." + +What he had seen was still brownish gray in color, but instead of the flat +even surface of a rock broken here and there by irregular fissures, he had +seen innumerable squares, placed as regularly as the roofs of a house. +"Nature does not build that way. Man must have had a hand in it. Here's +hoping." Such were his mental comments as he saw land rise up to meet +them. Were they nearing an inhabited land? + +He did not have long to wait for the answer. As the balloon drifted in +over the land, figures ran across the snow, in evident pursuit of the +drifting "sausage." + +Jarvis, who had taken the glass, let out a roar. "It's 'uman's, me lad, +'uman bein's it is, and if it's no one but the bloody, bloomin' 'eathen, +I'll be glad to see 'em." + +He was right. As the anchor, catching in a claybank, jerked the balloon to +a sudden halt, they could see the people racing toward the point where the +car was sure to land. + +Dave's mind was in a whirl. First his right hand gripped his automatic, +next it hung limp at his side. What manner of people were they, anyway? If +that broad flat surface of little squares meant the roof of a building, +then these certainly were not natives, Chukches or Eskimos. Those always +lived in houses of deer skin or snow. And, if it was a house, what an +immense thing it must be. A hundred feet long, perhaps two hundred, and +half as wide. + +There was little time for speculation. The balloon carriage dropped +rapidly. Their daft professor hung to the rail, babbling incoherent things +about returning to the mouth of the Anadir. Jarvis was silent. Evidently +there was but one thing to do; to trust themselves to the tender mercies +of these people. + +As the cabin bumped the snowy tundra, Dave sprang over the rail, followed +by Jarvis, who assisted the still feeble professor. + +They found themselves at once in the midst of a curious-eyed group of +people. These, with their long beards and droll clothing and droll +manners, made Dave feel as if he were another Rip Van Winkle entering a +land of dreams. + +In the crowd there were some twenty men, slowly straggling in. There was a +woman of middle age, and beside her a girl of about sixteen years, +evidently her daughter. Dave's eyes approved of the girl, and though she +was a stranger to his tongue, she did not fail to find an immediate means +of letting him know that she looked upon him with much favor. + +All these people were dressed in skins, fawn skins for the most part, +though there were occasional garments of leather. The garments were not +cut at all after the manner of Chukches or Eskimos. The girl wore a skirt +and a loose middy-like jacket of white buckskin, the skin of which had +been split thin. The garments suited her wonderfully well. + +Dave had concluded, before one of them spoke, that they were Russians. +When the oldest man of the group attempted to address him, he knew his +guess to be correct, though he understood not one word of what was being +said. + +"But what," he asked himself, "are these people doing here so far within +the Arctic Circle, and how do they live?" + +Having made it evident that he did not understand their language, he +awaited further attempts at conversation. Other languages were tried with +no success, until a man of thirty years or past suddenly said: + +"Do you speak English?" + +Dave could have wept on his shoulders for pure joy. What he did do was to +extend his hand with a hearty, "Put her there, old chap, that's just what +I do!" + +"You must be hungry," said the new-found friend. + +"We could eat," admitted Dave. + +"Come this way." + +Having made sure that the balloon was in a safe position, Dave and Jarvis, +assisting the professor, followed their host round a point of rock and up +to a row of cabins on the southern side of the hill. Having entered one of +these, they were invited to sit down while the professor was helped to a +room in the rear and tucked into bed. + +"Now, gentlemen," said the stranger, "we can offer you only venison and +fresh sweet potatoes for your main course. You will perhaps not mind that. +But in the matter of salads, we can give you a little choice. Will you +have head lettuce or sliced cucumbers?" He smiled genially. + +Dave looked at Jarvis; Jarvis stared at Dave. Was this man jesting? Head +lettuce and cucumbers in mid-winter, inside the Arctic Circle? What a rank +impossibility! Yet the man did not smile. + +"Mine's 'ead lettuce an' a little whale blubber," laughed Jarvis. + +"And yours?" smiled the host, turning to Dave. + +"S-s-same," stammered Dave, + +"'E's a jolly sport," sighed Jarvis, as the man went out. "Next 'e'll +offer strawberries for dessert." + +Imagine their utter astonishment when the man returned presently with a +wooden tray heavily laden with food, and on it, not only two heaping +wooden bowls of head lettuce, but two smaller bowls of luscious red +strawberries, and beside each of these, a little wooden pitcher of rich +cream. + +"Sorry we have to offer our food in such plain dishes," smiled the host. +"We have experimented with pottery but have had no success as yet." He +bowed himself out of the room. + +"Dave, old pal," said Jarvis, "don't move, don't speak to me. Don't wake +me up. I'm 'aving such a beautiful dream." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +TRAPPED + + +The day following his locating of the mother-lode, Pant worked feverishly. +Hardly four hours had passed when he found himself digging away the heart +of the snowbank that blocked the entrance to his cave and melting it that +he might wash the pans of rich gold that were now being thawed from the +cavity beneath the one-time river falls. + +"Going to be a rich haul," he whispered to his dog, "richer than Mine No. +2, not so rich as No. 1, but rich enough all right. And if we can make our +getaway, Oh, boy!" + +Only one thing troubled him as he worked. Not having been outside at the +time the blizzard was piling snow about the entrance to the cave, he could +not tell the exact depth of the snowbank; could not be sure that he was +not removing too much of the snow and leaving too thin a crust above. + +This did not worry him greatly, however. The hard-packed snow would not +crumble in easily. So he cut away at it until there was a hollow space at +the mine's entrance twenty feet long and half as wide. + +Meanwhile, he was panning the pay dirt and putting it away in carefully +sewed, split walrus-skin sacks. At times, he paused to rub his hands +together like Midas, as he stowed away another sack on the top of a small +sled which was hidden in a corner. On this sled were a sleeping-bag and a +little food. When their work was completed and the gold all loaded on, he +and the dog would harness themselves to this sled and steal out into the +night. If they were successful in evading the Bolsheviki, the natives, and +the little yellow men, they would hurry on to the south where there was a +reindeer station. There he would barter his watch and other valuables for +two sled deer. He would hate parting with the dog, but he could not take +him with the reindeer. + +The mine had been fairly stripped of its wealth and the sled loaded down +with gold, when, as he drank his coffee, munched his hard biscuit, and +thought things through, he was startled by a growl from