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+Project Gutenberg's The Boys of Crawford's Basin, by Sidford F. Hamp
+
+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: The Boys of Crawford's Basin
+       The Story of a Mountain Ranch in the Early Days of Colorado
+
+Author: Sidford F. Hamp
+
+Illustrator: Chase Emerson
+
+Release Date: August 26, 2008 [EBook #26434]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOYS OF CRAWFORD'S BASIN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Janet Keller, D Alexander and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ The Boys of Crawford's Basin
+
+ _THE STORY OF A MOUNTAIN RANCH
+ IN THE EARLY DAYS OF COLORADO_
+
+ BY SIDFORD F. HAMP
+
+ _Author of "Dale and Fraser, Sheepmen," etc._
+
+ ILLUSTRATED BY CHASE EMERSON
+
+ W. A. WILDE COMPANY
+ BOSTON CHICAGO
+
+
+
+
+ _Copyrighted, 1907_
+
+ BY W. A. WILDE COMPANY
+
+ _All rights reserved_
+
+ THE BOYS OF CRAWFORD'S BASIN
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: "THERE WAS BIG REUBEN LOOKING DOWN AT US"]
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+In relating the adventures of "The Boys of Crawford's Basin," the
+author has endeavored to depict the life of the ranchman in the
+mountains of Colorado as he knew it towards the end of the "seventies"
+of the century just past.
+
+At that date, the railroads, after their long climb from the Missouri
+River to the foot of the Rocky Mountains, were still seeking a
+practicable passage westward over that formidable barrier, and in
+consequence, the mountain ranchman--who, by the way, was also sometimes
+a prospector and frequently a hunter--having no means of shipping his
+produce to the outside world, depended for his market upon one or
+another of the many little silver-mining camps scattered over the State.
+
+That infant State was but just learning to walk without leading-strings;
+and it has been the aim of the author to show how two stout young
+fellows, prone to honesty and not afraid of hard work, were able to do
+their share in advancing the prosperity of the growing Commonwealth in
+which their lot was cast.
+
+It may not be out of place, perhaps, to mention that, besides having had
+considerable experience in ranching, the author was, about the date of
+the story, himself prospecting for silver and working as a miner. He
+would add, too, that several of the incidents related therein, and those
+in his opinion the most remarkable, are drawn from actual facts.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+    I. BIG REUBEN'S RAID                           11
+
+   II. CRAWFORD'S BASIN                            27
+
+  III. YETMORE'S MISTAKE                           42
+
+   IV. LOST IN THE CLOUDS                          64
+
+    V. WHAT WE FOUND IN THE POOL                   82
+
+   VI. LONG JOHN BUTTERFIELD                      101
+
+  VII. THE HERMIT'S WARNING                       119
+
+ VIII. THE WILD CAT'S TRAIL                       134
+
+   IX. THE UNDERGROUND STREAM                     150
+
+    X. HOW TOM CONNOR WENT BORING FOR OIL         169
+
+   XI. TOM'S SECOND WINDOW                        190
+
+  XII. TOM CONNOR'S SCARE                         210
+
+ XIII. THE ORE-THEFT                              229
+
+  XIV. THE SNOW-SLIDE                             250
+
+   XV. THE BIG REUBEN VEIN                        271
+
+  XVI. THE WOLF WITH WET FEET                     289
+
+ XVII. THE DRAINING OF THE "FORTY RODS"           313
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+                                                 PAGE
+
+
+"THERE WAS BIG REUBEN LOOKING DOWN
+AT US"      _Frontispiece_                         22
+
+"AH, SOX, IS THAT YOU?'"                           78
+
+"WE SAW BEFORE US A VERY CURIOUS
+SIGHT"                                            155
+
+"'CAN FOLKS SEE IN FROM OUTSIDE?'"                213
+
+"HE SHOT DOWNWARD LIKE AN ARROW"                  281
+
+
+
+
+The Boys of Crawford's Basin
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+BIG REUBEN'S RAID
+
+
+"Wake up, boys! Wake up! Tumble out, there! Quick! Big Reuben's into the
+pig-pen again!"
+
+Our bedroom door was banged wide open, and my father stood before us--a
+startling apparition--dressed only in his night-shirt and a pair of
+boots, carrying a stable-lantern in one hand and a rifle in the other.
+
+"What is it?" cried Joe, as he bounced out of bed; and, "Where is it?"
+cried I, both of us half dazed by the sudden awakening.
+
+"It's Big Reuben raiding the pig-pen again! Can't you hear 'em
+squealing? Come on at once! Bring the eight-bore, Joe; and you, Phil,
+get the torch and the revolver. Quick; or he'll kill every hog in the
+pen!"
+
+Big Reuben was not a two-legged thief, as one might suppose from his
+name. He was a grizzly bear, a notorious old criminal, who, for the past
+two or three years, had done much harm to the ranchmen of our
+neighborhood, killing calves and colts and pigs--especially pigs.
+
+Like a robber-baron of old, he laid tribute on the whole community,
+raiding all the ranches in turn, traveling great distances during the
+night, but always retreating to his lair among the rocks before morning.
+This had gone on for a long time, when one day, in broad daylight, while
+Ole Johnson, the Swede, was plowing his upper potato-patch, the grizzly
+jumped down from a ledge of rocks and with one blow of his paw broke the
+back of Ole's best work-steer; Ole himself, frightened half to death,
+flying for refuge to his stable, where he shut himself up in the
+hay-loft for the rest of the day.
+
+This outrage had the effect of waking up the county commissioners, who,
+understanding at last that we had been terrorized long enough, now
+offered a reward of one hundred dollars for bruin's scalp--an offer
+which stimulated all the hunters round about to run the marauder to his
+lair.
+
+But Big Reuben was as crafty as he was bold. His home was up in one of
+the rocky gorges of Mount Lincoln to the west of us, where it would be
+useless to try to trail him; and after Jed Smith had been almost torn to
+pieces, and his partner, Baldy Atkins, had spent two nights and a day up
+a tree, the enthusiasm of the hunters had suddenly waned and Big
+Reuben's closer acquaintance had been shunned by all alike. Thereafter,
+the bear had continued his depredations unchecked.
+
+Among his many other pieces of mischief, he had killed a valuable calf
+for us once, once before he had raided the pig-pen, and now here he was
+again.
+
+Without waiting to put on any extra clothing, Joe and I followed my
+father through the kitchen, I grabbing a revolver from its nail in the
+wall, and Joe snatching down the great eight-bore duck-gun and slipping
+into it two cartridges prepared for this very contingency, each
+cartridge containing twelve buck-shot and a big spherical bullet--a
+terrific charge for close quarters. Once outside the kitchen-door, I ran
+to the wood-shed and seized the torch which, like the cartridges, had
+been made ready for this emergency. It consisted of a broom-handle with
+a great wad of waste, soaked in kerosene, bound with wire to one end of
+it.
+
+Lighting the torch, I held it high and followed two paces behind the
+others as they advanced towards the pig-pen. We had not progressed
+twenty yards, however--luckily for us, as it turned out--when there
+issued through the roof of the pen a great dark body, dimly seen by the
+light of the torch.
+
+"There he is!" cried my father, as the bear dropped out of sight behind
+the corral fence. "Look out, now! We'll get a shot at him as he runs up
+the hill!"
+
+But Big Reuben had no intention whatever of running up the hill; he
+feared neither man nor beast, and the next moment he appeared round the
+corner of the corral, charging full upon us, open-mouthed.
+
+With a single impulse, we all fired one shot at him and then turned and
+fled, helter-skelter, for the kitchen, all tumbling in together,
+treading on each others' heels; my father slamming behind us the door,
+which fortunately opened outward.
+
+The kitchen was a slight frame structure, built on to the back of the
+house as a T-shaped addition. We were barely inside when bang! came a
+heavy body against the door, with such force as to send several
+milk-pans clashing to the floor.
+
+My father had hastily loaded again, and now, hearing the bear's paws
+patting high up on the door, he fired a chance shot through it. The bear
+was hit, seemingly, for we heard him grunt; but that he was not killed
+by any means was evident, for the next moment, with a clattering crash,
+the kitchen window, glass, frame and all, was knocked into the room, and
+a great hairy arm and fierce, grinning head were thrust through the gap.
+
+Joe, who was standing just opposite the window, jumped backward, and
+catching his heels against the great tub wherein the week's wash was
+soaking, he sat down in it with a splash. Seeing this, I sprang forward
+and thrust my torch into the bear's face; upon which he dropped to the
+ground again. A half-second later, Joe, still sitting in the tub, fired
+his second barrel. It was a good shot, but just a trifle too late, and
+its only effect was to blow my torch to shreds, leaving us with the dim
+light of the lantern only.
+
+"Into the house!" shouted my father; whereupon we all retreated from the
+kitchen into the main building. There, while Joe held the door partly
+open and I held the lantern so as to throw a light into the kitchen, my
+father knelt upon the floor waiting for the bear to give him another
+chance. But Big Reuben was much too clever to do anything of the sort;
+he was not going to put himself into any such trap as that; and
+presently my mother from up-stairs called out that she could see him
+going off.
+
+We waited about for half an hour, but as there was no more disturbance
+we all went back to bed, where for another half-hour Joe and I lay
+talking, unable, naturally, to go to sleep at once after such a lively
+stirring-up.
+
+By sunrise next morning we were all out to see what damage had been
+done. The bear had torn a great hole in the roof of the pen, had jumped
+in and had killed and partly eaten one pig, choosing, as a bear of his
+sagacity naturally would, the best one. We were fortunate, though, to
+have come off so cheaply; doubtless the light of our torch shining
+through the chinks of the logs had disturbed him.
+
+If there had been any question as to the marauder's identity, that was
+settled at once. His tracks were plain in the dust, and as one of his
+hind feet showed no marks of claws, we knew it was Big Reuben; for Big
+Reuben had once been caught in a trap and had only freed himself by
+leaving his toe-nails behind him.
+
+Outside the kitchen door and window the tracks were very plain; there
+was also a good deal of blood, showing that he had been hit at least
+once. But it was evident also that he had not been hurt very seriously,
+for there was no irregularity in his trail--no swaying from side to
+side, as from weakness--though we followed it up to the point where, at
+the upper end of our valley, the bear had climbed the cliff which
+bounded the Second Mesa. Though on this occasion he had thought fit to
+run away, there was little doubt but that he would live to fight another
+day.
+
+"Father," said I, as we sat together at breakfast, "may Joe and I go and
+trail him up? If he keeps on bleeding it ought to be easy, and it is
+just possible that we might find him dead."
+
+My father at first shook his head, but presently, reconsidering, he
+replied: "Well, you may go; but you must go on your ponies: it's too
+dangerous to go a-foot. And in any case, if the trail leads you up to
+the loose rocks or into the big timber you must stop. You know what a
+tricky beast Big Reuben is. If he sees that he is followed he will lie
+in hiding and jump out on you. That's how he caught Jed Smith, you
+remember."
+
+"We'll take care, father," said I. "We'll stick to our ponies, and then
+we shall be all safe."
+
+"Very well, then; be off with you."
+
+With this permission we set off, I carrying a rifle and Joe his "old
+cannon," as he called the big shotgun; each with a crust of bread and a
+slice or two of bacon in his pocket by way of lunch. Picking up the
+trail where we had left it at the foot of the Second Mesa, we scrambled
+up the little cliff, looking out very sharply lest Big Reuben should be
+lying in wait for us in some crevice, and finding that the tracks led
+straight away for Mount Lincoln, we followed them, I doing the tracking
+while Joe kept watch ahead. The surface of the Second Mesa was very
+uneven: there were many little rocky hills and many small caņons, some
+of the latter as much as a hundred feet deep, so, keeping in mind the
+bear's crafty nature, whenever the trail led us near any of these
+obstacles I would stand still while Joe examined the caņon or the rocks,
+as the case might be.
+
+Every time we did this, however, we drew a blank. The trail continued to
+lead straight away for the mountain without diverging to one side or the
+other, and for five or six miles we followed it until the stunted cedars
+began to give place to pine trees, when we decided that we might as well
+stop, especially as for some time past there had ceased to be any
+blood-marks on the stones and we had been following only the occasional
+imprint of the bear's paws in the patches of sand.
+
+"The trail is headed straight for that rocky gorge, Phil," said my
+companion, pointing forward, "and it's no use going on. Even if your
+father hadn't forbidden it, I wouldn't go into that gorge, knowing that
+Big Reuben was in there somewhere, not if the county commissioners
+should offer me the whole county as a reward."
+
+"Nor I, either," said I. "Big Reuben may have his mountain all to
+himself as far as I'm concerned. So, come on; let's get back. What time
+is it?"
+
+"After noon," replied Joe, looking up at the sun. "We've been a long
+time coming, but it won't take us more than half the time going back.
+Let's dig out at once."
+
+Turning our ponies, we set off at an easy lope, and had ridden about two
+miles on the back track when, skirting along the edge of one of the
+little caņons I have mentioned, we noticed a tiny spring of water,
+which, issuing from the face of the cliff close to the top, fell in a
+thin thread into the chasm.
+
+"Joe," said I, "let's stop here and eat our lunch. I'm getting pretty
+hungry."
+
+"All right," said Joe; and in another minute we were seated on the edge
+of the cliff with our feet dangling in space, munching our bread and
+bacon, while the ponies, with the reins hanging loose, were cropping the
+scanty grass just behind us.
+
+About five feet below where we sat was a little ledge some eighteen
+inches wide, which, on our left, gradually sloped upward until it came
+to the top, while in the other direction it sloped downward, diminishing
+in width until it "petered out" entirely. The little spring fell upon
+this ledge, and running along it, fell off again at its lower end. As
+the best place to fill our tin cup was where the water struck the ledge,
+we, when we had finished our lunch, walked down to that point.
+
+Filling the cup, I was in the act of handing it to Joe, who was behind
+me, when a sudden clatter of hoofs caused us to straighten up. Our eyes
+came just above the level of the cliff, and the first thing they
+encountered was Big Reuben himself, not ten feet away, coming straight
+for us at a run!
+
+"Duck!" yelled Joe; and down we went--only just in time, too, for the
+bear's great claws rattled on the surface of the rock as he made a slap
+at us.
+
+Where had he come from? Had he followed us back from the mountain?
+Hardly: we had come too quickly. Had he seen us coming in the early
+morning, and, making a circuit out of our sight, lain in wait for us as
+we returned? Such uncanny cleverness seemed hardly possible, even for
+Big Reuben, clever as he was known to be.
+
+These questions, however, did not occur to us at the moment. All that
+concerned us just then was that there was Big Reuben, looking down at us
+from the edge of the cliff.
+
+There was no doubt that it was the same bear we had interviewed in the
+night, for all the hair on one side of his face was singed off where I
+had thrust at him with the torch, while one of his ears was tattered and
+bloody, showing that some of Joe's buck-shot, at least, had got him as
+he dropped from the window.
+
+Joe and I were on our hands and knees, when the bear, going down upon
+his chest, reached for us with one of his paws. He could not quite touch
+us, but he came so uncomfortably close that we crept away down the
+ledge, which, dipping pretty sharply, soon put us out of his reach
+altogether.
+
+Seeing this, the bear rose to his feet again, gazed at us for a moment,
+and then stepped back out of sight.
+
+"Has he gone?" I whispered; but before Joe could answer Big Reuben
+appeared again, walking down the ledge towards us. Of course we sidled
+away from him, until the ledge had become so narrow that I could go no
+farther; and lucky it was for us that the ledge was narrow, for what
+was standing-room for us was by no means standing-room for the bear: his
+body was much too thick to allow him to come near us, or even to
+approach the spot whence we had just retreated.
+
+As it was obvious that the bear could advance no farther, for he was
+standing on the very edge of the ledge and there was a bulge in the rock
+before him which would inevitably have pushed him off into the chasm had
+he attempted to pass it, Joe and I returned to the spring, where we had
+room to stand or to sit down as we wished.
+
+The enemy watched our approach, with a glint of malice in his little
+piggy eyes, but when he saw that we intended to come no nearer, he lay
+down where he was and began unconcernedly licking his paws.
+
+"He thinks he can starve us out," said Joe; "but if I'm not mistaken we
+can stand it longer than he can, even if he did eat half a pig last
+night. And there's one thing certain, Phil: if we don't get home
+to-night, somebody will come to look for us in the morning."
+
+"Yes," I assented. "But they'll get a pretty bad scare at home if we
+don't turn up. Is there no way of sending that beast off? If we could
+only get hold of one of the guns----"
+
+By standing upright we could see my rifle lying on the ground and Joe's
+big gun standing with its muzzle pointed skyward, leaning against a
+boulder. They were only six feet away, but six feet were six feet: we
+could not reach them without climbing up, and that was out of the
+question--the bear could get there much more quickly than we could.
+
+"Phil!" exclaimed my companion, suddenly. "Have you got any twine in
+your pocket?"
+
+"Yes," I replied, pulling out a long, stout piece of string. "Why?"
+
+"Perhaps we can 'rope' my gun. See, its muzzle stands clear. Then we
+could drag it within reach."
+
+I very soon had a noose made, and being the more expert roper of the two
+I swung it round and round my head, keeping the loop wide open, and
+threw it. My very first cast was successful. The noose fell over the
+muzzle of the gun and settled half way down the barrel, where it was
+stopped by the rock.
+
+"Good!" whispered Joe. "Now, tighten it up gently and pull the gun
+over."
+
+I followed these directions, and presently we heard the gun fall with a
+clatter upon the rocks; for, fearing it might go off when it fell, we
+had both ducked below the rim of the wall.
+
+Our actions had made the bear suspicious, and when the gun came
+clattering down he rose upon his hind feet and looked about him. Seeing
+nothing moving, however, he came down again, when I at once began to
+pull the gun gently towards me, keeping my head down all the time lest
+one of the hammers, catching against a rock, should explode the charge.
+
+At length, thinking it should be near enough, I ceased pulling, when Joe
+straightened up, reached out, and, to my great delight, when he withdrew
+his hand the gun was in it.
+
+Ah! What a difference it made in our situation!
+
+Joe, first opening the breach to make sure the gun was loaded, advanced
+as near the bear as he dared, and kneeling down took careful aim at his
+chest. But presently he lowered the gun again, and turning to me, said:
+
+"Phil, can you do anything to make him turn his head so that I can get a
+chance at him behind the ear? I'm afraid a shot in front may only wound
+him."
+
+"All right," said I. "I'll try."
+
+With my knife I pried out of the face of the cliff a piece of stone
+about the size and shape of the palm of my hand, and aiming carefully I
+threw it at the bear. It struck him on the very point of his nose--a
+tender spot--and seemingly hurt him a good deal, for, with an angry
+snarl, he rose upright on his hind feet.
+
+At that instant a terrific report resounded up and down the caņon, the
+whole charge of Joe's ponderous weapon struck the bear full in the
+chest--I could see the hole it made--and without a sound the great beast
+dropped from the ledge, fell a hundred feet upon the rocks below,
+bounded two or three times and then lay still, all doubled up in a heap
+at the bottom.
+
+Big Reuben had killed his last pig!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+CRAWFORD'S BASIN
+
+
+You might think, perhaps, as many people in our neighborhood thought,
+that Joe was my brother. As a matter of fact he was no relation at all;
+he had dropped in upon us, a stranger, two years before, and had stayed
+with us ever since.
+
+It was in the haying season that he came, at a moment when my father and
+I were overwhelmed with work; for it was the summer of 1879, the year of
+"the Leadville excitement," when all the able-bodied men in the district
+were either rushing off to Leadville itself or going off prospecting all
+over the mountains in the hope of unearthing other Leadvilles. Ranch
+work was much too slow for them, and as a consequence it was impossible
+for us to secure any help that was worth having.
+
+What made it all the more provoking was that we had that year an
+extra-fine stand of grass--the weather, too, was magnificent--yet,
+unless we could get help, it was hardly likely that we could take full
+advantage of our splendid hay-crop.
+
+Nevertheless, as what could not be cured must be endured, my father and
+I tackled the job ourselves, working early and late, and we were making
+very good progress, all things considered, when we had the misfortune to
+break a small casting in our mowing-machine; a mishap which would
+probably entail a delay of several days until we could get the piece
+replaced.
+
+It was just before noon that this happened, and we had brought the
+machine up to the wagon-shed and had put up the horses, when, on
+stepping out of the stable, we were accosted by a tall, black haired,
+blue eyed young fellow of about my own age, who asked if he could get a
+job with us.
+
+"Yes, you can," replied my father, promptly; and then, remembering the
+accident to the machine, he added, "at least, you can as soon as I get
+this casting replaced," holding out the broken piece as he spoke.
+
+"May I look at it?" asked the young fellow; and taking it in his hand he
+went on: "I see you have a blacksmith-shop over there; I think I can
+duplicate this for you if you'll let me try: I was a blacksmith's
+apprentice only a month ago."
+
+"Do you think you can? Well, you shall certainly be allowed to try. But
+come in now: dinner will be ready in five minutes; you shall try your
+hand at blacksmithing afterwards. What's your name?"
+
+"Joe Garnier," replied the boy. "I come from Iowa. I was going to
+Leadville, but I met so many men coming back, with tales of what numbers
+of idle men there were up there unable to get work, that, hearing of a
+place called Sulphide as a rising camp, I decided to go there instead.
+This is the right way to get there, isn't it?"
+
+"Yes, this is the way to Sulphide. Did you expect to get work as a
+miner?"
+
+"Well, I intended to take any work I could get, but if you can give me
+employment here, I'd a good deal rather work out in the sun than down in
+a hole in the ground."
+
+"You replace that casting if you can, and I'll give you work for a
+month, at least, and longer if we get on well together."
+
+"Thank you," said the stranger; and with that we went into the house.
+
+The newcomer started well: he won my mother's good opinion at once by
+wiping his boots carefully before entering, and by giving himself a
+sousing good wash at the pump before sitting down to table. It was plain
+he was no ordinary tramp--though, for that matter, the genus "tramp" had
+not yet invaded the three-year-old state of Colorado--for his manners
+were good; while his clear blue eyes, in contrast with his brown face
+and wavy black hair, gave him a remarkably bright and wide-awake look.
+
+As soon as dinner was over, we all repaired to the blacksmith-shop,
+where Joe at once went to work. It was very evident that he knew what he
+was about: every blow seemed to count in the right direction; so that in
+about half an hour he had fashioned his piece of iron into the desired
+shape, when he plunged it into the tub of water, and then, clapping it
+into the vise, went to work on it with a file; every now and then
+comparing it with the broken casting which lay on the bench beside him.
+
+"There!" he exclaimed at last. "I believe that will fit." And, indeed,
+when he laid them side by side, one would have been puzzled to tell
+which was which, had not the old piece been painted red while the other
+was not painted at all.
+
+Joe was right: the piece did fit; and in less than an hour from the time
+we had finished dinner we were at work again in the hay-field.
+
+The month which followed was a strenuous one, but by the end of it we
+had the satisfaction of knowing that we had put up the biggest crop of
+hay ever cut on the ranch.
+
+Our new helper, who was a tall, stout fellow for his age, and an
+untiring worker, proved to be a capital hand, and though at first he was
+somewhat awkward, being unused to farm labor, before we had finished he
+could do a better day's work than I could, in spite of the fact that I
+had been a ranch boy ever since I had been a boy at all.
+
+We all took a great liking for Joe, and we were very pleased, therefore,
+when, the hay being in, it was arranged that he should stay on. For
+there was plenty of work to be done that year--extra work, I mean--such
+as building fences, putting up an ice-house and so forth, in which Joe,
+having a decided mechanical turn, proved a valuable assistant. So, when
+the spring came round again it found Joe still with us; and with us he
+continued to stay, becoming so much one of the family that many people,
+as I said, who did not know his story, supposed that he and I were
+brothers in fact, as we soon learned to become brothers in feeling.
+
+Long before this, of course, Joe had told us all about himself and how
+he had come to leave his old home and make his way westward.
+
+Of French-Canadian descent, the boy, left an orphan at three years of
+age, had been taken in by a neighbor, a kind-hearted blacksmith, and
+with him he had lived for the twelve years following, when the
+blacksmith, now an old man, had decided to go out of business. Just at
+this time "the Leadville excitement" was making a great stir in the
+country; thousands of men were heading for the new Eldorado, and Joe,
+his old friend consenting, determined to join the throng.
+
+It was, perhaps, lucky for the young blacksmith that he started rather
+late, for, on his approach to the mountains, he encountered files of
+disappointed men streaming in the opposite direction, and hearing their
+stories of the overcrowded condition of things in Leadville, he
+determined to try instead the mining camp of Sulphide, when, passing our
+place on the way he was caught by my father, as I have described, and
+turned into a ranchman.
+
+Such was the condition of affairs with us when Big Reuben made his final
+raid upon our pig-pen.
+
+The reward of one hundred dollars which the county paid us for our
+exploit in ridding the community of Big Reuben's presence came in very
+handily for Joe and me. It enabled us to achieve an object for which we
+had long been hoarding our savings--the purchase of a pair of mules.
+
+For the past two years, in the slack season, after the gathering of our
+hay and potato crops, we had hired out during the fine weather remaining
+to a man whose business it was to cut and haul timbers for the mines in
+and around the town of Sulphide, which lay in the mountains seven miles
+southwestward from our ranch. We found it congenial work, and Joe and I,
+who were now seventeen years old, hardened to labor with ax, shovel or
+pitchfork, saw no reason why we should not put in these odd five or six
+weeks cutting timbers on our own account. No reason but one, that is to
+say. My father would readily lend us one of his wagons, but he could not
+spare a team, and so, until we could procure a team of our own, we were
+obliged to forego the honor and glory--to say nothing of the expected
+profits--of setting up as an independent firm.
+
+Now, however, we had suddenly and unexpectedly acquired the necessary
+funds, and with the money in our pockets away we went at once to Ole
+Johnson's, from whom we bought a stout little pair of mouse-colored
+mules upon which we had long had an eye.
+
+But though the firm of Crawford and Garnier might now, if it pleased,
+consider itself established, it could not enter upon the practice of its
+business for some time yet. It was still the middle of summer, and there
+was plenty to do on the ranch: the hay and the oats would be ready to
+cut in two weeks, while after that there were the potatoes to gather--a
+very heavy piece of work.
+
+All these tasks had to be cleared out of the way before we could move up
+to Sulphide to begin on our timber-cutting enterprise. But between the
+harvesting of the oats and the gathering of the potato-crop there
+occurred an incident, which, besides being remarkable in itself, had a
+very notable effect upon my father's fortunes--and, incidentally, upon
+our own.
+
+To make understandable the ins and outs of this matter, I must pause a
+moment to describe the situation of our ranch; for it is upon the
+peculiarity of its situation that much of my story hinges.
+
+Anybody traveling westward from San Remo, the county seat, with the idea
+of getting up into the mountains, would encounter, about a mile from
+town, a rocky ridge, which, running north and south, extended for
+several miles each way. Ascending this bluff and still going westward,
+he would presently encounter a second ridge, the counterpart of the
+first, and climbing that in turn he would find himself upon the
+wide-spreading plateau known as the Second Mesa, which extended, without
+presenting any serious impediment, to the foot of the range--itself one
+of the finest and ruggedest masses of mountains in the whole state of
+Colorado.
+
+In a deep depression of the First Mesa--known as Crawford's Basin--lay
+our ranch. This "Basin" was evidently an ancient lake-bed--as one could
+tell by the "benches" surrounding it--but the water of the lake having
+in the course of ages sawed its way out through the rocky barrier, now
+ran off through a little caņon about a quarter of a mile long.
+
+The natural way for us to get from the ranch down to San Remo was to
+follow the stream down this caņon, but, curiously enough, for more than
+half the year this road was impassable. The lower end of Crawford's
+Basin, for a quarter of a mile back from the entrance of the caņon, was
+so soft and water-logged that not even an empty wagon could pass over
+it. In fact, so soft was it that we could not get upon it to cut hay and
+were obliged to leave the splendid stand of grass that grew there as a
+winter pasture. In the cold weather, when the ground froze up, it was
+all right, but at the first breath of spring it began to soften, and
+from then until winter again we could do nothing with it. It was, in
+fact, little better than a source of annoyance to us, for, until we
+fenced it off, our milk cows, tempted by the luxuriant grass, were
+always getting themselves mired there.
+
+This wet patch was known to every teamster in the county as "the
+bottomless forty rods," and was shunned by them like a pestilence. Its
+existence was a great drawback to us, for, between San Remo, where the
+smelters were, and the town of Sulphide, where the mines were, there
+was a constant stream of wagons passing up and down, carrying ore to the
+smelters and bringing back provisions, tools and all the other
+multitudinous necessaries required by the population of a busy mining
+town. Had it not been for the presence of "the bottomless forty rods,"
+all these wagons would have come through our place and we should have
+done a great trade in oats and hay with the teamsters. But as it was,
+they all took the mesa road, which, though three miles longer and
+necessitating the descent of a long, steep hill where the road came down
+from the First Mesa to the plains, had the advantage of being hard and
+sound at all seasons of the year.
+
+My father had spent much time and labor in the attempt to make a
+permanent road through this morass, cutting trenches and throwing in
+load after load of stones and brush and earth, but all in vain, and at
+length he gave it up--though with great reluctance. For, not only did
+the teamsters avoid us, but we, ourselves, when we wished to go with a
+load to San Remo, were obliged to ascend to the mesa and go down by the
+hill road.
+
+The cause of this wet spot was apparently an underground stream which
+came to the surface at that point. The creek which supplied us with
+water for irrigation had its sources on Mount Lincoln and falling from
+the Second Mesa into our Basin in a little waterfall some twelve feet
+high, it had scooped out a circular hole in the rock about a hundred
+feet across and then, running down the length of the valley, found its
+way out through the caņon. Now this creek received no accession from any
+other stream in its course across the Basin, but for all that the amount
+of water in the caņon was twice as great as that which came over the
+fall; showing conclusively that the marsh whence the increase came must
+be supplied by a very strong underground stream.
+
+The greater part of Crawford's Basin was owned by my father, Philip
+Crawford, the elder, but a portion of it, about thirty acres at the
+upper end, including the pool, the waterfall and the best part of the
+potato land, was owned by Simon Yetmore, of Sulphide.
+
+My father was very desirous of purchasing this piece of ground, for it
+would round out the ranch to perfection, but Yetmore, knowing how much
+he desired it, asked such an unreasonable price that their bargaining
+always fell through. Being unable to buy it, my father therefore leased
+it, paying the rent in the form of potatoes delivered at Yetmore's store
+in Sulphide--for Simon, besides being mayor of Sulphide and otherwise a
+person of importance, was proprietor of Yetmore's Emporium, by far the
+largest general store in town.
+
+He was an enterprising citizen, Simon was, always having many irons in
+the fire; a clever fellow, too, in his way; though his way was not
+exactly to the taste of some people: he drove too hard a bargain. In
+fact, the opinion was pretty general that his name fitted him to a
+nicety, for, however much he might get, he always wanted yet more.
+
+My father distrusted him; yet, strange to say, in spite of that fact,
+and of the added fact that he had always fought shy of all mining
+schemes, he and Yetmore were partners in a prospecting venture. It was,
+in a measure, an accident, and it came about in this way:
+
+The smelter-men down at San Remo were always crying out for more
+lead-ores to mix with the "refractory" ores produced by most of the
+mines in our district, publishing a standing offer of an extra-good
+price for all ores containing more than a stated percentage of lead. In
+spite of the stimulus this offer gave to the prospecting of the
+mountains, north, south and west of us, there had been found but one
+mine, the Samson, of which the chief product was lead, and this did not
+furnish nearly enough to satisfy the wants of the smelter-men.
+
+Its discovery, however, proved the existence of veins of galena--the ore
+from which lead chiefly comes--in one part of the district, and the
+prospectors became more active than ever; though without result. That
+section of country where the Samson had been discovered was deeply
+overlaid with "wash," and as the veins were "blanket" veins--lying flat,
+that is--and did not crop out above the surface, their discovery was
+pretty much a matter of chance.
+
+Among the prospectors was one, Tom Connor, who, having had experience in
+the lead-mines of Missouri, proposed to adopt one of the methods of
+prospecting in use in that country, to wit, the core-drill. But to
+procure and operate a core-drill required money, and this Tom Connor had
+not. He therefore applied to Simon Yetmore, who agreed to supply part
+of the necessary funds--making good terms for himself, you may be
+sure--if Tom would provide the rest. The rest, however, was rather more
+than the sum-total of Tom's scanty capital, and so he came to my father,
+who was an old friend of his, and asked him to make up the difference.
+
+My father declined to take any share in the enterprise, for, though most
+of the ranchmen round about were more or less interested in mining, he
+himself looked upon it as being too near akin to gambling; but feeling
+well disposed towards Tom, and the sum required being very moderate, he
+lent his friend the money, quite prepared, knowing Tom's optimistic,
+harum-scarum character, never to see it again.
+
+In this expectation, however, he was happily deceived. It is true he did
+not get back his money, but he received his money's worth, and that in a
+very curious way.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+YETMORE'S MISTAKE
+
+
+Three months had elapsed when Tom Connor turned up one day with a very
+long face. All his drilling had brought no result; he was at the end of
+his tether; he could see no possible chance of ever repaying the
+borrowed money, and so, said he, would my father take his interest in
+the drill in settlement of the debt?
+
+Very reluctantly my father consented--for what did he want with a
+one-third share in a core-drill?--whereupon Tom, the load of debt being
+off his mind, brightened up again in an instant--he was a most mercurial
+fellow--and forthwith he fell to begging my father's consent to his
+making one more attempt--just one. He was sure of striking it this time,
+he had studied the formation carefully and he had selected a spot where
+the chances of disappointment were, as he declared, "next-to-nothing."
+
+My father knew Tom well enough to know that he had been just as sure
+twenty times before, but Tom was so eager and so plausible that at last
+he agreed that he should sink one more hole--but no more.
+
+"And mind you, Tom," said he, "I won't spend more than fifty dollars;
+that is the very utmost I can afford, and I believe I am only throwing
+that away. But I'll spend fifty just to satisfy you--but that's all,
+mind you."
+
+"Fifty dollars!" exclaimed Tom. "Fifty! Bless you, that'll be more than
+enough. Twenty ought to do it. I'm going to make your fortune for twenty
+dollars, Mr. Crawford, and glad of the chance. You've treated me
+'white,' and the more I can make for you the better I'll be pleased.
+Inside of a week I'll be coming back here with a lead-mine in my
+pocket--you see if I don't."
+
+"All right, Tom," said my father, laughing, as he shook hands with him.
+"I shall be glad to have it, even if it is only a pocket edition. So,
+good-bye, old man, and good luck to you."
+
+It was two days after this that my father at breakfast time turned to us
+and said:
+
+"Boys, how would you like to take your ponies and go and see Tom Connor
+at work? There is not much to do on the ranch just now, and an outing of
+two or three days will do you good."
+
+Needless to say, we jumped at the chance, and as soon as we could get
+off, away we went, delighted at the prospect of making an expedition
+into the mountains.
+
+The place where Tom was at work was thirty miles beyond Sulphide, a long
+ride, nearly all up hill, and it was not till towards sunset that we
+approached his camp. As we did so, a very surprising sight met our gaze:
+three men, close together, with their backs to us, down on their hands
+and knees, like Mahomedans saying their prayers.
+
+"What are they up to?" asked Joe. "Have they lost something?"
+
+At this moment, my horse's hoof striking a stone caused the three men to
+look up. One was Connor, one was his helper, and the other, to our
+surprise, was Yetmore.
+
+Connor sprang to his feet and ran towards us, crying:
+
+"What did I tell you, boys! What did I tell you! Get off your ponies,
+quick, and come and see!"
+
+He was wild with excitement.
+
+We slid from our horses, and joining the other two, went down on our
+knees beside them. Upon the ground before them lay the object of their
+worship: a "core" from the drill, neatly pieced together, about eight
+feet long and something less than an inch in diameter. Of this core,
+four feet or more at one end and about half a foot at the other was
+composed of some kind of stone, but in between, for a length of three
+feet and an inch or two, it was all smooth, shining lead-ore.
+
+Tom Connor had struck it, and no mistake!
+
+"Tom," said Yetmore, as we all rose to our feet again, "this _looks_
+like a pretty fair strike; but you've got to remember that we know
+nothing about the extent of the vein--one hole doesn't prove much. It is
+three feet thick at this particular point, but it may be only three
+inches five feet away; and as to its length and breadth, why, that's all
+pure speculation. All the same I'm ready to make a deal with you. I'll
+buy your interest or I'll sell you mine. What do you say?"
+
+"What's the use of that kind of talk?" growled Connor. "You know I
+haven't a cent to my name. Besides, I haven't any interest."
+
+"You--what!--you haven't any interest!" cried the other. "What do you
+mean?"
+
+"I've sold it."
+
+"Sold it! Who to?"
+
+"To Mr. Crawford, two days ago."
+
+"Well, you are a----" Yetmore began; but catching sight of Tom's
+glowering face he stopped and substituted, "Well, I'm sorry to hear it."
+
+"Well, I ain't," said Tom, shortly. "If Mr. Crawford makes a fortune out
+of it I'll be mighty well pleased. He's treated me 'white,' _he_ has."
+
+From the tone and manner of this remark it was easy to guess that Tom
+did not love Mr. Yetmore: he had found him a difficult partner to get
+along with, probably.
+
+"I certainly hope he will," said Yetmore, smiling, "for if he does I
+shall. Sold it to Mr. Crawford, eh? So that accounts for you two boys
+being up here. Got here just in time, didn't you? You'll stay over
+to-morrow, of course, and see Tom uncover the vein?"
+
+"Are you proposing to uncover it, Tom?" I asked.
+
+"Yes. It's only four feet down; one shot will do it. You'll stay too, I
+suppose, Mr. Yetmore?"
+
+"Certainly," replied the other. But as he said it, I saw a change come
+over his face--it was a leathery face, with a large, long nose. Some
+idea had occurred to him I was sure, especially when, seeing that I was
+looking at him, he dropped his eyes, as though fearing they might betray
+him.
+
+Whatever the idea might be, however, I ceased to think of it when Tom
+suggested that it was getting late and that we had better adjourn to the
+cabin for supper.
+
+Taking our ponies over to the log stable, therefore, we gave them a good
+feed of oats, and soon afterwards were ourselves seated before a
+steaming hot meal of ham, bread and coffee; after which we spent an hour
+talking over the great strike, and then, crawling into the bunks, we
+very quickly fell asleep.
+
+Early next morning we walked about half a mile up the mountain to the
+scene of the strike, when, having first shoveled away two or three feet
+of loose stuff, Tom and his helper set to work, one holding the drill
+and the other plying the hammer, drilling a hole a little to one side of
+the spot whence the core had come.
+
+They were no more than well started when Yetmore, remarking that he had
+forgotten his tobacco, walked back to the cabin to get it--an action to
+which Joe and I, being interested in the drilling, paid little
+attention. It was only when Connor, turning to select a fresh drill,
+asked where he was, that we remembered how long he had been gone.
+
+"Gone back to the cabin, has he?" remarked Tom. "Well, he's welcome to
+stay there as far as I'm concerned."
+
+The work went on, until presently Tom declared that they had gone deep
+enough, and while we others cleared away the tools, Connor himself
+loaded and tamped the hole.
+
+"Now, get out of the way!" cried he; and while we ran off and hid behind
+convenient trees, Tom struck a match and lighted the fuse. The dull thud
+of an explosion shortly followed; but on walking back to the spot we
+were all greatly surprised to see that the rock had remained intact--it
+was as solid as ever.
+
+"Well, that beats all!" exclaimed Tom. "The thing has shot downward; it
+must be hollow underneath. We'll have to put in some short holes and
+crack it up."
+
+It did not take long to put in three short holes, and these being
+charged and tamped, we once more took refuge behind the trees while Tom
+touched them off. This time there were three sharp explosions, a shower
+of fragments rattled through the branches above our heads, and on going
+to inspect the result we found that the rock had been so shattered that
+it was an easy matter to pry out the pieces with pick and crowbar--a
+task of which Joe and I did our share.