the dog. The next +instant there came the dull thud of falling snow-crust, followed by the +jarring thump of a heavy body. A startled expression uttered in Russian +brought Pant to his feet with his hand on his automatic. + +Realizing that one of the Russians had blundered upon the snow above the +entrance, that it had caved in with him, and that the only chance of +safety was in "getting" that Russian before he made his escape, he dashed +down the mine. An unfortunate step threw him to the floor. This lost him +the race. On reaching the spot, he found the Russian had vanished. + +"Well, old pal," he said, addressing the dog, "that means we gotta get +out, and mighty quick, too. That fellow's not coming back alone. +Bolsheviki'll be swarming up here like bees in less time than it takes to +tell it." + +He stood silent for a moment. Then he sprang into action. + +"I've got an idea!" + +Seizing the long knife from a shelving rock at the side of the entrance, +he began cutting cubes of snow from the bank. Working along the edge of +the rocky cliff, where the bank was thickest, he soon had a side tunnel +well started. He worked with feverish haste. It was only a matter of +moments until the whole Bolshevik band would be upon him. To come out into +the open was to invite death. To hide away in the side cavity in the snow +with his gold, to wait until they had all entered the mine, then to burrow +his way out and make his escape, seemed his only hope. + +When he had tunneled into the bank ten or twelve feet and hurriedly +arranged some blocks for closing the opening, he raced to the back of the +mine for his sled. He had just made a grab for the draw-strap, when there +came a sound from the entrance. + +He was trapped. They had come. His heart skipped a few beats. How many +there were, he could not tell, but more than enough. He must act and act +quickly, and, even so, all seemed lost. On one thing he was determined; he +would not abandon the gold save as a last resort. + +The dog, exercising an almost human sagacity, uttered not a single growl, +but hung close to his master's side. + +Exerting all his strength, the boy threw the heavily laden sled upon his +back; then, in a crouching posture, he began making his way toward the +entrance. There was no light, yet he made his way without a second's +hesitation, round little piles of frozen earth and over heaps of stone and +gravel. Not a rock was loosed, not a sound made by his soft, padded +footsteps, as he moved swiftly along the passage. + +Now he was a quarter way to the entrance, now half. No definite plan of +action had entered his mind. He knew only that, in some way, he must make +good his escape. + +Suddenly a light flared. A match had been struck. A bearded face flickered +behind it in the shadows, then another and another. There followed a +steadier gleam of light. + +"A candle!" the boy whispered in despair. + +He shrank back into the deeper shadows. The procession of grizzled giants +moved forward with caution. Soon they were twenty feet from him and then +only ten. It seemed inevitable that he should be seen. + +The moment for action had arrived. In his right hand was a heavy lump of +frozen pay dirt. With a sure twist of the wrist he sent this crashing into +the candle. Amid the curses of the men, the candle snuffed out. The next +instant, there came a thundering crash. Pant had overturned a whole tier +of pay dirt cubes. + +In the midst of the confusion that followed, he made his escape. Scorning +his snow-den, in which he was to have hidden, he scrambled out of the main +entrance and, with the sled shooting on before him down the steep incline, +headed straight toward the ice-blocked ocean. + +It was but a matter of moments until he found himself effectually lost in +the labyrinth of ice piles and up-ended cakes on that endless expanse of +ice that lined the shore. + +Breathing more easily, he sat down upon his sled, and, after digging into +his scant food supply, opened a can of frozen beans. These he shared with +his dog. Having eaten, he took up his tireless march to Vladivostok. + +These things had been happening to him while his former companion, Johnny +Thompson, was threading his way through the ice floes to Vladivostok. +While Johnny was completing his journey and making his trading trip to the +wandering city of Mongols, Pant was hurrying southward. This passage was +uneventful. It so happened that, the very day on which Johnny Thompson was +about to re-enter this Russian city of many dangers and mysteries after +his visit to the Mongols, Pant, coming from an opposite direction, was +also entering. + +It will not, I am sure, seem strange that Johnny at this very time found +himself longing for this companion and his protection. And, of course, +since Johnny was known to have gone to Vladivostok, it will not seem +strange that Pant was wondering if he would be able to locate him there. + +You will observe that the "clan is gathering." The little band for a time +so widely and strangely separated are moving toward a common center, +Vladivostok. Pant and Johnny are at the city gates. But Dave and Jarvis, +far in the north, are only hoping. If they can get the balloon afloat and +can manage the engine, Vladivostok is to be the air-port of their dreams. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE CITY OF GOLD + + +The head lettuce, strawberries, and the cream which Dave Tower and Jarvis +saw before them on the wooden tray in the cabin of the mysterious Russian +were part of no dream, but a glorious reality. Their palates testified to +that fact in prompt order. + +"But where'd they come from?" inquired Dave, smacking his lips. + +"Don't ask," grumbled Jarvis. "It's enough they're 'ere." + +Dave did ask and he did receive a reply. They had hardly finished their +meal, when the friendly stranger was at hand, ready to show them the +village. + +The cabins they had seen were ordinary affairs, built of driftwood. But as +they rounded a corner of rock, they were confronted by a very different +scene. Beyond them stretched the broad, low roof of what appeared to be a +vast greenhouse. And indeed that was exactly what it was. That another +such greenhouse did not exist anywhere in the world, they were soon to +learn. + +"The Golden City," murmured Jarvis. + +"But the glass?" exclaimed Dave. "Where did you get it?" + +"Not a square inch of glass in it," smiled their host. "Come inside." + +Soon they breathed the peculiar, tropical dampness that fills every +greenhouse. All about them were green things growing. To the right of +them, prodigious potato plants thrived in beds of rich earth; to the left +were beds of radishes, head lettuce and onions. Over their heads, +suspended in cleverly woven baskets of leather, huge cucumbers swung +aloft, their vines casting a greenish light over all. Far down the narrow +aisle, numerous varieties of plants and small fruits were growing. Close +beside them ran a wall of stone, which, strangely enough, gave off a +mellow heat. Along the wall to the right ran a stone trough, and, in this, +a murmuring stream of water went glittering by. + +"Tell us the answer to this fable," whispered Dave. "We are all ears, oh +Wise One!" + +"There's not much story to tell," said the host. "A political exile in +northern Russia, having