+
+At length, the hole being now about three feet deep, Joe, who was
+working with a crowbar, gave a mighty prod at a loose piece of rock,
+when, to the astonishment of himself and everybody else, the bottom of
+the hole fell through, and rock, crowbar and all, disappeared into the
+cavity beneath.
+
+"Well, what kind of a vein is it, anyhow?" cried Tom, going down upon
+his knees and peering into the darkness. "Blest if there isn't a sort of
+cave down here. Knock out some more, boys, and let me get down. This is
+the queerest thing I've struck in a long time."
+
+We soon had the hole sufficiently enlarged, when, by means of a rope
+attached to a tree, Tom slid down into it, and lighting a candle, peered
+about.
+
+Poor old Tom! The change on his face would have been ludicrous had we
+not felt so sorry for him, when, looking up at us he said in lugubrious
+tones: "Done again, boys! Come down and see for yourselves."
+
+We quickly slid down the rope, when, our eyes having become accustomed
+to the light, Tom pointed out to us the extraordinary accident that had
+caused him to believe he had struck a three-foot vein of galena.
+
+Though there was no sign of such a thing on the surface, it was evident
+that the place in which we stood had at one time been a narrow,
+water-worn gully in the mountain-side. Ages ago there had been a
+landslide, filling the little gully with enormous boulders. That these
+rocks came from the vein of the Samson higher up the mountain was also
+pretty certain, for among them was one pear-shaped boulder of galena
+ore, standing upright, upon the apex of which rested the immense
+four-foot slab of stone through which Tom had bored his drill-hole. By a
+chance that was truly marvelous, the drill, after piercing the great
+slab, had struck the very point of the galena boulder and had gone
+through it from end to end, so that when the core came up it was no
+wonder that even Tom, experienced miner though he was, should have been
+deceived into the belief that he had discovered a three-foot vein of
+lead-ore.
+
+As a matter of fact, there was no vein at all--just one single chunk of
+galena, not worth the trouble of getting it out. Connor's lead-mine
+after all had turned out to be only a "pocket edition."
+
+Tom's disappointment was naturally extreme, but, as usual, his low
+spirits were only momentary. We had hardly climbed up out of the hole
+again when he suddenly burst out laughing.
+
+"Ho, ho, ho!" he went, slapping his leg. "What will Yetmore say? I'm
+sorry, Phil, that I couldn't keep my promise to your father, but I'll
+own up that as far as Yetmore is concerned I'm rather glad. I don't like
+the Honorable Simon, and that's a fact. What's he doing down at the
+cabin all this time, I wonder. Come! Let's gather up the tools and go
+down there: there's nothing more to be done here."
+
+On arriving at the cabin, Yetmore's non-appearance was at once
+explained. Fastened to the table with a fork was a piece of paper, upon
+which was written in pencil, "Gone to look for the horses."
+
+Of course, Joe and I at once ran over to the stable. It was empty; all
+three of the horses were gone.
+
+"Queer," remarked Joe. "I feel sure I tied mine securely, but you see
+halters and all are gone."
+
+"Yes," I replied. "And I should have relied upon our ponies' staying
+even if they had not been tied up; you know what good camp horses they
+are. Let's go out and see which way they went."
+
+We made a cast all round the stable, and presently Joe called out, "Here
+they are, all three of them." I thought he had found the horses, but it
+was only their tracks he had discovered, which with much difficulty we
+followed over the stony ground, until, after half an hour of careful
+trailing, they led us to the dusty road some distance below camp, where
+they were plainly visible.
+
+"Our ponies have followed Yetmore's horse," said Joe, after a brief
+inspection. "Do you see, Phil, they tread in his tracks all the time?"
+
+For the tracks left by our own ponies were easily distinguishable from
+those of Yetmore's big horse, our animals being unshod.
+
+"What puzzles me though, Joe," said I, "is that there are no marks of
+the halter-ropes trailing in the dust; and yet they went off with their
+halters."
+
+"That's true. I don't understand it. And there's another thing, Phil:
+Yetmore hasn't got on their trail yet, apparently; see, the marks of his
+boots don't show anywhere. He must be wandering in the woods still."
+
+"I suppose so. Well, let us go on and see if they haven't stopped to
+feed somewhere."
+
+We went on for half a mile when we came to a spot where the tracks
+puzzled us still more. For the first time a man's footmarks appeared.
+That they were Yetmore's I knew, for I had noticed the pattern of the
+nails in the soles of his boots as he had sat with his feet resting on a
+chair the night before. But where had he dropped from so suddenly? We
+could find no tracks on either side of the road--though certainly the
+ground was stony and would not take an impression easily--yet here they
+were all at once right on top of the horses' hoof-prints.
+
+Moreover, his appearance seemed to have been the signal for a new
+arrangement in the position of the horses, for our ponies had here taken
+the lead, while Yetmore's horse came treading in their tracks.
+Moreover, again, twenty yards farther on, the horses had all broken into
+a gallop. What did it mean?
+
+"Well, this is a puzzler!" exclaimed Joe, taking off his hat and
+rumpling his hair, as his habit was in such circumstances. "How do you
+figure it out, Phil?"
+
+"Why," said I. "I'll tell you what I think. Yetmore has caught sight of
+the horses strolling down the road and has followed them, keeping away
+from the road himself for fear they should see him and take alarm.
+Dodging through the scrub-oak and cutting across corners, he has come
+near enough to them to speak to his own horse; the horse has stopped and
+Yetmore has caught him. That was where his tracks first showed in the
+road. Then he has jumped upon his horse and galloped after our ponies,
+which appear to have bolted."
+
+"That sounds reasonable," Joe assented; "and in that case he'll head
+them and drive them back; so we may as well walk up to the cabin again
+and wait for him."
+
+To this I agreed, and we therefore turned round and retraced our steps.
+
+"There's only one thing about this that I can't understand," remarked
+Joe, as we trudged up the hill, "and that is about the halters--why they
+leave no trail. That does beat me."
+
+"Yes, that is certainly a queer thing; unless they managed to scrape
+them off against the trees before they took to the road. In that case,
+though, we ought to have found them; and anyhow it is hard to believe
+that all three horses should have done the same thing."
+
+We found Tom very busy packing up when we reached the cabin, and on our
+telling him the result of our horse-hunt he merely nodded, saying,
+"Well, they'll be back soon, I suppose, and then I'll ride down with
+you."
+
+"Why, are you going to quit, Tom?" I asked.
+
+"Yes," he replied. "Your father limited me to one more hole, you
+remember, and if I know him he'll stick to it; and as to working any
+longer for Yetmore, no thank you; I've had enough of it."
+
+So saying, Tom, who had already cleaned and put away the tools, began
+tumbling his scanty wardrobe into a gunny-sack, and this being done, he
+turned to us and said:
+
+"I've got a pony out at pasture about a mile up the valley. I'll go and
+bring him down; and while I'm gone you might as well pitch in and get
+dinner ready. You needn't provide for Sandy Yates: he's gone off already
+to see if he can get a job up at the Samson."
+
+Sandy Yates was the helper.
+
+In an hour or less Tom was back and we were seated at dinner, without
+Yetmore, who had not yet turned up, when the conversation naturally fell
+upon the subject of the runaway horses. We related to Tom how we had
+trailed them through the woods down to the road, told him of the sudden
+appearance of Yetmore's tracks, and how the horses had then set off at a
+run, followed by Yetmore.
+
+"But the thing I can_not_ understand," said Joe, harking back to the old
+subject, "is why the halter-ropes don't show in the dust."
+
+"Don't they?" exclaimed Tom, suddenly sitting bolt upright and clapping
+his knife and fork down upon the table. "Don't they? Just you wait a
+minute."
+
+With that he jumped up, strode out of the cabin, and went straight
+across to the stable. In two minutes he was back again, and standing in
+the doorway, with his hands in his pockets, he said:
+
+"Boys, I've got another surprise for you: Yetmore's saddle's gone!"
+
+"His saddle gone!" I exclaimed. "Is that why you went to the stable? Did
+you expect to find it gone?"
+
+"That's just what I did."
+
+"You did! Why?"
+
+Without replying directly, Tom came in, sat down, and leaning his elbows
+on the table, said, with a quiet chuckle, the meaning of which we could
+not understand:
+
+"Should you like to know, boys, what Yetmore did when he came down for
+his tobacco this morning? He went to the stable, saddled his horse,
+untied your two ponies and led them out. Then he mounted his horse and
+taking the halter-ropes in his hand he led your ponies by a roundabout
+way through the woods down to the road. After leading them at a walk
+along the road for half a mile he dismounted--that was where his tracks
+showed--and either took off the halters and threw them away, or what is
+more likely, tied them up around the ponies' necks so that they
+shouldn't step on them. Then he mounted again and went off at a gallop,
+driving your ponies ahead of him."
+
+As Tom concluded, he leaned back in his chair, bubbling with suppressed
+merriment, until the sight of our round-eyed wonder was too much for him
+and he burst into uproarious laughter, which was so infectious that we
+could not help joining in, though the cause of it was a perfect mystery
+to us both.
+
+At length, when he had laughed himself out, he leaned forward again, and
+rubbing the tears out of his eyes with the back of his hand, he said:
+
+"Can't you guess, boys, why Yetmore has gone off with your horses?"
+
+I shook my head. "No," said I, "unless he wants to steal them, and he'd
+hardly do that, I suppose."
+
+"No; anyhow not in such a bare-faced way as that. What he's after is to
+make you boys walk home."
+
+"Make us walk home!" cried Joe. "What should he want to do that for?"
+
+Tom grinned, and in reply, said: "Yetmore thought that as soon as we
+uncovered that fine three-foot vein of galena you would be for getting
+your ponies and galloping off home to tell Mr. Crawford of the great
+strike, and as he wanted to get there first he stole your
+ponies--temporarily--to make sure of doing it."
+
+"But why should he want to get there first?" I asked. "You are talking
+in riddles, Tom, and we haven't the key."
+
+"No, I know you haven't. You don't know Yetmore. I do. He's gone down to
+buy your father's share in the claim for next-to-nothing before he hears
+of the strike!"
+
+The whole thing was plain and clear now; and the hilarity of our friend,
+Connor, was explained. He had no liking for Yetmore, as we have seen,
+and it delighted him immeasurably to think of that too astute gentleman
+rushing off to buy my father's share of a valuable mine, and, if he
+succeeded, finding himself the owner of a worthless boulder instead.
+
+For myself, I was much puzzled how to act. Naturally, I felt pretty
+indignant at Yetmore's action, and it seemed to me that if, in trying to
+cheat my father, he should only succeed in cheating himself, it would be
+no more than just that he should be allowed to do so. But at the same
+time I thought that my father ought to be informed of the state of the
+case as soon as possible--he, not I, was the one to judge--and so,
+turning to Connor, I asked him to lend me his pony so that I might set
+off at once.
+
+"What! And spoil the deal!" cried Connor; and at first he was disposed
+to refuse. But on consideration, he added: "Well, perhaps you're right.
+Your father's an honest man, if ever there was one, and I doubt if he'd
+let even a man like Yetmore cheat himself if he could help it; and so I
+suppose you must go and tell him the particulars as soon as you can. All
+I hope is that he will have made his deal before you get there. Yes, you
+can take the pony."
+
+But it was not necessary to borrow Connor's steed after all, for when we
+stepped outside the cabin, there were our own ponies coming up the road.
+The halters were fastened up round their necks, and they showed evident
+signs of having been run hard some time during the morning. Presumably
+Yetmore had abandoned them somewhere on the road and they had walked
+leisurely back.
+
+"Well, boys," said Connor, "we may as well all start together now; but
+as your ponies have had a good morning's work already, we can't expect
+to make the whole distance this evening. We'll stop over night at
+Thornburg's, twenty miles down, and go on again first thing in the
+morning."
+
+This we did, and by ten o'clock we reached home, where the first person
+we encountered was my father.
+
+"Well, Tom," he cried, as the miner slipped down from his horse. "So you
+made a strike, did you?"
+
+At this Tom opened his eyes pretty widely. "How did you know?" he asked.
+
+"I didn't know," my father replied, smiling, "but I guessed. Does it
+amount to much?"
+
+"Well, no, I can't say it does," Tom replied, as he covered his mouth
+with his hand to hide the grin which would come to the surface.
+"Yetmore's been here, I suppose?" he added, inquiringly.
+
+"Yes, he has," answered my father, surprised in his turn. "Why do you
+ask?"
+
+"Oh, I just thought he might have, that's all."
+
+"Yes, he was here yesterday afternoon. I sold him my one-third share."
+
+"Did you?" asked Tom, eagerly. "I hope you got a good price."
+
+"Yes, I made a very satisfactory bargain. I traded my share for his
+thirty acres here, so that now, at last, I own the whole of Crawford's
+Basin, I'm glad to say."
+
+"Bully!" cried Tom, clapping his hands together with a report which made
+his pony shy. "That's great! Tell us about it, Mr. Crawford."
+
+"Why, Yetmore rode in yesterday afternoon, as I told you, on his way to
+town--he said. But I rather suspected the truth of his statement. He had
+come in a desperate hurry, for his horse was in a lather, and if he was
+in such haste to get to town, why did he waste time talking to me, as he
+did for twenty minutes? But when, just as he was starting off again, he
+turned back and asked me if I wanted to sell my share in the drill and
+claim, I knew that that was what he had come about, and I had a strong
+suspicion that he had heard of a strike of some sort and was trying to
+get the better of me. So when he asked what I wanted for my share, I
+said I would take his thirty acres, and in spite of his protestations
+that I was asking far too much, I stuck to it. The final result was that
+I rode on with him to town, where we exchanged deeds and the bargain was
+completed."
+
+"That's great!" exclaimed Connor once more, rubbing his hands. "And now
+I'll tell you our part of the story."
+
+When he had finished, my father stood thinking for a minute, and then
+said: "Well, the deal will have to stand. Yetmore believed we had a
+three-foot vein of galena, and it is perfectly evident that he meant to
+get my share out of me at a trifling price before I was aware of its
+value. It was a shabby trick. If he had dealt squarely with me, I would
+have offered to give him back his deed, but, as it is, I shan't. The
+deal will have to stand."
+
+Thus it was that my father became sole owner of Crawford's Basin.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+LOST IN THE CLOUDS
+
+
+The fact that he had lost his little all in the core-boring venture did
+not trouble Tom Connor in the least; the money was gone, and as worrying
+about it would not bring it back, Tom decided not to worry. The same
+thing had happened to him many a time before, for his system of life was
+to work in the mines until he had accumulated a respectable sum, and
+then go off prospecting till such time as the imminence of starvation
+drove him back again to regular work.
+
+It was so in this case; and being known all over the district as a
+skilful miner, his specialty being timber-work, he very soon got a good
+job on the Pelican as boss timberman on a section of that important
+mine.
+
+One effect of Tom's getting work on the Pelican was that he secured for
+Joe and me an order for lagging--small poles used in the mines to hold
+up the ore and waste--and our potato-crop being gathered and marketed,
+my father gave us permission to go off and earn some extra money for
+ourselves by filling the order which Tom's kindly thoughtfulness had
+secured for us.
+
+The place we had chosen as the scene of our operations was on the
+northern slope of Elkhorn Mountain, which lay next south of Mount
+Lincoln, and one bright morning in the late fall Joe and I packed our
+bedding and provisions into a wagon borrowed from my father and set out.
+
+We had chosen this spot, after making a preliminary survey for the
+purpose, partly because the growth of timber was--as it nearly always
+is--much thicker on the northern slopes of Elkhorn than on the south
+side of Lincoln, and also because, being a rather long haul, it had not
+yet been encroached upon by the timber-cutters of Sulphide.
+
+On a little branch creek of the stream which ran through Sulphide we
+selected a favorable spot and went to work. It was rather high up, and
+the country being steep and rocky, we had to make our camp about a mile
+below our working-ground, snaking out the poles as we cut them. This, of
+course, was a rather slow process, but it had its compensation in the
+fact that from the foot of the mountain nearly all the way to Sulphide
+our course lay across the Second Mesa, which was fairly smooth going,
+and as it was down hill for the whole distance we could haul a very big
+load when we did start. In due time we filled our contract and received
+our pay, after which, by advice of Tom Connor, we branched out on
+another line of the same business.
+
+Being unable to get a second contract, and being, in fact, afraid to
+take one if we could get it on account of the lateness of the
+season--for the snow might come at any moment and prevent our carrying
+it out--we consulted Tom, who suggested that we put in the rest of the
+fine weather cutting big timbers, hauling them to town, and storing them
+on a vacant lot, or, what would be better, in somebody's back yard.
+
+"For," said he, "though the Pelican and most of the other mines have
+their supplies for the winter on hand or contracted for, it is always
+likely they may want a few more stulls or other big timbers than they
+think. I'll keep you in mind, and if I hear of any such I'll try and
+make a deal for you, either for the whole stick or cut in lengths to
+order."
+
+As this seemed like good sense to us, we at once went off to find a
+storage place, a quest in which we were successful at the first attempt.
+
+Among my father's customers was the widow Appleby, who conducted a small
+grocery store on a side street in town. She was accustomed to buy her
+potatoes from us, and my father, knowing that she had a hard struggle to
+make both ends meet, had always been very easy with her in the matter of
+payment, giving her all the time she needed.
+
+This act of consideration had its effect, for, when we went to her and
+suggested that she rent us her back yard for storage purposes, she
+readily assented, and not only refused to take any rent, but gave us as
+well the use of an old stable which stood empty on the back of her lot.
+
+This was very convenient for us, for though a twenty-foot pole,
+measuring twelve inches at the butt is not the sort of thing that a
+thief would pick up and run away with, it was less likely that he would
+attempt it from an enclosed back yard than if the poles were stored in
+an open lot. Besides this, a stable rent-free for our mules, and a loft
+above it rent-free for ourselves to sleep in was a great accommodation.
+
+Returning to the Elkhorn, therefore, we went to work in a new place,
+a place where some time previously a fire had swept through a strip
+of the woods, killing the trees, but leaving them standing, stark and
+bare, but still sound as nuts--just the thing we wanted. Our chief
+difficulty this time was in getting the felled timbers out from amidst
+their fellows--for the dead trees were very thick and the mountain-side
+very steep--but by taking great care we accomplished this without
+accident. The loading of these big "sticks" would have been an awkward
+task, too, had we not fortunately found a cut bank alongside of which we
+ran our wagon, and having snaked the logs into place upon the bank we
+kidded them across the gap into the wagon without much difficulty.
+
+We had made three loads, and the fine weather still holding, we had gone
+back for a fourth and last one, when, having got our logs in place on
+the cut bank all ready to load, Joe and I, after due consultation,
+decided that we would take a day off and climb up to the saddle which
+connected the two mountains. We had never been up there before, and we
+were curious to see what the country was like on the other side.
+
+Knowing that it would be a long and hard climb, we started about
+sunrise, taking a rifle with us; not that we expected to use it, but
+because it is not good to be entirely defenseless in those wild,
+out-of-the-way places. Following at first our little creek, we went on
+up and up, taking it slowly, until presently the pines began to thin
+out, the weather-beaten trees, gnarled, twisted and stunted, becoming
+few and far between, and pretty soon we left even these behind and
+emerged upon the bare rocks above timber-line. Here, too, we left behind
+our little creek.
+
+For another thousand feet we scrambled up the rocks, clambering over
+great boulders, picking our way along the edges of little precipices,
+until at last we stood upon the summit of the saddle.
+
+To right and left were the two great peaks, still three thousand feet
+above us, but westward the view was clear. As far as we could see--and
+that, I expect, was near two hundred miles--were ranges and masses of
+mountains, some of them already capped with snow, a magnificent sight.
+
+"That is fine!" cried Joe, enthusiastically. "It's well worth the
+trouble of the climb. I only wish we had a map so that we could tell
+which range is which."
+
+"Yes, it's a great sight," said I. "And the view eastward is about as
+fine, I think. Look! That cloud of smoke, due east about ten miles away,
+comes from the smelters of San Remo, and that other smoke a little to
+the left of it is where the coal-mines are. There's the ranch, too, that
+green spot in the mesa; you wouldn't think it was nearly a mile square,
+would you?"
+
+"That's Sulphide down there, of course," remarked Joe, pointing off
+towards the right. "But what are those other, smaller, clouds of smoke?"
+
+"Those are three other little mining-camps, all tributary to the
+smelters at San Remo, and all producing refractory ores like the mines
+of Sulphide. My! Joe!" I exclaimed, as my thoughts reverted to Tom
+Connor and his late core-boring failure. "What a great thing a good vein
+of lead ore would be! Better than a gold mine!"
+
+"I expect it would. Poor old Tom! He bears his disappointment pretty
+well, doesn't he?"
+
+"He certainly does. He says, now, that he's going to stick to
+straightforward mining and leave prospecting alone; but he's said that
+every year for the past ten years at least, and if there's anything
+certain about Tom it is that when spring comes and he finds himself once
+more with money in his pocket, he'll be off again hunting for his
+lead-mine."
+
+"Sure to. Well, Phil, let's sit down somewhere and eat our lunch. We
+mustn't stay here too long."
+
+"All right. Here's a good place behind this big rock. It will shelter us
+from the east wind, which has a decided edge to it up here."
+
+For half an hour we sat comfortably in the sun eating our lunch, all
+around us space and silence, when Joe, rising to his feet, gave vent to
+a soft whistle.
+
+"Phil," said he, "we must be off. No time to waste. Look eastward."
+
+I jumped up. A wonderful change had taken place. The view of the plains
+was completely cut off by masses of soft cloud, which, coming from the
+east, struck the mountain-side about two thousand feet below us and were
+swiftly and softly drifting up to where we stood.
+
+"Yes, we must be off," said I. "It won't do to be caught up here in the
+clouds: it would be dangerous getting down over the rocks. And besides
+that, it might turn cold and come on to snow. Let us be off at once."
+
+It was fortunate we did so, for, though we traveled as fast as we dared,
+the cloud, coming at first in thin whisps and then in dense masses,
+enveloped us before we reached timber-line, and the difficulty we
+experienced in covering the small intervening space showed us how risky
+it would have been had the cloud caught us while we were still on the
+summit of the ridge.
+
+As it was, we lost our bearings immediately, for the chilly mist filled
+all the spaces between the trees, so that we could not see more than
+twenty yards in any direction. As to our proper course, we could tell
+nothing about it, so that the only thing left for us to do was to keep
+on going down hill. We expected every moment to see or hear our little
+creek, but we must have missed it somehow, for, though we ought to have
+reached it long before, we had been picking our way over loose rocks and
+fallen trees for two hours before we came upon a stream--whether the
+right or the wrong one we could not tell. Right or wrong, however, we
+were glad to see it, for by following it we should sooner or later reach
+the foot of the mountain and get below the cloud.
+
+But to follow it was by no means easy: the country was so unexpectedly
+rough--a fact which convinced us that we had struck the wrong creek. As
+we progressed, we presently found ourselves upon the edge of a little
+caņon which, being too steep to descend, obliged us to diverge to the
+left, and not only so, but compelled us to go up hill to get around it,
+which did not suit us at all.
+
+After a time, however, we began to go down once more, but though we kept
+edging to the right we could not find our creek again. The fog, too, had
+become more dense than ever, and whether our faces were turned north,
+south or east we had no idea.
+
+We were going on side by side, when suddenly we were astonished to hear
+a dog bark, somewhere close by; but though we shouted and whistled there
+was no reply.
+
+"It must be a prospector's dog," said Joe, "and the man himself must be
+underground and can't hear us."
+
+"Perhaps that's it," I replied. "Well, let's take the direction of the
+sound--if we can. It seemed to me to be that way," pointing with my
+hand. "I wish the dog would bark again."
+
+The dog, however, did not bark again, but instead there happened another
+surprising thing. We were walking near together, carefully picking our
+way, when suddenly a big raven, coming from we knew not where, flew
+between us, so close that we felt the flap of his wings and heard their
+soft _fluff-fluff_ in the moisture-laden air, and disappeared again into
+the fog before us with a single croak.
+
+It was rather startling, but beyond that we thought nothing of it, and
+on we went again, until Joe stopped short, exclaiming:
+
+"Phil, I smell smoke!"
+
+I stopped, too, and gave a sniff. "So do I," I said; "and there's
+something queer about it. It isn't plain wood-smoke. What is it?"
+
+"Sulphur," replied Joe.
+
+"Sulphur! So it is. What can any one be burning sulphur up here for?
+Anyhow, sulphur or no sulphur, some one must have lighted the fire, so
+let us follow the smoke."
+
+We had not gone far when we perceived the light of a fire glowing redly
+through the fog, and hurried on, expecting to find some man beside it.
+
+But not only was there nobody about, which was surprising enough, but
+the fire itself was something to arouse our curiosity. Beneath a large,
+flat stone, supported at the corners by four other stones, was a hot bed
+of "coals," while upon the stone itself was spread a thin layer of black
+sand. It was from these grains of sand, apparently, that the smell of
+sulphur came; though what they were or why they should be there we could
+not guess.
+
+We were standing there, wondering, when, suddenly, close behind us, the
+dog barked again. Round we whirled. There was no dog there! Instead,
+perched upon the stump of a dead tree, sat a big black raven, who eyed
+us as though enjoying our bewilderment. Bewildered we certainly were,
+and still more so when the bird, after staring us out of countenance for
+a few seconds, cocked his head on one side and said in a hoarse voice:
+
+"Gim'me a chew of tobacco!"
+
+And then, throwing back his head, he produced such a perfect imitation
+of the howl of a coyote, that a real coyote, somewhere up on the
+mountain, howled in reply.
+
+All this--the talking raven, the mysterious fire, the encompassing
+shroud of fog--made us wonder whether we were awake or asleep, when we
+were still more startled by a voice behind us saying, genially:
+
+"Good-evening, boys."
+
+Round we whirled once more, to find standing beside us a man, a tall,
+bony, bearded man, about fifty years old, carrying in his hand a long,
+old-fashioned muzzle-loading rifle. He was dressed all in buckskin,
+while the moccasins on his feet explained how it was he had been able to
+slip up on us so silently.
+
+Naturally, we were somewhat taken aback by the sudden appearance of this
+wild-looking specimen of humanity, when, thinking that he had alarmed
+us, perhaps, the man asked, pleasantly: "Lost, boys?"
+
+"Yes," I replied, reassured by his kindly manner. "We have been up to
+the saddle and got caught in the clouds. We don't know where we are. We
+are trying to get back to our camp on a branch of Sulphide creek."
+
+"Ah! You are the two boys I've seen cutting timbers down there, are you?
+Well, your troubles are over: I can put you on the road to your camp in
+an hour or so; I know every foot of these mountains."
+
+"But come in," he continued. "I suppose you are hungry, and a little
+something to eat won't be amiss."
+
+When the man said, "Come in," we naturally glanced about us to see where
+his house was, but none being visible we concluded it must be some
+distance off in the mist. In this, however, we were mistaken. The side
+of the mountain just here was covered with enormous rocks--a whole cliff
+must have tumbled down at once--and between two of these our guide led
+the way. In a few steps the passage widened out, when we saw before us,
+neatly fitted in between three of these immense blocks of stone--one on
+either side and one behind--a little log cabin, with chimney, door and
+window all complete; while just to one side was another, a smaller one,
+which was doubtless a storehouse. Past his front door ran a small stream
+of water which evidently fell from a cliff near by, for, though we could
+not see the waterfall we could hear it plainly enough.
+
+"Well!" I exclaimed. "Whoever would have thought there was a house in
+here?"
+
+"No one, I expect," replied the man. "At any rate, with one exception,
+you are the first strangers to cross the threshold; and yet I have
+lived here a good many years, too. Come in and make yourselves at home."
+
+Though we wondered greatly who our host could be and were burning to ask
+him his name, there was something in his manner which warned us to hold
+our tongues. But whatever his name might be, there was little doubt
+about his occupation. He was evidently a mighty hunter, for, covering
+the walls, the floor and his sleeping-place were skins innumerable,
+including foxes, wolves and bears, some of the last-named being of
+remarkable size; while one magnificent elk-head and several heads of
+mountain-sheep adorned the space over his fireplace.
+
+Our host having lighted a fire, was busying himself preparing a simple
+meal for us, when there came a gentle cough from the direction of the
+doorway, and there on the threshold stood the raven as though waiting
+for permission to enter.
+
+The man turned, and seeing the bird standing there with its head on one
+side, said, laughingly: "Ah, Sox, is that you? Come in, old fellow, and
+be introduced. These gentlemen are friends of mine. Say 'Good-morning.'"
+
+[Illustration: "'AH, SOX, IS THAT YOU?'"]
+
+"Good-morning," repeated the raven; and having thus displayed his good
+manners, he half-opened his wings and danced a solemn jig up and down
+the floor, finally throwing back his head and laughing so heartily that
+we could not help joining in.
+
+"Clever fellow, isn't he?" said the man. "His proper name is Socrates,
+though I call him Sox, for short. He is supposed to be getting on for a
+hundred years old, though as far as I can see he is just as young as he
+was when I first got him, twenty years ago. Here,"--handing us each a
+piece of meat--"give him these and he will accept you as friends for
+life."
+
+Whether he accepted us as friends remained to be seen, but he certainly
+accepted our offerings, bolting each piece at a single gulp; after which
+he hopped up on to a peg driven into the wall, evidently his own private
+perch, and announced in a self-satisfied tone: "First in war, first in
+peace," ending up with a modest cough, as though he would have us
+believe that he knew the rest well enough but was not going to trouble
+us with any such threadbare quotation.
+
+This solemn display of learning set us laughing again, upon which
+Socrates, seemingly offended, sank his head between his shoulders and
+pretended to go to sleep; though, that it was only pretense was evident,
+for, do what he would, he could not refrain from occasionally opening
+one eye to see what was going on.
+
+Having presently finished the meal provided for us, we suggested that we
+ought to be moving on, so, bidding adieu to Socrates, and receiving no
+response from that sulky philosopher, we followed our host into the
+open.
+
+That he had not exaggerated when he said he knew every foot of these
+mountains, seemed to be borne out by the facts. He went straight away,
+regardless of the fog, up hill and down, without an instant's
+hesitation, we trotting at his heels, until, in about an hour we found
+ourselves once more below the clouds, and could see not far away our two
+mules quietly feeding.
+
+"Now," said our guide, "I'll leave you. If ever you come my way again I
+shall be glad to see you; though I expect it would puzzle you to find my
+dwelling unless you should come upon it by accident. Good-bye."
+
+"Good-bye," we repeated, "and many thanks for your kindness. If we can
+do anything in return at any time we shall be glad of the chance. We
+live in Crawford's Basin."
+
+"Oh, do you?" said our friend. "You are Mr. Crawford's boys, then, are
+you? Well, many thanks. I'll remember. And now, good-bye to you."
+
+With that, this strange man turned round and walked up into the clouds
+again. In two minutes he had vanished.
+
+"Well, that was a queer adventure," remarked Joe. "I wonder who he is,
+and why he chooses to live all by himself like that."
+
+"Yes. It's a miserable sort of existence for such a man; for he seems
+like a sociable, good-hearted fellow. It isn't every one, for instance,
+who would walk three or four miles over these rough mountains just to
+help a couple of boys, whom he never saw before and may never see again.
+I wish we could make him some return."
+
+"Well, perhaps we may, some day," Joe replied.
+
+Whether we did or not will be seen later.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+WHAT WE FOUND IN THE POOL
+
+
+Though we got back to camp pretty late, we set to work to load our poles
+at once, fearing that there was going to be a fall of snow which might
+prevent our getting them to town. This turned out to be a wise
+precaution, for when we started in the morning the snow was already
+coming down, and though it did not extend as far as Sulphide, the
+mountains were covered a foot deep before night.
+
+This fall of snow proved to be much to our advantage, for one of the
+timber contractors, fearing he might not be able to fill his order,
+bought our "sticks" from us, to be delivered, cut into certain lengths,
+at the Senator mine.
+
+This occupied us several days, when, having delivered our last load, we
+thanked Mrs. Appleby for the use of her back yard--the only payment she
+would accept--and then set off home, where we proudly displayed to my
+father and mother the money we had earned and related how we had earned
+it; including, of course, a description of our meeting with the wild man
+of the woods.
+
+"And didn't he tell you who he was?" asked my father, when we had
+finished.
+
+"No," I replied; "we were afraid to ask him, and he didn't volunteer any
+information."
+
+"And you didn't guess who he was?"
+
+"No. Why should we? Who is he?"
+
+"Why, Peter the Hermit, of course. I should have thought the presence of
+the raven would have enlightened you: he is always described as going
+about in company with a raven."
+
+"So he is. I'd forgotten that. But, on the other hand he is always
+described also as being half crazy, and certainly there was no sign of
+such a thing about him that we could see. Was there, Joe?"
+
+"No. Nobody could have acted more sensibly. Who is he, Mr. Crawford? And
+why does he live all by himself like that?"
+
+"I know nothing about him beyond common report. I suppose his name is
+Peter--though it may not be--and because he chooses to lead a secluded
+life, some genius has dubbed him 'Peter the Hermit'; though who he
+really is, or why he lives all alone, or where he comes from, I can't
+say. Some people say he is crazy, and some people say he is an escaped
+criminal--but then people will say anything, particularly when they know
+nothing about it. Judging from the reports of the two or three men who
+have met him, however, he appears to be quite inoffensive, and evidently
+he is a friendly-disposed fellow from your description of him. If you
+should come across him again you might invite him to come down and see
+us. I don't suppose he will, but you might ask him, anyhow."
+
+"All right," said I. "We will if we get the chance." And so the matter
+ended.
+
+It was just as well that we returned to the ranch when we did, for we
+found plenty of work ready to our hands, the first thing being the
+hauling of fire-wood for the year. To procure this, it was not necessary
+for us to go to the mountains: our supply was much nearer to hand. The
+whole region round about us had been at some remote period the scene of
+vigorous volcanic action. Both the First and Second Mesas were formed by
+a series of lava-flows which had come down from Mount Lincoln, and
+ending abruptly about eight miles from the mountains, had built up the
+cliff which bounded the First Mesa on its eastern side. Then, later, but
+still in a remote age, a great strip of this lava-bed, a mile wide and
+ten or twelve miles long, north and south, had broken away and subsided
+from the general level, forming what the geologists call, I believe, a
+"fault," thus causing the "step-up" to the Second Mesa. The Second Mesa,
+because the lava had been hotter perhaps, was distinguished from the
+lower level by the presence of a number of little hills--"bubbles," they
+were called, locally, and solidified bubbles of hot lava perhaps they
+were. They were all sorts of sizes, from fifty to four hundred feet high
+and from a hundred yards to half a mile in diameter. Viewed from a
+distance, they looked smooth and even, like inverted bowls, though when
+you came near them you found that their sides were rough and broken. I
+had been to the top of a good many of them, and all of those I had
+explored I had found to be depressed in the centre like little craters.
+From some of them tiny streams of water ran down, helping to swell the
+volume of our creek.
+
+Most of these so-called "bubbles," especially the larger ones, were well
+covered with pine-trees, and as there were three or four of them within
+easy reach of the ranch, it was here that we used to get our fire-wood.
+
+There was a good week's work in this, and after it was finished there
+was more or less repairing of fences to be done, as there always is in
+the fall, and the usual mending of sheds, stables and corrals.
+
+The weather by this time had turned cold, and "the bottomless forty
+rods" having been frozen solid enough to bear a load, Joe and I were
+next put to work hauling oats down to the livery stable men in San Remo,
+as well as up to Sulphide.
+
+Before this task was accomplished the winter had set in in earnest. We
+had had one or two falls of snow, though in our sheltered Basin the heat
+of the sun was still sufficient to clear off most of it again, and the
+frost had been sharp enough to freeze up our creek at its sources, so
+that our little waterfall was now converted into a motionless icicle.
+Fortunately, we were not dependent upon the creek for the household
+supply of water: we had one pump which never failed in the back kitchen
+and another one down by the stables.
+
+The creek having ceased to run, the surface of the pool was no longer
+agitated by the water pouring into it, and very soon it was solidly
+frozen over with a sheet of ice twelve inches thick, when, according to
+our yearly custom, we proceeded to cut this ice and stow it away in the
+ice-house; having previously been up to the sawmill near Sulphide and
+brought away, for packing purposes, several wagon-loads of sawdust,
+which the sawmill men readily gave us for nothing, being glad to have it
+hauled out of their way. We had taken the opportunity to do this when we
+took our loads of oats up to Sulphide, thus utilizing the empty wagons
+on the return trip.
+
+The pool, as I have said, measured about a hundred feet each way, though
+on account of its shallowness around the edges we could only cut ice
+over a surface about fifty feet square. Being frozen a foot thick,
+however, this gave us an ample supply for all our needs.
+
+The labor of cutting, hauling and housing the ice fell to Joe and me, my
+father having generally plenty of other work to do. He had taken in a
+number of young cattle for a neighboring cattleman for the winter, and
+having sold him the bulk of our hay crop and at the same time undertaken
+to feed the stock, this daily duty alone took up a large part of his
+time. Besides this, "the forty rods" having become passable, the
+freighters and others now came our way instead of taking the longer
+hill-road, and their frequent demands for a sack, or a load, of oats,
+and now and then for hay or potatoes, added to the work of
+stock-feeding, kept my father pretty well occupied.
+
+Joe and I, therefore, went to work by ourselves, beginning operations on
+that part of the pool nearest the point where the water used to pour in.
+We had taken out ten or a dozen loads of beautiful, clear ice, when, one
+day, Yetmore, who was riding down to San Remo, seeing us at work,
+stopped to watch us.
+
+He was a queer fellow. Though he must have been perfectly well aware
+that we distrusted him; and though, after the late affair of the
+lead-boulder--a miscarriage of his schemes which was doubtless extremely
+galling to him--one would think he would have rather avoided us than
+not, he appeared to feel no embarrassment whatever, but with a greeting
+of well-simulated cordiality he dismounted and walked over to the pool
+to see what we were doing. Perhaps--and this, I think, is probably the
+right explanation--if he did entertain the idea of some day "getting
+even" with us, he had decided to postpone any such attempt until he saw
+an opportunity of doing so at a profit.
+
+"Fine lot of ice," he remarked, after standing for a moment watching Joe
+as he plied the saw. "Does this creek always freeze up like this?"
+
+"Yes," I replied. "It heads in Mount Lincoln, and is made up of a number
+of small streams which always freeze up about the first of November.
+That reduces the flow to about one-third its usual size; and when the
+little streams which come down from three or four of the 'bubbles'
+freeze up too, the creek stops entirely; which makes it mighty
+convenient for us to cut ice, as you see."
+
+"I see. Is the pool the same depth all over?"
+
+"No," I answered. "Just here, under the fall, it is deepest, but round
+the edges it is so shallow that we can't take a stroke with the saw, the
+sand comes so close up to the ice. In fact, in some places, the ice
+rests right upon the sand."
+
+"How deep is it here?"
+
+"Four or five feet, I think. Try it, Joe."
+
+Joe, who had just laid down the saw and had taken up the long ice-hook
+we used for drawing the blocks of ice within reach, lowered the hook,
+point downward, into the water. Then, pulling it out again, he stood it
+up beside him, finding that the wet mark on the staff came up to his
+chin.
+
+"Five feet and three or four inches," said he.
+
+"Is the bottom solid or sandy?" asked Yetmore.
+
+"I didn't notice. I'll try it."
+
+With that Joe lowered the pole once more.
+
+"Seems solid," he remarked, giving two or three hard prods. But he had
+scarcely said so, when, to our surprise, several bits of rough ice about
+as big as my hand bobbed up from the bottom.
+
+"Hallo!" exclaimed Yetmore. "Ground ice!"
+
+"What's ground ice?" I asked.
+
+"Why, ice formed at the bottom of the pool. It is not uncommon, I
+believe, though I don't remember to have seen any before. Pretty dirty
+stuff, isn't it? Must be a sandy bottom."
+
+So saying, he stooped down, and picking up the only bit of ice which
+happened to be within reach, he examined its under side. As he did so, I
+saw him give a little start, as though there were something about it to
+cause him surprise, but just as I reached out my hand to ask him to let
+me see it, he threw it back into the water out of reach--an action which
+struck me as being hardly polite.
+
+"I must be off," said he, in apparent haste, "so, good-bye. Hope you
+will get your crop in before it snows. Looks threatening to me; you'll
+have to hurry, I think."
+
+This prediction seemed to me rather absurd, with the thermometer at zero
+and the sky as clear as crystal; but Yetmore was an indoor man and could
+not be expected to judge as can one whose daily work depends so much
+upon what the weather is doing or is going to do. It did not occur to me
+then--though it did later--that he only wanted us to get to work again
+at once, and so divert our minds from the subject of the ground ice.
+
+As I made no comment on his remark, Yetmore walked away, remounted his
+horse and rode off; while Joe and I went briskly to work again.
+
+We had been at it some time, when Joe stopped sawing, and straightening
+up, said:
+
+"It's queer about those bits of ground ice, Phil. Do you notice how they
+all float clean side up? Wait a bit and I'll show you."
+
+Taking the ice-hook, he turned over one of the bits with its point,
+showing its soiled side, but the moment he released it, the bit of ice
+"turned turtle" again.
+
+"Do you see?" said he. "The sand acts like ballast. It must be heavy
+stuff."
+
+"Yes," said I. "Hook a bit of it out and let's look at it."
+
+This was soon done, when, on examining it, we found the under side to be
+crusted with very black sand, which, whatever might be its nature, was
+evidently heavy enough to upset the balance of a small fragment of ice.
+
+"What is it made of, I wonder?" said Joe.
+
+"I don't know," I replied, "but perhaps it is that black sand which the
+prospectors are always complaining of as getting in their way when they
+are panning for gold."
+
+"That's what it is, Phil, I expect," cried Joe. "And what's more, that's
+what Yetmore thought, too, or else why should he throw that bit of ice
+back into the water so quickly when you held out your hand for it? He
+didn't want you to see it."
+
+"It does look like it," I assented. "Poke up a few more, Joe, and we
+will take them home and show them to my father: perhaps he'll know what
+the stuff is."
+
+Joe took the ice-hook and prodded about on the bottom, every prod
+bringing up one or two bits of ice, each one as it bobbed to the surface
+showing its sandy side for a moment and then turning over, clean side
+up. Drawing these to the edge of the ice, we picked them out, laying
+them on a gunny-sack we had with us, and when, towards sunset, we had
+carried home and housed our last load, and had stabled and fed the
+mules, we took our scraps over to the blacksmith-shop, where the tinkle
+of a hammer proclaimed that my father was at work doing some mending of
+something.
+
+He was much interested in hearing of the ground ice and of the way it
+brought up the black sand with it, and still more so in our description
+of Yetmore's action.
+
+"Let me look at it," said he; and taking one of our specimens, he
+stepped to the door to examine it, the light in the shop being too dim.
+He came back smiling.
+
+"Queer fellow, Yetmore!" said he. "One would think that the lesson of
+the lead-boulder might have taught him that a man may sometimes be too
+crafty. I think this is likely to prove another case of the same kind. I
+believe he has made a genuine discovery here--though what it may lead to
+there is no telling--and if he had had the sense to let you look at that
+piece of dirty ice, instead of throwing it back into the water, thus
+arousing your curiosity, he would probably have kept his discovery to
+himself. As it is, he is likely to have Tom Connor interfering with him
+again--that is to say, if this sand is what I think it is. I don't think
+it is the 'black sand' of the prospectors--it is too shiny, and it has a
+bluish tinge besides--I think it is something of far more value. We'll
+soon find out. Give me that piece of an iron pot, Phil; it will do to
+melt the ice in."
+
+Having broken up some of our ice into small pieces, we placed it in a
+large fragment of a broken iron pot, and this being set upon the forge,
+Joe took the bellows-handle and soon had the fire roaring under it. It
+did not take long to melt the ice, when, pouring off the water, we
+added some more, repeating the process until there was no ice left. The
+last of the water being then poured away, there remained nothing but
+about a spoonful of very fine, black, shiny sand.
+
+The receptacle was once more placed upon the fire, and while my father
+kept the contents stirred up with a stick, Joe seized the bellows-handle
+again and pumped away. Presently he began to cough.
+
+"What's the matter, Joe?" asked my father, laughing.
+
+"Sulphur!" gasped Joe.
+
+"Sulphur!" cried I. "I don't smell any sulphur."
+
+"Come over here, then, and blow the bellows," replied Joe.
+
+I took his place, but no sooner had I done so than I, too, began to
+cough. The smell of sulphur evidently came from our spoonful of sand,
+and as I was standing between the door and the window the draft blew the
+fumes straight into my face. On discovering this, I pulled the
+bellows-handle over to one side, when I was no more troubled.
+
+The iron pot, being set right down on the "duck's nest" and heaped all
+around with glowing coals, had become red-hot, when my father, peering
+into it, held up his hand.
+
+"That'll do, Phil. That's enough," he cried. "Give me the tongs, Joe."
+
+My father removed the melting-pot, and making a hole with his heel in
+the sandy floor of the shop, he poured the contents into it.
+
+"Lead!" we both cried, with one voice.
+
+"Yes, lead," my father replied. "Galena ore, ground fine by the action
+of water."
+
+"Do you mean," I asked, "that there is a lead-mine in the bottom of the
+pool?"
+
+"No, no. But there is a vein of galena, size and value unknown,
+somewhere up on Lincoln Mountain. The fine black sand sticking to the
+ground ice was brought down by our stream, being reduced to powder on
+the way, and deposited in the pool, where its weight has kept it from
+being washed out again."
+
+"I see. And do you suppose Yetmore recognized the sand as galena ore?
+Would he be likely to know it in the form of sand?"
+
+"I expect so. He's a sharp fellow enough. He must have seen pulverized
+samples of galena many a time in the assayers' offices. I've seen them
+myself: that was what gave me my clue."
+
+"And what do you suppose he'll do?"
+
+"He is pretty certain, I think, to try to get hold of some of the stuff,
+so that he may test it and make sure; though how he will go about it
+there's no telling. It will be interesting to see how he manages it."
+
+"And what shall you do, father? Go prospecting?"
+
+My father laughed, knowing that this was a joke on my part; for I was
+well aware that he would not think of such a thing.
+
+"Not for us, Phil," he answered. "We have our mine right here. Raising
+oats and potatoes may be a slow way of getting rich, but it is a good
+bit surer than prospecting. No, we'll tell Tom Connor about it and let
+him go prospecting if he likes. You shall go up to Sulphide the first
+Saturday after the ice-cutting is finished and give him our information.
+There's no hurry about it: he can't go prospecting while the mountains
+are all under snow. Come along in to supper now. You've fed the mules, I
+suppose."
+
+It was a snapping cold night that night, and about half-past eight I
+went into the kitchen to look at the thermometer which hung outside the
+door. As I came back, I happened to glance out of the west window, when,
+to my surprise, I thought I saw a glimmer of light up by the pool.
+Stepping quickly into the house again, I went to the front door and
+looked out. Yes, there was a light up there!
+
+"Father," I called out, "there's somebody up at the pool with a light."
+
+My father sprang out of his chair. "Is there?" he cried. "Then it's
+Yetmore, up to some of his tricks. Get into your coats, boys, and let's
+go and see what he's about."
+
+As we went out I took down the unlighted stable-lantern and carried it
+with me in case we might need it, and shutting the door softly behind
+me, ran after the others. We had not covered half the distance to the
+pool, however, when the light up there suddenly went out, and a minute
+later we heard the sound of galloping hoofs, muffled by the thin carpet
+of snow, going off in the direction of Sulphide. Our visitor, whoever he
+was, had departed.
+
+"Well, come on, anyhow," said my father. "Let us see what he was doing."
+
+As the thermometer was then standing at three degrees below zero, we
+knew that the sheet of clear water we had left in the afternoon should
+have been solidly frozen over again by this time. What was our surprise,
+therefore, to find that such was not the case: there was only a thin
+film of ice; it was but just beginning to form.
+
+"That is easily explained," remarked my father. "The ice did form, but
+some one has chopped it out and thrown it to one side there. See?"
+
+"Yes," replied Joe, "and then he took the ice-hook, which I know I left
+standing upright against the rocks, and poked up the ground ice. See,
+there are several bits floating about, and I remember quite well that we
+cleared out every one of them this afternoon. Didn't we, Phil?"
+
+"Yes," said I, "I'm sure we did, because I remember that those two or
+three bits that had no sand in them we threw into that corner instead of
+pitching them into the water again. I suppose it's Yetmore, father."
+
+"Oh, not a doubt of it. Did he leave any tracks?"
+
+By the light of the lantern we searched about, and though there were no
+tracks to be seen on the smooth ice, there were plenty in the snow below
+the pool. They were the foot-prints of a smallish man, for his tracks,
+in spite of his wearing over-shoes, were not so big as the prints made
+by Joe's boots--though, as Joe himself remarked, that was not much to go
+by, he being a six-footer with feet to match, "and a trifle over," as
+his friends sometimes considerately assured him.
+
+Following these foot-prints, we were led to the south gate, where, it
+was easy to see, a horse had been standing for some time tied to the
+gate-post.
+
+"Well, he's got off with his samples all right," remarked my father.
+"He's a smart fellow, and enterprising, too. He would deserve to win, if
+only he were not so fond of taking the crooked way of doing things. Come
+along. Let's get back to the house. There's nothing more to be done
+about it at present."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+LONG JOHN BUTTERFIELD
+
+
+"Boys," said my father next morning, "I've been thinking over this
+discovery of ours. It won't do to wait till you've finished the
+ice-cutting to notify Tom Connor. He has been a good friend to us, and I
+feel that we owe him some return for enabling me to get this piece of
+land from Yetmore, even though it was, in a manner, accidental; and as
+Tom is sure to go off prospecting in the spring, whether or no, we may
+as well give him the chance--if he wants it--to go hunting for this
+supposed vein of galena."
+
+"He's pretty sure to want to," said I.
+
+"Yes, I think he is. And as Yetmore will certainly find out the nature
+of the black sand, and will be sending out a prospector or two himself
+as soon as the snow clears off, we must at least give Tom an equal
+chance. So, instead of waiting for you to finish cutting the ice, I'll
+write him a letter at once, telling him all about it, and send it up by
+this morning's coach."
+
+One of the advantages to us of the frosty weather was that the mail
+coach between San Remo and Sulphide came our way instead of taking the
+hill-road, so that during the winter months we received our mail daily,
+whereas, through the greater part of the year, while the "forty rods"
+were "bottomless," we had to go ourselves to San Remo to get it. The
+coach, going up, passed our place about ten in the morning, and by it my
+father sent the promised letter.
+
+We quite expected that Tom would come flying down at once, but instead
+we received from him next morning a reply, stating that he could not
+leave his work, and asking my father to allow us boys to do a little
+prospecting for him--which, I may say, we boys were ready enough to do
+if my father did not object.
+
+He did not object; being, indeed, very willing that we should put in a
+day's work for the benefit of our friend. For, as he said, to undertake
+one day's prospecting for a friend was a very different matter from
+taking to prospecting as a business.
+
+It is a fascinating pursuit; men who contract the prospecting disease
+seldom get the fever entirely out of their systems again, and it was
+for this reason my father was so set against it, considering that no
+greater misfortune could befall two farmer-boys like ourselves than to
+be drawn into such a way of life. Now that we were seventeen years old,
+however, and might be supposed to have some discretion, he had little
+fear for Joe and me, knowing, as he did, that we shared his sentiments.
+We had seen enough of the life of the prospector to understand that a
+more precarious way of making a living could hardly be invented.
+
+How many men get rich at it? I have heard it estimated at one man in
+five thousand; and whether this estimate--or, rather, this guess--is
+right or wrong, it shows the trend of opinion.
+
+Suppose a prospector does strike a vein of ore: what is the common
+result? By the time he has sunk a shaft ten feet deep he must have a
+windlass and a man to work it, and being in most cases too poor to hire
+a miner, his only way of getting help is to take in a partner. The two
+go on sinking, until presently the hole is too deep to use a windlass
+any more--a horse-whim is needed and then a hoisting engine. But it is
+seldom that the ore dug out of a shaft will pay the expense of sinking
+it--for powder and drills, ropes, buckets and timbers, are expensive
+things--much less enable the owner to lay by anything, and the
+probability is that to buy a hoisting engine he must sell another
+portion of his claim. And so it goes, until, by the time his claim has
+been turned into a mine--for, as the common and very true saying is,
+"Mines are made, not found"--his share of it will probably have been
+reduced to one-quarter or less; while it is quite within the limits of
+probability that, becoming wearied by long waiting for the slow
+development of his prospect, he will have sold out for what he can get
+and gone back to his old life.
+
+But though I do not advocate the business of prospecting as a way of
+making a living--I had rather pitch hay or dig potatoes myself--I am far
+from wishing to disparage the prospector himself or to belittle the
+results of his work. He is the pioneer of civilization; and personally
+he is generally a fine fellow. At the same time, as in every other
+profession, the ranks of the prospectors include their share of the
+riff-raff. It was so in our district, and we were destined shortly to
+come in contact with one of them.
+
+Tom Connor in his letter instructed us as to what he wished us to do: it
+was very simple. He asked us to walk up the little caņon along which our
+stream flowed, when it did flow, and to examine the bed of each of its
+feeders as we came to them, to determine, if possible, which of the
+branch streams it was that brought down the powdered lead-ore. He also
+suggested that we get out some more of the black sand from the bottom of
+the pool for him to see, and at the same time ascertain, if we could,
+how much of a deposit there was there.
+
+The last request we performed first. Taking down to the pool a long,
+pointed iron rod, we lowered it into the water, marking the depth by
+tying a bit of string round the rod at high-water-mark, and then bored a
+hole down through the frozen sand until we struck bed-rock. By this
+means we discovered that the deposit was five inches thick at the upper
+end of the pool. A few feet further from the waterfall, however, the
+deposit was thicker, but we noticed at the same time that the ground ice
+which came up carried with it more or less yellow sand. The further we
+retreated from the waterfall, too, the larger became the proportion of
+yellow sand, until towards the edge of the pool it had taken the place
+of the black sand altogether.
+
+Having done this, we poked up a lot of the ground ice, which we
+collected and put into a tin bucket, and taking this home we melted the
+ice, poured off the water, and made a little parcel of the sand that
+remained.
+
+A few days later we had finished our ice-cutting and had stowed away the
+crop in the ice-house, when we were at length free to go off and make
+the little prospecting expedition that Tom had asked us to undertake.
+
+First walking up the bed of the caņon, where the water was now
+represented by sheets of crackling white ice, we arrived presently at
+the first branch creek which came in on the right. This we ascended in
+turn, going some distance up it before we found a likely patch of sand,
+into which we chopped a hole with the old hatchet we had brought for the
+purpose, disclosing a little of the black material at the bottom; though
+the amount was so scanty that we could not be sure it was really the
+black sand we were seeking.
+
+Going on up this branch creek, much impeded by the snow which became
+deeper and deeper the higher we ascended, we were nearing one of the
+bends when Joe, who was in advance, suddenly stopped, exclaiming:
+
+"Look there, Phil! Tracks coming down the bank. Somebody is ahead of
+us."
+
+"So there is," said I. "What can he be doing, I wonder?"
+
+Following these tracks a short distance, we very soon discovered the
+reason for their being there. The man was on the same quest as
+ourselves!
+
+In a bend of the stream where the snow lay two feet thick, he had dug a
+hole down to the sand, and then through the sand itself to bed-rock. At
+the bottom of the hole was a little black sand, showing the marks of a
+hatchet or knife-blade where it had been gouged out, but all around the
+hole, between the bed-rock and the yellow sand above, was a black line
+an inch thick, composed of the shiny, powdered galena ore. There could
+be no doubt that the man ahead of us was hunting the same game as we
+were.
+
+"Do you suppose it's Yetmore, Joe?" said I.
+
+"No," Joe answered, emphatically, "I'm sure it isn't. Look at his
+tracks: they are bigger than mine."
+
+"It can't be Tom, himself, can it?"
+
+"No, I'm pretty sure it isn't Tom either. Tom is a big, powerful fellow,
+all right, but he's not more than five feet ten, while this man, I
+think, is extra-tall--see the length of his stride where he came down
+the bank. Whoever he is, though, Phil, he's an experienced prospector.
+He hasn't wasted his time, as we have, trying unlikely places, but has
+chosen this spot and gone slap down through snow and everything, just as
+if he knew that the black sand would be found at the bottom."
+
+"That's true," said I. "I wonder who it is. We must find out if we can,
+Joe, so that we may be able to tell Tom who his competitor is. Let's
+follow his tracks."
+
+Getting out of the creek-bed again, we walked along the bank for nearly
+a mile, until Joe, stopping short, held up his finger.
+
+"Hark!" he whispered. "Somebody chopping."
+
+There was a sound as of metal being struck against stone somewhere ahead
+of us, so on we went again, making as little noise as possible, until
+presently Joe stopped again, and pointing forward, said softly, "There
+he is, look!"
+
+The man was down in the creek-bed again, and all we could see of him
+above the bank was his hat. We therefore went forward once more, timing
+our steps by the blows of the hatchet, until we could see the man's head
+and shoulders; but we did not gain much by that, as he had his back to
+us and was too intent upon his work to turn round. At length, however,
+he ceased chopping, and gathering the chips of frozen sand in his hands,
+he cast them to one side. In doing so, he showed his face for a moment,
+and in that brief glimpse I recognized who it was.
+
+Joe looked at me with raised eyebrows, as much as to say, "Do you know
+him?" to which I replied with a nod, and laying my hand on my
+companion's arm, I drew him back until only the top of the man's hat was
+visible again, when I whispered, "It's Long John Butterfield."
+
+"What! The man they call 'The Yellow Pup'? How do you suppose _he_ came
+to hear of the black sand?"
+
+"From Yetmore. He is a prospector whom Yetmore grub-stakes every
+summer."
+
+"'Grub-stakes,'" repeated Joe, inquiringly.
+
+"Yes. Some prospectors go out on their own account, you know, but some
+of them are 'grub-staked.' This man is employed by Yetmore. He sends
+him out prospecting every spring, providing him with tools and 'grub'
+and paying him some small wages. Whether it is part of the bargain that
+Long John is to get any share of what he may find, I don't know, but
+probably it is--that is the general rule. There is very little doubt
+that Yetmore has sent him out now, just as Tom has sent us out, to see
+which stream the lead-ore in the pool came from."
+
+"Not a doubt of it. Well, shall we go ahead and speak to him?"
+
+Before I could reply, the man himself rose up, looked about him, and at
+once espied us. At seeing us standing there silently watching him, he
+gave a not-unnatural start of alarm, but perceiving that he had only two
+boys to deal with, even if we were pretty big, he climbed up the bank
+and advanced towards us with a threatening air.
+
+Standing six feet five inches in his over-shoes, he was a rather
+formidable-looking object as he came striding down upon us, a shovel in
+one hand and a hatchet in the other; but as we knew him by reputation
+for a blusterer and a coward, we awaited his coming without any alarm
+for our safety.
+
+Long John Butterfield was a well-known character in Sulphide. Though a
+prospector all summer, he was a bar-room loafer all winter, spending his
+time hanging around the saloons, and doing only work enough in the way
+of odd jobs to keep himself from starving until spring came round again,
+when Yetmore would provide for him once more.
+
+It had formerly been his ambition to pass for a "bad man," though he
+found it difficult to maintain that reputation among the unbelieving
+citizens of Sulphide, who knew that he valued his own skin far too
+highly to risk it seriously. He had been wont to call himself "The
+Wolf," desiring to be known by that title as sounding sufficiently
+fierce and "bad," and being of a most unprepossessing appearance, with
+his matted hair, retreating forehead, long, sharp nose and projecting
+ears, he did represent a wolf pretty well--though, still better, a
+coyote.
+
+As the people of Sulphide, however, declined to take him at his own
+valuation, greeting his frequent outbreaks of simulated ferocity with
+derisive jeers--even the small boys used to scoff at him--he was reduced
+to practising his arts upon strangers, which he always hastened to do
+when he thought it was not likely to be dangerous. Unluckily for him,
+though, he once tried one of his tricks upon an inoffensive newcomer,
+with a result so unexpected and unwelcome that his only desire
+thereafter was that people should forget that he had ever called himself
+"The Wolf"--a desire in which his many acquaintances, whether
+working-men or loafers, readily accommodated him. But as they playfully
+substituted the less desirable title of "The Yellow Pup," Long John
+gained little by the move.
+
+It happened in this way: There came out from New York at one time a
+young fellow named Bertie Van Ness, a nephew of Marsden, the cattle man,
+some of whose stock we were feeding that winter. He arrived at Sulphide
+by coach one morning, and before going on to Marsden's he stepped into
+Yetmore's store to buy himself a pair of riding gauntlets. Long John was
+in there, and seeing the well-dressed, dapper little man, with his white
+collar and eastern complexion--not burned red by the Colorado sun, as
+all of ours are--he winked to the assembled company as much as to say,
+"See me take a rise out of the tenderfoot," sidled up to Bertie, who was
+a foot shorter than himself, leaned over him, and putting on his worst
+expression, said, in a harsh, growling voice, "I'm 'The Wolf.'"
+
+It was a trick that had often been successful before: peace-loving
+strangers, not knowing whom they had to deal with, would usually back
+away and sometimes even take to their heels, which was all that Long
+John desired. In the present instance, however, the "bad man"
+miscalculated. The little stranger, seeing the ugly face within a foot
+of his own, withdrew a step, and without waiting for the formality of an
+introduction, struck "The Wolf" a very sharp blow upon the end of his
+nose, at the same time remarking, "Howl, then, you beast."
+
+Long John did howl. Clapping his hands over his face, he retreated,
+roaring, from the store, amid the enthusiastic plaudits of those
+present.
+
+Thus it was that the name of "The Wolf" fell into disuse and the title,
+"Yellow Pup," was substituted; and if at any time thereafter Long John
+became obstreperous or in any way made himself objectionable, it was
+only necessary for some one in company to say "Bow-wow," when the
+offender would forthwith efface himself, with promptness and dispatch.
+
+This was the man who came striding down upon Joe and me, looking as
+though he were going to eat us up at a mouthful and think nothing of it.
+Doubtless he supposed that, being country boys, we had not heard the
+story of Bertie Van Ness, for, advancing close to us he said fiercely:
+
+"What you doing here? Be off home! Do you know who _I_ am? I'm 'The
+Wolf'!"
+
+"So I've heard," said I, calmly; a remark which took all the wind out of
+the gentleman's sails at once. He collapsed with ridiculous suddenness,
+and with a sheepish grin, said, "I was only just a-trying you, boys, to
+see if you was easy scart."
+
+"Well, you see we're not," remarked Joe. "What are _you_ doing up here?
+Pretty early for prospecting, isn't it?"
+
+"Not any earlier for me than it is for you," replied Long John, with a
+glance at the hatchet in Joe's hand. He was sharp enough.
+
+Joe laughed. "That's true," said he. "I suppose we're both hunting the
+same thing. Did you find any of it in that hole up there?"
+
+Long John hesitated. He would have preferred to lie about it, probably,
+but knowing that we could go and see for ourselves in a couple of
+minutes, he made a virtue of necessity and replied:
+
+"Yes, there's some of it there; but it don't amount to much. I guess the
+vein ain't worth looking for. Come and see."
+
+We walked forward and looked into the hole Long John had chopped, when
+we saw that his prospector's instinct had hit upon the right place
+again. Here also was a black streak an inch thick below the yellow sand.
+
+It was evident that the vein of galena was somewhere up-stream, though
+we ourselves were unable to judge from the amount of the deposit whether
+it was likely to be big or little. Long John might be telling the truth
+when he "guessed" that it was not worth looking for, though, from what
+we knew of him, we, in turn, "guessed" that what he said was most likely
+to be the opposite of what he thought.
+
+We could not tell, either, whether our new acquaintance was speaking
+the truth when he declared that he was satisfied with his day's work and
+had already decided to go home again; I think it rather likely that,
+being unable to devise any scheme for shaking us off, and not caring to
+act as prospector for us as well as for Yetmore, he preferred to go back
+at once and report progress. He was right, at any rate, in saying that
+the drifts ahead were too deep to admit of further prospecting; for the
+mountains began to close in just here, and the snow was becoming pretty
+heavy.
+
+Nevertheless, Joe and I thought we would try a little further, if only
+for the reason that Long John would not, and we were about to part
+company, when we were startled to hear a voice above our heads say,
+"Good-morning," and, looking quickly up, we saw, seated on a dead
+branch, a raven, to all appearance asleep, with his feathers fluffed out
+and his head sunk between his shoulders.
+
+That it was our friend, Socrates, we could not doubt, and we looked all
+around for the hermit, but as there was no one to be seen, Joe,
+addressing the raven, said:
+
+"Hallo, Sox! Where's your master?"
+
+"Chew o' tobacco," replied the raven.
+
+At this Long John burst out laughing. "Well, you're a cute one," said
+he; and thrusting his hand into his pocket he brought out a piece of
+tobacco which he invited Socrates to come and get. Sox flew down to a
+convenient rock and reached for the morsel, but the moment he perceived
+that it was not anything he could eat, he drew back in disdain, and
+eying Long John with severity, remarked, "Bow-wow."
+
+Now, as I have intimated, nothing was so exasperating to Long John as to
+have any one say "bow-wow" to him, and not considering that the offender
+was only a bird, he raised his hatchet and would have ended Sox's career
+then and there had not Joe stayed his arm.
+
+At being thus thwarted, Long John turned upon my companion, and for a
+moment I felt a little uneasy lest his temper should for once get the
+better of his discretion; but I need not have alarmed myself, for Long
+John's outbreaks of rage were always carefully calculated when directed
+against any one or anything capable of retaliation in kind, and very
+probably he had already concluded that two well-grown boys like
+ourselves, used to all kinds of hard work, might prove an awkward
+handful for one whose muscles had been rendered flabby by lack of
+exercise.
+
+At any rate, he quickly calmed down again, pretending to laugh at the
+incident; but though he made some remark about "a real smart bird," I
+guessed from the gleam in his little ferrety eyes that if he could lay
+hands on Socrates, that aged scholar's chances of ever celebrating his
+one hundredth anniversary would be slim indeed.
+
+"Who's the thing belong to, anyhow?" asked John. "There's no one living
+around here that I know of."
+
+"He belongs to a man who lives somewhere up on this mountain," I
+replied. "You've probably heard of him: Peter the Hermit."
+
+"Him!" exclaimed Long John, looking quickly all around, as though he
+feared the owner might make his appearance. "Well, I'm off. I've got to
+get back to Sulphide to-night, so I'll dig out at once."
+
+So saying, he picked up his long-handled shovel, and using it
+upside-down as a walking-staff, away he went, striding over the snow at
+a great pace; while Socrates, seeing him depart, very appropriately
+called after him, "Good-bye, John."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE HERMIT'S WARNING
+
+
+As it was now after midday, we concluded to eat our lunch before going
+any further, so, sitting down on the rocks, we produced the bread and
+cold bacon we had brought with us and prepared to refresh ourselves.
+Observing this, Socrates, who had flown up into a tree when Long John
+threatened him with the hatchet, now flipped down again and took up his
+station beside us, having plainly no apprehension that we would do him
+any harm, and doubtless thinking that if there was any food going he
+might come in for a share.
+
+I was just about to offer him a scrap of bacon, when the bird suddenly
+gave a croak and flew off up the mountain. Naturally, we both looked up
+to ascertain the reason for this sudden departure, when we were startled
+to see a tall, bearded man with a long staff in his hands, skimming down
+the snow-covered slope of the mountain towards us. One glance showed us
+that it was our friend, the hermit, though how he could skim over the
+snow like that without moving his feet was a puzzle to us, until, on
+approaching to within twenty yards of where we sat, he stuck his staff
+into the snow and checked his speed, when we perceived that he was
+traveling on skis.
+
+"How are you, boys?" he cried, shaking hands with us very heartily. "I'm
+glad to see you again. Much obliged to you, Joe, for interfering on
+behalf of old Sox. I would not have the bird hurt for a good deal. I saw
+the whole transaction from where I was standing up there in that grove
+of aspens. Why did your companion go off so suddenly?"
+
+"I don't know," I replied. "I only just mentioned to him that Sox
+belonged to you, when he picked up his shovel and skipped."
+
+Peter laughed. "I understand," said he. "The gentleman and I have met
+before, and have no wish to meet again. Our first and only interview was
+not conducive to a desire for further acquaintance. He is not a friend
+of yours, I hope."
+
+"Not at all," I replied. "We never met him before."
+
+"Well, I'm glad of that, because he is not one to be intimate with: he
+is a thief."
+
+"Why do you say that?" asked Joe, rather startled.
+
+"Because I happen to know it's so. I'll tell you how. I had set a
+bear-trap once up on the mountain back of my house, and going up next
+day to see if I had caught anything, I found this fellow busy skinning
+my bear. He had come upon it by accident, I suppose, and the bear being
+caught by both front feet, and being therefore perfectly helpless, he
+had bravely shot it, and was preparing to walk off with the skin when I
+appeared."
+
+"And what did you say to him?" I asked.
+
+"Nothing," replied Peter. "I just sat down on a rock near by, with my
+rifle across my knees, and watched him; and he grew so embarrassed and
+nervous and fidgety that he couldn't stand it any longer, and at last he
+sneaked off without completing his job and without either of us having
+said a word."
+
+"That certainly was a queer interview," remarked Joe, laughing, "and a
+most effective way, I should think, of dealing with a blustering rogue
+like Long John."
+
+"Long John?" repeated the hermit, inquiringly.
+
+"Yes, Long John Butterfield; known also as 'The Yellow Pup.'"
+
+"Oh, that's who it is, is it? I've heard of him from my friend, Tom
+Connor."
+
+"Tom Connor!" we both exclaimed. "Do you know Tom Connor, then?"
+
+"Yes, we have met two or three times in the mountains, and he once spent
+the night with me in my cabin--he is the 'one exception' I told you
+about, you remember. He seems like a good, honest fellow, and he has
+certainly been most obliging to me."
+
+As we looked inquiringly at him, wondering how Tom could have found an
+opportunity to be of service to one living such a secluded life as the
+hermit did, our friend went on:
+
+"I happened to mention to him that I had great need of an iron pot, and
+three days afterwards, on returning home one evening, what should I find
+standing outside my door but a big iron pot, and in it a chip, upon
+which was written in pencil, 'Compliments of T. Connor.'"
+
+"Just like Tom," said I, laughing. "He has more friends than any other
+man in the district, and he deserves it, for when he makes a friend he
+can't rest easy until he has found some way of doing him a service."
+
+"And he's as honest as they make 'em," Joe continued. "If he's a friend,
+he's a friend, and if he's an enemy, he's an enemy--he doesn't leave you
+in doubt."
+
+"Just what I should think," said the hermit. "Very different from Long
+John, if I'm not mistaken. That gentleman, I suspect, is of the kind
+that would shake hands with you in the morning and then come in the
+night and burn your house down. What were you and he doing, by the way?
+I've been watching you for an hour. First one and then the other would
+kneel down in the snow and chop a hole in the bed of the creek, then get
+up, walk a mile, and do it again. If I may be allowed to say so," he
+went on, laughing, "it appeared to an outsider like a crazy sort of
+amusement."
+
+"I should think it might," said I, laughing too; and I then proceeded to
+tell our friend the object of these seemingly senseless actions.
+
+"And do you expect to go prospecting for this vein of galena in the
+spring?" he inquired, when I had concluded.
+
+"Not we!" I exclaimed. "My father wouldn't let us if we wanted to. We
+are doing this work for Tom Connor, whom my father is anxious to serve,
+he having done us, among others, a very good turn."
+
+"I see," said the hermit. "And this man, Yetmore, or, rather, his
+henchman, Long John, will be coming as soon as the snow is off to hunt
+for the vein in competition with our friend, Connor."
+
+"That is what we expect."
+
+"Well, then, I can help you a little. We will, at least, secure for
+Connor a start over the enemy."
+
+"How?" I asked.
+
+"You remember, of course," said the hermit, "that sulphurous stuff that
+was cooking on the flat stone outside my door the day you came down to
+my house through the clouds? That was galena ore."
+
+"Why, of course!" I exclaimed, slapping my leg. "What pudding-heads we
+must have been, Joe, not to have thought of it before. I had forgotten
+all about it. Have you found the vein, then?"
+
+"No, I have not; nor have I ever taken the trouble to look for it,
+having found a place where I can get a sufficient supply for my purposes
+to last for years."
+
+"And what do you use it for?" I asked.
+
+"To make bullets from. I get the powdered ore, roast out the sulphur on
+that flat stone, and then melt down the residue."
+
+"And where do you get it?"
+
+"That is what I am going to tell you. You know that deep, rocky gorge
+where Big Reuben had his den? Well, near the head of that gorge is a
+basin in the rock in which is a large quantity of this powdered galena,
+all in very fine grains, showing that they have traveled a considerable
+distance. That stream is one of the four little rills which make up this
+creek, and if you tell Connor of this deposit it will save him the
+trouble of prospecting the other three creeks, as he would otherwise
+naturally do; and as Long John will pretty certainly do, for the creek
+coming out of Big Reuben's gorge is the last of the four he would come
+to if he took up his search where he left off to-day--which would be the
+plan he would surely follow. It should save Connor a day's work at
+least--perhaps two or three."
+
+"That's true," I responded. "It is an important piece of information. I
+wonder, though, that nobody else has ever found the deposit you speak
+of."
+
+"Do you? I don't. Considering that Big Reuben was standing guard over
+it, I think it would have been rather remarkable if any one had
+discovered it."
+
+"That's true enough," remarked Joe. "But that being the case, how did
+you come to discover it yourself? Big Reuben was no respecter of
+persons, that I'm aware of."
+
+"Ah, but that's just it. He was. He was afraid of me; or, to speak more
+correctly, he was afraid of Sox--the one single thing on earth of which
+he was afraid. Before I knew of his existence, I was going up the gorge
+one day when Big Reuben bounced out on me, and almost before I knew what
+had happened I found myself hanging by my finger-tips to a ledge of rock
+fifteen feet up the cliff, with the bear standing erect below me trying
+his best to claw me down. My hold was so precarious that I could not
+have retained it long, and my case would have been pretty serious had it
+not been for Socrates. That sagacious bird, seeming to recognize that I
+was in desperate straits, flew up, perched upon the face of the cliff
+just out of reach of the bear's claws, and in a tone of authority
+ordered him to lie down. The astonishment of the bear at being thus
+addressed by a bird was ludicrous, and at any other time would have made
+me laugh heartily. He at once dropped upon all fours, and when Socrates
+flipped down to the ground and walked towards him, using language fit to
+make your hair stand on end, the bear backed away. And he kept on
+backing away as Sox advanced upon him, pouring out as he came every word
+and every fragment of a quotation he had learned in the course of a long
+and studious career. One of the reasons I have for thinking that he is
+getting on for a hundred years old is that Sox on that occasion raked up
+old slang phrases in use in the first years of the century--phrases I
+had never heard him use before, and which I am sure he cannot have heard
+since he has been in my possession.
+
+"This stream of vituperation was too much for Big Reuben. He feared no
+man living, as you know, but a common black raven with a man's voice in
+his stomach was 'one too many for him,' as the saying is. He turned and
+bolted; while Socrates, flying just above his head, pursued him with
+jeers and laughter, until at last he found inglorious safety in the
+inmost recesses of his den, whither Sox was much too wise to follow
+him."
+
+"I don't wonder you set a high value on old Sox, then," said I. "He
+probably saved your life that time."
+
+"He certainly did: I could not have held on five minutes longer."
+
+"And did you ever run across Big Reuben again?" asked Joe.
+
+"Yes. Or, rather, I suppose I should say 'no.' I saw him a good many
+times, but he never would allow me to come near him. Whether he thought
+I was in league with the Evil One, I can't say, but, at any rate, one
+glimpse of me was enough to send him flying; and as I was sure I need
+have no fear of him, I had no hesitation in walking up the gorge if it
+happened to be convenient; and thus it was that I discovered the deposit
+of lead-ore up near its head."
+
+As this piece of information precluded the necessity of our prospecting
+any further, and as we had by this time finished our meal--which was
+shared by Peter and his attendant sprite--we informed our friend that it
+was time for us to be starting back; upon which he remarked that he
+would go part of the way with us, as, by taking one of the gulches
+farther on he would find an easier ascent to his house than by returning
+the way he had come. Hanging his skis over his shoulder, therefore, he
+trudged along beside us at a pace which made us hustle to keep up with
+him.
+
+"Do you think you would be able to find my house again?" asked the
+hermit as we walked along.
+
+"No," I replied, "I'm sure we couldn't. When we came down the mountain
+in the clouds that day we were so mixed up that we did not even know
+whether we were on Lincoln or Elkhorn, though we had kept away so much
+to the left coming down that we rather thought we must have got on to
+one of the spurs of Lincoln."
+
+"Well, you had. I'll show you directly what line you took."
+
+Half a mile farther on, at the point where the stream we were following
+joined our own creek, our friend stopped, and pointing up the mountain,
+said:
+
+"If you ever have occasion to come and look me up, all you have to do is
+to follow your own creek up to its head, when you will come to a high,
+unscalable cliff, and right at the foot of that cliff you will see the
+great pile of fallen rocks in which my house is hidden. You can see the
+cliff from here. When you came down that day you missed the head of the
+creek you had followed in going up, and by unconsciously bearing to your
+left all the time you passed the heads of several others as well, and so
+at length you got into the valley which would have brought you out here
+if you had continued to follow it."
+
+"I see. How far up is it to your house?"
+
+"About five miles from where we stand."
+
+"It must be all under snow up there," remarked Joe. "I wonder you are
+not afraid of being buried alive."
+
+The hermit smiled. "I'm not afraid of that," said he. "It is true the
+gulch below me gets drifted pretty full--there is probably forty feet of
+snow in it at this moment--but the point where my house stands always
+seems to escape; a fact which is due, I think, to the shape of the cliff
+behind it. It is in the form of a horseshoe, and whichever way the wind
+blows, the cliff seems to give it a twist which sends the snow off in
+one direction or another, so that, while the drifts are piled up all
+around me, the head of the gulch is always fairly free."
+
+"That's convenient," said Joe. "But for all that, I think I should be
+afraid to live there myself, especially in the spring."
+
+"Why?" asked the hermit. "Why in the spring particularly?"
+
+"I should be afraid of snowslides. The mountain above the cliff is very
+steep--at least it looks so from here."
+
+"It is very steep, extremely steep, and the snow up there is very heavy
+this winter--I went up to examine it two days ago. But at the same time
+I saw no traces of there ever having been a slide. There are a good many
+trees growing on the slope, some of them of large size, which is pretty
+fair evidence that there has been no slide for a long time--not for a
+hundred years probably. For as you see, there and there"--pointing to
+two long, bare tracks on the mountain-side--"when the slides do come
+down they clean off every tree in their course. No, I have no fear of
+snowslides.
+
+"By the way," he continued, "there is one thing you might tell Tom
+Connor when you see him, and that is that Big Reuben's creek heads in a
+shallow draw on the mountain above my house. If you follow with your eye
+from the summit of the cliff upward, you will notice a stretch of bare
+rock, and above it a strip of trees extending downward from left to
+right. It is among those trees that the creek heads.
+
+"You might mention that to Connor," he went on, "in case he should
+prefer to begin his prospecting downward from the head of the creek
+instead of upward from Big Reuben's gorge. And tell him, too, that if he
+will come to me, I shall be glad to take him up there at any time."
+
+"Very well," said I, "we'll do so."
+
+"Yes, we'll certainly tell him," said Joe. "It might very well happen
+that Tom would prefer to begin at the top, especially if he should find
+that Long John had got ahead of him and was already working up from
+below."
+
+"Exactly. That is what I was thinking of. Well, I must be off. I have a
+longish tramp before me, and the sunset comes pretty early under my
+cliff."