been farmed out as a slave to a trader, was +carried with his master, against their wishes, on the angry waters of the +great Lena River to the shores of the Arctic Sea. They struggled along the +seashore until they came to this place, and here, for a time, they +tarried. + +"The exile was learned in many sciences. He perceived at once the vast +possibilities of this place as a hostage for escaped exiles. A warm +spring, flowing winter and summer, sprang from the rocky hillside; a +ten-foot vein of coal cropped out from that same hill. Limestone rock +promised material for plaster; an extraordinary deposit of rock rich in +mica promised windows. Put your hand on the window beside you." + +"Mica," murmured Dave, as he took his hand away. + +"Mica," repeated his host. "All our windows are double and made of mica." + +"Well, after facing many dangers, this exile and his master made their way +back to the land in which the Czar and his nobles have condemned many +honest and good people to live as slaves because of their beliefs. He went +back to dream and to tell of his dreams to his friends. At first these +doubted, but one by one they too began to dream. From that they took to +planning and preparing. All manner of seeds were gathered and hoarded. +Clothing and food were saved. One night, twenty-eight of them disappeared. +They have never returned; they are here. This is the work of their hands. +We live, as you see, with all the material needs supplied. We have a +reindeer herd which supplies us clothing, milk and meat. This greenhouse +gives us the rest." + +"You are Communists?" said Dave. + +"We were Communists in theory, back in old Russia. Here we are Communists +in practice." + +"Why do you not go back to old Russia now?" + +"What? Leave this for exile?" The man's face showed his astonishment. + +It was Dave's turn to be surprised. Could it be that this man and his +companions did not know that, for more than two years, the Communists had +been in power over the greater part of old Russia? + +"Don't you know," he said slowly, "that the Czar is dead, that his +government has been overthrown, that the Communists hold sway in your land +and all exiles have been called home?" + +"What?" The man sank weakly to a seat, covering his face with his hands. + +"Why!" exclaimed Dave in astonishment. "Why don't you leap and shout for +joy? Your Communist theory has been put into practice." + +"And Russia? She must be in ruins!" He groaned miserably. + +"Not quite that bad," smiled Dave, "though God knows it has been bad +enough." + +"Communism!" exclaimed the man springing up. "Communism will never do. It +drives men to dry-rot. Here we have had Communism at its very best, a +group of friends, each doing the best for the whole group at all times, +but we have not been happy. We have been of all men the most miserable. +Each one of us would give a year of this for one week spent in honest +competition for a livelihood with other men. + +"Competition! Competition! I cannot tell how it is, but I know it to be a +truth now; honest competition is not only the life of trade, it is the +life of man and without it man will die of inactivity which comes when +interest dies. + +"But my country, my poor Russia, my brave Russia! She will yet see her +error and build up a government like your own, a free government of the +people, a government not without its faults, but ever striving toward +perfection. She must do it!" + +He sank back exhausted by this impassioned utterance. For some time he did +not move nor speak. At last he roused himself. + +"And now, my friend," he said, "you in your great balloon will take us +somewhere, I am sure." + +"If we can get our engine started," said Dave. + +"We will help you." + +At that moment Jarvis, who had wandered down the aisle, came storming +back. + +"'Oo's the two 'eathen that just went out the door?" he demanded. + +"Just some natives that came here and wished to stay," smiled the Russian. +"When they came, they had been pretty badly torn up by a polar bear. We +nursed them back to life and they have been so grateful for it that they +have never left." + +"Good reason!" stormed Jarvis. "Gold! Gold! The City of Gold." + +"We have a little gold here," smiled the Russian, "but precious little +good it's ever been to us." + +"Now mind y'. I'm a tellin' y'," stormed Jarvis, striking his fists +together, "them's no natural 'eathen. Them's two spies from far down the +coast. A polar bear me eye! An ice anchor it was that cut 'alf a ear off'n +the little one. Them's the lads that Dave and me 'ad the tussle with on +the submarine more'n a year ago. I tell you they're no natural 'eathen an' +I 'ates to think what'll 'appen to 'em if I meets up with 'em again." + +Dave sprang to the door through which the men had just passed. They were +not to be seen. The incident was disturbing. There could be little doubt +but that Jarvis had identified the men as the same pair that had locked +them in a prison made of walrus tusks the year before, and had fought with +them later on the submarine. Now if they had recognized Jarvis, what might +they not do? He continued to think of this while the Russian showed them +through the most wonderful greenhouse in all the world. + +"You see," said their host, "we built this against the side of the cliff, +at the point where the soft coal mine cropped out. We cut away enough of +the coal to make room for a great stone furnace. From this furnace we ran +heat tunnels of stone through the entire greenhouse. The work is all very +simple. Coal is mined and loaded on trucks of wood, run on wooden tracks. +From there it is shoveled into the furnace. We ran stone troughs through +the greenhouse connecting them to the warm spring. This furnishes water +for use in our homes, and for irrigating the rich soil we have brought +from the tundra. At the same time, it keeps the air here sufficiently +moist." + +"What a garden of Eden!" exclaimed Dave. "And you would leave all its +safety and comfort to take a chance in the great disturbed world? Why will +you be so foolish?" + +The man turned a look of compassion upon him. "You will never know why, +because you have never known what it is to live without the push and pull +of many human beings striving for mastery all about you. In a +well-populated land, this would all be very wonderful. Here it is nothing. +Nothing!" + +As he spoke, the man bent over and opened a small box made of heavy +driftwood. + +Having peered into its depth for a second, he uttered a sharp cry: + +"The gold! It is gone!" + +"Was there much?" asked Dave. + +"Around a hundredweight. Who could have taken it? Yesterday we would have +given it away for a song. To-day, with hopes of deliverance at hand, it is +indispensable. Who could the robbers be?" + +"The 'eathen, the unnatural, bloody, bloomin' 'eathen," exclaimed Jarvis. +"Find them and you find the gold." + +The "unnatural 'eathen" were not to be found. Had the earth opened up and +swallowed them, they could not have more completely vanished from the +region of the City of Gold. + +When a search far and wide had been made for them, with no results, +attention was turned to the problem of a journey to other lands, for, even +robbed of their gold as they were, these former exiles were eager to +escape and to try their