+
+"Won't you come home with us to-night?" I asked. "We have only two miles
+to go. My father told me to ask you the next time we met, and this is
+such a fine opportunity. I wish you would."
+
+"Yes; do," Joe chimed in.
+
+But the hermit shook his head. "You are very kind to suggest it," said
+he, "and I am really greatly obliged to you, and to Mr. Crawford also,
+but I think not. Thank you, all the same; but I'll go back home. So,
+good-bye."
+
+"Some other time, perhaps," suggested Joe.
+
+"Perhaps--we'll see. By the way, there was one other thing I intended to
+say, and that is:--look out for Long John! He is a dangerous man if he
+is a coward; in fact, all the more dangerous _because_ he is a coward.
+So now, good-bye; and remember"--holding up a warning finger--"look out
+for Long John!"
+
+With that, he slipped his feet into his skis and away he went; while Joe
+and I turned our own faces homeward.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE WILD CAT'S TRAIL
+
+
+"He is quite right," said my father, when, on reaching home again, we
+related to him the results of our day's work and told him how the hermit
+had warned us against Long John. "He is quite right. Your hermit is a
+man of sense in spite of his reputation to the contrary. Yetmore, of
+course, will do anything he can to forestall Tom Connor, but, if I am
+not mistaken, he will not venture beyond the law; whereas Long John, I
+feel sure, would not be restrained by any such consideration. He would
+be quite ready to resort to violence, provided always that he could do
+it without risk to his own precious person. The hermit is right, too, in
+saying that Long John is all the more dangerous for being the cowardly
+creature that he is: whatever he may do to head off Tom will be done in
+the dark--you may be sure of that. We must warn Tom, so that he may be
+on his guard."
+
+"I'm afraid it won't be much use warning Tom," said I. "He is such a
+heedless fellow and so chuck full of courage that he won't trouble to
+take any precautions."
+
+"I don't suppose he will, but we will warn him, all the same, so that he
+may at least go about with his eyes open. I'll write to him again
+to-morrow. And now to our own business. Come into the back room. I want
+your opinion."
+
+It had been my father's custom for some time back--and a very good
+custom, too, I think--whenever there arose a question of management
+about the affairs of the ranch, to take Joe and me into consultation
+with him. It is probable enough that our opinion, when he got it, was
+not worth much, but the mere fact that we were asked for it gave us a
+feeling of responsibility and grown-up-ness which had a good effect.
+Whenever, therefore, any question of importance turned up, the whole
+male population of Crawford's Basin voted upon it, and though it is true
+that nine times out of ten any proposition advanced by my father would
+receive a unanimous vote, it did happen every now and then that one of
+us would make a suggestion which would be adopted, much to our
+satisfaction, thus adding a zest to the work, whatever it might be. For
+whether the plan originated with my father or with one of us, as we all
+voted on it we thereby made it our own, and having made it our own; we
+took infinitely more interest in its accomplishment than does the
+ordinary hired man, who is told to do this or do that without reason or
+explanation.
+
+It will be readily understood, too, how flattering it was to a couple of
+young fellows like ourselves to be asked for our opinion by a man like
+my father, for whose good sense and practical knowledge we had the
+greatest respect, and of course we were all attention at once, when,
+seating himself in his desk chair, he began:
+
+"You remember that when Marsden's cattle first came they broke a couple
+of the posts around the hay-corral, and that when we re-set them we
+found that the butt-ends of the posts were beginning to get pretty
+rotten?"
+
+He happened to catch Joe's eye, who replied:
+
+"I remember; and you said at the time that we should have to renew the
+fence entirely in two years or less."
+
+"Exactly. Well, now, this is what I've been thinking: instead of
+renewing with posts and poles, why not build a rough stone wall all
+round the present fence, which, when once done, would last forever?
+Within a half-mile of the corral there is material in plenty fallen from
+the face of the Second Mesa; and everything on the ranch being in good
+working order, you two boys would be free to put in several weeks
+hauling stones and dumping them outside the fence--the actual building I
+would leave till next fall. It will mean a long spell of pretty hard
+work, for you will hardly gather material enough if you keep at it all
+the rest of the winter. Now, what do you think?"
+
+"It seems to me like a good plan," Joe answered. "We can take two teams
+and wagons, help each other to load, drive down together, and help each
+other to unload; for I suppose you would use stones as big as we can
+handle by preference."
+
+"Yes, the bigger the better; especially for the lower courses and for
+the corners. What's your opinion, Phil?"
+
+"I agree with Joe," I replied. "And with such a short haul--for it will
+average nearer a quarter than half a mile--I should think we might even
+collect stones enough for the purpose this winter, provided there
+doesn't come a big fall of snow and stop us."
+
+"Then you shall begin to-morrow," said my father.
+
+"But here's another question," he continued. "Should we build the wall
+close around the present fence, or should we increase the size of the
+corral while we are about it?"
+
+"I should keep to the present dimensions," said I. "There is no chance
+that I see of our ever increasing the size of our hay-crop to any great
+extent, and the corral we have now has always held it all, even that
+very big crop we had the summer Joe came. If----"
+
+"Yes, 'if,'" my father interrupted, knowing very well what I had in
+mind. "_If_ we could drain 'the bottomless forty rods' we should need a
+corral half as big again; but I'm afraid that is beyond us, so we may as
+well confine ourselves to providing for present needs."
+
+"My wig!" exclaimed Joe--his favorite exclamation--at the same time
+rumpling his hair, as though that were the wig he referred to. "What a
+great thing it would be if we could but drain those forty rods!"
+
+"It undoubtedly would," replied my father. "It would about double the
+value of the ranch, I think; for, besides diverting the present county
+road between San Remo and Sulphide--for everybody would then leave the
+old hill-road and come past our door instead--it would give us a large
+piece of new land for growing oats and hay. And, do you know, I begin to
+think it is very possible that within a couple of years we shall have a
+market for more oats and hay than we can grow, even including the 'forty
+rods.'"
+
+"Why?" I asked, in surprise; for, at present, though we disposed of our
+produce readily enough, it could not be said that there was a booming
+market.
+
+"It is just guess-work," my father replied, "pure guess-work on my part,
+with a number of good big 'ifs' about it; but if Tom Connor or Long
+John, or, indeed, any one else, should discover a big vein of lead-ore
+up on Mount Lincoln--and the chances, I think, begin to look
+favorable--what would be the result?"
+
+"I don't know," said I. "What?"
+
+"Why, this whole district would take a big leap forward--that is what
+would happen. You see, as things stand now, the smelters, not being able
+to procure in the district lead-ores enough for fluxing purposes, are
+obliged to bring them in by railroad from other camps. This is very
+expensive, and the consequence is that they are obliged to make such
+high charges for smelting that any ore of less value than thirty dollars
+to the ton is at present worthless to the miner: the cost of hauling it
+to the smelter and the smelter-charges when it gets there eat up all the
+proceeds."
+
+"I see," said Joe. "And the discovery of a mine which would provide the
+smelters with all the lead-ore they wanted would bring down the charges
+of smelting and enable the producers of thirty dollar ore to work their
+claims at a profit."
+
+"Precisely. And as nine-tenths of the claims in the district produce
+mainly low-grade ore, which is now left lying on the dumps as worthless,
+and as even the big mines take out, and throw aside, probably ten tons
+of low-grade in getting out one ton of high-grade, you can see what a
+'boost' the district would receive if all this unavailable material were
+suddenly to become a valuable and marketable commodity."
+
+"I should think it would!" exclaimed Joe, enthusiastically. "The
+prospectors would be getting out by hundreds; the population of Sulphide
+would double; San Remo would take a great jump forward; while we--why,
+we shouldn't _begin_ to be able to grow oats and hay enough to meet the
+demand."
+
+My father nodded. "That's what I think," said he.
+
+"And there's another thing," cried I, taking up Joe's line of prophecy.
+"If a big vein of lead-ore should be discovered anywhere about the head
+of our creek, the natural way for the freighters to get down to San Remo
+would be through here, if----"
+
+"That's it," interrupted my father. "That's the whole thing. I-F, IF."
+
+Dear me! What a big, big little word that was. To represent it of the
+size it looked to us, it would be necessary to paint it on the sky with
+the tail of a comet dipped in an ocean of ink!
+
+After a pause of a minute or two, during which we all sat silent,
+considering over again what we had considered many and many a time
+before: whether there were not some possible way of draining off the
+"forty rods," Joe suddenly straightened himself in his seat, rumpled his
+hair once more--by which sign I knew he had some idea in his head--and
+said:
+
+"I suppose you have thought of it before, Mr. Crawford, but would it be
+possible to run a tunnel up from the lower edge of the First Mesa, and
+so draw off the water?"
+
+"I have thought of it before, Joe," replied my father, "and while I
+think it might work, I have concluded that it is out of the question.
+How long a tunnel would it take, do you calculate?"
+
+"Well, a little more than a quarter of a mile, I suppose."
+
+"Yes. Say twelve hundred feet, at least. Well, to run a tunnel of that
+length would be cheap at ten dollars a foot."
+
+"Phew!" Joe whistled, opening his eyes widely. "That is a staggerer,
+sure enough. It does look as if there was no way out of it."
+
+"No, I'm afraid not," said my father. "And as to making a permanent road
+across the marsh, I have tried everything I can think of including
+corduroying with long poles covered with brush and earth. But it was no
+use. We had a very wet season that summer, and the road, poles and all,
+was covered with water. That settled it to my mind; we could not expect
+the freighters and others to come our way when, at any time, they might
+find the road under water."
+
+"No; that did seem to be a clincher. Well, as there appears to be no
+more to be said, let's get to bed, Phil. If we are going to haul rocks
+to-morrow, we shall need a good night's sleep as a starter."
+
+The cliff which bounded the eastern edge of the Second Mesa--at the same
+time bounding the ranch on its western side--was made up of layers of
+rock of an average thickness of about a foot, having been evidently
+built up by successive small flows of lava. The stones piled at the foot
+of the bluff being flat on both sides were therefore very convenient for
+wall-building, and so plentiful that we made rapid progress at first in
+hauling them down to the corral. At the end of three weeks, however, we
+had picked up all those fragments that were most accessible, and were
+now obliged to loosen up the great heaps of larger slabs and crack the
+stones with a sledgehammer. Some of these heaps were so large, and the
+stones composing them of such great size, that when we came to dislodge
+them we found that an ordinary crowbar made no impression; but we
+overcame that difficulty, at Joe's suggestion, by using a big pine pole
+as a lever. Inserting the butt-end of the pole between two big rocks,
+we would tie a rope to the other end and hitch the mules to it. The
+leverage thus obtained was tremendous, and unless the pole broke,
+something had to come. In this way we could sometimes bring down at one
+pull rock enough to keep us busy for a week.
+
+Day after day, without a break, we continued this work, and though it
+was certainly hard labor we enjoyed it, especially when, by constant
+practice we found ourselves handling all the time bigger and bigger
+stones with less and less exertion.
+
+It would seem that there could not be much art in so simple a matter as
+putting a stone into a wagon, and as far as stones of moderate size are
+concerned there is not. But when you come to deal with slabs of rock
+weighing a thousand pounds or more, you will find that the "know how"
+counts for very much more than mere strength.
+
+Of course, to handle pieces of this size it was necessary to use skids
+and crowbars, with which, aided by little rollers made of bits of
+gas-pipe, we did not hesitate to tackle stones which, when we first
+began, we should have cracked into two or three pieces.
+
+We had been at it, as I have said, for more than three weeks, when it
+happened one day that while driving down with our last load, we were met
+face to face by a wildcat, with one of our chickens in its mouth. There
+were a good many of these animals having their lairs among the fallen
+rocks at the foot of the mesa, and they caused us some trouble, but this
+was the first time I had known one to make a raid on the chicken-yard in
+broad daylight. I suppose rabbits were scarce, and the poor beast was
+driven to this unusual course by hunger.
+
+I was driving the mules at the moment, but Joe, who was walking beside
+the wagon, picked up a stone and hurled it at the cat. The animal, of
+course, bolted--taking his chicken with him, though--and disappeared
+among the rocks close to where we had just been at work.
+
+"Joe," said I, "we'll bring up the shotgun to-morrow. We may stir that
+fellow out and get a shot at him."
+
+Accordingly, next day, we took the gun with us, and leaning it against a
+tree near the wagon, set about our usual work. The first stone we loaded
+that morning was an extra-large one, and Joe on one side of the wagon
+and I on the other were prying it into position with our pinch-bars,
+when my companion, who was facing the bluff, gently laid down his bar
+and whispered:
+
+"Keep quiet, Phil! Don't move! I see that wildcat! Get hold of the lines
+in case the mules should scare, while I see if I can reach the gun."
+
+Stooping behind the wagon, he slipped away to where the gun stood, came
+stooping back, and then, straightening up, he raised the gun to his
+shoulder. Up to that moment the cat had stood so still that I had been
+unable to distinguish it, but just as Joe raised the gun it bolted. My
+partner fired a snap-shot, and down came the cat, tumbling over and
+over.
+
+"Good shot!" I cried. But hardly had I done so when the animal jumped up
+again and popped into a hole between two rocks before Joe could get a
+second shot.
+
+"Let's dig him out, Joe," I cried. And seizing a crowbar, I led the way
+to the foot of the cliff.
+
+Working away with the bar, while Joe stood ready with the gun, I soon
+enlarged the hole enough to let me look in, but it was so dark inside,
+and I got into my own light so much that I could see nothing.
+
+I happened to have a letter in my pocket, and taking the envelope I
+dropped a little stone into it, screwed up the corner, and lighting the
+other end, threw the bit of paper into the hole. My little fire-brand
+flickered for a moment, and then burned up brightly, when I saw the
+wildcat lying flat upon its side, evidently quite dead.
+
+Thereupon we both set to work and enlarged the hole so that Joe could
+crawl in, which he immediately did. I expected him to come out again in
+a moment, but it was a full minute before he reappeared, and when he did
+so he only poked out his head and said, in an excited tone:
+
+"Come in here, Phil! Here's the queerest thing--just come in here for a
+minute!"
+
+Of course I at once crept through the hole, to find myself in a little
+chamber about ten feet long, six feet wide and four feet high, built up
+of great flat slabs of stone, which, falling from above, had
+accidentally so arranged themselves as to form this little room.
+
+At first I thought it was the little room itself to which Joe had
+referred as "queer," but Joe, scouting such an idea, exclaimed:
+
+"No, no, bless you! I didn't mean that. That's nothing. Look here!"
+
+So saying, he struck a match and showed me, along one side of the
+chamber, a great crack in the ground, three feet wide, extending to the
+left an unknown distance--for in that direction it was covered by loose
+rocks of large size--while to the right it pinched out entirely.
+
+It was evident to me that this crevice had existed ever since the great
+break had occurred which had separated the First from the Second Mesa,
+but that, being covered by the fragments which had fallen from the
+cliff--itself formed by the subsidence of the First Mesa from what had
+once been the general level--it had hitherto remained concealed.
+
+"Well, that certainly is 'queer,'" said I. "How deep is it, I wonder?"
+
+"Don't know. Pitch a stone into it."
+
+I did so; judging from the sound that the crevice was probably thirty or
+forty feet deep.
+
+"That's what I should guess," said Joe. "But there's another thing,
+Phil, a good deal queerer than a mere crack in the ground. Lie down and
+put your ear over the hole and listen."
+
+I did as directed, and then at length I understood where the "queerness"
+came in. I could distinctly hear the rush of water down below!
+
+Rising to my knees, I stared at Joe, who, kneeling also, stared back at
+me, both keeping silence for a few seconds. At length:
+
+"Where does it come from, Joe?" I asked.
+
+"I don't know," Joe replied. "Mount Lincoln, perhaps. But I do know
+where it goes to."
+
+"You do? Where?"
+
+"Down to 'the forty rods,' of course."
+
+"That's it!" I cried, thumping my fist into the palm of the other hand.
+"That's certainly it! Look here, Joe. I'll tell you what we'll do. We'll
+quit hauling rock for this morning, go and get a long rope, climb down
+into this crack, see how much water there is, and find out if we can
+where it goes to."
+
+"All right," said Joe. "Your father won't object, I'm sure."
+
+"No, he won't object. Though he relies on our doing a good day's work
+without supervision, he relies, too, on our using our common sense, and
+I'm sure he'll agree that this is a matter that ought to be investigated
+without delay. It may be of the greatest importance."
+
+"All right!" cried Joe. "Then let us get about it at once!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE UNDERGROUND STREAM
+
+
+It was on a Saturday morning that we made this discovery, and as my
+father and mother had both driven down to San Remo and would not be back
+till sunset, we could not ask permission to abandon our regular work and
+go exploring. But, as I had said to Joe, though he trusted us to work
+faithfully at any task we might undertake, my father also expected us to
+use our own discretion in any matter which might turn up when he was not
+at hand to advise with us.
+
+I had, therefore, no hesitation in driving back to the ranch, when,
+having unloaded our one stone and stabled the mules, Joe and I, taking
+with us a long, stout rope and the stable-lantern, retraced our steps to
+the wildcat's house.
+
+The first thing to be done was to enlarge the entrance so that we might
+have daylight to work by, and this being accomplished, we lighted the
+lantern and lowered it by a cord into the hole. We found, however, that
+a bulge in the rock prevented our seeing to the bottom, and all we
+gained by this move was to ascertain that the crevice was about forty
+feet deep, as we had guessed. The next thing, therefore, was for one of
+us to go down, and the only way to do this was to slide down a rope.
+
+This, doubtless, would be easy enough, but the climbing up again might
+be another matter. We were not afraid to venture on this score, however,
+for, as it happened, we had both often amused ourselves by climbing a
+rope hung from one of the rafters in the hay-barn, and though that was a
+climb of only twenty feet, we had done it so often and so easily that we
+did not question our ability to ascend a rope of double the length.
+
+"Who's to go down, Joe, you or I?" I asked.
+
+"Whichever you like, Phil," replied my companion. "I suppose you'd like
+to be the first, wouldn't you?"
+
+"Oh, yes, that's a matter of course," I answered, "but as you are the
+discoverer you ought to have first chance, so down you go, old chap!"
+
+"Very well, then," said Joe, "if you say so, I'll go."
+
+"Well, I do--so that settles it."
+
+I knew Joe well enough to be sure he would be eager to be the first, and
+though I should have liked very much to take the lead myself, it seemed
+to me only just that Joe, as the original discoverer, should, as I had
+said, be given the choice.
+
+This question being decided, we tied one end of the rope around a big
+stone, heavy enough to hold an elephant, and dropped the other end into
+the hole. The descent at first was very easy, for the walls being only
+three feet apart, and there being many rough projections on either side,
+it was not much more difficult than going down a ladder, especially as
+I, standing a little to one side, lowered the lantern bit by bit, that
+Joe might have a light all the time to see where to set his feet.
+
+Arrived at the bulge, Joe stopped, and standing with one foot on either
+wall, looked up and said:
+
+"It opens out below here, Phil; I shall have to slide the rest of the
+way. You might lower the lantern down to the bottom now, if you please."
+
+I did so at once, and then asked:
+
+"Can you see the bottom, Joe?"
+
+"Yes," he replied. "The crevice is much wider down there, and the floor
+seems to be smooth and dry. I can't see any sign of water anywhere, but
+I can hear it plainly enough. Good-bye for the present; I'm going down
+now."
+
+With that he disappeared under the bulge in the wall, while I, placing
+my hand upon the rope, presently felt the strain slacken, whereupon I
+called out:
+
+"All right, Joe?"
+
+"All right," came the answer.
+
+"How's the air down there?"
+
+"Seems to be perfectly fresh."
+
+"Can you see the water?"
+
+"No, I can't; but I can hear it. There's a heap of big rocks in the
+passage to the south and the splashing comes from the other side of it.
+I'm going to untie the lantern, Phil, and go and explore a bit. Just
+wait a minute."
+
+Very soon I heard his voice again calling up to me.
+
+"It's all right, Phil. I've found the water. You may as well come down."
+
+"Look here, Joe," I replied. "Before I come down, it might be as well
+to make sure that you can come up."
+
+"There's something in that," said Joe, with a laugh. "Well, then, I'll
+come up first."
+
+I felt the rope tauten again, and pretty soon my companion's head
+appeared, when, scrambling over the bulge, he once more stood astride of
+the crevice, and looking up said:
+
+"It's perfectly safe, Phil. The only troublesome bit is in getting over
+the bulge, and that doesn't amount to anything. It's safe enough for you
+to come down."
+
+"Very well, then, I'll come; so go on down again."
+
+Taking a candle we had brought with us, I set it on a projection where
+it would cast a light into the fissure, and seizing the rope, down I
+went. The descent was perfectly easy, and in a few seconds I found
+myself standing beside Joe at the bottom.
+
+The crevice down here was much wider than above--ten or twelve feet--the
+floor, composed of sandstone, having a decided downward tilt towards the
+south. In this direction Joe, lantern in hand, led the way.
+
+Piled up in the passage was a large heap of lava-blocks which had
+fallen, presumably, through the opening above, and climbing over these,
+we saw before us a very curious sight.
+
+[Illustration: "WE SAW BEFORE US A VERY CURIOUS SIGHT"]
+
+On the right hand side of the crevice--that is to say, on the western or
+Second Mesa side--between the sandstone floor and the lowest ledge of
+lava, there issued a thin sheet of water, coming out with such force
+that it swept right across, and striking the opposite wall, turned and
+ran off southward--away from us, that is. Only for a short distance,
+however, it ran in that direction, for we could see that the stream
+presently took another turn, this time to the eastward, presumably
+finding its way through a crack in the lava of the First Mesa.
+
+"I'm going to see where it goes to," cried Joe; and pulling off his
+boots and rolling up his trousers, he waded in. He expected to find the
+water as cold as the iced water of any other mountain stream, but to his
+surprise it was quite pleasantly warm.
+
+"I'll tell you what it is, Phil," said he, stepping back again for a
+moment. "This water must run under ground for a long distance to be as
+warm as it is. And what's more, there must be a good-sized reservoir
+somewhere between the lava and the sandstone to furnish pressure enough
+to make the water squirt out so viciously as it does."
+
+Entering the stream again, which, though hardly an inch deep, came out
+of the rock with such "vim" that when it struck his feet it flew up
+nearly to his knees, Joe waded through, and then turning, shouted to me:
+
+"It goes down this way, Phil, through a big crack in the lava. It just
+goes flying. Don't trouble to come"--observing that I was about to pull
+off my own boots--"you can't see any distance down the crack."
+
+But whatever there was to be seen, I wanted to see too, and disregarding
+his admonition, I pretty soon found myself standing beside my companion.
+
+The great cleft into which we were peering was about six feet wide at
+the bottom, coming together some twenty feet above our heads, having
+been apparently widened at the base by the action of the water, which,
+being here ankle-deep, rushed foaming over and around the many blocks of
+lava with which the channel was encumbered. As far as we could see, the
+fissure led straight away without a bend; and Joe was for trying to
+walk down it at once. I suggested, however, that we leave that for the
+present and try another plan.
+
+"Look here, Joe," said I. "If we try to do that we shall probably get
+pretty wet, and stand a good chance besides of hurting our feet among
+the rocks. Now, I propose that we go down to the ranch again, get our
+rubber boots, and at the same time bring back with us my father's
+compass and the tape-measure and try to survey this water-course. By
+doing that, and then by following the same line on the surface, we may
+be able to decide whether it is really this stream which keeps 'the
+forty rods' so wet."
+
+"I don't think there can be any doubt about that," Joe replied; "but I
+think your plan is a good one, all the same, so let us do it."
+
+We did not waste much time in getting down to the ranch and back again,
+when, pulling on our rubber boots, we proceeded to make our survey. It
+was not an easy task.
+
+With the ring at the end of the tape-measure hooked over my little
+finger, I took a candle in that hand and the compass in the other, and
+having ascertained that the course of the stream was due southeast, I
+told Joe to go ahead. My partner, therefore, with his arm slipped
+through the handle of the lantern and with a pole in his hand with which
+to test the depth of the stream, thereupon started down the passage,
+stepping from rock to rock when possible, and taking to the water when
+the rocks were too far apart, until, having reached the limit of the
+tape-measure, he made a mark upon the wall with a piece of white chalk.
+
+This being done, I noted on a bit of paper the direction and the
+distance, when Joe advanced once more, I following as far as to the
+chalk-mark, when the operation was repeated.
+
+In this manner we worked our way, slowly and carefully, down the
+passage, the direction of which varied only two or three degrees to one
+side or the other of southeast, until, having advanced a little more
+than a thousand feet, we found our further progress barred.
+
+For some time it had appeared to us that the sound of splashing water
+was increasing in distinctness, though the stream itself made so much
+noise in that hollow passage that we could not be sure whether we were
+right or not. At length, however, having made his twentieth chalk-mark,
+indicating one thousand feet, Joe, waving his lantern for me to come
+on, advanced once more; but before I had come to his last mark, he
+stopped and shouted back to me that he could go no farther.
+
+Wondering why not, I slowly waded forward, Joe himself winding up the
+tape-measure as I approached, until I found myself standing beside my
+companion, when I saw at once "why not."
+
+The stream here took a sudden dive down hill, falling about three feet
+into a large pool, the limits of which we could not discern--for we
+could see neither sides nor end--its surface unbroken, except in a few
+places where we could detect the ragged points of big lava-blocks
+projecting above the water, while here and there a rounded boulder
+showed its smooth and shining head.
+
+Joe, very carefully descending to the edge of the pool, measured the
+depth with his rod, when, finding it to be about four feet deep, we
+concluded that we would let well enough alone and end our survey at this
+point.
+
+"Come on up, Joe," I called out. "No use trying to go any farther: it's
+too dangerous; we might get in over our heads."
+
+"Just a minute," Joe replied. "Let's see if we can't find out which way
+the current sets in the pool."
+
+With that he took from his pocket a newspaper he had brought with him in
+case for any purpose we should need to make a "flare," and crumpling
+this into a loose ball he set it afloat in the pool. Away it sailed,
+quickly at first, and then more slowly; and taking a sight on it as far
+as it was distinguishable, I found that the set of the current continued
+as before--due southeast.
+
+"All right, Joe," I cried. "Come on, now." And Joe, giving me the end of
+his stick to take hold of, quickly rejoined me, when together we made
+our way carefully up the stream again, and climbing the rope, once more
+found ourselves out in the daylight.
+
+"Now, Joe," said I, "let us run our line and find out where it takes
+us."
+
+Having previously measured the distance from the point where the
+underground stream turned southeast to where the rope hung down, we now
+measured the same distance back again along the foot of the bluff, and
+thence, ourselves turning southeastward, we measured off a thousand
+feet. This brought us down to the lowest of the old lake-benches, about
+a hundred yards back of the house, when, sighting along the same line
+with the compass, we found that that faithful little servant pointed us
+straight to the entrance of the lower caņon.
+
+"Then that does settle it!" cried Joe. "We've found the stream that
+keeps 'the forty rods' wet; there can be no doubt of it."
+
+It did, indeed seem certain that we had at last discovered the stream
+which supplied "the forty rods" with water; but allowing that we _had_
+discovered it:--what then? How much better off were we?
+
+Beneath our feet, as we had now every reason to believe, ran the
+long-sought water-course, but between us and it was a solid bed of lava
+about forty feet thick; and how to get the water to the surface, and
+thus prevent it from continuing to render useless the meadow below, was
+a problem beyond our powers.
+
+"It beats me," said Joe, taking off his hat and tousling his hair
+according to custom. "I can see no possible way of doing it. We shall
+have to leave it to your father. Perhaps he may be able to think of a
+plan. Do you suppose he'll venture to go down the rope, Phil?"
+
+"No, I don't," I replied. "It is all very well for you and me, with our
+one hundred and seventy pounds, or thereabouts, but as my father weighs
+forty pounds more than either of us, and has not been in the habit of
+climbing ropes for amusement as long as I can remember, I think the
+chances are that he won't try it."
+
+"I suppose not. It's a pity, though, for I'm sure he would be
+tremendously interested to see the stream down there in the crevice.
+Couldn't we----Look here, Phil: couldn't we set up a ladder to reach
+from the bottom up to the bulge?"
+
+I shook my head.
+
+"I don't think so," I answered. "It would take a ladder twenty feet
+long, and the bulge in the wall would prevent its going down."
+
+"That's true. Well, then, I'll tell you what we can do. We'll make two
+ladders of ten feet each--a ten-foot pole will go down easily
+enough--set one on the floor of the crevice and the other on that wide
+ledge about half way up to the bulge. What do you think of that?"
+
+"Yes, I think we could do that," I replied. "We'll try it anyhow. But we
+must go in and get some dinner now: it's close to noon."
+
+We did not take long over our dinner--we were too anxious to get to
+work again--and as soon as we had finished we selected from our supply
+of fire-wood four straight poles, each about ten feet long, and with
+these, a number of short pieces of six-inch plank, a hammer, a saw and a
+bag of nails, we drove back to the scene of action.
+
+Even a ten-foot pole, we found, was an awkward thing to get down to the
+bottom of the fissure, but after a good deal of coaxing we succeeded in
+lowering them all, when we at once set to work building our ladders.
+
+The first one, standing on the floor of the crevice, reached as high as
+the ledge Joe had mentioned, while the second, planted upon the ledge
+itself, leaned across the chasm, its upper end resting against the rock
+just below the bulge, so that, with the rope to hold on by, it ought to
+be easy enough to get up and down. It is true that the second ladder
+being almost perpendicular, looked a little precarious, but we had taken
+great care to set it up solidly and were certain it could not slip. As
+to the strength of the ladders, there was nothing to fear on that score,
+for the smallest of the poles was five inches in diameter at the little
+end.
+
+This work took us so long, for we were very careful to make things
+strong and firm, that it was within half an hour of sunset ere we had
+finished, and as it was then too late to begin hauling rocks, we drove
+down to the ranch again at once.
+
+As we came within sight of the house, we had the pleasure of seeing the
+buggy with my father and mother in it draw up at the door. Observing us
+coming, they waited for us, when, the moment we jumped out of the wagon,
+before we could say a word ourselves, my father exclaimed:
+
+"Hallo, boys! What are you wearing your rubber boots for?"
+
+My mother, however, looking at our faces instead of at our feet, with
+that quickness of vision most mothers of boys seem to possess, saw at
+once that something unusual had occurred.
+
+"What's happened, Phil?" she asked.
+
+"We've made a discovery," I replied, "and we want father to come and see
+it."
+
+"Can't I come, too?" she inquired, smiling at my eagerness.
+
+"I'm afraid not," I answered. "I wish you could, but I'm afraid your
+petticoats would get in the way."
+
+To this, perceiving easily enough that we had some surprise in store for
+my father, and not wishing to spoil the fun, my mother merely replied:
+
+"Oh, would they? Well, I'm afraid I couldn't come anyhow: I must go in
+and prepare supper. So, be off with you at once, and don't be late. You
+can tell me all about it this evening."
+
+"One minute, father!" I cried; and thereupon I ran to the house,
+reappearing in a few seconds with his rubber boots, which I thrust into
+the back of the buggy, and then, climbing in on one side while Joe
+scrambled in on the other, I called out:
+
+"Now, father, go ahead!"
+
+"Where to?" he asked, laughing.
+
+"Oh, I forgot," said I. "Up to our stone-quarry."
+
+If we had expected my father to be surprised, we were not disappointed.
+At first he rather demurred at going down our carefully prepared
+ladders, not seeing sufficient reason, as he declared, to risk his neck;
+but the moment we called his attention to the sound of water down below,
+and he began to understand what the presence of the rubber boots meant,
+he became as eager as either Joe or I had been.
+
+In short, he went with us over the whole ground, even down to the pool;
+and so interested was he in the matter that he quite forgot the flight
+of time, until, having reascended the ladders and followed with us our
+line on the surface down to the heap of stones with which we had marked
+the thousand-foot point, he--and we, too--were recalled to our duties by
+my mother, who, seeing us standing there talking, came to the back-door
+of the kitchen and called to us to come in at once if we wanted any
+supper.
+
+Long was the discussion that ensued that evening as we sat around the
+fire in the big stone fireplace; but long as it was, it ended as it had
+begun with a remark made by my father.
+
+"Well," said he, as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his
+slippered feet before the fire, "it appears to come to this: instead of
+discovering a way to drain 'the forty rods,' you have only provided us
+with another insoluble problem to puzzle our heads over. There seems to
+be no way that we can figure out--at present, anyhow--by which the water
+can be brought to the surface, and consequently our only resource is,
+apparently, to discover, if possible, where it first runs in under the
+lava-bed, to come squirting out again down in that fissure--an almost
+hopeless task, I fear."
+
+"It does look pretty hopeless," Joe assented; "though we have found out
+one thing, at least, which may be of service in our search, and that is
+that the water runs between the lava and the sandstone. That fact should
+be of some help to us, for it removes from the list of streams to be
+examined all those whose beds lie below the sandstone."
+
+"That's true enough," I agreed. "But, then again, the source may not be
+some mountain stream running off under the lava, as we have been
+supposing. It is quite possible that it is a spring which comes up
+through the sandstone, and not being able to get up to daylight because
+of the lava-cap, goes worming its way through innumerable crevices to
+the underground reservoir we suppose to exist somewhere beneath the
+surface of the Second Mesa."
+
+"That is certainly a possibility," replied my father. "Nevertheless, it
+is my opinion that it will be well worth while making an examination of
+the creeks on Mount Lincoln. The streams to search would be those
+running on a sandstone bed and coming against the upper face of the
+lava-flow. It is worth the attempt, at least, and when the snow clears
+off you boys shall employ any off-days you may have in that way."
+
+"It would be well, wouldn't it, to tell Tom Connor about it?" suggested
+Joe. "He would keep his eyes open for us. I suppose prospectors as a
+rule don't take much note of such things, but Tom would do so, I'm sure,
+if we asked him."
+
+"Yes," replied my father. "That is a good idea; and if either of you
+should come across your friend, the hermit, again, be sure to ask him.
+He knows Mount Lincoln as nobody else does, and if he had ever noticed
+anything of the sort he would tell us. Don't forget that. And now to
+bed."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+HOW TOM CONNOR WENT BORING FOR OIL
+
+
+One thing was plain at any rate: we could do nothing towards finding the
+source of the underground stream until the snow cleared off the
+mountain, and that was likely to be later than usual this year, for the
+fall had been exceedingly heavy in the higher parts. We could see from
+the ranch that many of the familiar hollows were obliterated--leveled
+off by the great masses of snow which had drifted into them and filled
+them up.
+
+We therefore went about our work of hauling stone, and so continued
+while the cold weather lasted, interrupted only once by a heavy storm
+about the end of January, which, while it added another two feet to the
+thick blanket of snow already covering the mountains, quickly melted off
+down in the snug hollow where the ranch lay, so that our work was not
+delayed more than two or three days.
+
+One advantage to us of this storm was that it enabled us to learn
+something--not much, certainly, but still something--regarding the
+source of the stream in the fissure. It did not show us where that
+source was, but it proved to us pretty clearly where it was _not_.
+
+On the morning of the storm, Joe, at breakfast-time, turning to my
+father, said:
+
+"Wouldn't it be a good plan to go and measure the flow of the water down
+in the crevice, Mr. Crawford? We might be able to find out, by watching
+its rise and fall, whether the melting of the snow on the Second Mesa,
+or on the foot-hills beyond, or on the mountain itself affects it most."
+
+"That's a very good idea, Joe," my father replied. "Yes; as soon as we
+have fed the stock you can make a measuring-stick and go up there; and
+what's more, you had better make a practice of measuring it every day.
+The increase or decrease of the flow might be an important guide as to
+where it comes from."
+
+This we did, and thereby ascertained pretty conclusively that the source
+was nowhere on the Second Mesa, for in the course of a couple of weeks
+the heavy fall of new snow covering that wide stretch of country melted
+off without making any perceptible difference in the volume of the
+stream.
+
+Though there were several other falls of snow up in the mountains later
+in the season, this was the last one of any consequence down on the
+mesas. The winter was about over as far as we were concerned, and by the
+middle of the next month, the surface of "the bottomless forty rods"
+beginning to soften again, the freighters, who had been coming our way
+ever since the early part of November, deserted us and once more went
+back to the hill road--to our mutual regret. For a few days longer the
+stage-coach kept to our road, but very soon it, too, abandoned us, after
+which, except for an occasional horseback-rider, we had scarcely a
+passer-by.
+
+As was natural, we greatly missed this constant coming and going, though
+we should have missed it a good deal more but for the fact that with the
+softening of the ground our spring work began, when, Marsden's cattle
+having been removed by their owner, Joe and I started plowing for oats.
+With the prospect of a steady season's work before us, we entered upon
+our labors with enthusiasm. We had never felt so "fit" before, for our
+long spell of stone-hauling had put us into such good trim that we were
+in condition to tackle anything.
+
+At the same time, we did not forget our underground stream, keeping
+strict watch upon it as the snow-line retreated up the foot-hills of
+Mount Lincoln. But though one of us visited the stream every day, taking
+careful measurement of the flow, we could not see that it had increased
+at all. The intake must be either high on the mountain, or, as I had
+suggested, the spring must come up through the sandstone underlying the
+Second Mesa and was therefore not affected by the running off of the
+snow-water on the surface.
+
+As the town of Sulphide was so situated that its inhabitants could not
+see Mount Lincoln on account of a big spur of Elkhorn Mountain which cut
+off their view, any one in that town wishing to find out how the snow
+was going off on the former mountain was obliged to ride down in our
+direction about three miles in order to get a sight of it.
+
+Tom Connor, having neither the time to spare nor the money to spend on
+horse-hire, could not do this for himself, but, knowing that the
+mountain was visible to us any day and all day, he had requested us to
+notify him when the foot-hills began to get bare. This time had now
+arrived--it was then towards the end of March--and my father
+consequently wrote to Tom, telling him so; at the same time inviting him
+to come down to us and make his start from the ranch whenever he was
+ready.
+
+To our great surprise, we received a reply from him next afternoon,
+brought down by young Seth Appleby, the widow Appleby's ten-year-old
+boy, in which he stated that he could not start just yet as he was out
+of funds, but that he was hoping to raise one hundred and fifty dollars
+by a mortgage on his little house, which would be all he would need, and
+more, to keep him going for the summer.
+
+"Why, what's the meaning of this!" exclaimed my father, when he had read
+the letter. "How does Tom come to be out of funds at this time of year?
+He's been at work all winter at high wages and he ought to have saved up
+quite a tidy sum--in fact, he was counting on doing so. What's the
+matter, I wonder? Did he tell you anything about it, Seth?"
+
+"No," replied the youngster, "he didn't tell me, but he did tell mother,
+and then mother, she asked all the miners who come to our store, and
+they told her all about it. It was mother that sent me down with the
+letter, and she told me I was to be sure and 'splain all about it to
+you."
+
+"That was kind of Mrs. Appleby," said my father. "But come in, Seth, and
+have something to eat, and then you can give us your mother's message."
+
+Seated at the table, with a big loaf, a plate of honey and a pitcher of
+milk before him, young Seth, after he had taken off the fine edge of a
+remarkably healthy appetite, related to us between bites the story he
+had been sent down to tell. It was a long and complicated story as he
+told it, and even when it was finished we could not be quite sure that
+we had it right; but supposing that we had, it came to this:
+
+Tom had worked faithfully on the Pelican, never having missed a day, and
+had earned a very considerable sum of money, of which he had, with
+commendable--and, for him, unusual--discretion, invested the greater
+part in a little house, putting by one hundred and fifty dollars for his
+own use during the coming summer. The fund reserved would have been
+sufficient to see him through the prospecting season had he stuck to
+it; but this was just what he had not done.
+
+Two years before, a friend of his had been killed in one of the mines by
+that most frequent of accidents: picking out a missed shot; since which
+time the widow, a bustling, hearty Irishwoman, had supported herself and
+her five children. But during the changeable weather of early spring,
+Mrs. Murphy had been taken down with a severe attack of pneumonia--a
+disease particularly dangerous at high altitudes--and distress reigned
+in the family. As a matter of course, Tom, ever on the lookout to do
+somebody a good turn, at once hopped in and took charge of everything;
+providing a doctor and a nurse for his old friend's widow, and seeing
+that the children wanted for nothing; and all with such success that he
+brought his patient triumphantly out of her sickness; while as for
+himself, when he modestly retired from the fray, he found that he was
+just as poor as he had been at the beginning of winter.