hand at making a living in more populated lands. + +Three days were spent in futile attempts to start that oriental engine. +When this was given up, it was decided that they should inflate the +balloon, await a favorable wind and try their fortunes at drifting back to +the land whence they came. + +Not one of them but knew the perils of such an undertaking. Should the +wind shift, they might be carried out over the sea. On the other hand, +they might be forced to make a landing in the heart of the vast, barren +lands, and in that case, they must surely starve. The balloon cabin would +carry them all, but there would be little room left for provisions. + +Not one of them hesitated. Boldest of them all was the beautiful girl who +stuck close to Dave's side, watching his every move with big admiring +eyes, and, at spare times, learning to speak bits of his language. + +The balloon was at last inflated. Provisions were loaded. The wind was +beginning to shift. They would be off in a few hours. All were expectant. +A tense nervousness gripped them, a sensation composed half of hope and +half of despair. They were eating the evening meal in the common mess hall +by the cliff when a sound utterly strange to the Russian's ears smote the +silent air. It was a thundering pop-pop-pop. + +Dave turned white. Jarvis sprang to his feet with a wild howl on his +lips. + +"The 'eathen! The bloody, bloomin' 'eathen. It's the engine." + +He was right. It was the engine. It was thundering out its wild song of +power and speed, and its voice was growing more distant. + +As they crowded from the mess cabin, they saw the balloon hanging in +midair. Watching they saw it move slowly southward. On the bridge by the +cabin stood two small figures. + +"The 'eathen! The bloody, bloomin' 'eathen!" cried Jarvis. + +"We might have known," groaned Dave. "They're oriental and so is the +engine." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +KIDNAPPED + + +On entering the city, after leaving his cattle in safe keeping at the +farmyard, Johnny Thompson went directly to Red Cross headquarters to +inquire for Mazie. + +"Mazie!" exclaimed the matron in amazement, "we thought she went with you. +We have not seen her since you left." + +Johnny sank weakly into a chair. His head whirled. Mazie gone for five +days! What must be her fate? In this city of opposing factions, with its +dens of radicals, thieves and murderers, and, above all, the gang of +"yellow men" from the north, what chance could there be of ever seeing +her? Yet he would! At least he would give his life in a search for her! + +Hurriedly sketching to the nurse his plans for the refuge for homeless +ones and informing her of the whereabouts of the cattle and the remaining +gold, he dashed from the room. Armed with his automatic, he went at once +to the heart of the most treachery-ridden city in the world. Where was he +to search for her? He had not the remotest notion. Suddenly, thinking of +the telegrams she meant to send to Hong Kong ordering rice and sweet +potatoes and of the visit she had meant to make to the owner of the +unoccupied hotel, he decided to attempt to trace her steps at these +places. + +At the telephone station, the agent, referring to his reports, established +the fact that she had sent the telegrams. At the office of the owner of +the hotel she was unknown. No American woman had been to him to rent the +hotel. That much then was settled; somewhere between the telegraph office +and the hotel owner's place of business she had been spirited away. + +Johnny began tracing out the course she would probably have taken. A +narrow side street offered a short cut. Being familiar with the city and +in a hurry, she would take that. Half way down this street, Johnny came +upon a familiar door. It was that of Wo Cheng, the Chinese costumer. He +had had dealings with Wo Cheng during his sojourn in this city as a +soldier. Here was a man he could trust. He paused by the door and gave the +accustomed signal of those other days. + +In answer to his rap, the door opened a crack. + +"Oo-we! Johnny!" grunted the Chinaman, opening the door, then closed it +quickly as Johnny entered. + +"You come buy?" he rubbed his hands together. + +"No come buy?" + +"Wanchee cum-show?" + +"No wanchee cum show. No wanchee money." + +"Oo-we!" grunted the Chinaman again. + +Johnny's eyes were restlessly roving over the array of garments that hung +on either side of a narrow aisle. Suddenly he uttered a low exclamation +and sprang to a corner and examined a woman's dress. + +"Wo Cheng," he demanded almost fiercely, "where you come buy this?" + +"Oo-we!" squealed the Chinaman. "Can't tell mine, not savvy mine." + +"You woncha savvy!" Johnny hissed between tight set teeth. + +"Mebby can do," murmured the Chinaman hurriedly. "No see. Mebby now see. +See Jap man, this one, velly small Jap man. This one think mine." + +"Good," said Johnny. "Now perhaps you can tell me what kind of a dress he +took away?" + +"Mebby can do." The man, fumbling among his garments, came upon a plain, +Russian, peasant type of dress. + +"Take look, see," he murmured. "One, two, three, allesame." + +"All right, you no speak see mine, savvy." + +"No speak," murmured Wo Cheng. + +"Good-bye," said Johnny bolting out of the door. + +"Mazie's dress," he mumbled to himself. "They have transformed her into a +Russian peasant girl for their safety, but where have they taken her?" + +As he rounded the corner, an old familiar sound smote his ear. The +rat-tat-tat of a machine gun. It was accompanied almost at once by another +and yet another. + +"An uprising and a battle!" he muttered savagely. "Worse and worse. What +chance has a fellow got? Do well enough if I escape the firing squad." + + * * * * * + +The two oriental spies in the balloon they had stolen from Dave Tower and +Jarvis were not as fortunate as in the first instance they seemed to be. +There was practically no wind. The engine was slow in getting the bulky +sausage under way. + +Suddenly as the watchers, with despair written on their faces, gazed +skyward, they saw something slip from the cabin deck and drop like a +plummet. A silvery thread appeared to follow it. + +"The anchor and the cable!" exclaimed Dave. "It's got away from them. If +it catches--C'mon." + +He was away like a rocket. Uneven surface, slippery hills of snow meant +nothing to him. He was racing for freedom from threatening years of +exile. + +Jarvis, followed by the Russians, came on more slowly. As they mounted a +low hill they saw the cabin of the balloon give a sudden lunge. + +"She's caught!" panted Jarvis. "'Ere's 'opin' she 'olds." + +In another second, a groan of despair escaped his lips. It was true that +the anchor had caught in a frozen bank of earth and was holding fast, but +the men were bending over the rail working with the upper end of the steel +cable. If they could loosen it or file it, causing it to snap, no human +power could bring them back. And if they got away with the balloon--. + +But after despair, came hope. There sounded the pop of an automatic. Six +shots came in quick succession. + +"Dave's a wonder with an automatic!" exclaimed Jarvis. + +The men worked on. Would they accomplish their task? Every person in the +little group of watchers held his breath. + +Crack-crack-crack. The automatic spoke again. Doubtless Dave had moved to +a position more directly under the cabin. + +"'E's got 'em! 