+
+It is not to be supposed, however, that this worried Tom. Not a bit of
+it. It was unlucky, of course, but as it could not be helped there was
+no more to be said; and so long as he owned that house of his he could
+always raise one hundred and fifty dollars on it--it was worth three or
+four times as much, at least.
+
+As the prospecting season was now approaching, he therefore let it be
+known that he desired to raise this money, and then quietly went on with
+his work again, feeling confident that some one would presently make his
+appearance, cash in hand, anxious to secure so good a loan. Up to that
+morning, Seth believed, the expected capitalist had not turned up.
+
+As the boy finished his story, and--with a sigh at having reached his
+capacity--his meal as well, my father rose from his chair, exclaiming:
+
+"What a good fellow that is! When it comes to practical charity, Tom
+Connor leads us all. In fact, he is in a class by himself:--There is no
+Tom but Tom, and"--smiling at the little messenger--"Seth Appleby is his
+prophet--on this occasion."
+
+At which Seth opened his eyes, wondering what on earth my father was
+talking about.
+
+"Now, I'll tell you what we'll do," the latter continued. "Seth says his
+mother wants another thousand pounds of potatoes; so you shall take
+them up this afternoon, Phil; have a good talk with her; find out the
+rights of this matter; and then, if there is anything we can do to help,
+we can do it understandingly."
+
+I was very glad to do this, and with Seth on the seat beside me and his
+pony tied behind the wagon, away I went.
+
+As I had permission to stay in town over night if I liked, and as Mrs.
+Appleby urged me to do so, saying that I could share Seth's room, I
+decided to accept her offer, and after supper we were seated in the
+store talking over Tom Connor's affairs--which I found to be just about
+as Seth had described them--when who should burst in upon us but Tom
+himself. Evidently my presence was a surprise to him, for on seeing me
+he exclaimed:
+
+"Hallo, Phil! You here! Got my message, did you?"
+
+"Yes," I replied, "we got it all right; and very much astonished we
+were."
+
+Forthwith I tackled him on the subject, and though at first Tom was
+disposed to be evasive in his answers, finding that I had all the facts,
+he at length admitted the truth of the story.
+
+"But, bless you!" cried he. "That's nothing. I can raise a hundred and
+fifty easy enough on my house and pay it off again next winter, so
+there's nothing to fuss about. And now, ma'am," turning to Mrs. Appleby,
+and abruptly cutting off any further discussion of the topic, "now,
+ma'am, I'll give you a little order for groceries, if you please--which
+was what I came in for."
+
+So saying, he took a scrap of paper out of his pocket and proceeded to
+read out item after item: flour and bacon, molasses and dried apples, a
+little tea and a great deal of coffee, and so on, and so on, until at
+last he crumpled up his list between his two big hands, saying:
+
+"There! And we'll top off with a gallon of coal oil, if you please."
+
+"Ah," said the widow, laying down her pencil--she was a slight, nervous
+little woman--"I was afraid you'd come to coal oil presently. I haven't
+a pint of it in the house."
+
+"Well, that's a pity," said her customer. "Then I suppose I'll have to
+go down to Yetmore's for coal oil after all."
+
+"Yes, Yetmore can let you have it, I know," replied the widow, in a
+tone of voice which caused us both to look at her inquiringly.
+
+"He's got a barrel of it," she continued. "A whole barrel of
+it--belonging to me."
+
+"Eh! What's that?" cried Tom. "Belonging to you?"
+
+"Yes. And he won't give it up. You see, it was this way. I ordered a
+barrel from the wholesale people in San Remo, and they sent it up two
+days ago. Here's the bill of lading. 'One barrel coal oil, No. 668, by
+Slaughter's freight line.' The freighters made a mistake and delivered
+it at Yetmore's, and now he won't give it up."
+
+"Won't, eh!" cried Tom, with sudden heat. "We'll just look into that."
+
+"It's no use," interposed Mrs. Appleby, holding up her hand
+deprecatingly. "You can't take it by force; and I've tried persuasion.
+He's got my barrel; there's no mistake about that, because Seth went
+down and identified the number; but he says he ordered a barrel himself
+from the same firm and it isn't his fault if they didn't put the right
+number on."
+
+"Well, that's coming it pretty strong," said Tom, indignantly.
+
+"Yes, and it's hard on me," replied the widow, "because people come in
+here for coal oil, and when they find I haven't any they go off to
+Yetmore's, and of course he gets the rest of their order. I might go to
+law," she added, "but I can't afford that; and by the time my case was
+settled Yetmore's barrel will have arrived and he'll send it over here
+and pretend to be sorry for the mistake."
+
+"I see. Well, ma'am, you put me down for a gallon of coal oil just the
+same, and get my order together as soon as you like. I'm going out now
+to take a bit of a stroll around town."
+
+Though he spoke calmly, the big miner was, in fact, swelling with wrath
+at the widow's tale of petty tyranny. Without saying a word more to her,
+and forgetting my existence, apparently, he marched off down the street
+with the determination of going into Yetmore's and denouncing the
+storekeeper before his customers. But, no sooner had he come within
+sight of the store than he suddenly changed his mind.
+
+"Ho, ho!" he laughed, stopping short and shoving his hands deep into his
+pockets. "Ho, ho! Here's a game! He keeps it in the back end of the
+store, I know. I'll just meander in and prospect a bit."
+
+The store was a long, plainly-constructed building, such as may be seen
+in plenty in any Colorado mining camp, standing on the hillside with its
+back to the creek. In front its foundation was level with the street,
+but in the rear it was supported upon posts four feet high, leaving a
+large vacant space beneath--a favorite "roosting" place for pigs. It was
+the sight of these four-foot posts which caused the widow's champion so
+suddenly to change his mind.
+
+To tell the truth, Tom Connor, in spite of his forty years, was no more
+than an overgrown boy, in whose simple character the love of justice and
+the love of fun jostled each other for first place. He believed he had
+discovered an opportunity to "take a rise" out of Yetmore and at the
+same time to compel the misappropriator of other people's goods to
+restore the widow's property. That the contemplated act might savor of
+illegality did not trouble him--did not occur to him, in fact. He was
+sure that he had justice on his side, and that was enough for him.
+
+Full of his idea, Tom walked into the store, where he found Yetmore
+very busy serving customers, for it was near closing time, and to an
+inquiry as to what he wanted, he replied:
+
+"Nothing just now, thank ye. I'll just mosey around and take a look at
+things."
+
+To this Yetmore nodded assent; for though he and the miner had no
+affection for each other, they were outwardly on good terms, and it was
+no unusual thing for Tom to come into the store.
+
+Connor "moseyed" accordingly, and kept on "moseying" until he reached
+the back of the building, and there, standing upright against the rear
+wall, was the barrel, and beside it, mounted on a chair, a putty-faced
+boy, a stranger to Tom, who was busy boring a hole in the top of it.
+
+"Trade pretty brisk?" inquired Connor, sauntering up.
+
+"You bet," replied the youth, laconically.
+
+"What does '668' stand for?" asked the miner, tapping the top of the
+barrel with his finger.
+
+"That's the number of the barrel," was the reply. "The wholesalers down
+in San Remo always cut a number in their barrels when they send 'em
+out."
+
+"Your boss must be a right smart business man to run a 'stablishment
+like this," remarked Tom, after a pause, glancing about the store.
+
+"That's what," replied the boy, admiringly. "You'll have to get up early
+to get around the boss. Why, this barrel here----" He stopped short, as
+though suddenly remembering the value of silence, and screwing up one
+eye as if to indicate that he could tell things if he liked, he added,
+"Well, when the boss gets his hands on a thing he don't let go easy, I
+tell you that."
+
+"Ah! Smart fellow, the boss."
+
+"You bet," remarked the youth once more.
+
+All this time Tom had been taking notes. The thin, unplastered wall of
+the store was constructed of upright planks with battens over the
+joints. It was pierced with one window; and Tom noted that between the
+edge of the window and the centre of the barrel were four boards. He
+noted also that the barrel stood firm and square upon the floor and that
+the floor itself was water-tight.
+
+While he was making these observations, the boy finished his boring
+operation and having inserted a vent-peg in the hole, walked off. As
+soon as he was out of sight, Tom stepped up to the barrel, pulled out
+the vent-peg, dropped it into his pocket, and having done so, sauntered
+leisurely up the store again and went out.
+
+For a little while he hung around on the other side of the street and
+presently he had the satisfaction of seeing the lights in the store
+extinguished, soon after which Yetmore came out and locking the door
+behind him, walked away to his house.
+
+"Ah! So the putty-faced boy sleeps in the store, does he?" remarked Tom
+to himself; a conclusion in which he was confirmed when he saw a candle
+lighted and the boy making up his bed under the counter. A few minutes
+later the candle was blown out, when Tom set off briskly up the street
+for the widow's store.
+
+He found Mrs. Appleby and Seth tidying up preparatory to closing the
+store, and stepping in, he said, "You don't take in lodgers, I suppose,
+ma'am? I'm intending to stay down town to-night."
+
+"No, we don't," replied the widow. "The house is not large enough. But
+if you've nowhere to sleep, you're welcome to make up a bed on the
+floor--I can let you have some blankets."
+
+"Thank ye, ma'am, I'll be glad to do it, if you please."
+
+Accordingly, after the widow had retired up-stairs to her room and Seth
+and I to ours, Tom spread his blankets on the floor and went to bed
+himself.
+
+All was dark and silent when, at one o'clock in the morning, Tom sat up
+in bed, and after fumbling about for a minute, found a match and lighted
+a candle.
+
+"Have to get up early to get around the boss, eh?" said he to himself,
+with a chuckle. "Wonder if this is early enough."
+
+In his stocking-feet he walked to the back door and opened it wide.
+After pausing for an instant to listen, he came back, and lifting the
+empty oil barrel from its stand he carried it outside. Next he selected
+two buckets, and having reached down from a high shelf a large funnel,
+an auger and a faucet, he carried them and his boots into the back yard,
+and having locked the door behind him, walked off into the darkness.
+
+In a short time he reappeared, leading a horse, to which was harnessed a
+low wood-sled. Upon this sled he firmly lashed the barrel, and gathering
+up the other implements he took the horse by the bridle and led him
+away down the silent street; for the town of Sulphide as yet boasted
+neither a lighting system nor a police force--or, rather, the police
+force was accustomed to betake himself to bed with the rest of the
+community--so Tom had the dark and empty street entirely to himself.
+
+In a few minutes he drew up at the rear of Yetmore's store, where,
+leaving the horse standing, he proceeded to count four planks from the
+edge of the window. Having marked the right plank, he took the auger,
+and crawling beneath the store, set to work boring a hole up through the
+floor. Presently the auger broke through, coming with a thump against
+the bottom of the barrel above, when Tom withdrew the instrument, and
+taking out his knife enlarged the hole considerably.
+
+So far, so good. Next he set a bucket beneath the hole, took the faucet
+between his teeth in order to have it handy, and inserting the auger, he
+set to, boring a hole in the bottom of the barrel. Soon the tool popped
+through, when Tom hastily substituted the faucet, which he drove firmly
+in with a blow of his horny palm.
+
+The putty-faced boy inside the store stirred in his blankets, muttered
+something about "them pigs," and went to sleep again.
+
+Tom waited a moment to listen, and then drew off a bucket of oil. As
+soon as this was full he replaced it with the other bucket and emptied
+the first one into the barrel on the sled. This process he repeated
+until the oil began to dribble, when he carefully knocked out the
+faucet, and having collected his tools and emptied the last bucket into
+the barrel, he again took the horse by the bridle and silently led him
+away.
+
+Arrived once more in the widow's back yard, Tom unshipped the barrel and
+went off to restore the horse to its stable. He soon returned, and
+having unlocked the back door and re-lighted his candle, he proceeded to
+get the barrel into the house and back upon its stand; a work of immense
+labor, rendered all the harder by the necessity of keeping silence. Tom
+was a man of great strength, however, and at last he had the
+satisfaction of seeing the barrel once more in its place without having
+heard a sound from the sleepers overhead. Having washed the buckets and
+tools, he put them back where they came from, locked the door, and for
+the second time that night went to bed.
+
+It was about half-past six in the morning that Tom, happening to look
+out of the front window, saw Yetmore coming hurriedly up the street,
+like a hound following the trail of the sled. Stepping to the little
+window at the rear, Tom peeped out and saw the storekeeper enter the
+back yard, walk to the spot where the sled had stopped, and stand for a
+minute examining the marks in the soil. Having apparently satisfied
+himself, he turned about and went off down the street again.
+
+"What's he going to do about it, I wonder?" said Tom to himself. "Reckon
+I'll just mosey down to the store and see."
+
+As he heard Seth coming down the stairs, he unlocked the front door and
+stepping outside, walked down to Yetmore's.
+
+"Morning," said he, cheerfully. "It's a bit early for customers, I
+suppose, but I'm in a hurry this morning and I'd like to know whether
+you can let me have a gallon of coal oil."
+
+"Sorry to say I can't," replied the storekeeper. "Our only barrel sprang
+a leak last night and every drop ran out."
+
+"You don't say!" exclaimed Tom, with an air of concern. "Then I suppose
+I'll have to go up to the widow Appleby's. She's got plenty, I know."
+
+As he said this he looked hard at Yetmore, who in turn looked hard at
+him.
+
+"Maybe," said the storekeeper presently, "maybe you know something about
+that leak?"
+
+Tom nodded. "I do," said he. "I know _all_ about it; and I'm the only
+one that does. I know the whole story, too, from one end to the other.
+The widow has got her barrel of oil; and you and I can make a sort of a
+guess as to how she got it. As to your barrel, it unfortunately sprung a
+leak. Is that the story?"
+
+Yetmore stood for a minute glowering at the big miner, and then said,
+shortly, "That's the story."
+
+"All right," replied Tom; and turning on his heel, he went out.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+TOM'S SECOND WINDOW
+
+
+Mrs. Appleby never did quite understand how her barrel of oil had been
+recovered for her. All she knew for certain was that her good friend,
+Mr. Connor, had somehow procured it from Yetmore, and that Yetmore was,
+as Mr. Connor said, "agreeable."
+
+As for myself, when Tom that morning, taking me aside, related with many
+chuckles how he had occupied himself during the night, I must own that
+my only feeling was one of satisfaction at the thought that Yetmore had
+been made to restore the widow's property, and that the fear of ridicule
+would probably keep him silent on the subject. Sharing with most boys
+the love of fair play and the hatred of oppression, Tom's cleverness and
+promptness of action seemed to me altogether commendable.
+
+Nevertheless, I foresaw one consequence of the transaction which, I
+thought, was pretty sure to follow, namely, that it would arouse in
+Yetmore an angry resolve to "get even" with Tom by hook or by crook.
+That he would resort to active reprisals if the opportunity presented
+itself I felt certain, and so I warned our friend. But Tom, careless as
+usual, refused to take any precautions, believing that Yetmore would not
+venture as long as he--Tom--had, as he expressed it, two such damaging
+shots in his magazine as the story of the lead boulder and the story of
+the oil barrel; on both of which subjects he had, with rare discretion,
+determined to keep silence unless circumstances should warrant their
+disclosure.
+
+It was not till I had reached home again and had jubilantly retailed the
+story to my father, that I began to understand how there might be yet
+another aspect to the matter. Instead of receiving it with a hearty
+laugh and a "Good for Tom," as I had anticipated, he shook his head and
+said:
+
+"I'm sorry to hear it. Tom made a mistake that time. That Yetmore should
+be made to give up the barrel of oil is proper enough; but what right
+has Tom to appropriate to himself the duties of judge, jury and
+executive officer? It is just such cases as this that earn for the
+American people the reputation of a nation without respect for law. No.
+Tom meant well, I know, but in my opinion he made a mistake all the
+same."
+
+"I never thought of it in that light," said I; "so it is just as well,
+probably, that Tom didn't let me into the secret beforehand, because I'm
+afraid I should have been only too ready to help if he had asked me."
+
+"Yes, it is just as well you were not given the choice, I expect,"
+replied my father, smiling. "I'm glad Tom had the sense to take the
+whole responsibility on his own shoulders. Does he expect that Yetmore
+will be content to let the matter rest where it is?"
+
+"He seems to think so; though he is such a heedless fellow that it
+wouldn't bother him much if he thought otherwise."
+
+"Well, in my opinion he will do well to keep his eyes open. As I told
+you before, I think Yetmore's natural caution would prompt him to keep
+within the law, but it is not impossible now, Tom having set him the
+example--for one such transgression of the law is apt to breed
+another--that he will think himself justified in resorting to lawless
+measures in his turn; especially as he will have that fellow, Long John,
+jogging his elbow and whispering evil counsels in his ear all the
+time."
+
+How correct my father was in his presumption; how Long John did devise a
+scheme of retaliation; and how Joe and I inadvertently got our fingers
+into the pie, I shall have to relate in due course.
+
+But though my father disapproved of Tom's action, that fact did not
+lessen his desire to help his friend when I had related to him how Tom
+had indeed spent all his savings on Mrs. Murphy and her family.
+
+"What a good-hearted, harum-scarum fellow he is!" exclaimed my father.
+"He knows--in fact, no one knows better--that there is a possible
+fortune waiting for him somewhere up here on Lincoln; he saves up all
+winter so that he may be free to go and hunt for it in the spring; yet
+at the first note of distress, away he runs and tumbles all his savings
+into Mrs. Murphy's lap, who, when all is said and done, has no real
+claim upon him, thus taking the risk of being stranded in town while
+Long John goes off and cuts him out. What are we going to do about it,
+boys? What can you suggest?"
+
+"It would certainly be a shame," said Joe, "if Tom, by his act of
+charity, should put himself out of the running in the search for that
+vein of galena. Yet he will surely do so if he can't raise that money.
+And even if he should raise it, he might be late in getting it, in which
+case Long John would get the start of him."
+
+"That's the case in a nutshell," my father assented; "and, as I said
+before: What are we going to do about it?"
+
+"Why----" Joe began; and then he suddenly jumped up and coming across
+the room he whispered something in my ear. I replied with a nod;
+whereupon Joe returned to his chair, and addressing my father once more,
+said:
+
+"I'll tell you what we'll do, Mr. Crawford. Phil and I made forty
+dollars last fall cutting timbers--it was Tom who got us our order,
+too--and we have it still. We'll put that in--eh, Phil?--if it will be
+any use."
+
+"Yes," said I. "Gladly."
+
+"Good!" exclaimed my father. "Then that settles it. Now, _I'll_ tell you
+what we'll do. I'll add sixty dollars to it--that is all I can afford
+just now--and you two shall ride back to Sulphide this afternoon, give
+Tom the money, and tell him he shall have fifty more in a couple of
+months if he needs it. And tell him at the same time that he needn't go
+mortgaging his little house. We don't want security from Tom Connor: we
+know him too well. I'd rather have his word than some men's bond. You
+shall ride up to see him this afternoon, and you needn't hurry back
+to-day; for that rain of last night has made the ground too wet to
+continue plowing; and, if I'm not mistaken, we're in for another storm
+to-night, in which case the soil won't be in condition again for two or
+three days."
+
+I need hardly say that Joe and I were delighted to undertake this
+mission, and about four o'clock we reached Mrs. Appleby's, where we put
+up our ponies in her stable. Then, as Tom would not be quitting work for
+another hour, instead of going direct to his house, we climbed up to the
+Pelican, intending to catch him there and walk home with him.
+
+Presently arriving at the great white dump of bleached porphyry to which
+the citizens of Sulphide were accustomed to point with pride as an
+indication of the immense amount of work it had taken to make the
+Pelican the important mine it was, we scrambled up to the engine-house,
+where for some minutes we stood watching the busy engine as it whirled
+to the surface the buckets of waste. Then, stepping over to the mouth of
+the shaft, we paused again to watch the top-men as they emptied the big
+buckets into the car and trundled the car itself to the edge of the
+dump, upset it, and trundled it back again for more.
+
+As we stood there, a miner came up, and stepping out of the cage, nodded
+to us in passing.
+
+"Want anybody, boys?" he asked.
+
+"We're waiting for Tom Connor," I replied. "He's down below, isn't he?"
+
+"Yes, he's down in the fifth. I'll take you down there if you like. I'm
+going back in a minute."
+
+"What do you think, Joe?" I asked.
+
+"Yes, let's go," my companion replied. "I've never been inside a mine,
+and I should like to see one."
+
+"All right," said the miner. "Come over here to the dressing-room and
+I'll give you a lamp and a couple of slickers. It's a bit wet down
+there."
+
+Joe and I were soon provided with water-proof coats, and in company with
+our new friend we stepped into the cage, when the miner, shutting the
+door behind us, called out to the engineer, "Fifth level, McPherson,"
+and instantly the floor of the cage seemed to drop from under us. After
+a fall of several miles, as it appeared to us, the cage stopped, when,
+peering through the wire lattice-work, we saw before us a dark passage,
+upon one side of which hung a white board with a big "5" painted upon
+it.
+
+"Here you are," said the miner, stepping out of the cage and handing us
+a lighted lamp. "Just walk straight along this drift about three hundred
+feet--it's all plain sailing--and you'll find Tom Connor at work there.
+I'm going on down to the seventh myself."
+
+With that he stepped back into the cage, rang the bell, and vanished,
+leaving us standing there eyeing each other a little dubiously at
+finding ourselves left to our own guidance, four hundred feet below the
+surface of the earth.
+
+"I hadn't reckoned on that," said I. "I thought he was coming with us."
+
+"So did I," replied Joe. "But it doesn't really matter. All we have to
+do is to walk along this passage; so let's go ahead."
+
+That our obliging friend had been right when he stated that it was "a
+bit wet" down here was evident, for the drops of water from the roof of
+the drift kept pattering upon our slickers, and presently, when we had
+advanced something over half the distance, one of them fell plump upon
+the flame of our lamp and put it out!
+
+We stopped short, not knowing what pitfalls there might be ahead of us,
+and each felt in all his pockets for a match. We had none! Never
+anticipating any such contingency as this, we had ventured into this
+black hole without a match in our possession.
+
+I admit that we were scared--the darkness was so very dark and the
+silence so very silent--but fortunately it was only for a moment.
+Standing stock still, for, indeed, we dared not move, we shouted for
+Tom, when, to our infinite relief, we heard his familiar voice call out:
+
+"Hallo, there! That you, Patsy? I'm coming. Does the boss want me?"
+
+The next moment a light appeared moving towards us, and as soon as we
+could safely do so we advanced to meet it.
+
+"How are you, Tom?" we both cried, simultaneously, assuming an off-hand
+manner, as though we had not been scared a bit.
+
+Tom stopped, not recognizing us for a moment, and then exclaimed:
+
+"Hallo, boys! What are you doing down here? Who brought you down?"
+
+We told him how we came to be there, and how our lamp had gone out; at
+which Tom shook his head.
+
+"Well, it was certainly a smart trick to send you down into this wet
+hole and not even see that you had a match in your pocket. What would
+you have done if I'd happened to have left the drift?"
+
+The very idea gave me cold chills all down my back.
+
+"We should have been badly scared, Tom, and that's a fact," I replied;
+"but I hope we should have kept our heads. I believe we should have sat
+down where we were and shouted till somebody came."
+
+"Well, that would have been the best thing you could do, though you
+might have had to shout a pretty long time, for there is nobody working
+in this level just now but me, and, as a matter of fact, I should have
+left it myself in another five minutes. But it's all right as it
+happens; so now you can come along with me. I'm going out the other way
+through Yetmore's ground."
+
+"Yetmore's ground?" exclaimed Joe, inquiringly.
+
+"Yes, Yetmore is working the old stopes of the Pelican on a lease--it is
+one of his many ventures. In the early days of the camp mining was
+conducted much more carelessly than it is now; freight and smelter
+charges were a good bit higher, too, so that a considerable amount of
+ore of too low grade to ship then was left standing in the stopes.
+Yetmore is taking it out on shares. His ground lies this way. Come on."
+
+So saying, Tom led the way to the end of the drift, where, going down
+upon his hands and knees, he crawled through a man-hole, coming out into
+a little shaft which he called a "winze." Ascending this by a short
+ladder, we found ourselves in the old, abandoned workings, and still
+following our guide, we presently walked out into the daylight--greatly
+to our surprise.
+
+"Why, where have we got to, Tom?" cried Joe, as we stared about us, not
+recognizing our surroundings.
+
+Tom laughed. "This is called Stony Gulch," he replied. "The mine used
+to be worked through this tunnel where we just came out, but the tunnel
+isn't used now except temporarily by Yetmore's men. He only runs a day
+shift and at night he closes the place with that big door and locks it
+up. The Pelican buildings are just over the hill here, and we may as
+well go up at once: it will be quitting-time by the time we get there."
+
+We climbed over the hill, therefore, and having restored our slickers,
+went on with Tom down to his little cottage, which was only about a
+quarter of a mile from the mine.
+
+It was not until we were inside his house that we explained to Tom the
+object of our visit, at the same time handing over to him my father's
+check for one hundred dollars. The good fellow was quite touched by this
+very simple token of good-will on our part; for, though he was ever
+ready to help others, it seemed never to have occurred to him that
+others might like sometimes to help him.
+
+This little bit of business being settled, we all pitched in to assist
+in getting supper ready, and presently we were seated round Tom's table
+testing the result of our cookery. As we sat there, Joe, pointing to a
+window-sash and some planed and fitted lumber which stood leaning
+against the wall, asked:
+
+"What are you going to do with that, Tom? Put in a second window?"
+
+"Yes," replied our host. "And I was intending to do it this evening. You
+can help me now you're here. The stuff is all ready; all we have to do
+is to cut the hole in the wall and slap it in. It's just one sash, not
+intended to open and shut, so it's a simple job enough."
+
+"Where does it go?" asked Joe.
+
+"There, on the right-hand side of the door. Old man Snyder, in the next
+house west, put one in some time ago, and it's such an improvement that
+I decided to do the same. We'll step out presently and look at Snyder's,
+and then you'll see. Hallo! Come in!"
+
+This shout was occasioned by a tapping at the door, and in response to
+Tom's call there stepped in a tall miner, whom I recognized as George
+Simpson, one of the Pelican men.
+
+"Come in, George," cried our host. "Come in and have some supper. What's
+new?"
+
+"No, I won't take any supper, thank ye," replied the miner. "I must get
+along home. I just dropped in to speak to you. You know Arty
+Burns?--works on the night shift? Well, Arty's sick. When he came up to
+the mine to-night he was too sick to stand, so I packed him off home
+again and told him to go to bed where he belonged and I'd see to it that
+somebody went on in his place, so that he shouldn't lose his job. I'm
+proposing to work half his shift for him myself, and I want to find
+somebody----"
+
+"All right, George," Connor cut in. "I'll take the other half. Which do
+you want? First or second?"
+
+"Second, if it's all the same to you, Tom. If I don't get home first my
+old woman will think there's something the matter. So, if you don't
+mind, you can go on first and I'll relieve you at half-time."
+
+"All right, George, then I'll get out at once. You boys can wash up, if
+you will; and you'll find a mattress and plenty of blankets in the back
+room. I'll be back soon after eleven."
+
+With that, carrying a lantern in his hand, for it was getting dark, away
+he went; while the miner hurried off across lots for town; neither of
+them, apparently, thinking it anything out of the way to do a full day's
+work and then, instead of taking his well-earned rest, to go off and do
+another half-day's work in order to "hold the job" for a third man, to
+whom neither of them was under any obligation.
+
+Nor _was_ it anything out of the way; for the silver-miners of Colorado,
+whatever their faults, did in those days, and probably do still,
+exercise towards their fellows a practical charity which might well be
+counted to cover a multitude of sins.
+
+"Look here, Phil!" exclaimed my companion, after we had washed and put
+away the dishes. "I'll tell you what we'll do. Let's pitch in and put in
+Tom's second window for him!"
+
+"Good idea!" I cried. "We'll do it! Let's go out first, though, Joe, and
+take a look at old Snyder's house, so that we may see what effect Tom
+expects to get."
+
+"Come on, then!"
+
+The row of six little houses, of which Tom's was the third, counting
+from the west, had been one of Yetmore's speculations. They were
+situated on the southern outskirts of town, and were mostly occupied by
+miners working on the Pelican. Each house was an exact counterpart of
+every other, they having been built by contract all on one pattern.
+Each had a room in front and a room behind; one little brick chimney; a
+front door with two steps; and a window on the right-hand side of the
+door as you faced the house. All were painted the same color.
+
+Yetmore having secured the land, had laid it out as "Yetmore's Addition"
+to the town of Sulphide; had marked out streets and alleys, and had
+built the six houses as a starter, hoping thereby to draw people out
+there. But as yet his building-lots were a drug in the market: they were
+too far out; there being a vacant space of a quarter of a mile or
+thereabouts between them and the next nearest houses in town. The
+streets themselves were undistinguishable from the rest of the country,
+being merely marked out with stakes and having had no work whatever
+expended upon them.
+
+The six houses, built about three hundred feet apart, all faced
+north--towards the town--and being so far apart and all so precisely
+alike, it was absolutely impossible for any one coming from town on a
+dark night to tell which house was which. Not even the tenants
+themselves, coming across the vacant lots after nightfall, could tell
+their own houses from those of their neighbors; and consequently it was
+a common event for one of the sleepy inmates, stirred out of bed by a
+knock at the door, to find a belated citizen outside inquiring whether
+this was his house or somebody else's. Not infrequently they neglected
+to knock first, and walking straight in, found themselves, to their
+great embarrassment, in the wrong house.
+
+Old man Snyder, a somewhat irritable old gentleman, having been thus
+disturbed two nights in succession, determined that he would no longer
+subject himself to the nuisance. He bought a single sash and inserted a
+second window on the other side of his door; a device which not only
+saved him from intrusion, but served as a guide to his neighbors in
+finding their own houses. It was also a very obvious improvement, and we
+did not wonder that Tom Connor had determined to follow his neighbor's
+example.
+
+Old Snyder's house was the second from the western end of the street,
+Tom Connor's, three hundred feet distant, came next, while next to
+Tom's, another three hundred feet away, was a house which still
+belonged to Yetmore and was at that moment standing empty.
+
+You will wonder, very likely, why I should go into all these details,
+but you will cease to wonder, I think, when you see presently of what
+transcendent importance to Joe and me was the situation of these three
+houses.
+
+Joe and I, laying hands on our host's kit of tools, at once went to work
+on the window. As Tom had said, it was a simple job, and though it was
+something of a handicap to work by lamplight, we went at it so
+vigorously that by nine o'clock we had completed our task--very much to
+our satisfaction.
+
+Stepping outside to observe the effect, we saw that old Snyder's windows
+were lighted up also; but we had hardly noted that fact when his light
+went out.
+
+"The old fellow goes to bed early, Joe," said I.
+
+"Yes," Joe replied; and then, with a sudden laugh, added: "My wig, Phil!
+I hope there won't be anybody coming out from town to-night. If they do,
+there'll be complications. They will surely be taking our two windows
+for old Snyder's, for, now that his light is out, you can't see his
+house at all."
+
+"That's a fact," said I. "If Snyder's right-hand neighbor should come
+out across the flats to-night he would see our two windows, and,
+supposing them to be Snyder's windows, he would be almost sure to go
+blundering into the old fellow's house. My! How mad he would be!"
+
+"Wouldn't he! And any one coming out to visit Tom would pretty certainly
+go and pound on the door of the empty house to the left."
+
+"Well, let us hope that nobody does come out," said I. "Come on, now,
+Joe. Let's get back. It's going to rain pretty soon."
+
+"Yes; your father was right when he predicted more rain. It's going to
+be a biggish one, I should think. How dark it is! I don't wonder people
+find a difficulty in telling which house is which when all the lights
+are out. Here it comes now. Step out, Phil."
+
+As he spoke, a blast of wind from the mountains struck us, and a few
+needles of cold rain beat against our right cheeks.
+
+We were soon inside again, when, having shut our door, we sat down to a
+game of checkers, in which we became so absorbed that we failed to note
+the lapse of time until Tom's dollar clock, hanging on the wall, banged
+out the hour of ten.
+
+"To bed, Joe!" I cried, springing out of my chair. "Why, we haven't been
+up so late for weeks."
+
+Stepping into the back room, we soon had mattress and blankets spread
+upon the floor, when, quickly undressing, I crept into bed, while Joe,
+returning to the front room, blew out the light.
+
+Five minutes later we were both asleep, with a comfortable consciousness
+that we had done a good evening's work; though we little suspected how
+good an evening's work it really was. For it is hardly too much to say
+that had we _not_ put in Tom's second window that night we might both
+have been dead before morning.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+TOM CONNOR'S SCARE
+
+
+When Long John Butterfield (it was Yetmore himself who told us all this
+long afterwards) when Long John, returning from his day's prospecting up
+among the foot-hills of Mount Lincoln, had related to his employer the
+result of his labors, two conclusions instantly presented themselves to
+the worthy mayor of Sulphide. A man less acute than Yetmore would have
+understood at once that we had discovered the nature of the black sand
+in the pool, and that just as he had sent out Long John, so my father
+had sent out us boys to determine, if possible, which stream it was that
+had brought down the powdered galena.
+
+Moreover, knowing my father as he did--whose opinions on prospecting as
+a business were no secret in the community--Yetmore was sure that it was
+in the interest of Tom Connor we had been sent out; and it was equally
+plain to him that, such being the case, Tom's information on the
+subject would be just as good as his own. He was, of course, unaware
+that our information was in reality a good deal better than his own,
+thanks to the hint given us by our friend, Peter, as to the deposit at
+the head of Big Reuben's gorge.
+
+Knowing all this, Yetmore had no doubt that Tom would be starting out
+the moment the foot-hills were bare, and as Long John could do no
+more--for it was obviously useless to start before the ground was
+clear--it would result in a race between the two as to who should get
+out first and keep ahead of the other; in which case Tom's chances would
+be at least equal to his competitor's.
+
+But was there no way by which Tom Connor might be delayed in starting,
+if only for a day or two? That was the question; and very earnestly it
+was discussed between the pair.
+
+Vain, however, were their discussions; they could think of no way of
+keeping Tom in town. For, though Long John threw out occasional hints as
+to how _he_ would manage it, if his employer would only give him leave,
+his schemes always suggested the use of unlawful means of one sort or
+another, and Yetmore would have none of them; for he had at least
+sufficient respect for the law to be afraid of it.
+
+A gleam of hope appeared when it was rumored about town that Tom Connor
+was trying to raise money on his house; a rumor which Yetmore very
+quickly took pains to verify. In this he had no trouble whatever, for
+everybody knew the circumstances, and everybody, Yetmore found, was loud
+in his praises of Tom's self-sacrifice in spending his hard-earned
+savings for the benefit of Mrs. Murphy and her distressed family.
+
+The fact that his rival was out of funds caused Yetmore to rub his hands
+with glee. Here, indeed, was a possible chance to keep him tied up in
+town. It all depended upon his being able to prevent Tom from securing
+the loan he sought, and diligently did the storekeeper canvass one plan
+after another in his own mind--but still in vain. The sum desired was so
+moderate that some one would almost surely be found to advance it.
+
+While his schemes were still fermenting in his head, there came late one
+night a knock at his door--it was the very night that Tom Connor went
+boring for oil--and Long John Butterfield slipped into the house.
+Long John, too, had heard of Tom's necessities; he, too, had perceived
+the value of the opportunity; and being untrammeled by any respect for
+law as long as there was little likelihood that the law would find him
+out, he had devised in his own mind a plan which would promptly and
+effectually prevent Tom from raising any money on his house.
+
+[Illustration: "'CAN FOLKS SEE IN FROM OUTSIDE?'"]
+
+This plan he had now come to suggest to his employer.
+
+"Any one in the house with you, Mr. Yetmore?" he inquired.
+
+"No, John, I'm all alone. Come in. Why do you ask?"
+
+"Oh, I just wanted to talk to you, and I didn't want anybody listening,
+that's all. Can folks see in from outside?"
+
+"No, not while the curtains are drawn. Come on in. What's all this
+mystery about?"
+
+Long John entered, and sitting down close to his friend, he began,
+speaking in a low tone:
+
+"You've heard about Tom Connor trying to raise money on his house, o'
+course? Well, I can stop him, if you say so. Any one can see what Tom
+wants the money for. He'll get that hundred and fifty, sure, and then
+off he'll go. He's a thorough good prospector, better'n me, and with
+equal chances the betting will be in his favor. If there's a big vein,
+there's a big fortune for the finder, and it's for you to say whether
+Tom Connor is to get a shot at it or not."
+
+Long John paused a moment, and then, emphasizing each point with an
+extended finger, he continued: "Without money Tom can't move--that's
+sure; he's strapped just now--that's sure; and his only way of getting
+the cash is by raising it on that house of his--and that's sure. Now,
+Mr. Yetmore, you say the word and he shan't get it. No personal violence
+that you're always objecting to. Just the simplest little move; nobody
+hurt and nobody the wiser."
+
+Yetmore gazed at him earnestly for a few moments, and then said: "It's
+against the law, I suppose."
+
+"Oh, yes," replied Long John, with a careless shrug of his shoulders.
+"It's against the law all right; but what does that matter to you? I'm
+the one to do the job, and I'm the only one the law can touch, if it
+can touch any one; and I don't mean that it shall touch me. It's safe
+and it's sure."
+
+"Well, John, what is it?"
+
+Long John rose from his chair, leaned forward, and whispered in the
+other's ear a little sentence of five words.
+
+For a moment Yetmore gazed open-eyed at his henchman, then suddenly
+turned pale, then shook his head.
+
+"I daren't, John," said he. "It's a simple plan and it looks safe; and
+even if it were found out it would be about impossible for the law to
+prove anything against me, whatever it might do to you. But it isn't the
+law I'm afraid of--it's the people. Tom Connor has always been a
+favorite, and just now he is more of a favorite than ever, and if it
+should be found out, or even suspected, that I had any part in such a
+deed my business would be ruined: the whole population would turn their
+backs upon me. I daren't do it, John."
+
+"Well, boss," said Long John, with an air of resignation, shoving his
+hands deep into his pockets and thrusting out his long legs to the
+fire, "if you won't, you won't, I suppose; but it seems to me you're a
+bit over-timorous. Who's to suspect, anyhow?"
+
+"Who's to suspect!" exclaimed Yetmore, sharply. "Why, Tom Connor,
+himself, and old Crawford and those two meddling boys of his. They'd not
+only suspect--they'd know that you had done the job and that I'd paid
+you for it. And if they should go around telling their version of the
+story, everybody would believe them and nothing I could say would count
+against them; for they've all of them, worse luck, got the reputation of
+being as truthful as daylight, while, as for me----"
+
+Long John laughed. "As for you, you haven't, eh? Well, Mr. Yetmore, it's
+for you to say, of course, but it seems to me you're missing the chance
+of a lifetime. Anyhow, my offer stands good, and if you change your mind
+you've only got to wink at me and I'll trump Tom Connor's ace for him so
+sudden he'll be dizzy for a week."
+
+With that, Long John arose, slipped out of the house and sneaked off
+home by a back alley, leaving Yetmore pacing up and down his room with
+his hands behind him, thinking over and over again what would be the
+result if he should authorize Long John to go ahead.
+
+"No," said he at last, as he took up the lamp to go to bed, "I daren't.
+It's a good idea, simple, sure and probably safe, but I daren't risk it.
+No. Law or no law, the public would be down on me for certain. I must
+think up some other scheme."
+
+Though he thus dismissed the subject from his mind, as he believed, the
+idea still lurked in the corners of his brain in spite of himself, and
+when at six in the morning he awoke, there was the little black imp
+sitting on the pillow, as it were, waiting to go on with the discussion.
+
+Yetmore, however, brushed aside the tempter, jumped into his clothes and
+walked off to the store, where he found the putty-faced boy anxiously
+awaiting his appearance in order that he himself might be off to his
+breakfast.