'E's got 'em!" exulted Jarvis, throwing his cap in air. + +One of the Orientals was seen to waver, then to fall backward. The other +instantly dropped from sight. + +"The windlass," commanded Jarvis. "Some of you bring it up. We'll pull 'em +down alright, alright! We'll get the bloody, bloomin' 'eathen yet." + +A wooden windlass, made for bringing the balloon to earth in case of +storm, was brought forward, while Dave and Jarvis watched for any +indication of further activity on the part of the robbers. + +Once the windlass was fastened to the bank by means of ice anchors, the +task of bringing down the balloon was a matter of moments. + +Two cowering wretches were found in one corner of the cabin. + +"I'm for 'aving an end to 'em at once and immediately," stormed Jarvis. + +"No! No!" smiled Dave. "They're just the boys we want. They are going to +tell us why the engine won't go for us." + +"And if they do?" + +"If they do, we'll leave them the greenhouse, coal mine, heating plant and +all in exchange for that bit of information." + +Jarvis seemed quite content with any arrangement which promised to put a +few thousand miles between him and the "bloody, bloomin' 'eathen." + +After the wound of the one who had been winged by Dave's automatic had +been dressed, Dave locked himself in the cabin with the yellow men. + +It took him three hours to secure the desired information, but in the end +it came. + +The wounded Oriental showed him a secret eccentric bearing through which +the crank shaft operated. When this bearing was properly adjusted the +engine worked perfectly, when it was out of adjustment, it would not work +at all. + +When Dave had operated the engine for an hour, he sent the prisoners back +to the greenhouse, where they were released. The gold they had stolen was +found hidden away in a locker of the balloon cabin. + +In another hour, the balloon, with all on board, gently urged on by the +wind, ably assisted by the now perfect engine, was making good time toward +Vladivostok. + + * * * * * + +As Johnny Thompson hesitated at the head of the street, listening to the +rat-tat-tat of machine guns, uncertain which way to turn, he heard the +distant thunder of an engine in midair. Gazing away to the north, he saw a +dirigible balloon circling in search of a likely lighting place. + +"I wonder which faction that bird belongs to?" he murmured. + +If he had but known the truth, a little ray of hope would have pierced the +gloom of his leaden sky, for this balloon was none other than the one he +had seen carry his good friends, Dave and Jarvis, away from the mines, +some weeks before. They had made the journey in safety. Twice they had +been obliged to land to escape the fury of a storm. Wild reindeer had made +up for the scantiness of their food supply. Now they were about to alight +and enter the city of many mysteries. + +Pant had already entered. The clan was gathering, gathering for stirring +events, for the development of new mysteries and the solving of old ones. +Soon, all unknown to one another, Dave and Jarvis, Pant, Johnny Thompson, +Cio-Cio-San, and Mazie would be in the same city--a city seething in the +tumult of revolt. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +UNDER MACHINE-GUN FIRE + + +By the time Johnny had left the den of Wo Cheng, night had come down upon +the city. It was by the light of a golden moon that he saw the balloon +hanging in the sky. The balloon, however, interested him little. He was +thinking only of Mazie. He had decided to make his way to a corner of the +city occupied by Japanese people of doubtful character. To do this he must +leave the street he was in and, after turning to his right, go straight +ahead for ten blocks. + +He was not long in discovering that the carrying out of his plans would +put him in the greatest danger. The cross-street was jammed with Russians +who fled from the raking fire of machine guns set somewhere at the head of +that street. Johnny could still hear their rat-tat and the sing of +bullets. Men, women and children ran through the street. An aged peasant +woman, her face streaming with blood, toppled toward him, then fell. He +sprang to assist her, but two of her own people came to her aid. + +"What's the rumpus?" He hazarded the question in English. + +"Nobody knows," said a clean-faced young Russian. "It's the Japs shooting. +Can't tell why. Probably just nervous. Nothing was done against them, +though St. Christopher knows it's plenty we'd like to do. They want this +peninsula, and if keeping us fighting among ourselves will give it to +them, they'll win it." + +"I've seen their spies two thousand miles from the last sign of +civilization." + +"They are everywhere, like fleas." + +"I've got to get at some of them. Think they kidnapped a friend of mine," +said Johnny. "But how can I get past this?" + +"I know a closed private alley. Want to try that?" + +"I'll try anything." + +"Come." + +The man led the way half the distance back to Wo Cheng's door, then +suddenly opened a door in a wall. + +"See. Through there." + +He closed the door behind Johnny. Johnny looked about. Straight on before +him lay a path, to the right of which was a garden. At the end of the path +was another door. + +"Must open on another street," he muttered to himself. "Touchy sort of +business this prowling through a strange city at night with a big row on +foot. Can't be helped though." + +He reached the door only to find it locked. The wall was not high. A +gnarled pear tree offered him a lift to the top. He had soon scaled it, +and was looking up and down the narrow street that ran on the other side. + +"Not a soul in sight," he whispered. + +He listened for a second. The rattle of machine-gun fire had ceased. Now +and again there came the crack of a rifle or automatic. + +Johnny slipped off the wall. His feet had hardly touched ground when a +shot rang out and a bullet sang past him. Dodging into the deep-set +doorway, he whipped out his automatic and waited. Footsteps were +approaching. + +"Jig's up," he muttered. "Worse luck for it!" + +His hands fumbled at the door. In a second there came a dull thud on the +other side of it. He had pushed his automatic through a latch-string +opening. + +"No use getting caught armed," was his mental comment. + +In another moment the Japanese military police were upon him. In vain he +told them that he was an American, in vain presented his papers. They had +seen him climb over the wall; that was enough. Many Russian radicals spoke +English very well, and, as for papers, they could be forged. Besides, were +there not many American radicals, soldiers of fortune, here assisting in +the attempt to overthrow their rule. He should go to prison at once, and +"To-morrow!" There was something so sinister about the way they said that +"to-morrow" that it sent the cold chills racing down his spine. + +Down one narrow street, then another and another they went until, +eventually, they came to a frowning stone-wall with an iron-grating set +deep in an arched ante-room. Through this doorway he was thrust and the +lock clanged behind him. + +He was not alone. He had hardly taken a step before he stumbled upon a +prone form. Many