+
+"Pht!" exclaimed the proprietor, the moment he set foot inside the
+store. "What's this smell of coal oil?"
+
+"I don't smell it," replied the boy.
+
+"You don't! Hm! I suppose you've got used to it. Well, get along to your
+breakfast."
+
+As the boy ran off, Yetmore walked to the back of the building. Here
+the scent was so strong that he was convinced the barrel must be
+leaking, so, seizing hold of it, he gave a mighty heave, when the empty
+barrel came away in his hands, as the saying is. He almost fell over.
+
+To ascertain the nature of the leak was the work of a moment; to trail
+the sled to Mrs. Appleby's back yard was the work of five minutes; but
+having done this, Yetmore was at fault, for, knowing well enough that
+neither the widow nor her son were capable of such an undertaking, he
+was at a loss to imagine who the culprit might be.
+
+It was only when Tom Connor a minute later stepped into the store and
+arranged that story of the leaky oil-barrel which he had described as
+being "agreeable" to Yetmore, that the storekeeper arrived at a true
+understanding of the whole matter. To say that he was enraged would be
+to put it too mildly, and, as always seems to be the case, the fact that
+he, himself, had been in the wrong to begin with, only exasperated him
+the more.
+
+The result was what any one might have expected.
+
+Hardly had Connor turned the corner out of sight, than there appeared,
+"snooping" up the street, that sheep in wolfs clothing, Long John
+Butterfield. Instantly Yetmore's resolution was taken. Seizing a broom,
+he stepped outside and made pretense to sweep the sidewalk, and as Long
+John, with a casual nod, sauntered past, the angry storekeeper caught
+his eye and whispered:
+
+"I've reconsidered. Go ahead."
+
+"Bully for you," replied the other in a low tone; and passed on.
+
+No one would have guessed that in that brief instant a criminal act had
+been arranged. Nor did Tom Connor, as he went chuckling up the street,
+guess that by his lawless recovery of the widow's property he had given
+Yetmore the excuse he longed for to defy the law himself. Least of all
+did any of them--not even Long John--guess that between them they were
+to come within an ace of snuffing out the lives of two innocent
+outsiders, namely, Joe Garnier and myself. Yet such was the case. It was
+only the accidental putting in of Tom's second window that saved us.
+
+Long John, being authorized to proceed, at once made his preparations,
+which were simple enough, and all he wanted now was an opportunity. By
+an unlooked-for chance, which, with his perverted sense of right and
+wrong, seemed to him to be providential, his opportunity turned up that
+very night.
+
+The miner, George Simpson, hastening homeward from Connor's house,
+happened to overtake Long John in the street, and as he passed gave him
+a friendly "Good-night."
+
+"Good-night," said John. "You're late to-night, aren't you?"
+
+"Yes, a bit late. One of our men's sick, and I've been fixing things
+so's he won't lose his job. Tom Connor and I are going to work his shift
+for him."
+
+"So!" cried Long John, with sudden interest. "Which half do you take?"
+
+"The second. Tom's gone off already, and I'm going to relieve him at
+eleven. So I must be getting along: I want my supper and two or three
+hours' sleep."
+
+So Tom would be out of his house till eleven o'clock! Such a chance
+might never occur again. Long John hastened home at once and got
+everything ready.
+
+As it would not do to start too early, because people might be about,
+John waited till nearly ten o'clock, and then sallied out. As he
+rounded the corner of his shack a furious blast of wind, driving the
+rain before it, almost knocked him over.
+
+"Good!" he exclaimed. "There won't be a soul out o' doors to-night."
+
+With his head bent to the storm and his hat pulled down over his ears,
+John made his way through alleys and bye-streets to the edge of town,
+and then set off across the intervening empty space towards the house
+where Joe and I were at that moment playing our last game of checkers.
+As he approached, he saw dimly through the blur of rain the light of two
+windows.
+
+"Good!" he exclaimed a second time. "Old Snyder not gone to bed yet.
+Mighty kind of the old gent to leave his light burning for me to steer
+by. If it hadn't been for him I'd 'a' had a job to tell which was the
+right house. As it is, I've borne more to the right than I thought."
+
+At this moment the town clock struck ten, and almost immediately
+afterwards the light in the windows went out.
+
+"Never mind," remarked John to himself. "I know where I am now."
+
+Advancing a little further, he caught sight of the dim outline of the
+house through the rain, and turning short to his left, he measured off
+one hundred steps along the empty street, a distance which brought him
+opposite the next house to the east.
+
+All was dark and silent, as he had expected, but to make sure he
+approached the house and thumped upon the door. There was no reply.
+Again he thumped and struck the door sharply with the handle of his
+knife. Silence!
+
+"He's out all right," muttered John. "Was there ever such a lucky
+chance? Howling wind, driving rain, dark as the ace of spades, and Tom
+Connor not coming back for an hour!"
+
+Dark it surely was. The night was black. Not a glimmer of light in any
+direction. Even the town itself, only a quarter-mile away, seemed to
+have been blotted from the face of the earth.
+
+As he had noticed in coming across the flats that there were lights
+still burning in two of the other houses, the patient plotter, in order
+to give the inmates a chance to get to bed and to sleep, sat waiting on
+the leeward side of the building for a full half hour. At the end of
+that time, however, he arose, moved along a few steps, and then, going
+down on his hands and knees, crept under the house. Ten minutes later he
+came crawling out again, feet foremost. Once outside, he struck a match,
+and sheltering it in his cupped hands he applied the flame to the end of
+something which looked like a long, stiff cord about as thick as a lead
+pencil. Presently there was a sharp "spit" from the ignited "cord,"
+blowing out the match and causing John to shake his hand with a gesture
+of pain, as though it had been scorched.
+
+Next moment Long John sprang to his feet and fled away into the
+darkness; not straight across lots as he had come, but by a roundabout
+way which would bring him into town from the eastern side.
+
+Then, for two minutes, except for the roaring of the wind, all was
+silence.
+
+Joe and I were sound asleep on the floor of Tom's back room, when by a
+single impulse we both sprang out of bed with an irrepressible cry of
+alarm, and stood for a moment trembling and clinging to each other in
+the darkness. The sound of a frightful explosion was ringing in our
+ears!
+
+"What was it, Joe?" I cried. "Which direction?"
+
+"I don't know," my companion replied. "I hope it isn't an accident up at
+the Pelican. Let's get into our clothes, Phil."
+
+Lighting the lamp, we quickly dressed, and putting on our hats and
+overcoats we went out into the storm. All was dark, except that in the
+windows of each of the occupied houses in the row we could see a light
+shining. The whole street had been roused up.
+
+"It must have been a powder-magazine," Joe shouted in my ear. "Or else
+the boiler in the engine-house of the Pelican. What do you say, Phil?
+Shall we go up there? We might be able to help."
+
+"Yes, come on!" I cried. "Let's go and see first, though, if Tom hasn't
+a second lantern. We shall save time by it if he has."
+
+Our hurried search for a lantern was vain, however, so we determined to
+set off without one. As we closed the door behind us, our clock struck
+eleven, and a moment later we heard faintly the eleven o'clock whistle
+up at the Pelican.
+
+"Good!" cried Joe. "It isn't the boiler blown up, anyhow, so Tom's
+safe; for he is working underground and the explosion, whatever it was,
+was on the surface."
+
+With bent heads we pushed our way against the wind, until, looking up
+presently, I saw the light of a lantern coming quickly towards us.
+
+"Here's Tom, Joe," I shouted. "Pull up!"
+
+We stopped, and as the light swiftly approached we detected the beating
+footsteps of a man running furiously.
+
+"Then there is an accident!" cried Joe. "Ho, Tom! That you?" he shouted.
+
+It was Tom, who, suddenly stopping, held the lantern high, looking first
+at one and then at the other of us. He was still in his miner's cap and
+slicker, his face was as white as a ghost's, and he was so out of breath
+that for a moment he could not speak.
+
+"Hurt, Tom?" I cried, in alarm.
+
+"No,"--with a gasp.
+
+"Anybody hurt?"
+
+"No."
+
+"What is it, then?"
+
+"Scared!" And then, still panting violently: "Come to the house," said
+he.
+
+Once inside, I brought Tom a dipper of water, which quickly restored
+him, when, turning his still blanched face towards us, he said:
+
+"Boys, I've had the worst scare of my life!"
+
+"How, Tom?" I asked. "That explosion? Was it up at the Pelican?"
+
+"No, it wasn't; and I didn't know anything about it until I came up at
+eleven, when George, who was waiting to go on, told me there had been a
+heavy explosion down in the direction of my house. When he told me that,
+there rushed into my head all of a sudden an idea which nearly knocked
+me over--it was like a blow from a hammer. I grabbed the lantern, which
+I had just lighted, and ran for it. Can you guess what I expected to
+find?"
+
+We shook our heads.
+
+"I expected to find my house blown to pieces, and you two boys lying
+dead out in the rain!"
+
+We stared at him in amazement.
+
+"What do you mean?" I asked.
+
+"Look here, boys," Tom went on. "When George Simpson told me there had
+been an explosion down this way, it came into my head all at once that
+Yetmore or Long John--probably Long John--had heard that I was out at
+work to-night, and not knowing that you were staying the night with me,
+had come and wrecked my house."
+
+"But why should they?" Joe asked.
+
+"So as to prevent my raising money on it, and so keep me tied up in town
+while they skipped out to look for that vein of galena. I'm glad to find
+I was wrong. I did 'em an in----"
+
+He stopped short, and following his gaze, we saw that he was staring at
+the second window.
+
+"When did you put that in?" he cried.
+
+"Just after you left. We finished by nine o'clock."
+
+"How soon did you go to bed?"
+
+"Just after ten."
+
+"Come with me!" cried Tom, springing from his chair and seizing the
+lantern. "I know what's happened now!"
+
+With us two close at his heels, he led the way to the spot where
+Yetmore's empty house had stood. Not a vestige of it remained, except
+the upper part of the chimney, which lay prone in the great hole dug out
+by the violence of the explosion.
+
+"Boys," said Tom, in a tone of unusual gravity, "if you live a hundred
+years you'll never have a narrower squeak than you've had to-night. If
+Long John did this--and I'm pretty sure he did--he meant to blow up my
+house, but being misled by those two windows, he has blown up Yetmore's
+house instead. You never did, and I doubt if you ever will do, a better
+stroke of work in your lives than when you put in my second window!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE ORE-THEFT
+
+
+At half past five next morning Joe and I slipped out of bed, leaving Tom
+Connor, who had to go to work again at seven, still fast asleep. While
+Joe quietly prepared breakfast, I went out to examine by daylight the
+scene of last night's explosion.
+
+The first discovery I made was the imprint in the mud of footsteps, half
+obliterated by the rain. The tracks were very large and very far apart,
+proving that the owner of the boots that made them was a big man, and
+that he had gone off at a great pace; a discovery which tended to
+confirm in my mind Tom's guess that it was indeed Long John who had done
+the mischief.
+
+At this moment the tenant of the house next to the east came out--Hughy
+Hughes was his name; a Welshman--and as he walked towards me I saw him
+stoop to pick up something.
+
+"That was a rascally piece of work, wasn't it?" said he, as he joined
+me. "Scared us 'most to death, it did. See, here's the fuse he used. I
+just picked it up; fifteen feet of it. Wonder who the fellow was. Pretty
+state of things when folks take to blowing up each other's houses. Like
+enough Yetmore has his enemies, but it's a pretty mean enemy as 'd try
+to get even by any such scalawag trick as this."
+
+This speech enlightened me as to what would be the general theory
+regarding the outrage. It would be set down as an act of revenge on the
+part of some enemy of Yetmore's; and so Tom and Joe thought, too, when I
+went back to the house and told them about it.
+
+"That'll be the theory, all right," said Tom. "And as far as I see, we
+may as well let it go at that. We have no evidence to present, and it
+would look rather like malice on our part if we were to charge Long John
+with blowing his best friend's house to pieces just because we happen to
+suspect him of it. And so, I guess, boys, we may as well lay low for the
+present: we shan't do any good by putting forward our own theories.
+
+"I dare say," he went on, after a moment's reflection, "I dare say, if
+we were to go around telling what we thought and why we thought it, we
+might influence public opinion; but, when you come to think of it, we
+have no real proof; so we'll just hold our tongues. Are you in a hurry
+to get home?"
+
+"No," I replied. "We shan't be able to plow for two days at the very
+least, so there is nothing to hurry home for."
+
+"Well, then," said Tom, "I'll tell you what I wish you'd do. I must go
+back to work in a few minutes, but I wish you two would go down town and
+hear what folks have to say about this business, and then come back here
+and have dinner with me at twelve. Will you?"
+
+"All right," said I. "We'll do that."
+
+We found the town in a great state of excitement. Everybody was talking
+about the explosion, which, as the newspaper said, "would cast a blight
+upon the fair fame of Sulphide." Yetmore's store was crowded with
+people, shaking hands with him and expressing their indignation at the
+outrage; the universal opinion being, as we had anticipated, that some
+miscreant had done it out of revenge.
+
+Joe and I, squeezing in with the rest, presently found ourselves near
+the counter, when Yetmore, catching my eye, nodded to me and said:
+
+"How are you, Phil? I didn't know you were in town."
+
+"Yes," said I, "we came in last evening and spent the night in Tom
+Connor's house."
+
+Yetmore started and turned pale.
+
+"In Tom Connor's house?" he repeated, huskily.
+
+"Yes," I replied. "We were asleep in his back room when that explosion
+woke us up."
+
+At this Yetmore stared at me for a moment, and then, as he realized how
+narrowly he had missed being party to a murder, he turned a dreadful
+white color, staggered, and I believe might have fallen had he not sat
+himself down quickly upon a sack of potatoes.
+
+A draft of water soon brought back his color, when, addressing the
+sympathizing crowd, Yetmore said:
+
+"It made me feel a bit sick to think what chances these boys ran last
+night. Every one knows how hard it is to tell those houses apart; and
+that fellow might easily have made a mistake and blown up Tom Connor's
+house on one side or Hughy Hughes' on the other."
+
+"Yes," said I; "and all the more so as Joe and I last evening put a
+second window into Tom's house, so that any one coming across lots
+after dark might just as well have taken Tom's house for old Snyder's."
+
+"Phew!" whistled one of the men in the crowd. "Then it's Hughy Hughes
+that's to be congratulated. If that rascal _had_ made such a mistake,
+and had chosen the second house from Tom's instead of the second house
+from Snyder's we'd have been making arrangements for six funerals about
+now. Hughy has four children, hasn't he?"
+
+I could not help feeling sorry for Yetmore. Convinced as I was that he
+had at least connived in a plot to destroy Tom's house, I felt sure that
+he had been far from intending personal injury to any one; and I felt
+sure, too, that he was thoroughly sincere, when, rising from his seat
+and addressing the assemblage, he said:
+
+"Men, I'm sorry to lose my house, of course--that goes without
+saying--but when I think of what might have happened it doesn't trouble
+me that much"--snapping his finger and thumb. "I tell you, men, I'm
+downright thankful it was _my_ house that was blown up and nobody
+else's."
+
+As he said this he looked at Joe and me, and I felt convinced that it
+was to us and not to the assembled throng that he addressed his remark.
+The people, however, not knowing what we did, loudly applauded the
+magnanimity of the sentiment, and many of them pressed forward to shake
+hands again.
+
+Yetmore had never been so popular as he was at that moment. Everybody
+sympathized with him over his loss; everybody admired the dignified way
+in which he accepted it; and everybody would have been delighted to hear
+that some compensating piece of good fortune had befallen him.
+
+Strange to say, at that very moment that very thing happened.
+
+Suddenly we were all attracted by a distant shouting up the street.
+Looking through the front window, we saw that all the people outside had
+turned and were gazing in that direction. By one impulse everybody in
+the store surged out through the doorways, when we saw, still some
+distance away, a man running down the middle of the street, waving his
+cap and shouting some words we could not distinguish. We were all on
+tiptoe with expectation.
+
+At length the man approached, broke through the group, ran up to
+Yetmore, who was standing on his door-step, shook hands with him, and
+then turning round, he shouted out:
+
+"Great strike in the Pelican, boys! In the old workings above the
+fifth--Yetmore's lease. One of those pockets of tellurium that's never
+been known to run less than twenty thousand to the ton. Hooray for
+Yetmore!"
+
+The shout that went up was genuinely hearty. Once more the mayor was
+mobbed by his enthusiastic fellow citizens and once more he shook hands
+till his arm ached--during which proceeding Joe and I slipped away.
+
+We had not gone far when I heard my name called, and turning round I saw
+a man on horseback who handed me a letter.
+
+"I've just come up through your place," said he, "and your father asked
+me to give you this if I should see you."
+
+The note was to the effect that the rain had been heavy on the ranch, no
+plowing was possible, and so we were to stay in town that day and come
+down on the morrow after the mail from the south came in, as he was
+expecting an important letter, and it would thus save another trip up
+and down.
+
+We were glad enough to do this, so, making our way up the street past
+the knots of people, all talking over and over again the two exciting
+topics of the day, we retraced our steps to Tom's house, where we got
+ready the dinner against Tom's return. Shortly after twelve he came in,
+when we related to him what we had learned in town; demanding in our
+turn particulars of the great strike.
+
+"It's a rich strike, all right," said Tom, "but there isn't much of
+it--about five hundred pounds--just a pocket, and not a very large one.
+But it is very rich stuff, carrying over three thousand ounces of silver
+and a thousand of gold to the ton. The five hundred pounds should be
+worth ten or twelve dollars a pound. They've found the same stuff
+several times before in the Pelican, always unexpectedly and always in
+pockets."
+
+"Then," remarked Joe, "Yetmore will have made, perhaps, six thousand
+dollars this morning."
+
+"No, no," said Tom; "he won't have done anything of the sort; though I
+don't wonder you should think so after the way the people have been
+carrying on down town. They've just been led away by their enthusiasm.
+Most of 'em know the terms of Yetmore's lease well enough, but they have
+forgotten them for the moment. Yetmore pays the company a certain
+percentage of all the ore he gets out, and it is specially provided in
+the lease that should he come upon any of the well-known tellurium ore,
+the company is to have three-fifths of the proceeds and Yetmore only
+two-fifths. He'll make a good thing out of it though, anyway."
+
+"You say there's about five hundred pounds of the ore: have they taken
+it all out already?" asked Joe.
+
+"Yes, taken it out, sorted it, sacked it in little fifty-pound sacks,
+sewed up the sacks and piled them in one of the drifts, all ready to
+ship down to San Remo to-morrow by express."
+
+"Why do they leave it in the mine?" I asked. "Is it safer than taking it
+down to the express office?"
+
+"Yes: it would be pretty difficult to steal it out of the mine, with all
+the lights going and all the miners about, whereas, if it was just
+stacked in the express office, somebody might----"
+
+"Somebody might cut a hole in the floor and drop it through," remarked
+Joe, laughing.
+
+"That's so," said Tom, adding, "I tell you what it is, boys: I begin to
+think I wasn't quite so smart as I thought I was when I got back that
+coal oil for the widow. I wouldn't wonder a particle if it wasn't just
+that that decided Yetmore to come and blow my house to smithereens."
+
+"I shouldn't either," said Joe.
+
+Tom having departed to his work again, Joe and I once more went into
+town, where we spent the time going about, listening to the talk of the
+people, who were still standing in groups on the street corners,
+discussing the great events of the day.
+
+But if the people were excited, as they certainly were, their excitement
+was a mere flutter in comparison with the storm which swept over the
+community next morning.
+
+The ten sacks of high-grade ore had been stolen during the night!
+
+The news came down about eight o'clock in the morning, when, at once,
+and with one accord, all the men in the place who could get away swarmed
+up to the Pelican--we among them.
+
+The thief, whoever he was, was evidently familiar with the workings of
+the mine, for, going round into Stony Gulch, he had forced the door at
+the exit of the old tunnel, cutting out the staple with auger and saw,
+and then, clambering through the disused, waste-encumbered drifts, he
+had carried out the little sacks one by one and made away with them
+somehow.
+
+Wrapping his feet in old rags in order to disguise his foot-prints, he
+had taken the sacks of ore across the gulch to the stony ground beyond,
+where his boots would leave no impression, and there all trace of him
+was lost. Whether he had buried the sacks somewhere near by, or, if not,
+how he had managed to spirit them away, were matters of general
+speculation; though to most minds the question was settled when one of
+Yetmore's clerks came hastily up to the mine and called out that the
+roan pony and the two-wheeled delivery cart, used to carry packages up
+to the mines, were missing. The thief, seemingly, had not only stolen
+Yetmore's ore, but had borrowed Yetmore's horse and cart to convey it
+away.
+
+If this were true, it proved that the thief must have an intimate
+knowledge of the country, for, in spite of the heavy rain of the night
+before, not a sign of a wheel-mark was there to be found: the cart had
+been conducted over the rocks with such skill as to leave no trace
+whatever. Cart, pony, ore and thief had vanished as completely as though
+the earth had opened and swallowed them.
+
+At first everybody sympathized with Yetmore over his loss, but presently
+an ugly rumor began to get about when people bethought them of the terms
+of the lease. Those who did not like the storekeeper, and they were not
+a few, began to pull long faces, nudge each other with their elbows, and
+whisper together that perhaps Yetmore knew more of this matter than he
+pretended.
+
+Joe and I were at a loss to understand what they were driving at, until
+one man, more malicious or less discreet than the others, spoke up.
+
+"How are we to know," said he, "that Yetmore didn't steal this ore
+himself? Three-fifths of it belongs to the company--he'd make a mighty
+good thing by it. I'm not saying he did do it, but----"
+
+He ended with a closing of one eye and a sideways jerk of his head more
+expressive than words.
+
+"Oh, that's ridiculous!" Joe blurted out. "Yetmore isn't
+over-scrupulous, I dare say, but he's a long way from being a fool, and
+he'd never make such a blunder as to steal the ore and then use his own
+horse and cart to carry it off."
+
+"Well, I don't know," said the man. "It might be just a trick of his to
+put folks off the scent."
+
+And though Joe and I, for our part, felt sure that Yetmore had had
+nothing to do with it, we found that many people shared this man's
+suspicions; the consequence being that the mayor's popularity of the day
+before waned again as suddenly as it had arisen.
+
+In the midst of this excitement the mail-coach from the south came in,
+when Joe and I, carrying with us the expected letter for my father, set
+off home again; little suspecting--as how should we suspect--that the
+ore-thief, whoever he might be, was about to render us a service of
+greater value by far than the ore and the cart and the pony combined.
+
+We were jogging along on the homeward road, and were just rounding the
+spur of Elkhorn Mountain which divided our valley from Sulphide, when
+Joe suddenly laid his hand on my arm and cried: "Pull up, Phil. Stop a
+minute."
+
+"What's the matter?" I asked.
+
+"Get down and come back a few steps," Joe answered; and on my joining
+him, he pointed out to me in a sandy patch at the mouth of a steep draw
+coming in from the left, some deeply-indented wheel-marks.
+
+"Well, what of that, Joe?" said I, laughing. "Are you thinking you've
+found the trail of the ore-thief?"
+
+"No," Joe replied, "I'm not jumping at any such conclusion; but, at the
+same time, it's possible. If the ore-thief started northward from the
+Pelican, and the chances are he did, for we know he carried the sacks
+across to the north side of Stony Gulch, this would be the natural place
+for him to come down into the road; for it is plain to any one that he
+could never get a loaded cart--or an empty one either, for that
+matter--over the rocky ridge which crowns this spur. If he was making
+his way north, he had to get into the road sooner or later, and this
+gully was his last chance to come down."
+
+"That's true," I assented; "and this cart--it's a two-wheeler, you
+see--was heavily loaded. Look how it cuts into the sand."
+
+"Yes," said Joe; "and it was drawn by one smallish horse, led by a man;
+a big man, too: look at his tracks."
+
+"But the ore-thief, Joe, had his feet wrapped up in rags, and these are
+the marks of a number twelve boot."
+
+"Well, you don't suppose the thief would walk over this rough mountain
+with his feet wrapped up in rags, do you? In the dark, too. They'd be
+catching against everything. No; he would take off the rags as soon as
+he reached hard ground and throw them into the cart; for it is not to be
+expected either that he would leave them lying on his trail to show
+people which way he had gone."
+
+"No, of course not. But which way did he go, Joe; across the road or
+down it?"
+
+"Down it. See. The wheel-tracks bear to the left. And if you want
+evidence that he came down in the dark, here you are. Look how one wheel
+skidded over this half-buried, water-worn boulder and slid off and
+scraped the spokes against this projecting rock. Look at the blue paint
+it left on the rock."
+
+"Blue paint!" I cried. "Joe, Yetmore's cart was painted blue! I remember
+it very well. A very strongly-built cart, as it had to be to scramble up
+those rough roads that lead to the mines, painted blue with black
+trimmings. Joe, I begin to believe this is the ore-thief, after all."
+
+"It does look like it. But where was he going? Not down to the smelter
+at San Remo, surely."
+
+"Not he," I replied. "He would know better than that. The smelter has
+undoubtedly been notified of the robbery by this time, and the character
+of the Pelican tellurium is so well known that any one offering any of
+it for sale would have to give a very clear story as to how he came by
+it. No; this fellow will have to hide or bury the ore and leave it lying
+till he thinks the robbery is forgotten; and even then he will probably
+have to dispose of it at a distance in small lots or broken up very fine
+and mixed with other ore."
+
+"In that case," said Joe, "we shall find his trail leaving the road
+again on one side or the other."
+
+"I expect so. We'll keep a lookout. But come on, now, Joe: we mustn't
+delay any longer."
+
+The road had been traveled over by several vehicles since last night,
+and the trail of the cart was undistinguishable with any certainty until
+we had passed the point where the highway branched off to the right to
+go down to San Remo; after which it appeared again, apparently headed
+straight for the ranch.
+
+"Do you suppose he can have crossed our valley, Phil?" asked my
+companion.
+
+"No, I expect not," I replied. "Keep your eyes open; we shall find the
+tracks going off to one side or the other pretty soon--to the left most
+likely, for the best hiding-places would be up in the mountains."
+
+Sure enough, after traversing a bare, rocky stretch of road, we found
+that the tracks no longer showed ahead of us. The man had taken
+advantage of the hard ground to turn off. Pulling up our ponies, we both
+jumped to the ground once more, and going back a short distance, we made
+a cast on the western side of the road. In a few minutes Joe called out:
+
+"Here we are, Phil! See! The wheel touched the edge of this little sandy
+spot, and if you look ahead about forty yards you'll see where it ran
+over an ant-hill. It seems as though he were heading for our caņon. Do
+you think that's likely?"
+
+"Yes," I replied. "I think it is very likely. There is one place where
+he can get down, you remember, and then, by following up the bed of the
+stream for a short distance he will come to a draw which will lead him
+to the top of the Second Mesa--just the place he would make for. For, to
+any one knowing the country, as he evidently does, there would be a
+thousand good hiding-places in which to stow away ten small sacks of
+ore--you might search for years and not find them."
+
+"Yes," said Joe. "But there's the horse and cart, Phil. How will he
+dispose of them?"
+
+"Oh, that will be easy enough. He would tumble the cart into some caņon,
+perhaps, turn loose the horse, and be back in Sulphide before morning.
+But come on, Joe. We really mustn't waste any more time; it's getting on
+for six now."
+
+It was fortunate we did not delay any longer, for we found my father
+anxiously pacing up and down the room, wondering what was keeping us.
+Without heeding our explanation at the moment, he hastily tore open the
+letter we had brought, read it through, and then stepping to the foot of
+the stairs, called out:
+
+"Get your things on, mother. We must start at once. The train leaves at
+seven forty-five. There's no time to lose."
+
+Turning to us, he went on: "Boys, I have to go to Denver. I may be gone
+five or six days--can't tell how long. I leave you in charge. If you can
+get at the plowing, go ahead; but I'm afraid you won't have the chance.
+If I'm not mistaken, there's another rain coming--wettest season I
+remember. Joe, run out and hitch up the big bay to the buckboard. Phil,
+you will have to drive down to San Remo with us and bring back the rig.
+Go in and get some supper now; it's all ready on the table."
+
+In ten minutes we were off, I sitting on a little trunk at the back of
+the carriage, explaining to my father over his shoulder as we drove
+along the events of the last two days, and how it was we had taken so
+much time coming down from Sulphide.
+
+"It certainly does look as though the thief had come down this way,"
+said he; "and though we are not personally concerned in the matter, I
+think one of you ought to ride up to Sulphide again on Monday and give
+your information. Hunt up Tom Connor and tell him. And I believe"--he
+paused to consider--"yes, I believe I would tell Yetmore, too. I'm sure
+he is not concerned in this robbery; and I'm even more sure that if he
+was a party to the blowing up of that house, he never intended any harm
+to you. Yes, I think I'd tell Yetmore. It will prove to him that we bear
+him no ill-will, and may have a good effect."
+
+Having seen them off on the train, I turned homeward again, going
+slowly, for the clouds were low and it was very dark. The consequence
+was that it was nearly ten by the time I reached the ranch, and before I
+did so the rain was coming down hard once more.
+
+"Wet night, Joe," said I, as I pulled off my overcoat. "No plowing for a
+week, I'm afraid."
+
+"I expect not," replied my companion. "It isn't often we have to
+complain of too much rain in Colorado, but we are certainly getting an
+over supply just now. There's one man, though, who'll be glad of it."
+
+"Who's that?"
+
+"That ore-thief. It will wash out his tracks completely."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE SNOW-SLIDE
+
+
+The rain, which continued pretty steadily all day, Sunday, had ceased
+before the following morning, when, looking through the rifts in the
+clouds to the west we could see that a quantity of new snow had fallen
+on the mountains.
+
+"There'll be no trouble about water for irrigating this year, Joe," said
+I, as I returned from the stable after feeding the horses. "There's more
+snow up there, I believe, than I've ever seen before. It ought to last
+well into the summer, especially as the winds have drifted the gulches
+full and it has settled into solid masses."
+
+"Yes, there ought to be a good supply," answered Joe, who was busy
+cooking the breakfast. "Which of the ponies do you think I had better
+take this morning, Phil? The pinto?"
+
+"I thought so. I've given him a good feed of oats. He'll enjoy the
+outing, I expect, for he's feeling pretty chipper this morning. He
+tried to nip me in the ribs while I was rubbing him down. He needs a
+little exercise."
+
+We had arranged between us that Joe should ride to Sulphide that morning
+to see Tom Connor and Yetmore, as my father had directed; and
+accordingly, as soon as he could get off, away he went; the pinto pony,
+very fresh and lively, going off as though he intended to gallop the
+whole distance.
+
+Left to myself, I first went up to measure the flow of the underground
+stream, according to custom, and then, taking a shovel, I went to work
+clearing the headgates of our ditches, which had become more or less
+encumbered with refuse during the winter. There were two of them, set in
+niches of the rock on either side of the pool; for, to irrigate the land
+on both sides of the creek, we necessarily had to have two ditches. I
+had been at it only a few minutes when I noticed a curious booming noise
+in the direction of the mountains, which, continuing for a minute or
+two, presently died out again. From my position close under the wall of
+the Second Mesa, I could see nothing, and though it seemed to me to be a
+peculiar and unusual sound, I concluded that it was only a storm
+getting up; for, even at a distance of seven miles, we could often hear
+the roaring of the wind in the pine-trees.
+
+A quarter of an hour later, happening to look up the Sulphide road, I
+was rather surprised to see a horseman coming down, riding very fast. He
+was about a mile away when I first caught sight of him, and I could not
+make out who he was, but presently, as I stood watching, a slight bend
+in the road allowed the sunlight to fall upon the horse's side, when I
+recognized the pinto. It was Joe coming home again.
+
+I knew very well, of course, that he could not have been all the way to
+Sulphide and back in so short a time, and my first thought was that the
+spirited pony was running away with him; but as he approached I saw that
+Joe was leaning forward in the saddle, rather urging forward his steed
+than restraining him.
+
+"What's up?" I thought to myself, as I stood leaning on my shovel. "Has
+he forgotten something? He seems to be in a desperate hurry if he has:
+Joe doesn't often push his horse like that. Something the matter, I'm
+afraid."
+
+There was a rather steep pitch where the road came down into our valley,
+and it was a regular practice with us to descend this hill with some
+caution. Here, at any rate, I expected Joe to slacken his pace; but when
+I saw him come flying down at full gallop, where a false step by the
+pony would endanger both their necks, I knew there was something the
+matter, and flinging down my shovel, I ran to meet him.
+
+"What is it, Joe?" I cried, as soon as he came within hearing.
+
+Pulling in his pony, which, poor beast, stood trembling, with hanging
+head and legs astraddle, the breath coming in blasts from its scarlet
+nostrils, Joe leaped to the ground, crying:
+
+"A snow-slide! A fearful great snow-slide! Right down on Peter's house!"
+
+For a moment we stood gazing at each other in silence, when Joe,
+speaking very rapidly, went on:
+
+"We must get up there at once, Phil: we may be able to help Peter.
+Though if he was in his house when the slide came down, I'm afraid we
+can do nothing. His cabin must be buried five hundred feet deep, and the
+heavy snow will pack like ice with its own weight."
+
+"We'll take a couple of shovels, anyhow," I cried. "I'll get 'em. Pull
+your saddle off the pinto, Joe, he's used up, poor fellow, and slap it
+on to the little gray. Saddle my pony, too, will you? I'll clap some
+provisions into a bag and bring 'em along: there's no knowing how long
+we'll be gone!"
+
+"All right," replied Joe. And without more words, he turned to unsaddle
+the still panting pony, while I ran to the house.
+
+In five minutes, or less, we were under way.
+
+"Not too fast!" cried Joe. "We mustn't blow the ponies at the start.
+It's a good eight miles up to Peter's house."
+
+As we ascended the hill and came up on top of the Second Mesa, I was
+able to see for the first time the great scar on the mountain where the
+slide had come down.
+
+"Phew!" I whistled. "It was a big one, and no mistake. Did you see it
+start, Joe?"
+
+"Yes, I saw it start. I happened to be looking up there, thinking it
+looked pretty dangerous, when a great mass of snow which was overhanging
+that little cliff up there near the saddle, fell and started the whole
+thing. It seemed to begin slowly. I could see three or four big patches
+of snow fall from the precipice above Peter's cabin as though pushed
+over, and then the whole great mass, fifteen feet thick, I should
+think, three hundred yards wide and four or five times as long, came
+down with a rush, pouring over the cliff with a roar like thunder. I
+wonder you didn't hear it."
+
+"I did," I replied, remembering the noise I had taken for a wind-storm,
+"but being under the bluff, and the waterfall making so much noise, I
+couldn't hear distinctly, and so thought nothing of it. Why!" I cried,
+as I looked again. "There used to be a belt of trees running diagonally
+across the slope. They're all gone!"
+
+"Yes, every one of them. There were some biggish ones, too, you
+remember; but the slide snapped them off like so many carrots. It cut a
+clean swath right through them, as you see."
+
+"Where were you, Joe, when you saw it come down?" I asked.
+
+"More than half way to Sulphide. I came back in fifteen minutes--four
+miles."
+
+"Poor little Pinto! No wonder he was used up!"
+
+We had been riding at a smart lope, side by side, while this
+conversation was going on, and in due time we reached the foot-hills.
+Here our pace was necessarily much reduced, but we continued on up
+Peter's creek as rapidly as possible until the gulch became so narrow
+and rocky, and so encumbered with great patches of snow, that we thought
+we could make better time on foot.
+
+Leaving our ponies, therefore, we went scrambling forward, until, about
+half a mile from our destination, Joe suddenly stopped, and holding up
+his hand, cried eagerly:
+
+"Hark! Keep quiet! Listen!"
+
+"Bow, wow, wow! Bow, wow, wow, wow, wow!" came faintly to our ears from
+far up the mountain.
+
+"It's old Sox!" cried Joe. "There are no dogs up here!" And clapping his
+hands on either side of his mouth, he gave a yell which made the echoes
+ring. Almost immediately the sharp report of a rifle came down to us,
+and with a spontaneous cheer we plunged forward once more.
+
+It was hard work, for we were about nine thousand feet above sea level;
+the further we advanced, too, the more snow we encountered, until
+presently we found the narrow valley so blocked with it that we had to
+ascend the mountain-spur on one side to get around it. In doing so, we
+came in sight of the cliff behind Peter's house, and then, for the
+first time, we understood what a snow-slide really meant.
+
+Reaching half way up the thousand-foot precipice was a great slope of
+snow, completely filling the end of the valley; and projecting from it
+at all sorts of angles were trees, big and little, some whole, some
+broken off short, some standing erect as though growing there, some
+showing nothing but their roots. At the same time, from the edge of the
+precipice upward to the summit of the ridge, we had a clear view of the
+long, bare track left by the slide, with the snow-banks, fifteen or
+twenty feet thick, still standing on either side of it, held back by the
+trees.
+
+"What a tremendous mass of snow!" I exclaimed, "There must be ten
+million tons of it! And what an irresistible power! Peter's house must
+have been crushed like an eggshell!"
+
+"Yes," replied Joe. "But meanwhile where's Peter?"
+
+Once more he shouted; and this time, somewhere straight ahead of us,
+there was an answering shout which set us hurrying forward again with
+eager expectancy.
+
+At the same moment, up from the ground flew old Sox, perched upon the
+root of an inverted tree, where, showing big and black against the snow
+bank behind him, he set to work to bark a continuous welcome as we
+struggled forward to the spot, one behind the other.
+
+Beneath a tree, stretched on a mat of fallen pine-needles, just on the
+very outer edge of the slide, lay our old friend, the hermit, who, when
+he saw us approaching, raised himself on his elbow, and waving his other
+hand to us, called out cheerily:
+
+"How are you, boys? Glad to see you! You're welcome--more than welcome!"
+
+"Hurt, Peter?" cried Joe, running forward and throwing himself upon his
+knees beside the injured man.
+
+"A trifle. No bones broken, I believe, but pretty badly bruised and
+strained, especially the right leg above the knee. I find I can't
+walk--at least not just yet."
+
+"How did you escape the slide?" I asked.
+
+"Why, I had warning of it, luckily. I was up pretty early this morning
+and was just about to leave the house, when a dab of snow--a couple of
+tons, maybe--came down and knocked off my chimney. I knew what that
+meant, and I didn't waste much time, you may be sure, in getting out. I
+grabbed my rifle and ran for it. I was hardly out of my door when the
+roar began, and you may guess how I ran then. I had reached almost this
+spot when down it came. The edge of it caught me and tumbled me about;
+sometimes on the surface, sometimes on the ground; now on my face and
+now feet uppermost, I was pitched this way and that like a cork in a
+torrent, till a big tree--the one Sox is sitting on, I think--slapped me
+on the back with its branches and hurled me twenty feet away among the
+rocks. It was then I got hurt; but on the other hand, being flung out of
+the snow like that saved me from being buried, so I can't complain. It
+was as narrow a shave as one could well have."
+
+"It certainly was," said I. "And did you hold on to the rifle all the
+time?"
+
+"Yes; though why, I can't say. The natural instinct to hold on to
+something, I suppose. But how is it you are on hand so promptly? It did
+occur to me as I lay here that one of you might notice that there had
+been a slide and remember me, but I never expected to see you here so
+soon."
+
+"Well, that was another piece of good fortune," I replied. "Joe saw the
+slide come down and rode a four-mile race to come and tell me. We did
+not lose a minute in getting under way, and we haven't wasted any time
+in getting here either. But now we are here, the question is: How are we
+going to get you out?"
+
+"Where do you propose to take me?" asked Peter.
+
+"Down to our house."
+
+For a brief instant the hermit looked as though he were going to demur;
+but if he had entertained such an idea, he thought better of it, and
+thanked me instead.
+
+"It's very good of you," said he; "though it gives me an odd sensation.
+I haven't been inside another man's house for years."
+
+"Well, don't you think it's high time you changed your habits?" ask Joe,
+laughing. "And you couldn't have a better opportunity--your own house
+smashed flat; yourself helpless; and we two all prepared to lug you off
+whether you like it or not."
+
+"Well," said Peter, smiling at Joe's threat, "then I suppose I may as
+well give in. You're very kind, though, boys," he added, seriously, "and
+I'm very glad indeed to accept your offer."
+
+"Then let us pitch in at once and start downward," said Joe. "Do you
+think you could walk with help?"
+
+"I doubt it; but I'll have a try."
+
+It was no use, though. With one arm over Joe's shoulder and the other
+over mine he essayed to walk, but the attempt was a failure. His right
+leg dragged helplessly behind; he could not take a step.
+
+"We've got to think of some other way," said Joe, as Peter once more
+stretched himself at full length upon the ground. "Can we----"
+
+But here he was interrupted.
+
+All this time, Sox, with rare backwardness, had remained perched upon
+his tree-root, looking on and listening, but at this moment down he
+flew, alighted upon the ground near Peter's head, made a complete
+circuit of his master's prostrate form, then hopped up on his shoulder,
+and having promenaded the whole length of his body from his neck to his
+toes, he shook out his feathers and settled himself comfortably upon the
+hermit's left foot.
+
+We all supposed he intended to take a nap, but in another two seconds he
+straightened up again, eyed each of us in turn, and, with an air of
+having thought it all out and at last decided the matter beyond dispute,
+he remarked in a tone of gentle resignation:
+
+"John Brown's body."
+
+Having delivered this well-considered opinion with becoming solemnity,
+he threw back his head and laughed a rollicking laugh, as though he had
+made the very best joke that ever was heard.
+
+"You black heathen, Sox!" cried his master. "I believe you would laugh
+at a funeral."
+
+"Lies," said Sox, opening one eye and shutting it again; a remark which,
+though it sounded very much as though intended as an insult to Peter,
+was presumably but the continuation of his previous quotation.
+
+"Get out, you old rascal!" cried the hermit, "shooing" away the bird
+with his hat. "Your conversation is not desired just now." And as Sox
+flew back to his perch, Peter continued: "How far down did you leave
+your ponies, boys?"
+
+"About a mile," I replied.
+
+"Then I believe the best way will be for one of you to go down and bring
+up one of the ponies. I can probably get upon his back with your help,
+and then, by going carefully, I believe we can get down."
+
+"All right," said Joe, springing to his feet. "We'll try it. I'll go
+down. The little gray is the one, Phil, don't you think?"
+
+"Yes," I answered. "The little gray's the one; he's more sober-minded
+than my pony and very sure-footed. Bring the gray."
+
+Without further parley, away went Joe, and in about three-quarters of an
+hour he appeared again, leading the pony by the bridle.
+
+"It's pretty rough going," said he, "but I think we can make it if we
+take it slowly. The pony came up very well. Now, Peter let's see if we
+can hoist you into the saddle."
+
+It was a difficult piece of work, for Peter, though he had not an ounce
+of fat on his body, was a pretty heavy man, and being almost helpless
+himself, the feat was not accomplished without one or two involuntary
+groans on the part of the patient. At last, however, we had him settled
+into the saddle, when Joe, carrying the rifle, took the lead, while I,
+with the two shovels over my shoulder, brought up the rear. In this
+order the procession started, but it had no more than started when Peter
+called to us to stop.
+
+In order to avoid going up the hill more than was necessary, we were
+skirting along the edge of the great snow-bank, when, as we passed just
+beneath the big tree upon one of whose roots Socrates was perched,
+Peter, looking up to call to the bird, espied something which at once
+attracted his attention.
+
+"Wait a moment, boys, will you?" he requested, checking the pony; and
+then, turning to me, he continued: "Look up there, Phil. Do you see that
+black stone stuck among the roots? Poke it out with the shovel, will
+you? I should like to look at it."
+
+Wondering rather at his taking any interest in stones at such a time, I
+nevertheless obeyed his behest, and with two or three vigorous prods I
+dislodged the black fragment, catching it in my hand as it fell; though
+it was so unexpectedly heavy that I nearly let it drop.
+
+"Ah!" exclaimed Peter, when I had handed it up to him. "Just what I
+thought! This will interest Tom Connor."
+
+"Why?" we both asked. "What is it?"
+
+"A chunk of galena. Look! Do you see how it is made up of shining cubes
+of some black mineral? Lead--lead and sulphur. There's a vein up there
+somewhere."
+
+"And the big tree, pushing its roots down into the vein, has brought
+away a piece of it, eh?" asked Joe.
+
+"Yes, that is what I suppose. There are some bits of light-colored rock
+up there, too, Phil. Pry out one or two of those, will you?"
+
+I did as requested, and on my passing them to Peter, he said:
+
+"These are porphyry rocks. The general formation up there is limestone,
+I know--I've noticed it frequently--but I expect it is crossed
+somewhere--probably on the line of the belt of trees--by a porphyry
+dike. Put the specimens into your pocket, Joe; we must keep them to show
+to Connor. It's a very important find. And now let us get along."
+
+The journey down the gulch was very slow and very difficult--we made
+hardly a mile an hour--though, when we left the mountain and started
+across the mesa we got along better. When about half way, I left the
+others and galloped home, where I lighted a fire and heated a lot of
+water, so that, when at length Peter arrived, I had a steaming hot
+tubful all ready for him in the spare room on the ground floor.
+
+Though our friend protested against being treated like an invalid,
+declaring his belief that he would be about right again by morning, he
+nevertheless consented to take his hot bath and go to bed; though I
+think he was persuaded to do so more because he was unwilling to
+disappoint us after all our preparations, than because he really
+expected to derive any benefit.
+
+Be that as it may--and for my part I shall always hold that it was the
+hot bath that did it--when we went into Peter's room next morning, what
+was our surprise to find our cripple up and dressed. Though his right
+leg was still so stiff as to be of little use to him, he declined our
+help, and with the aid of a couple of broomsticks propelled himself out
+of his bedroom and into the kitchen, where Joe was busy getting the
+breakfast ready. His rapid recovery was astonishing to both of us;
+though, as Joe remarked later, we need not be so very much surprised,
+for, with his hardy life and abstemious habits he was as healthy as any
+wild animal.
+
+As we sat at our morning meal, we talked over our find of yesterday,
+and discussed what was the proper course for us to pursue.
+
+"First, and most important," said Peter, "Tom Connor must be notified.
+We must waste no time. The prospectors are beginning to get out, and any
+one of them, noticing the new scar on the mountain, might go exploring
+up there. When does Tom quit work on the Pelican?"
+
+"This evening," replied Joe. "It was this evening, wasn't it, Phil?"
+
+"Yes," I replied. "He was to quit at five this evening, and his
+intention then was to come down here next day and make this place his
+base of operations."
+
+"Then the thing to do," said Joe, "is for me to ride up there this
+morning--I started to go yesterday, you know, Peter--and catch Tom up at
+the mine at noon. When he hears of our discovery, I've not a doubt but
+that he will pack up and come back with me this evening, so as to get a
+start first thing to-morrow."
+
+"I expect he will," said I. "And while you are up there, Joe, you can
+see Yetmore and give him your information about those cart-tracks."
+
+"What do you mean?" asked Peter. "Information about what cart-tracks?"
+
+"Oh, you haven't heard of it, of course," said I; and forthwith I
+explained to him all about the ore-theft, and how we suspected that the
+thief was in hiding somewhere in the foot-hills. Peter listened
+attentively, and then asked:
+
+"Are you sure there was only one of them?"
+
+"Well, that's the general supposition," I replied. "Why?"
+
+"I thought there might be a pair of them, that's all. I'll tell you an
+odd thing that happened only the day before yesterday, which may or may
+not have a bearing on the case. When I got home about dusk that evening,
+I found that some one had broken into my house and had stolen a
+hind-quarter of elk, a box of matches, a frying-pan, and--of all queer
+things to select--a bear-trap. What on earth any one can want with a
+bear-trap at this season of the year, I can't think, when there is
+hardly a bear out of his winter-quarters yet; and if he was he'd be as
+thin as a rail. I found the fellow's tracks easily enough--tall man--big
+feet--long stride--and trailed them down the gulch to a point where
+another man had been sitting on a rock waiting for him. This other man's
+track was peculiar: he was lame--stepped short with his right foot, and
+the foot itself was out of shape. Their trail went on down the hill
+towards the mesa, but it was then too dark to follow it, and I was going
+off to take it up again next morning when that slide came down and
+changed my programme."
+
+"Well," said Joe, who had sat with his elbows on the table and his chin
+on his hands, listening closely, "where the lame man springs from I
+don't know, but if they should be the ore-thieves their stealing the
+meat and the frying-pan was a natural thing to do; for if they are going
+into hiding they will need provisions."
+
+"Yes," replied Peter; "and whether they knew of my place before or came
+upon it by accident, they would probably think it safer to steal from me
+than to raid one of the ranches and thus risk bringing all the ranchmen
+about their ears like a swarm of hornets."
+
+"That's true," said Joe. "Yes, I must certainly tell Tom and Yetmore
+about them: it may be important. And I'll start at once," he added,
+rising from the table as he spoke. "I'll take the buckboard, Phil, and
+then I can bring back Tom's camp-kit and tools for him; otherwise he
+would have to pack them on his pony and walk himself. I expect you will
+see us back somewhere about seven this evening."
+
+With that he went out, and soon afterwards we heard the rattle of wheels
+as he drove away.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+THE BIG REUBEN VEIN
+
+
+But it seemed as though Joe were destined never to get to Sulphide. I
+was still in the kitchen, when, not more than twenty minutes later, I
+heard the rattle of wheels again, and looking out of the window, there I
+saw my partner by the stable tying up his horse.
+
+"Hallo, Joe!" I cried, throwing open the door. "What's up?"
+
+Without replying at the moment, Joe came striding in, shut the door, and
+throwing his hat down upon the table, said:
+
+"I came back to tell you something. I've a notion, Phil, that we've got
+to go hunting for that vein ourselves, and not lose time by going up to
+tell Tom."
+
+"Why? What makes you think that, Joe?" I asked, in surprise.
+
+"That's what I came back to tell you. You know that little treeless
+'bubble' that stands on the edge of the caņon only about half a mile
+up-stream from here? Well, when I drove up the hill out of our valley
+just now I turned, naturally, to look at the scar on the mountain, when
+the first thing to catch my eye was the figure of a man standing on top
+of the 'bubble.'"
+
+"Is that so? What was he doing?"
+
+"He was looking at the scar, too."
+
+"How do you know that, Joe?" I asked, incredulously. "You couldn't tell
+at that distance whether he had his back to you or his face."
+
+"Ah, but I could, though," Joe replied; "and I'll tell you how. After a
+minute or so the man turned--I could see that motion distinctly
+enough--caught sight of me, and instantly jumped down behind the rocks."
+
+"Didn't want to be seen, eh?" remarked Peter. "And what did you do
+next?"
+
+"I felt sure he was watching me, though I couldn't see him," Joe went
+on, "and so, to make him suppose I hadn't observed him, I stayed where I
+was for a minute, and then drove leisurely on again. There's a dip in
+the road, you know, Phil, a little further on, and as soon as I had
+driven down into it, out of sight, I pulled up, jumped out of the
+buckboard, and running up the hill again I crawled to the top of the
+rise and looked back. There was the man, going across the mesa at a run,
+headed straight for Big Reuben's gorge!"
+
+Joe paused, and for a moment we all sat looking at each other in
+silence.
+
+"Any idea who he was?" I asked presently.
+
+"Yes," replied Joe, without hesitation. "It was Long John Butterfield."
+
+"You seem very sure," remarked Peter; "but do you think you could
+recognize him so far off?"
+
+"I feel sure it was Long John," Joe answered. "I have very long sight;
+and as the man stood there on top of the 'bubble,' with the sun shining
+full upon him, he looked as tall as a telegraph pole. Yes, I feel
+certain it was Long John."
+
+"Then Yetmore has started him out to prospect for that vein!" I cried.
+"He is probably camped in the neighborhood of Big Reuben's gorge,
+following up the stream, and I suppose he heard the roar of the slide
+yesterday and came down this way the first thing this morning to get a
+look at the scar."
+
+"That's it, I expect," Joe answered.
+
+"And you suppose," said Peter, "that he went running back to his camp
+to get his tools and go prospecting up on the scar."
+
+Joe nodded.
+
+"Then, what do you propose to do?" asked the hermit.
+
+"I've been thinking about it as I drove back," replied Joe, "and my
+opinion is that Phil and I ought to go up at once, see if we can't find
+the spot where that big tree was rooted out, and stake the claim for Tom
+Connor. If we lose a whole day by going up to Sulphide to notify Tom, it
+would give Long John a chance to get in ahead of us and perhaps beat us
+after all."
+
+The bare idea of such a catastrophe was too much for me. I sprang out of
+my chair, crying, "We'll go, Joe! And we'll start at once! How are we to
+get up there, Peter? There must be any amount of snow; and we are
+neither of us any good on skis, even if we had them."
+
+"Yes, there's plenty of snow," replied Peter promptly, entering with
+heartiness into the spirit of the enterprise, "lots of snow, but you can
+avoid most of it by taking the ridge on the right of the creek and
+following along its summit to where it connects with the saddle. You'll
+find a little cliff up there, barring your way, but by turning to your
+left and keeping along the foot of the precipice you will come presently
+to the upper end of the slide, and then, by coming down the slide, you
+will be able to reach the place where the line of trees used to stand,
+which is the place you want to reach."
+
+"Is it at all dangerous?" asked Joe.
+
+"Why, yes," replied Peter, "it is a bit dangerous, especially on the
+slide itself now that the trees are gone; though if you are ordinarily
+careful you ought to be able to make it all right, there being two of
+you. For a man by himself it would be risky--a very small accident might
+strand him high and dry on the mountain--but where there are two
+together it is reasonably safe."
+
+"Come on, then, Joe," said I. "Let's be off."
+
+"Wait a bit!" cried our guest, holding up his hand. "You talk of staking
+a claim for Tom Connor; well, suppose you _should_ find the spot where
+the big tree was rooted out, and _should_ find a vein there--do you know
+how to write a location-notice?"
+
+"No," said I, blankly. "We don't."
+
+"Well, I'll write you out the form," said Peter. "I've read hundreds of
+them and I remember it well enough, and you can just copy the wording
+when you set up your stake--if you have occasion to set one up at all."
+
+He sat down and quickly wrote out the form for us, when, pocketing the
+paper, we went over to the stable, saddled up, and leaving Peter in
+charge, away we rode, armed with a pick, a shovel, an ax and a coil of
+rope.
+
+According to the hermit's directions, instead of following up the bed of
+the creek which led to his house, we took to the spur on the right, the
+top of which being treeless, had been swept bare of snow by the winds
+and presented no serious obstacle to our sure-footed ponies. We were
+able, therefore, to ride up the mountain so far that we presently found
+ourselves looking down upon Peter's house, or, rather, upon the mountain
+of snow which covered it. But here the character of the spur changed,
+or, to speak more accurately, here the spur ended and another one began.
+Between the two, half-filled with well-packed snow, lay a deep crevice,
+which, bearing away down hill to our right, was presently lost among the
+trees.
+
+"From the lay of the land," said Joe, "I should judge that this is the
+head of the creek which runs through Big Reuben's gorge--Peter told us
+it started up here, you remember. And from the look of it," he
+continued, "I should suppose that the shortest way of getting over to
+the slide would be to cut right across here to the left through the
+trees. But that is out of the question: the snow would be ten feet over
+our heads; so our only way is to cross this gulch and go on up as far as
+we can along the top of the next ridge, as Peter said."
+
+"Then we shall have to leave the ponies here," I remarked, "and do the
+rest on foot: there's no getting them across this place."
+
+Accordingly, we abandoned our ponies at this point, and having with some
+difficulty scrambled across the gulch ourselves, we ascended to the
+ridge of the next spur and continued our way upward. This spur was
+crowned by an outcrop of rock, which being much broken up and the cracks
+being filled with snow, made the walking not only difficult but
+dangerous. By taking care, however, we avoided any accident, and, after
+a pretty stiff climb arrived at the foot of a perpendicular ledge of
+rocks which cut across our course at right angles--the little cliff
+Peter had told us we should find barring our way.
+
+Here, turning to the left, as directed, we skirted along the base of the
+cliff, sometimes on the rocks and sometimes on the edge of the snow
+which rested against them, until at last we reached a point whence we
+could look right down the steep slope of the slide.
+
+Covered with loose shale, the slope for its whole length appeared to be
+smooth and of uniform pitch, except that about three-quarters of the way
+down we could see a line of snow hummocks stretching all across its
+course, indicating pretty surely that here had grown a strip of trees,
+which being most of them broken off short had caught and held a little
+snow against the stumps.
+
+"There's where we want to get, Joe!" I cried, eagerly. "Down there to
+that row of stumps! This is a limestone country--all this shale, you
+see, is composed of limestone chips--but that tree-root in which we
+found the chunk of galena held two or three bits of porphyry as well,
+you remember, and if it did come from down there, there's a good chance
+that that line of stumps indicates the course of a porphyry outcrop, as
+Peter guessed, cutting across the limestone formation."
+
+"Well, what of that?" asked Joe. "Is a porphyry outcrop a desirable
+thing to find? Is it an 'indication'?"
+
+"It's plain you're no prospector, Joe," said I, laughing; "and though I
+don't set up to know much about it myself, I've learned enough from
+hearing Tom Connor talk of 'contact veins' to know that if there's a
+vein in the neighborhood the most promising place to look for it is
+where the limestone and the porphyry come in contact."
+
+"Is that so?" cried Joe, beginning to get excited. "Then let us get down
+there at once; for, ten to one, that's where our big tree came from."
+
+"That's all very well," said I. "The row of stumps is our goal, all
+right, but how are we going to get down there? I don't feel at all
+inclined to trust myself on this loose shale. The pitch is so steep that
+I should be afraid of its starting to slide and carrying us with it,
+when I don't see anything to stop us from going down to the bottom and
+over the precipice at the lower end."
+
+"That's true," Joe assented. "No, it won't do to trust ourselves on this
+treacherous shale; it's too dangerous. What we must do, Phil, is to get
+across to that long spur of rocks over there and climb down that. It
+will bring us close down to the line of stumps."
+
+The spur to which Joe referred, connecting at its upper end with the
+cliff at the foot of which we were then standing, reached downward like
+a great claw to within a short distance of the chain of snow hummocks,
+and undoubtedly our safest course would be to follow it to its lowest
+extremity and begin our descent from there. It was near the further edge
+of the slide, however, and to get over to it we had to take a course
+close under the cliff, holding on to the rocks with our right hands as
+we skirted along the upper edge of the shaly slope. It was rather slow
+work, for we had to be careful, but at length we reached our
+destination, when, turning once more to our left, we scrambled down the
+spur to its lowest point.
+
+"Now, Phil," cried Joe, "you stay where you are while I go down. No use
+to take unnecessary risks by both going down together. You sit here, if
+you don't mind, and wait for me; I won't be any longer than I can help."
+
+"All right," said I; "but take the end of the rope in your hand, Joe.
+No use for _you_ to take unnecessary risks, either."
+
+[Illustration: "HE SHOT DOWNWARD LIKE AN ARROW"]
+
+"That's a fact," replied my companion. "Yes, I'll take the rope."
+
+With a shovel in one hand and the end of the rope in the other, Joe
+started downward, but presently, having advanced as far as the rope
+extended, he dropped it and went cautiously on, using the shovel-handle
+as a staff. Down to this point he had had little difficulty, but a few
+steps further on, reaching presumably the change of formation we had
+expected to find, where the smooth, icy rock beneath the shale was
+covered only by an inch or so of the loose material, the moment he
+stepped upon it Joe's feet slipped from under him and falling on his
+back he shot downward like an arrow.
+
+I held my breath as I watched him, horribly scared lest he should go
+flying down the whole remaining length of the slope and over the
+precipice; but my suspense lasted only a few seconds, for presently a
+great jet of snow flew into the air, in the midst of which Joe vanished.
+The next moment, however, he appeared again, hooking the snow out of his
+neck with his finger, and called out to me:
+
+"All right, Phil! I fell into a hole where a tree came out. I'm going to
+shovel out the snow now. Don't let go of that rope whatever you do."
+
+So saying he set to work with the shovel, making the snow fly, while I
+sat on the rocks a hundred feet above, watching him. In about a quarter
+of an hour he looked up and called out to me:
+
+"I've found it, Phil. Right in this hole. It's the hole our big tree
+came out of, I believe. Can't tell how much of a vein, though, the
+ground is frozen too hard. Bring down the pick, will you? Come down to
+the end of the rope and throw it to me."
+
+In response to this request, having first tied a knot in the end of the
+rope and fixed it firmly in a crack in the rocks, I went carefully down
+as far as it reached, when, with a back-handed fling, I sent the pick
+sliding down to my partner.
+
+"Don't you think I might venture down and help you, Joe?" I called out.
+
+"No!" replied Joe with much emphasis. "You stay where you are, Phil. It
+would be too risky. I can do the work by myself all right."
+
+Still keeping my hold on the rope, therefore, I sat myself down on the
+shale, while Joe, pick in hand, went to work again. Pretty soon he
+straightened up and said:
+
+"I've found the vein all right, Phil; I don't think there can be a doubt
+of it. Good strong vein, too, I should say."
+
+"How wide is it?" I asked.
+
+"Can't tell how wide it is. I've found what I suppose to be the porphyry
+hanging-wall, right here"--tapping the rock with his pick--"and I've
+been trying to trench across the vein to find the foot-wall, but the
+shale runs in on me faster than I can dig it out."
+
+"What do you propose to do, then, Joe?"
+
+"Try one of those other holes further along and see if I can't find the
+vein again and get its direction. You sit still there, Phil. I shall
+want you to give me a hand out of here soon."
+
+With extreme caution he made his way along the line of stumps, helping
+himself with the pick in one hand and the shovel in the other, until,
+about a hundred yards distant, he arrived at another hole where a tree
+had been rooted out, and here he went to work again. This time he kept
+at it for a good half hour, but at length he laid down his tools, and
+for a few minutes occupied himself by building with loose pieces of rock
+a little pillar about eighteen inches high.
+
+"Can you see that, Phil?" he shouted.
+
+"Yes, I can see it," I called back.
+
+This seemed to be all Joe wanted, for he at once picked up his tools
+again, and with the same caution made his way back to the first hole.
+
+"What's your pile of stones for, Joe?" I asked.
+
+"Why, I found the vein again, hanging-wall and all, and I set up that
+little monument so as to get the line of the vein from here."
+
+Taking out of his pocket a little compass we had brought for the
+purpose, he laid it on the rock, and sighting back over his "monument,"
+he found that the vein ran northeast and southwest.
+
+"Phil," said he, "do you see that dead pine, broken off at the top, with
+a hawk's nest in it, away back there on the upper side of the gulch
+where we left the ponies?"
+
+"Yes," I replied, "I see it. What of it?"
+
+"The line of the vein runs right to that tree, and I propose we get
+back and hunt for it there. I don't want to set up the location-stake
+here: this place is too difficult to get at and too dangerous to work
+in. So I vote we get back to the dead tree and try again there. What do
+you say?"
+
+"All right," I replied. "We'll do so."
+
+"Very well, then I'll come up now."
+
+But this was more easily said than done. Do what he would, Joe could not
+get up to where I sat, holding out to him first a hand and then a foot.
+He tried walking and he tried crawling, but in vain; the rock beneath
+the shale was too steep and too smooth and too slippery. At length, at
+my suggestion, Joe threw the shovel up to me, when, on my lying flat and
+reaching downward as far as I could stretch, he succeeded in hooking the
+pick over the shoulder of the shovel-blade, after which he had no more
+difficulty.
+
+"Well, Joe," said I, when we had safely reached the rocks again, "it's
+just as well we didn't both go down together after all, isn't it?"
+
+"That's what it is," replied my partner, heartily. "If you had tried to
+come down with me we should both probably have tumbled into that hole
+together, and there we should have had to stay till somebody came up to
+look for us; and there'd have been precious little fun in that. Did it
+scare you when I went scooting down the slide on my back?"
+
+"It certainly did," I replied. "I expected to have to go down to Peter's
+house and lug _you_ home next--if there was any of you left."
+
+"Well, to tell you the truth, I was a bit scared myself. It was a great
+piece of luck my falling into that hole. It's a dangerous place, this,
+and the sooner we get out of it the better; so, let us start back, at
+once."
+
+Making our way up the spur, we again skirted along between the upper
+edge of the slide and the foot of the cliff, and ascending once more to
+the ridge, we retraced our steps down it until we presently arrived at
+the dead tree with the hawk's nest in it.
+
+Here, after a careful inspection of the ground, we went to work, Joe
+with the pick, and I, following behind him, throwing out the loose stuff
+with the shovel and searching through each shovelful for bits of galena.
+In this way we worked, cutting a narrow trench across the line where we
+supposed the vein ought to run, until presently Joe himself gave a
+great shout which brought me to his side in an instant.
+
+With the point of his pick he had hooked out a lump of galena as big as
+his head!
+
+My! How excited we were! And how we did work! We just flew at it, tooth
+and nail--or, rather, pick and shovel. If our lives had depended on it
+we could not have worked any harder, I firmly believe. The consequence
+was that at the end of an hour we had uncovered a vein fifteen feet
+wide, disclosing a porphyry wall on one side and a limestone wall on the
+other.
+
+The vein was not, of course, a solid body of ore. Very far from it.
+Though there were bits of galena scattered pretty thickly all across it,
+the bulk of the vein-matter was composed of scraps of quartz mixed with
+yellow earth--the latter, as we afterwards learned, being itself
+decomposed lead-ore--to say nothing of grass-roots, tree-roots and other
+rubbish which helped to make up the mass.
+
+But that we had found a real, genuine vein, even we, novices as we were
+at the business, could not doubt, and very heartily we shook hands with
+each other when our trenching at length brought us up against the
+limestone foot-wall. With the discovery of this foot-wall, Joe called a
+halt.
+
+"Enough!" he cried. "Enough, Phil! Let's stop now. We've got the vein,
+all right, and a staving good vein it is, and all we have to do for the
+present is to set up our location-stake. To-morrow Tom will come up
+here, when he can make his camp and get to work at it regularly, sinking
+his ten-foot prospect-hole. What are we going to name it? The 'Hermit'?
+The 'Raven'? The 'Socrates'?"
+
+"Call it the 'Big Reuben,'" I suggested.
+
+"Good!" exclaimed Joe. "That's it! The 'Big Reuben' it shall be."
+
+This, therefore, was the title we wrote upon our location-notice, by
+which we claimed for Tom Connor a strip of ground fifteen hundred feet
+in length along the course of the vein and one hundred and fifty feet
+wide on either side of it; and thus did our old enemy, Big Reuben, lend
+his name to a "prospect" which was destined later to take its place
+among the foremost mines of our district.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+THE WOLF WITH WET FEET
+
+
+We had been so expeditious, thanks largely to Joe's good judgment in
+tumbling into the right hole at the start when he slid down the shale,
+that we reached home well before sunset, when, according to the
+arrangement we had made as we rode down, Joe started again that same
+evening for Sulphide. This time he made the trip without interruption,
+and when at eight o'clock next morning he drove up to our house, Tom
+Connor was with him.
+
+"How are you, old man?" cried the latter, springing to the ground and
+shaking hands very heartily with our guest. "That was a pretty narrow
+squeak you had."
+
+"It certainly was," replied Peter. "And if it hadn't been for these
+boys, I'd have been up there yet. What's the news, Connor? Any clue to
+your ore-thieves?"
+
+"Not much but what you and the boys have furnished. But ask Joe, he'll
+tell you."
+
+"Well," said Joe, "in the first place, Long John has disappeared. He has
+not been seen since the evening before the robbery. No one knows what's
+become of him."
+
+"Is that so?" I cried. "Then I suppose the robbery is laid to him."
+
+"Yes, to him and another man. I'll tell you all about it. After I had
+been to the mine and given Tom our news, I went down town to Yetmore's
+and had a long talk with him. That was a good idea of your father's,
+Phil, that we should go and tell Yetmore: he took it very kindly, and
+repeated several times how much obliged he felt. He seems most anxious
+to be friendly."
+
+"It's my opinion," Tom Connor cut in, "that he got such a thorough scare
+that night of the explosion, and is so desperate thankful he didn't blow
+you two sky-high, that he can't do enough to make amends."
+
+"That's it, I think," said Joe. "And I believe it is a great relief to
+him also to find that we are not trying to lay the blame on him. Anyhow,
+he couldn't have been more friendly than he was; and he told me things
+which seem to throw some light on the matter of the ore-theft. There
+_was_ seemingly a second man concerned in it; a man with a club-foot,
+Peter."
+
+"Ah, ha!" said Peter. "Is that so?"
+
+"Yes. There used to be a man about town known as 'Clubfoot,' a crony of
+Long John's," Joe continued. "He was convicted of ore-stealing about
+three years ago, and was sent to the penitentiary. A few days ago he
+escaped, and it is Yetmore's opinion that he ran straight to Long John
+for shelter. On the night after the explosion he--Yetmore, I mean, you
+know--went to John's house 'to give the blundering numskull a piece of
+his mind,' as he said--we can guess what about--and John wouldn't let
+him in; so they held their interview outside in the dark. I gathered
+that there was a pretty lively quarrel, which ended in Yetmore telling
+Long John that he had done with him, and that he needn't expect him to
+grub-stake him this spring.
+
+"It is Yetmore's belief that the reason John wouldn't let him into his
+house--it's only a one-roomed shanty, you know--was that Clubfoot was
+then inside; and he further believes that John, finding himself deprived
+of his expected summer's work, and no doubt incensed besides at
+Yetmore's going back on him, as he would consider it, then and there
+planned with Clubfoot the robbery of the ore; both of them being
+familiar with the workings of the Pelican."
+
+"That sounds reasonable," remarked Peter; "though, when all is said and
+done, it amounts to no more than a guess on Yetmore's part. But, look
+here!" he went on, as the thought suddenly occurred to him. "If Long
+John is not prospecting for Yetmore or himself either, being supposedly
+in hiding, what was he doing on the 'bubble' yesterday?"
+
+"But perhaps he is prospecting for himself," Tom Connor broke in. "Here
+we are, theorizing away like a house afire on the idea that he is the
+thief, when maybe he had nothing to do with it. And if he is prospecting
+for himself, the sooner I get up to that claim the better if I don't
+want to be interfered with. I reckon I'll dig out right away. If you
+boys," turning to us, "can spare the time and the buckboard you can help
+me a good bit by carrying up my things for me."
+
+"All right, Tom," said I. "We can do so."
+
+Starting at once, therefore, with a load of provisions, tools and
+bedding, we carried them up the mountain as far as we could on wheels,
+and then packed them the rest of the way on horseback, when, having seen
+Tom comfortably established in camp near the Big Reuben--with the look
+of which he expressed himself as immensely pleased--Joe and I turned
+homeward again about four in the afternoon.
+
+We were driving along, skirting the rim of our caņon, and were passing
+between the stream and the little treeless "bubble" upon which Joe had,
+as he believed, seen Long John standing the day before, when my
+companion remarked:
+
+"I should very much like to know, Phil, what Long John was doing up
+there. Do you suppose----Whoa! Whoa, there, Josephus! What's the matter
+with you?"
+
+This exclamation was addressed to the horse; for at this moment the
+ordinarily well-behaved Josephus shied, snorted, and standing up on his
+hind feet struck out with his fore hoofs at a big timber-wolf, which,
+springing out from the shelter of some boulders on the margin of the
+caņon and passing almost under his nose, ran off and disappeared among
+the rocks.
+
+"He must have been down to the stream to get a drink," suggested Joe.
+
+"He couldn't," said I; "the caņon-wall is too steep; no wolf could
+scramble up."
+
+"Well, if he didn't," remarked my companion, "how did he get his feet
+wet? Look here at his tracks."
+
+As he said this, Joe pointed to the bare stone before us, where the
+wolf's wet tracks were plainly visible.
+
+"Well," said I, "then I suppose there must be a way up after all. Wait a
+moment, Joe, while I take a look."
+
+Jumping from the buckboard, I stepped over to the boulders whence the
+wolf had appeared, where, to my surprise, I found a pool, or, rather, a
+big puddle of water, which, overflowing, dripped into the caņon.
+
+Where the water came from I could not at first detect, but on a more
+careful inspection I found that it ran, a tiny thread, along a crack in
+the lava not more than a couple of inches wide, which, on tracing it
+back, I found we had driven over without noticing. Apparently the water
+came down from the "bubble" through a rift in the crater-wall.
+
+As I have stated before, several of the little craters contributed small
+streams of water to our creek, but this was not one of them, so,
+turning to my companion, I said:
+
+"Joe, this is the first time I have ever seen any water come down from
+that 'bubble.' Let us climb up to the top and take a look inside."
+
+Away we went, therefore, scrambling up the rocky slope, when, having
+reached the rim, we looked down into the little crater. The area of its
+floor was only about an acre in extent, but instead of being grown over
+with grass and sagebrush, as was the case with most of them, this one
+was covered with blocks of stone of all sizes, some of them weighing
+several tons. It was evident that the walls, which were only about
+thirty feet in height, had at one time been much higher, but that in the
+course of ages they had broken down and thus littered the little
+bowl-shaped depression with the fragments.
+
+The thread of water which had drawn us up there came trickling out from
+among these blocks of stone, and we set out at once to trace it up to
+its source while we still had daylight. But this, we found, was by no
+means easy, for, though the stream did not dodge about much, but ran
+pretty directly down to the crack in the wall, its course was so much
+impeded by rocks, under and around which it had to make its way--while
+over and around them we had to make _our_ way--that it was ten or
+fifteen minutes before we discovered where it came from.
+
+We had expected to find a pool of rain-water, more or less extensive,
+seeping through the sand and slowly draining away. What we actually did
+find was something very different: something which filled us with wonder
+and excitement!
+
+About the middle of the little crater there came boiling out of the
+ground a strong spring, which, running along a deep, narrow channel it
+had in the course of many centuries worn in the solid stone floor of the
+crater, disappeared in turn beneath the litter of rocks. A short
+distance below the spring the channel was half filled for some distance
+with fragments of stone of no great size, which, checking the rush of
+the water, caused it to lap over the edge. It was this slight overflow
+which supplied the driblet we had followed up from the caņon below.
+
+"Joe!" I exclaimed, greatly excited. "Do you know what I think?"
+
+"Yes, I do," my companion answered like a flash. "I think so, too. Come
+on! Let's find out at once!"
+
+Following the channel, we went clambering over the rocks, which just
+here were not quite so plentiful, until, at a distance from the spring
+of about fifty yards, we came upon a large circular pool in which the
+water flowed continuously round and round as though stirred with a
+gigantic spoon, while in the centre it spun round violently, a perfect
+little whirlpool, and sank with a gurgle into the earth.
+
+For a moment we stood gazing spellbound at this natural phenomenon,
+hardly realizing what it meant, and then, with one impulse, we both
+threw our hats into the air with a shout, seized each other's hands, and
+danced a wild and unconventional dance, with no witness but a solitary
+eagle, which, passing high overhead, paused for an instant in his flight
+to wonder, probably, what those crazy, unaccountable human beings were
+up to now.
+
+At length, out of breath, we stopped, when Joe, clapping his hands
+together to emphasize his words, cried:
+
+"At last we've found it, Phil! This, _surely_, is the water-supply that
+keeps the 'forty rods' wet!"
+
+"It must be," I replied, no less excited than my partner. "It must be;
+it can't be anything else. But how are we going to prove it, Joe?"
+
+"The only way I see is to divert the flow here; then, if our underground
+stream stops, we shall know this is it."
+
+"Yes, but how are we to divert it?"
+
+"Why, look here," Joe answered. "The spring, I suppose, is a little
+extra-strong just now, causing that slight overflow up above here. Well,
+what we must do is to take the line marked out for us by the overflow,
+and following it from the channel down to the crack in the crater-wall,
+break up and throw aside all the rocks that get in the way; then cut a
+new channel and send the whole stream off through the crack, when it
+will pour into the caņon, run across the ranch on the surface, and the
+'forty rods' will dry up!"
+
+He gazed at me eagerly, with his fists shut tight, as though he were all
+ready to spring upon the impeding rocks and fling them out of the way at
+once.
+
+"That's all right, Joe," I replied. "It's a good programme. But it's a
+tremendous piece of work, all the same. There are scores of rocks to be
+broken up and moved; and when that is done, there is still the new
+channel to be cut in the solid stone bed of the crater. The present
+channel is about eighteen inches deep; we shall have to make the new one
+six inches deeper, and something like a hundred feet long: a big job by
+itself, Joe."
+
+"I know that," Joe answered. "It's a big job, sure enough, and will take
+time and lots of hard work. Still, we can do it----"
+
+"And what's more we will do it!" I cried. "What's the best way of
+setting about it?"
+
+"We shall have to blast out the channel and blow to pieces all the
+bigger rocks," Joe replied. "It would take forever to do it with pick
+and sledge--in fact, it couldn't be done. We shall have to use powder
+and drill."
+
+"Well, then," said I, "I'll tell you what we'll do. We'll borrow the
+tools from Tom Connor. He left a number of drills, you know, stored in
+our blacksmith-shop, and he'll lend 'em to us I'm sure. One of us had
+better drive back to the Big Reuben to-morrow morning and ask him."
+
+"All right, Phil, we'll do so. My! I wish--it doesn't sound very
+complimentary--but I wish your father would stay away another week. I
+believe we can do this work in a week, and wouldn't it be grand if we
+could have the stream headed off before he got home! But how about the
+plowing, Phil? I was forgetting that."
+
+"Why, the only plowing left," I replied, "is the potato land, and that,
+fortunately, is not urgent; whereas the turning of this stream is
+urgent--extremely urgent--and my opinion is that we ought to get at it.
+Anyhow, we'll begin on it, and if my father thinks proper to set us to
+plowing instead when he gets home--all right."
+
+"Well, then, we'll begin on this work as soon as we can. And now, Phil,
+let us get along home."
+
+We had been seated on a big stone while this discussion was going on,
+and were just about to rise, when Joe, suddenly laying his hand on my
+arm, held up a warning finger. "Sh!" he whispered. "Don't speak. Don't
+stir. I hear some one moving about!"
+
+Squatting behind the rocks, I held my breath and listened, and
+presently I heard distinctly, somewhere close by, the tinkle of two or
+three chips of stone as they rolled down into the crater. Some one was
+softly approaching the place where we sat.
+
+Though to move was to risk detection, our anxiety to see who was there
+was too strong to resist, so Joe, taking off his hat, slowly arose until
+he was able to peep through a chink between two of the big fragments
+which sheltered us. For a moment he stood there motionless, and then,
+tapping me on the shoulder, he signed to me to stand up too.
+
+Peeping between the stones, I saw, not fifty yards away, a man coming
+carefully down the crater-wall on the side opposite from that by which
+we ourselves had entered. In spite of his care, however, he every now
+and then dislodged a little fragment of stone, which came clattering
+down the steep slope. It was one of these that had given us notice of
+his approach.
+
+There was no mistaking the tall, gaunt figure, even though the light of
+the sunset sky behind him made him look a veritable giant. It was Long
+John Butterfield.
+
+He was headed straight for our hiding-place, and it was with some
+uneasiness that I observed he had a revolver strapped about his waist.
+In appearance he looked wilder and more unkempt than ever, while the
+sharp, suspicious manner in which he would every now and then stop short
+and glance quickly all around, showed him to be nervous and ill at ease.
+
+While Joe and I stood there silent and rigid as statues, Long John came
+on down the slope, until presently he stopped scarce ten steps from us
+beside a big, flat stone. There, for a moment, he stood, his hand on his
+revolver, his body bent and his head thrust forward, his ears cocked and
+his little eyes roving all about the crater--the picture of a watchful
+wild animal--when, satisfied apparently that he was alone and
+unobserved, he went down upon his knees, threw aside several pieces of
+rock, and thrusting his arm under the flat stone, he pulled out--a sack!
+
+So close to us was he, that even in that uncertain light we could
+distinguish the word, "Pelican," stenciled upon it in big black letters.