men and some women were sprawled about on the stone +floor. + +"Amerikaner," came in a shrill whisper. "Lie down here." + +Johnny obeyed. + +"Got you, did they," said the voice with a Russian accent. + +"Yes, and for what?" said Johnny. + +"In this land we do not ask for what. It is enough that we are got." + +"What's to-morrow?" asked Johnny suddenly. + +"To-morrow we will be shot." + +"That's cheerful," said Johnny. "What time?" + +"Before dawn." + +"That's rotten soon," said Johnny. "I don't think I'll stay to see it." + +"I guess you will," said the stranger. + +There seemed nothing more to be said, so the two new-found friends lay +there in silence. Each was busy with his own thoughts. Johnny's were +mostly of Mazie and of the thousands of starving children they had hoped +to aid. + +"It's sure rotten luck," he ejaculated at last. + +Just at that moment the great iron gate was heard to creak on its hinges. +Other wretches were being pitched inside to await their doom. + +The door was so deeply set in the wall that nothing could be seen of the +newly arrived prisoners. + +As Johnny lay wondering what they were like, he heard a shrill whisper: + +"Johnny! Johnny Thompson!" + +"Here!" he whispered back. + +There were sounds of a person crawling toward him, the curse of a Russian +who had been disturbed in what was probably his last sleep; then Johnny's +lips uttered a low exclamation. He had caught the dull gleam of a golden +ball of fire. + +"Pant," he murmured. + +"It's me, Johnny." The boy's hand touched him. + +Johnny was dumfounded. "How'd they get you?" + +"Beaned one of them cops, I did. Saw 'em glom onto you. Wanted t' horn in +with you." + +"Guess you horned in once too often," said Johnny huskily. "This is a +death-watch we're keeping, and it's for ourselves." + +"We better blow the coop then." + +"If we can." + +"We can." Pant's tone was decided and convincing. + +For some time after that the two boys spoke of their experiences since +last they met. + +"You see, I got it cached out yonder three hills and a hike outside this +burg. She'll tip the beam at a century weight and a half, maybe more. All +pure gold, you bet. And it's all for the little Russian kids, every bit. I +ain't held back a copper." + +Johnny, knowing that Pant was speaking of the gold he had taken from Mine +No. 3 and had sledded nearly three thousand miles to Vladivostok at risk +of his life, could only grip his hand and swallow hard. + +"Gee!" said Pant, when Johnny had finished his story. "We'll have to find +that Mazie of yours, and quick. But we've got to get out of here first." + +He was ready with his plans after a moment's thought. Prisoners were being +brought in every ten or fifteen minutes. There were no lights in the +prison and the military police carried none. The place was pitch dark. He +did not say that he could see well enough, but, from past experiences, +Johnny knew that he could. They would creep close to the iron gate and, +when it was opened to admit others, they would crawl out on hands and +knees. + +"And if luck's bad, then this," said Pant, slipping a small dagger into +Johnny's hand. + +"You got one, too?" + +"Sure." + +"All right." + +They crept close to the gate and waited. Five minutes passed. Ten minutes +of dreadful silence went by with never an approaching footstep. Johnny's +heart beat painfully. What if the last poor victim had been brought to +await his doom? Dawn would be breaking, and then the firing squad. Cold +perspiration beaded his forehead. + +But hold! there came again the shuffle of feet. A lone prisoner was being +brought in. + +"Now!" came in a faint whisper. A steady hand gripped his arm. He felt +himself led forward. A foot scraped his knee. It was the incoming +prisoner. He uttered no sound. + +They were now on the outside of the gate. Flattening themselves against +the wall, not daring to breathe, they waited. + +Turning, the police clicked their heels and marched away. Outside, before +the open anteway, marched a solitary guard. Once they were past him, they +were safe. + +Fortune favored them. The man hazarded a moment off duty to step into a +door for a cup of coffee. In that moment, they were away. + +"Easy," said Pant. "Should have brought your friend, the Roosian." + +"He wouldn't come," said Johnny sorrowfully. "Said it wasn't any use." + +"All we got to do's keep hid till mornin'." + +They escaped from the alley through a gate into a garden, and there, in a +shed against the side of a brick building, they waited for the morning. + +As they lay there half awake, there came to Johnny's ears the words of a +ridiculous popular song of other days: + + "Oh, Johnny! Oh, Johnny! How you come on, + Oh, Johnny! Oh, Johnny! How you come on!" + +"Sounds like Mazie," whispered Johnny, starting to his feet. "It _is_ +Mazie. They've got her hid up there!" + +Pant pulled him back to earth. "If it's Mazie, they've got men watchin'. +No good to spill the beans. To-morrow night we'll make up a bunch an' git +'em." + +Realizing the wisdom of these words, Johnny quieted his mad desire to rush +the place at once, and sat down. + +Just as the first red streaks striped the sky, there came a loud volley of +shots. + +Johnny plugged his ears and shivered. Perhaps they were executing the +prisoners. Who could tell? + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +JOHNNY GOES INTO ACTION + + +The first precaution taken by Johnny and Pant, after leaving the shed in +the back garden, was to hasten to the water-front where their friends, the +rough and ready mining gang, were still living in a cabin near the +gasoline schooner. Selecting eight of these, Johnny detailed them to work +in two shifts of four each, to lurk about the building where Mazie was +being confined. They were instructed to guard every exit to the place, +and, if an attempt was made by the kidnappers to change base, to put up a +fight and, if possible, release Mazie. + +Johnny realized that time was precious, that not one moment must be lost +in going to the rescue of his girl-pal, but in this land of many soldiers +and little law it was necessary to move with caution. When darkness came, +with his gang of miners and a few other hardy fellows, he could rush the +place and bring Mazie away without being caught in the hopelessly +entangled net of Russian law. + +Pant appeared to have lost all interest in the case. He went prowling +along the water-front, peering into every junk-shop he came to. What he +finally pounced upon and carried away, after tossing the shopkeeper a +coin, amused Johnny greatly. It was a bamboo pole, like a fishing-pole +only much larger. He estimated it to be at least five inches across the +base. + +"Now what in time does he want of that?" Johnny asked himself. + +Arrived at the Red Cross station, Pant disappeared with his pole inside an +old shed that flanked the Red Cross building. Johnny saw little more of +him that day. Pant went out after lunch to return with a cheap +looking-glass and a glass cutter. There was an amused grin lurking about +his lips as Johnny stared at him, but he said nothing; only returned to +his shed and his mysterious labors. + +As darkness fell, the clan gathered. The miners in full force and +variously armed with rifles, automatics, knives and pick-axes came in from +the water-front. Pant came out from his hiding. He carried on his back a +bulky sack which did not appear to weigh him down greatly. It gave forth a +hollow rattle as he walked. + +"Sounds like skulls," said one miner with a superstitious shudder. + +The little band received a welcome shock as they rounded the corner of the +street by the cathedral. They chanced to be beneath a flickering +street-lamp when some one shouted: + +"Hello there, 'ere's the gang!" + +It was Jarvis and Dave Tower. Having alighted from the balloon and +procured for their exiled friends comfortable quarters in a place of +refuge, they had gone out in search of Johnny Thompson, and here they had +found him. + +"What's up?" demanded Dave. + +Johnny told him the situation in as few words as possible, ending, "You +want in on it?" + +"Yer jolly right," exclaimed Jarvis, "and 'ere's 'ate to the bloomin' +'eathen!" + +So, strengthened by two good men, the party moved cautiously forward until +they were only one block from their destination. + +"Split up into two sections," commanded Johnny in a whisper. "One party +under Dave go up street beyond the place, the other under Jarvis stay down +street. Pant and I will drop back into the garden and try to establish +connection with the prisoner. We'll get the general lay of things and +report. If a shot is fired, that will be a signal to rush the place." + +They were away. Creeping stealthily forward, they entered the gate to the +garden. Then, skulking along the wall, they made their way toward the shed +where they had spent part of the previous night. Twice the hollow things +in Pant's sack rattled ominously. + +"Keep that thing quiet, can't you?" snapped Johnny. "What y' got it for, +anyway?" + +"Show you in a minute," whispered Pant. + +So they crept on toward the goal. No lights shone from these back windows. +The place was dark as a tomb. Somewhere in the distance a clock slowly +chimed the hour. A shiver ran over Johnny's body. Things would happen +soon. + +"All I ask is five minutes; five minutes, that's all," whispered Pant, as +he lowered his sack cautiously to the ground and unlaced its top. + +Dimly through the darkness Johnny could see him draw several long objects +from the bag. When the bag was empty, he began setting these objects end +to end. Evidently they were fitted with sockets, for, once they were +joined together, they stuck in place. He soon had them all together. +Johnny surmised that this was the reconstructed bamboo pole with all +obstructing joints taken out; but what Pant meant to do with it, he could +not even guess. He watched with impatient curiosity. + +"A speaking tube," he whispered at last. "It's a good idea." + +"Mebby; but that ain't it," breathed Pant. + +"Well, whatever it is, be quick about it. Somebody out front may spill the +beans any time. If the military police rush the boys, the game's up." + +Pant paid no attention. His movements were as steady and cautious as a cat +stalking a robin. + +"Now, I guess we're about ready," he murmured. "Be prepared for a dash. +There's stairs to the right. I may start something." His words were short +and quick. Evidently his heart was giving him trouble. + +"All right," Johnny stood on tip-toes in his agitation. + +Suddenly Pant reared his tube in air. Then, to Johnny's utter +astonishment, he dropped on one knee and peered into an opening at one +side of it. + +"A periscope!" whispered Johnny. "But what can you see in the dark?" + +For a moment Pant did not answer. His breath came in little gasps. + +"She's there," he whispered. "She's tied. There's terror in her eyes. +There's something crawling on the floor. Can't make it out. We gotta get +up there quick." + +All at once a shot rang out. It came from the window. The tinkle of broken +glass sliding down the bamboo tube told that the periscope was a wreck. + +"Periscope's done for. They saw," whispered Pant. "Now for it. Up the +stairs. They gave our signal. Boys will rush the place from the front. +C'mon!" + +They were off like a flash. Up the stairs they bounded. A door obstructed +their way. Johnny's shoulder did for that. + +Crashing into the room they found a candle flaring. Two persons were +struggling to free themselves from imitation dragon costumes. It had been +these who frightened Mazie. + +"Snap dragon!" exclaimed Johnny, seizing one of the beasts by the tail, +and sending him crashing through the panels of a door. + +"Snap dragon!" He sent the other through the window to the ground below. + +"I'll teach you!" He glared about him for an instant. Then his eyes fell +on Mazie. Without attempting to free her, he gathered her into his arms +and fairly hurled her through the door where he and Pant had entered. Then +he took his stand in front of it. + +He was not a moment too soon, for now the place was swarming with little +yellow men. In the light of the candle, their faces seemed hideously +distorted with hate. At once Johnny went into action. His right took a man +under the chin. No sound came from him save a dull thud. A second went +jibbering over the window-sill. A third crashed against the plaster wall. +Pant, too, was busy. Everywhere at once, his wicked little dagger gleamed. +But, suddenly, two of the strongest sprang at him, bearing him to the +floor. + +Leaping at these, Johnny gripped them by their collars and sent them +crashing together. His breath was coming in hoarse gasps. He could stand +little more of this. Where were the boys? + +As if in answer, there came the crash of arms on a door and Jarvis burst +into the room. He was followed by the whole gang. + +"Ow-ee! Ow-ee!" squealed the yellow men. "The white devils!" + +In another moment the room was cleared of fighters. Only three of the +enemy remained. They were well past moving. + +"Pitch 'em after 'em," roared Johnny. "Tell the cowards to carry away +their wounded." + +The wounded men were sent sliding down the stairs. + +"Now then, git out. Scatter. I never saw any of you before. See!" + +There was a roar of understanding from the men. Then they "faded." + +Leaping to the back stairway, Johnny picked Mazie up in his arms and +carried her down to the garden. Here he cut the bands that held her hands +and feet. + +"Can you walk?" + +"Yes." + +"C'mon then. Gotta beat it." + +They were away like a shot. + +A half-hour later they were joking over a cup of chocolate and a plate of +sweet biscuits in the Red Cross canteen. Mazie was still dressed as a +Russian peasant girl. + +"I say, Mazie!" exclaimed Johnny. "You make a jolly fine-looking +peasant!" + +"Thanks!" said Mazie. "But if that's the way they treat peasant girls, I +prefer to be an American." + +"What did they do to you?" + +"Nothing, only tried to frighten me into telling where the gold was. It's +not so much what they did as what they would have done." She shivered. + +"Did they get any of the gold?" + +"Not an ounce. It's all stowed away here at the Red Cross." + +"Good! Then we'll have our haven of refuge yet." + +"If we live." + +"And we will." + +They lapsed into a long silence, each thinking many thoughts. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +SOME MYSTERIES UNCOVERED + + +The days that followed were busy ones for Johnny Thompson and Mazie. The +tumult in the city had died away. There was a chance for work. Feed must +be bought for the cattle from Mongolia; the hotel was to be rented. +Through the good services of the Red Cross, the most needy of the refugees +were to be assembled, and, when the ship from China arrived, the work of +unloading was to be directed. + +Several busy days had passed before Johnny had time to think of looking up +his gang. At this moment he was seated at the head of a seemingly endless +table on each side of which was an array of pinch-faced but happy +children. + +When he started out to find the men the first one he came upon was Dave +Tower. Dave began telling him of the strange case of the professor who had +been with the Orientals at the mines, and had drifted north with them in +the balloon. + +"His mind seems all right now and he is well as any man could be, but he +either cannot or will not tell us a thing of his life with the Orientals +up there at the mines," said Dave. "There are some things we would all +like to know. Strange case, I'd call it." + +"Yes, but there have been stranger. Say!" Johnny slapped him on the +shoulder. "You bring him around to headquarters to-night. I've got an +idea." + +"Righto. We'll be there. So long till then." + +When Dave arrived with the professor, he found that the stage had been set +for a moving-picture show. He was glad of that; it had been months since +he had seen one. He was hardly prepared, however, for the type of show it +was to be. + +The room was darkened. Beside him, sat the professor. There came the +peculiar snap-snap of the carbons as the power came on. The next instant a +dazzling light fell upon the screen, and out into that light there moved a +half-score of little yellow men. Some were working industriously at a +machine which cut cubes of earth from the bank before them. Others were +carrying the cubes away and piling them. + +Professor Todd moved uneasily. He put his hands to his eyes, as if to shut +out the scene. Then unexpectedly he cried out, as if in pain: + +"My head! My head! He struck me." + +"Who struck you?" + +Dave looked about. There was no one near them. + +"The yellow man; he struck me," cried the professor. Then he covered his +face with his hands and his body swayed back and forth with suppressed +emotion. + +Johnny moved silently toward them. + +"It's coming back to him. When he regains control of himself, he will know +everything. It was the flash of light and the familiar scene that did it. +Of course, you know that is the film he sent out to us when he was a +prisoner in the mine." + +What Johnny said was quite true. When the man was again in the cool +out-of-doors, he was able to give a full account of his life with the +Orientals. They had made him prisoner because they feared to have him at +large. Other white men might appear, as indeed they had, and he might +reveal their plans. He had known in a vague sort of way that some +mysterious deathtrap had been set in Mine No. 1, and when, through a crack +in the wall to his prison, he saw the white men arrive, he determined to +attempt to warn them. This he did by singing songs to the Orientals and, +at the same time, making phonographic records to be sent rolling down the +hill later. + +"But you don't actually know how Frank Langlois was killed?" There was +disappointment in Dave's tone. + +"No, I do not," said the professor. + +"Oh, as to that," said Johnny. "Didn't Pant tell you?" + +"Pant? I haven't seen Pant since the fight to save Mazie." + +"Isn't he with the bunch?" + +"No--nor hasn't been. Jarvis says his goggles were smashed in the fight. +Says he saw him without them. No one's seen him since." + +"You don't think they got him?" + +"Not Pant. He can't be got, not by a mere band of Orientals. But what's +this he told you about Langlois?" + +"Oh! He stayed up there, you know. He went into Mine No. 1 and prowled +round a bit. Found where the yellow bunch had run a high-tension insulated +wire through a crevice in the rock to the head of that pool into which +Langlois drove his pick. They ran a second wire to the base of the pool +and connected the two to a heavy battery circuit. They had discovered that +the pool rested upon a chalk rock which was good insulation. There was, +therefore, no ground to it. But the damp spot on which Langlois was +standing when he swung the pick was grounded. The minute he struck the +pool the whole current passed through his body." + +"Electrocuted!" + +"Yes." + +"Well, that's settled," said Dave, after a moment's reflection. "Now what +about Pant? Where is he?" + +"Let's go ask the gang." + +In a little cabin close to the water-front, they found the gang. They were +all there but Pant. + +"Where's Pant?" asked Johnny. + +"On his way to America," said one of the men. "Saw him on the steamer not +a half hour ago. He told me to tell you he'd left the gold for you up at +the Red Cross." + +"Have his goggles on?" + +"Nope." + +"And his eyes?" The men, leaning forward eagerly, listened for the answer +to this question. + +"Steamer was pullin' out; I was too far away to see 'em." + +"Oh!" The men sank back in disgust. + +"As for that," said Jarvis, "I seen 'im plain enough the night of the +scrap. 'E'd 'ad 'is goggles smashed to bits. I saw 'is eyes plain as I see +yours." + +The men leaned forward again. + +"An'," Jarvis went on, "an' 'ope I may die for it, if 'e ain't got one +panther eye. I saw the pupil of it shut up in the light just like a +cat's." + +"You'll die for it, or say you're wrong, anyway, about the panther part," +smiled Johnny. + +"D' y' mean to say I lied?" demanded Jarvis hotly. + +"Not exactly that. You saw what you expected to see, that's all. As far as +the panther part is concerned, you're dead wrong." + +All eyes were now turned on Johnny. + +"You see," he smiled, "the pupil of a panther's eye does not contract to a +line in the light as a house cat's does. It contracts to a smaller circle, +just as yours and mine do. Go consult your encyclopedia. Ask any hunter of +big game, or keeper of a zoo, and he'll tell you that I'm right." + +The laugh was plainly on Jarvis, and he got it from everyone. + +"All the same," he maintained stoutly, "that don't prove that Pant ain't +got a cat's eye, an' you all know 'e 'as or 'e's a devil. 'E can see in +the dark." + +There was no disputing this point, and there the argument dropped. + +Two months later, having got the haven of refuge well established and +turned over to the management of the Red Cross, Johnny and Mazie were on a +Pacific liner bound for America. Johnny might return at some future time +to the Seven Mines, but for the present he had had quite enough of +Russia. + +The gang were all on board. With Dave went two persons--the beautiful +young exiled Russian girl and her mother. + +As the steamer lost the last glimpse of land, Johnny drew from his pocket +a wireless message he had received that morning. It read: + +"Come over. Get in on something good. Secret Service and a three-ring +circus, Pant." + +"Secret Service and a three-ring circus," repeated Johnny. "Sounds pretty +good. Worth looking up. Pant's a queer one. Bet he's found something +different and mysterious. I'll bet on that." + +He had. But this story must be told in our next volume. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Panther Eye, by Roy J. 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