+
+Laying this sack upon the flat stone, John reached into the hole again,
+and, one after another, brought out four others. Apparently there were
+no more in there, for, having done this, he rose to his feet again,
+looked all about him once more, and then walked off a short distance
+up-stream. At the point where the channel overflowed he stopped again,
+when, to our wonderment he pulled off his coat, rolled up one sleeve,
+and going down upon his knees, began scratching around in the water. In
+a few seconds he fished out one at a time five dripping sacks, all of
+which he carried over and set down beside the first five.
+
+Evidently he was working with some set purpose; though to us watchers it
+was all a perfectly mysterious proceeding.
+
+A few steps from where the sacks were piled was a little ledge of rock
+less than a foot high, above which was a steep slope covered with loose
+fragments of stone. Taking up the sacks, two at a time, John carried
+them over to this spot, laid them all, end to end, close under the
+little ledge, and then, climbing up above them, he sat down, and with
+his big, flat feet sent the loose shale running down until the row of
+sacks was completely buried.
+
+This seemed to be all he wanted, for, having examined the result of his
+work and satisfied himself apparently that the sacks were perfectly
+concealed, he turned and went straight off up the crater-wall again,
+pausing at the crest for a minute to inspect the country ahead of him,
+and then, stepping over the rim, in another moment he had vanished.
+
+"Come on, Phil!" whispered my companion, eagerly. "Let us see which
+direction he takes."
+
+"Wait a bit," I replied. "Give him five minutes: he might come back."
+
+We waited a short time, therefore, when, feeling pretty sure that John
+had gone for good, we scrambled to the summit of the ridge and looked
+out over the mesa. There we could see Long John striding away at a great
+pace, apparently making straight for Big Reuben's gorge.
+
+"Then Yetmore was right," said Joe. "Those fellows were the ore-thieves
+after all. I wonder if they haven't taken up their quarters in Big
+Reuben's old cave. It would be a pretty good place for their purpose."
+
+"Quite likely," I assented. "But what do you suppose, Joe, can have been
+Long John's object in coming down here and moving those ore-sacks?--for,
+of course, they are the Pelican ore-sacks. They were well enough
+concealed before."
+
+"It does look mysterious at first sight," replied Joe, "but I expect the
+explanation is simple enough. I think it is probable that when they
+brought the ore up here the two men divided the spoils on the spot, each
+hiding his own share in a place of his own choosing; and our respected
+friend, John, thinking to get ahead of the other thief, has just come
+and stolen his partner's share."
+
+"That would be a pretty shabby trick, but I expect it is just what he
+has done. He'll be a bit surprised when he finds that some one has
+played a similar trick on him. For, of course, we can't leave the sacks
+there, to be moved again if Long John should take the notion that the
+hiding place is not safe enough. How shall we manage it, Joe? If we are
+going to do anything this evening we must do it quickly: there won't be
+daylight much longer."
+
+After a moment's consideration, Joe replied: "Let us go down and carry
+those sacks outside the crater. Then get along home, and come back here
+with the wagon and team by daylight to-morrow and haul them off. It is
+too much of a load for the buckboard, even if we walked ourselves, so it
+won't do to take them with us now."
+
+"All right," said I. "Then we'll do that; and afterwards you can ride up
+to see Tom Connor about those tools, while I drive to Sulphide with the
+ore. Won't Yetmore be glad to see me!"
+
+There was no time to lose, and even as it was, the waning light made it
+pretty difficult to pick our way across the rock-strewn bottom of the
+crater with a fifty-pound sack under each arm, but at length we had them
+all safely laid away in a crack in the rocks just outside the crater,
+whence it would be handy to remove them in the morning.
+
+By the time we had finished it was dark, and we hurriedly drove off
+home, contemplating with some reluctance the chores which were still to
+be done. From this duty, however, we had a happy relief, for our good
+friend, Peter, anxious to make himself of some use, and taking his time
+about it, had managed to feed the horses and pigs, milk the cows, shut
+up the chickens and start the fire for supper--a service on his part
+which we very thoroughly appreciated.
+
+We had just sat down to our evening meal, and were telling Peter all
+about our two great finds of the afternoon, when our guest, whose long
+and solitary life as a hunter had made his hearing preternaturally
+sharp, straightened himself in his chair, and holding up one finger,
+said:
+
+"Hark! I hear a horse coming up the valley at a gallop!"
+
+At first Joe and I could hear nothing, but presently we detected the
+rhythmical beat of the hoofs of a horse approaching at a smart canter.
+Somebody was coming up from San Remo--for though a wheeled vehicle could
+not pass over the "forty rods," a horseman could pick his way--and
+knowing that nobody ever came that way in the "soft" season unless our
+house was his destination, I stepped to the door, wondering who our
+visitor could be. Great was my surprise when the horseman, riding into
+the streak of light thrown through the open doorway, proved to be
+Yetmore!
+
+"Why, Mr. Yetmore!" I cried. "Is it you? Come in! You're just in time
+for supper."
+
+"Thank you, Phil," replied the storekeeper, "but I won't stop. I was
+down at San Remo this afternoon, and it occurred to me to ride home this
+way and inquire of you if you'd seen or heard anything more of those
+ore-thieves. By the way, before I forget it: I brought your mail for
+you;" at the same time handing me one letter and two or three
+newspapers.
+
+"Thank you," said I, thrusting the letter into my pocket. "And as to the
+ore-thieves, Mr. Yetmore, we've seen one of them; but we've done
+something a good deal better than that--we've found the ore."
+
+"What!" shouted Yetmore, so loudly that Joe came running out, thinking
+there must be something the matter. "What! You've found the ore!"
+
+So saying, he leaped from his horse and seizing me by the arm, cried:
+"You're not joking, are you, Phil? For goodness' sake, don't fool me,
+boys. It's a matter of life and death to me, almost!"
+
+His anxiety was plainly expressed in his eager eyes and trembling hand,
+and I was glad to note the look of relief which came over his face when
+I replied:
+
+"I'm not fooling, Mr. Yetmore. We've found it all right--this evening.
+Come in and have some supper, and we'll tell you all about it."
+
+Yetmore did not decline a second time, but forgetting even to tie up his
+horse, which Joe did for him, he followed me at once into the kitchen,
+where, hardly noticing Peter, to whom I introduced him, and neglecting
+entirely the food placed before him, he sat down and instantly
+exclaimed:
+
+"Now, Phil! Quick! Go ahead! Go ahead! Don't keep me waiting, there's a
+good fellow! How did you find the ore? Where is it? What have you done
+with it?"
+
+Not to prolong his suspense, I at once related to him as briefly as
+possible the whole incident, winding up with the statement that we
+proposed to go and bring in the sacks by daylight on the morrow.
+
+At this conclusion Yetmore sprang to his feet.
+
+"Boys," said he, in a tremulous voice, "you've done me an immense
+service; now do me one more favor: lend me your big gun. I'll ride right
+up to the 'bubble' and stand guard over the ore till morning. If I
+should lose it a second time I believe it would turn my head."
+
+That he was desperately in earnest was plain to be seen: his voice was
+shaky, and his hand, I noticed, was shaky, too, when he held it out
+entreating us to lend him our big gun.
+
+I was about to say he might take it, and welcome, when Joe pulled me by
+the sleeve and whispered in my ear; I nodded my acquiescence; upon which
+my companion, turning to Yetmore, said:
+
+"We can do better than that, Mr. Yetmore. We'll hitch up the little
+mules and go and bring away the ore to-night."
+
+I have no doubt that to our anxious visitor the time seemed interminable
+while Joe and I were finishing our supper, but at length we rose from
+the table, and within a few minutes thereafter we were off; Yetmore
+himself sitting in the bed of the wagon with the big shotgun across his
+knees.
+
+As it was then quite dark, and as we did not wish to attract any
+possible notice by carrying a light, we were obliged to take it very
+slowly, one or other of us now and then descending from the wagon and
+walking ahead as a pilot. In due time, however, we reached the foot of
+the "bubble," when, leaving Yetmore to take care of the mules, Joe and I
+climbed up to the crevice, and having presently, by feeling around with
+our hands, found the hiding-place of the sacks, we pulled them out and
+carried them, one at a time down to the wagon. All this, being done in
+the dark, took a long time, and it was pretty late when we drew up again
+at our own door.
+
+Here, for the first time, Yetmore, striking a match, examined the ten
+little sacks.
+
+"It's all right, boys," said he, with a great sigh of relief. "These are
+the sacks; and none of them has been opened, either." He paused for a
+moment, and then, with much earnestness of manner, went on: "How am I to
+thank you, boys? You've done me a service of infinite importance. The
+loss of that ore almost distracted me: I needed the money so badly. But
+now, thanks to you, I shall be all right again. You don't know how great
+a service you have done me. I shan't forget it. We've not always been on
+the best of terms, I'm sorry to say--my fault, though, my fault
+entirely--but I should be very glad, if it suits you, to start fresh
+to-night and begin again as friends."
+
+He was so evidently in earnest, that Joe and I by one impulse shook
+hands with him and declared that nothing would suit us better.
+
+"And how about the ore, Mr. Yetmore?" I asked. "What will you do now?"
+
+"If you don't mind," he replied, "I should like to drive straight up to
+Sulphide at once. If you will lend me the mules and wagon, I'll set
+right off. I'll return them to-morrow."
+
+"Very well," said I. "And you can leave your own horse in the stable, so
+that whoever brings down the team will have a horse to ride home on."
+
+Yetmore, accordingly, climbed up to the seat and drove off at once,
+calling back over his shoulder: "Good-night, boys; and thank you again.
+I feel ten years younger than I did this morning!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE DRAINING OF THE "FORTY RODS"
+
+
+As soon as Yetmore was out of sight, Joe and I turned into the house,
+where we found that Peter, wise man, had gone to bed; an example we
+speedily followed. But, tired though we were, we could neither of us go
+to sleep. For a long time we lay talking over the exciting events of the
+day, and going over the probable consequences, if, as now seemed
+certain, we had indeed discovered the source of our underground stream.
+First and foremost, by diverting it we should dry up the "forty rods"
+and render productive a large piece of land which at present was more
+bane than benefit; we should bring the county road past our door; we
+should more than double our supply of water for irrigation purposes--a
+fact which, by itself, would be of immense advantage to us.
+
+At present we had no more than enough water--sometimes hardly enough--to
+irrigate our crops, but by doubling the supply we could bring into use
+another hundred acres or more. On either side of our present cultivated
+area, and only three feet above it, spread the first of the old
+lake-benches, a fine, level tract of land, capable of growing any crop,
+but which, for lack of water, we had hitherto utilized only as a dry
+pasture for our stock. By a test we had once made of a little patch of
+it, we had found that it was well adapted to the cultivation of wheat;
+and as I lay there thinking--Joe having by this time departed to the
+land of dreams--I pictured in my mind the whole area converted into one
+flourishing wheat-field; I built a castle in the air in the shape of a
+flour-mill which I ran by power derived from our waterfall; and with a
+two-ton load of flour I was in imagination driving down to San Remo over
+the splendid road which traversed the now solid "forty rods," when a
+light shining in my face disturbed me.
+
+It was the sun pouring in at our east window!
+
+Half-past seven! And we still in bed! Such a thing had not happened to
+me since that time when, a rebellious infant, I had been kept in bed
+perforce with a light attack of the measles.
+
+Needless to say, we were up and dressed in next to no time, when, on
+descending to the kitchen, we found another surprise in store for us.
+Peter was gone! He must have been gone some hours, too, for the fire in
+the range had burned out. He had not deserted us, however, for on the
+table was a bit of paper upon which he had written, "Back pretty soon.
+Wait for me"--a behest we duly obeyed, not knowing what else to do.
+
+About an hour later I heard the trampling of horses outside the front
+door, and going out, there I saw Peter stiffly descending from the back
+of our gray pony; while beside him, with a broad grin on his jolly face,
+stood Tom Connor.
+
+"Why, Tom!" I cried. "What brings you here?"
+
+Tom laughed. "Didn't expect to see me, eh, Phil," said he. "It's Peter's
+doing. While you two lazy young rascals were snoring away in bed, he
+started out at four-thirty this morning and rode all the way up to my
+camp to borrow my tools for you. And when he told me what you wanted 'em
+for, I decided to come down, too. You did me a good turn in finding the
+Big Reuben for me--and 'big' is the word for it, Phil, I can tell
+you--and so I thought I couldn't do less than come down here for a day
+or two and give you a hand. It's probable I can help you a good bit
+with your trench-cutting."
+
+"There's no doubt about that, Tom," I replied. "We shall be mighty glad
+of your help. You can give us a starter, anyhow. But you, Peter, we
+couldn't think what had become of you. Don't you think it was a bit
+risky to go galloping about the country with that game leg of yours?"
+
+"I couldn't very well go without it," replied our guest, laughing. "No,
+I don't think so," he added, more seriously. "It was easy enough, all
+except the mounting and dismounting. In fact, Phil, I'm so nearly all
+right again that I should have no excuse to be hanging around here any
+longer if it were not that I can be of use to you by taking all the
+chores off your hands, thus leaving you and Joe free to get about your
+work in the crater."
+
+"That will be a great help," I replied. "Though as to letting you go,
+Peter, we don't intend to do that, at least till my father and mother
+get home."
+
+"When _do_ they get home?" asked Tom. "Have you heard from them since
+they left?"
+
+"Why!" I cried, suddenly remembering the letter Yetmore had brought up
+from San Remo the previous evening. "I have a letter from my father in
+my pocket now. I'd forgotten all about it."
+
+Quickly tearing it open, I read it through. It was very short, being
+written mainly with the object of informing me that he was delayed and
+would not be home until the afternoon of the following Wednesday. This
+was Friday.
+
+"Joe!" I shouted; and Joe, who was in the stable, came running at the
+call. "Joe," I cried, "we have till Wednesday afternoon to turn that
+stream. Four full days. Tom is going to help us. Peter will take the
+chores. Can we make it?"
+
+"Good!" cried Joe. "Great! Make it? I should think so. We'll do it if we
+have to work night and day. My! But this is fine!"
+
+He rubbed his hands in anticipation of the task ahead of him. I never
+did know a fellow who took such delight in tackling a job which had
+every appearance of being just a little too big for him.
+
+We did not waste any time, you may be sure. Having picked out the
+necessary tools, we went off at once, taking our dinners with us, and
+arriving at the foot of the "bubble," we carried up into the crater the
+drills, hammers and other munitions of war we had brought with us.
+
+"I thought you said there was a driblet of water running out at the
+crevice," remarked Tom. "I don't see it."
+
+"There was yesterday," I replied, "but it seems to have stopped. I
+wonder why."
+
+"That's easily accounted for," said Joe. "It was those sacks lying in
+the channel which backed up the water and made it overflow, and when
+Long John cleared the course by pulling out the sacks it didn't overflow
+any more."
+
+"Then it's to Long John you owe this discovery!" cried Tom. "If 'The
+Wolf' hadn't blocked that channel the water would not have run down to
+the caņon, and the other wolf would not have got his feet wet; and if
+the other wolf had not got his feet wet, you would never have thought of
+coming up here."
+
+"That's all true," I assented. "In fact, you may go further than that
+and say that if John had not stolen the ore he would not have blocked
+the channel with it, and we should not have found the spring; if Yetmore
+had not given John leave to blow up your house, John would not have
+stolen the ore; if you had not bored a hole in Yetmore's oil-barrel,
+Yetmore would not have given John leave--it's like the story of 'The
+House that Jack Built.' And so, after all, it is to you we owe this
+discovery, Tom."
+
+"Well, that's one way of getting at it," said Tom, laughing. "But, come
+on! Let's pick out our line and get to work."
+
+"This won't be so much of a job," he remarked, when we had gone over the
+ground. "You ought to make quick work of it. We'll follow the wet mark
+left by the overflow, throw all these rocks out of the way, and then
+pitch in and cut our trench. Come on, now; let's begin at once. Phil,
+you throw aside all the rocks you can lift; Joe, take the sledge and
+crack all those too heavy to handle; I'll take the single-hand drill and
+hammer and put some shots into the big ones. Now, boys, blaze away, and
+let's see how much of a mark we can make before sunset."
+
+Blaze away we did! Never before had Joe and I worked so hard for so long
+a stretch; not a minute did we lose, except on those four or five
+occasions when Tom, having put down a hole into one of the large
+pieces, called out to us to get to cover, when, running for shelter, we
+crouched behind some friendly rock until a sharp, cracking explosion
+told us that another of the big obstructions was out of the way.
+
+So hard did we work, in fact, and so systematically, that by sunset we
+had cleared a path six feet wide. There remained only one more of the
+big rocks to break up, and into this Tom put a three-foot hole, which he
+charged and tamped, when, sending us ahead to hitch up the horse, he
+touched off the fuse, the explosion following just as we started
+homeward.
+
+"A great day's work, boys!" cried Tom. "If it wasn't for the training
+you've had all winter handling rocks, you never could have done it.
+There is a good chance now, I think, of getting the trench cut before
+Wednesday evening. I'll work with you all day to-morrow--I must get back
+to my camp then--and that will leave you two days and a half to finish
+up the job. You ought to do it if you keep hard at it."
+
+By sunrise next morning we were at it again, working under Tom's
+direction, in the same systematic manner.
+
+"Take the sledge, Joe," said he, "and crack up the fragments of that
+big rock we shot to pieces last night. Phil, you and I will put down our
+first hole, beginning here at the crevice and working upward. Now! Let's
+get to work!"
+
+Tom and I, therefore, went to work with drill and hammer, Tom taking the
+larger share of the striking; for though the swinging of the seven-pound
+hammer is the harder part of the work, the turning of the drill is the
+more particular, and as our instructor justly remarked, it was as well I
+should have all the practice I could get while he was on hand to
+superintend.
+
+The hole being deep enough, Tom made me load and tamp it with my own
+hands, using black powder, which, though perhaps less effective for this
+particular kind of work than giant powder would have been, he regarded
+as safer for novices like ourselves to handle.
+
+Our first shot broke out the rock in very good style, and then, while I
+busied myself cracking up the big pieces and throwing them aside, Joe
+took my place.
+
+The second hole was loaded and tamped by Joe, under Tom's supervision;
+after which my partner once more took the sledge, while I turned drill
+again.
+
+In this order we worked all day, making, before quitting time, such
+encouraging progress that we felt very hopeful of getting the task
+completed before my father's return.
+
+Tom having fairly started us, went back to his camp on Lincoln, leaving
+Joe and me to continue the work by ourselves; and sorely did we miss our
+expert miner when, on the Monday morning, we returned to the crater.
+Though we kept steadily at it all day, our progress was noticeably
+slower than it had been the first day, for, besides the fact that there
+were only two of us, and those the least skilful, as we ascended towards
+the stream each hole was a little deeper than the last, each charge a
+little stronger, and each shot blew out a greater amount of rock to be
+broken up and cast aside.
+
+Nevertheless, we made very satisfactory headway, and continuing our work
+the next two days with unabated energy and some increase of skill with
+every hole we put down, we made such progress that by two o'clock on the
+Wednesday afternoon there remained but three feet of rock to be shot out
+to make connection with the channel.
+
+I was for blasting this out forthwith, but Joe on the other hand
+suggested that we trim up our trench a little before turning in the
+water; for, hitherto, we had merely thrown out the loose pieces, and
+there were in consequence many projections and jagged corners both in
+the sides and bottom of our proposed water-course. These we attacked
+with sledge and crowbar, and in two hours or so had them pretty well
+cleared out of the way, when we went to work putting down our last hole.
+
+As we wanted to make a sure thing of it, we sank this hole rather
+deeper than any of the others, charging it with an extra allowance
+of powder. Then, the tools having been removed, I touched off the fuse
+and ran for shelter behind the big rock where Joe was already crouching,
+making himself as small as possible. Presently there was a tremendous
+bang! Rocks of every size and shape were flung broadcast all over
+the crater--some of them coming down uncomfortably close to our
+hiding-place--but as soon as the clatter ceased, up we both jumped and
+ran to see the result.
+
+Nothing could have been better. Our last shot had torn a great hole,
+extending across almost the whole width of the old channel, and our
+trench being six inches or more below the original level, the whole
+stream at once rushed into it, leaving its former bed high and dry.
+
+"Hooray, for us!" shouted Joe. "Come on, Phil! Let us run down and see
+it go into the caņon."
+
+Away we went; but as the crater-side was pretty steep we had to descend
+with some caution; whereas the water, having no neck to break, went down
+headlong. The consequence was that the stream beat us to the caņon by a
+hundred yards, and by the time we arrived it was pouring over the edge
+in a sixty-foot cascade.
+
+We were in time, however, to see a wall of foam flying down the caņon; a
+sight which, while it delighted us, at the same time gave us something
+of a start.
+
+"Joe!" I cried. "How about our bridge?"
+
+"Pht!" Joe whistled. "I never thought of it. It will go out, I'm afraid.
+Let us get down there at once."
+
+Off we ran to where our horse was standing, eating hay out of the back
+of the buckboard, threw on the harness, hitched him up, and scrambling
+in, one on either side, away we went as fast as we dared over the
+uneven, rocky stretch of the mesa which lay between us and home.
+
+The course of the stream being more circuitous than the one we took
+across country, we beat the water down to the ranch; but only by a few
+seconds. We had hardly reached the bridge when the swollen stream leaped
+into the pool in such volume that I felt convinced it would sweep it
+clear of all the sand in it whether black or yellow; rushed under the
+bridge, and went tearing down the valley--a sight to see! Luckily the
+creek-bed was fairly wide and straight, so that the banks did not suffer
+much.
+
+As to the bridge, the stringers being very long and well set, and the
+floor being composed of stout poles roughly squared and firmly spiked
+down, it did not go out, though the water came squirting up between the
+poles in a way which made us fear it might tear them loose at any
+moment.
+
+To prevent this, we ran quickly to the stable, harnessed up the mules to
+the wood-sled, loaded the sled with some of our big flat lava-rocks, and
+driving back to the bridge, we laid these rocks upon the ends of the
+poles, leaving a causeway between them wide enough for the passage of a
+wagon.
+
+We had just finished this piece of work, when we heard a rattle of
+wheels, and looking up the road we saw coming down the hill an
+express-wagon, driven by Sam Tobin, a San Remo liveryman, and in the
+wagon sat my father and mother.
+
+"Why, what's all this?" cried the former, as the driver pulled up on the
+far side of the bridge. "Where does all this water come from?"
+
+Then did the pent-up excitement of the past week burst forth. The flood
+of water going under the bridge was a trifle compared with the flood of
+words we poured out upon my bewildered parents; both of us talking at
+the same time, interrupting each other at every turn, explaining each
+other's explanations, and tumbling over each other, as it were, in our
+eagerness. All the details of the strenuous days since the snow-slide
+came down--the discovery of the Big Reuben, the recovery of the stolen
+ore, and above all the heading-off of the underground stream--were set
+forth with breathless volubility; so that if the hearers were a little
+dazed by the recital and a trifle confused as to the particulars, it
+was not to be wondered at. One thing, at least, was clear to them: we
+had found and turned the underground stream; and when he understood
+that, my father leaped from the wagon, and shaking hands with both of us
+at once, he cried:
+
+"Boys, you certainly _have_ done a stroke of work! If it had taken you a
+year instead of a week it would have been more than worth the labor. As
+to its actual money value, it is hard to judge yet; but whether that
+shall turn out to be much or little, there is one thing sure:--we have
+our work cut out for us for years to come--a grand thing by itself for
+all of us. And now, let us go on up to the house: Sam Tobin wants to get
+back home as soon as possible."
+
+This the driver was able to do at once, for the livery horses,
+frightened by the water which came spurting up through the floor of the
+bridge, declined to cross, so Joe and I, taking out the trunk, placed it
+on the wood-sled and thus drew it up to the house.
+
+As we walked along, my mother said:
+
+"So the hermit has been staying with you, has he? And what sort of a man
+_is_ your wild man now you've caught him?"
+
+"He isn't a wild man at all," cried Joe, somewhat indignantly. "He's a
+fine fellow--isn't he, Phil? He has been of great help to us these last
+few days. We could never have finished our trench in time if he hadn't
+taken the chores off our hands. He is in the kitchen now, getting the
+supper ready. I'll run and bring him out."
+
+So saying, Joe ran forward--we others walking on more leisurely--and as
+we approached the house the pair came out of the front door side by
+side.
+
+In spite of Joe's assurance to the contrary, my parents still had in
+their minds the idea that any one going by the name of "Peter, the
+Hermit" must be a rough, hirsute, unkempt specimen of humanity. Great
+was their surprise, therefore, when Peter, always clean and tidy, his
+hair and beard neatly trimmed in honor of their return, issued from the
+doorway, looking, with his clear gray eyes, his ruddy complexion and his
+spare, erect figure, remarkably young and alert.
+
+There was an added heartiness in their welcome, therefore, when Joe
+proudly introduced him; and though Peter threw out hints about sleeping
+in the hay-loft that night and taking himself off the first thing in the
+morning, my mother scouted the idea, telling him how she had long
+desired to make his acquaintance, and intimating that she should take it
+as a very poor compliment to herself if he should run off the moment she
+got home.
+
+So Peter, set quite at his ease, said no more about it, but went back
+into the kitchen, whence he presently issued again to announce that
+supper was ready.
+
+A very hearty and a very merry supper it was, too, and long and animated
+was the talk which followed, as we sat before the open fire that
+evening.
+
+"I feel almost bewildered," said my father, "when I think of the amount
+and the variety of the work we have before us; it is astonishing that
+the turning of that stream should carry with it so many consequences, as
+I foresee it will--that and Tom Connor's strike."
+
+"There's no end to it!" cried Joe, jumping out of his chair, striding up
+and down the room, and, for the last time in this history, rumpling his
+hair in his excitement. "There's no end to it! There's the hay-corral to
+enlarge--rock hauling all winter for you and me, Phil! We shall need a
+new ice-pond; for this new water-supply won't freeze up in winter like
+the old one did! Then, when the 'forty rods' dries up, there will be the
+extension of our ditches down there; besides making a first-class road
+to bring all the travel our way--plenty of work in that, too! Then, when
+we bring the old lake-benches under cultivation, there will be new
+headgates needed and two new ditches to lay out, besides breaking the
+ground! Then----Oh, what's the use? There's no end to it--just no end to
+it!"
+
+Joe was quite right. There was, and there still seems to be, no end to
+it.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The effect of Tom Connor's strike on Mount Lincoln was just what my
+father had predicted: our whole district took a great stride forward;
+the mountains swarmed with prospectors; the town of Sulphide hummed with
+business; our new friend, Yetmore, doing a thriving trade, while our old
+friend, Mrs. Appleby, followed close behind, a good second.
+
+As for Tom, himself, he is one of our local capitalists now, but he is
+the same old Tom for all that. Just as he used to do when he was poor,
+so he continues to do now he is rich: any tale of distress will empty
+his pocket on the spot. Though my father remonstrates with him
+sometimes, Tom only laughs and remarks that it is no use trying to teach
+old dogs new tricks; and moreover he does not see why he should not
+spend his money to suit himself. And so he goes his own way, more than
+satisfied with the knowledge that every man, woman and child in the
+district counts Tom Connor as a friend.
+
+The fate of those two poor ore-thieves was so horrible that I hesitate
+to mention it. It was six months later that a prospector on one of the
+northern spurs of Lincoln came upon two dead bodies. One, a club-footed
+man, had been shot through the head; the other, unmistakably Long John,
+was lying on his back, an empty revolver beside him, and one foot caught
+in a bear-trap. Though the truth will never be known, the presumption is
+that, setting the stolen trap in a deer run in the hope of catching a
+deer, they had got into a quarrel; Clubfoot, striking at his companion,
+had caused him to step backward into the trap, when, in his pain and
+rage, Long John had whipped out his revolver and shot the other. What
+his own fate must have been is too dreadful to contemplate.
+
+And the Crawford ranch? Well, the Crawford ranch is the busiest place in
+the county.
+
+Peter, for whom my parents, like ourselves, took a great liking, quickly
+thawed out under my mother's influence, and related to us briefly the
+reason for his having taken to his solitary life. He had been a
+school-teacher in Denver, but losing his wife and two children in an
+accident, he had fled from the place and had hidden himself up in our
+mountains, where for several years he had spent a lonely existence with
+no company but old Socrates. Now, however, his house destroyed and his
+mountain overrun with prospectors, he needed little inducement to
+abandon his old hermit-life; and accepting gladly my father's suggestion
+that he stay and work on the ranch, he built for himself a good log
+cabin up near the waterfall, and there he and Socrates took up their
+residence.
+
+There was plenty of work for him and for all of us--indeed, for the
+first two years there was almost more than we could do. It took that
+length of time for the "forty rods" to drain off thoroughly, but by the
+middle of the third summer we were cutting hay upon it; the ore wagons
+from Sulphide and from the Big Reuben were passing through in a
+continuous stream; the stage-coach was coming our way; the old hill road
+was abandoned.
+
+In fact, everybody is busy, and more than busy--with one single
+exception.
+
+The only loafer on the place is old Sox--tolerated on account of his
+advanced age. That veteran, whose love of mischief and whose unfailing
+impudence would lead any stranger to suppose he had but just come out of
+the egg, spends most of his time strutting about the ranch, stealing the
+food of the dogs and chickens; awing them into submission by his
+supernatural gift of speech. And as though that were not enough, his
+crop distended with his pilferings to the point of bursting, he comes
+unabashed to the kitchen door and blandly requests my mother, of all
+people, to give him a chew of tobacco!
+
+But the mail-coach has just gone through, and I hear Joe shouting for
+me; I must run.
+
+"Yetmore wants fifty-hundred of oats, Phil," he calls out. "You and I
+are to take it up. We must dig out at once if we are to get back
+to-night. To-morrow we break ground on our new ditches. A month or more
+of good stiff work for us, old chap!"
+
+He rubs his hands in anticipation; for the bigger he grows--and he has
+grown into a tremendous fellow now--the more work he wants. There is no
+satisfying him.
+
+We have been very fortunate, wonderfully fortunate; but I am inclined to
+set apart as pre-eminently our lucky day that one in the summer of '79,
+when young Joe Garnier, the blacksmith's apprentice, stopped at our
+stable-door to ask for work!
+
+                                   THE END
+
+
+
+
+_By Amy E. Blanchard_
+
+
+War of the Revolution Series
+
+The books comprising this series have become well known among the girls
+and are alike chosen by readers themselves, by parents and by teachers
+on account of their value from the historical standpoint, their purity
+of style and their interest in general.
+
+_A Girl of '76_
+
+ABOUT COLONIAL BOSTON. 331 pp.
+
+It is one of the best stories of old Boston and its vicinity which has
+ever been written. Its value as real history and as an incentive to
+further study can hardly be overestimated.
+
+_A Revolutionary Maid_
+
+A STORY OF THE MIDDLE PERIOD IN THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE. 312 pp.
+
+No better material could be found for a story than the New Jersey
+campaign, the Battle of Germantown, and the winter at Valley Forge. Miss
+Blanchard has made the most of a large opportunity and produced a happy
+companion volume to "A Girl of '76."
+
+_A Daughter of Freedom_
+
+A STORY OF THE LATTER PERIOD OF THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE. 312 pp.
+
+In this story the South supplies the scenery, and good use is made of
+the familiar fact that a family often was divided in its allegiance. It
+is romantic but not sensational, well-written and rich in entertainment.
+
+War of 1812 Series
+
+This period is divided into two historical volumes for girls, the one
+upon the early portion describing the causes, etc., of the war, the
+latter showing the strife along the Northern border.
+
+_A Heroine of 1812_
+
+A MARYLAND ROMANCE. 335 pp.
+
+This Maryland romance is of the author's best; strong in historical
+accuracy and intimate knowledge of the locality. Its characters are of
+marked individuality, and there are no dull or weak spots in the story.
+
+_A Loyal Lass._
+
+A STORY OF THE NIAGARA CAMPAIGN OF 1814. 319 pp.
+
+This volume shows the intense feeling that existed all along the border
+line between the United States and Canada, and as was the case in our
+Civil War even divided families fought on opposite sides during this
+contest. It is a sweet and wholesome romance.
+
+EACH VOLUME FULLY ILLUSTRATED. Price, $1.50
+
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+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" />
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+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Boys Of Crawford's Basin, by Sidford F. Hamp.
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+
+<pre>
+
+Project Gutenberg's The Boys of Crawford's Basin, by Sidford F. Hamp
+
+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: The Boys of Crawford's Basin
+       The Story of a Mountain Ranch in the Early Days of Colorado
+
+Author: Sidford F. Hamp
+
+Illustrator: Chase Emerson
+
+Release Date: August 26, 2008 [EBook #26434]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOYS OF CRAWFORD'S BASIN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Janet Keller, D Alexander and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 334px;">
+<img src="images/icover.jpg" class="ispace" width="334" height="500" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<hr class="large" />
+
+<p class="ispace">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h1>The Boys of Crawford&#8217;s Basin</h1>
+
+<h2><i>THE STORY OF A MOUNTAIN RANCH<br />
+IN THE EARLY DAYS OF COLORADO</i></h2>
+
+<h3>BY</h3>
+
+<h2>SIDFORD F. HAMP</h2>
+
+<p class="center"><i>Author of &#8220;Dale and Fraser, Sheepmen,&#8221; etc.</i></p>
+
+<h4>ILLUSTRATED BY</h4>
+
+<h3>CHASE EMERSON</h3>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 101px;">
+<img src="images/ititle.jpg" width="101" height="100" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<h3>W. A. WILDE COMPANY</h3>
+
+<h3>BOSTON CHICAGO</h3>
+
+<hr class="large" />
+<p class="center"><i>Copyrighted, 1907</i></p>
+
+<p class="center">BY W. A. WILDE COMPANY</p>
+
+<p class="center"><i>All rights reserved</i></p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">The Boys of Crawford&#8217;s Basin</span></p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><a name="frontispiece" id="frontispiece"></a></p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 310px;">
+<img src="images/frontispiece.jpg" class="jpg ispace" width="310" height="500" alt="&#8220;THERE WAS BIG REUBEN LOOKING DOWN AT US&#8221;" title="" />
+<span class="caption">&#8220;THERE WAS BIG REUBEN LOOKING DOWN AT US&#8221;</span>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="large" />
+<h2>PREFACE</h2>
+
+<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">I</span>n relating the adventures of &#8220;The Boys of Crawford&#8217;s Basin,&#8221; the author
+has endeavored to depict the life of the ranchman in the mountains of
+Colorado as he knew it towards the end of the &#8220;seventies&#8221; of the century
+just past.</p>
+
+<p>At that date, the railroads, after their long climb from the Missouri
+River to the foot of the Rocky Mountains, were still seeking a
+practicable passage westward over that formidable barrier, and in
+consequence, the mountain ranchman&mdash;who, by the way, was also sometimes
+a prospector and frequently a hunter&mdash;having no means of shipping his
+produce to the outside world, depended for his market upon one or
+another of the many little silver-mining camps scattered over the State.</p>
+
+<p>That infant State was but just learning to walk without leading-strings;
+and it has been the aim of the author to show how two stout young
+fellows, prone to honesty and not afraid of hard work, were able to do
+their share in advancing the prosperity of the growing Commonwealth in
+which their lot was cast.</p>
+
+<p>It may not be out of place, perhaps, to mention that, besides having had
+considerable experience in ranching, the author was, about the date of
+the story, himself prospecting for silver and working as a miner. He
+would add, too, that several of the incidents related therein, and those
+in his opinion the most remarkable, are drawn from actual facts.</p>
+
+<hr class="large" />
+
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+<div class="centered">
+<table border="0" width="70%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="CONTENTS">
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">I.</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Big Reuben&#8217;s Raid</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#The_Boys_of_Crawford8217s_Basin">11</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">II.</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Crawford&#8217;s Basin</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">27</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">III.</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Yetmore&#8217;s Mistake</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">42</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">IV.</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Lost in the Clouds</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">64</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">V.</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">What We Found in the Pool</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">82</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">VI.</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Long John Butterfield</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">101</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">VII.</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Hermit&#8217;s Warning</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">119</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">VIII.</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Wild Cat&#8217;s Trail</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">134</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">IX.</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Underground Stream</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">150</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">X.</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">How Tom Connor Went Boring for Oil</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">169</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">XI.</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Tom&#8217;s Second Window</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">190</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">XII.</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Tom Connor&#8217;s Scare</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">210</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">XIII.</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Ore-Theft</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">229</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">XIV.</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Snow-slide</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">250</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">XV.</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Big Reuben Vein</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">271</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">XVI.</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Wolf With Wet Feet</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">289</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">XVII.</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Draining of the &#8220;Forty Rods&#8221;</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">313</a></td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<hr class="large" />
+<h2><a name="ILLUSTRATIONS" id="ILLUSTRATIONS"></a>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2>
+<div class="centered">
+<table border="0" width="70%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="CONTENTS">
+
+<tr>
+<td align="left">&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="right">PAGE</td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="left">&#8220;<span class="smcap">There Was Big Reuben Looking Down At Us</span>&#8221; </td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#frontispiece"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="left">&#8220;&#8216;<span class="smcap">Ah, Sox, Is That You</span>?&#8217;&#8221; </td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#illo078">78</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="left">&#8220;<span class="smcap">We Saw Before Us a Very Curious Sight</span>&#8221;</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#illo155">155</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align="left">&#8220;&#8216;<span class="smcap">Can Folks See in From Outside</span>?&#8217;&#8221;</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#illo213">213</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align="left">&#8220;<span class="smcap">He Shot Downward Like An Arrow</span>&#8221;</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#illo281">281</a></td></tr>
+
+</table></div>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="The_Boys_of_Crawford8217s_Basin" id="The_Boys_of_Crawford8217s_Basin"></a>The Boys of Crawford&#8217;s Basin</h2>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">Big Reuben&#8217;s Raid</span></h3>
+
+<p style="float: left; font-size: 100%; line-height: 80%; margin-top: 0;">&#8220;</p><p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">W</span>ake up, boys!
+ Wake up! Tumble out, there! Quick! Big Reuben&#8217;s into the
+pig-pen again!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Our bedroom door was banged wide open, and my father stood before us&mdash;a
+startling apparition&mdash;dressed only in his night-shirt and a pair of
+boots, carrying a stable-lantern in one hand and a rifle in the other.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What is it?&#8221; cried Joe, as he bounced out of bed; and, &#8220;Where is it?&#8221;
+cried I, both of us half dazed by the sudden awakening.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s Big Reuben raiding the pig-pen again! Can&#8217;t you hear &#8217;em
+squealing? Come on at once! Bring the eight-bore, Joe; and you, Phil,
+get the torch and the revolver. Quick; or he&#8217;ll kill every hog in the
+pen!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Big Reuben was not a two-legged thief, as one <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>might suppose from his
+name. He was a grizzly bear, a notorious old criminal, who, for the past
+two or three years, had done much harm to the ranchmen of our
+neighborhood, killing calves and colts and pigs&mdash;especially pigs.</p>
+
+<p>Like a robber-baron of old, he laid tribute on the whole community,
+raiding all the ranches in turn, traveling great distances during the
+night, but always retreating to his lair among the rocks before morning.
+This had gone on for a long time, when one day, in broad daylight, while
+Ole Johnson, the Swede, was plowing his upper potato-patch, the grizzly
+jumped down from a ledge of rocks and with one blow of his paw broke the
+back of Ole&#8217;s best work-steer; Ole himself, frightened half to death,
+flying for refuge to his stable, where he shut himself up in the
+hay-loft for the rest of the day.</p>
+
+<p>This outrage had the effect of waking up the county commissioners, who,
+understanding at last that we had been terrorized long enough, now
+offered a reward of one hundred dollars for bruin&#8217;s scalp&mdash;an offer
+which stimulated all the hunters round about to run the marauder to his
+lair.</p>
+
+<p>But Big Reuben was as crafty as he was bold. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span>His home was up in one of
+the rocky gorges of Mount Lincoln to the west of us, where it would be
+useless to try to trail him; and after Jed Smith had been almost torn to
+pieces, and his partner, Baldy Atkins, had spent two nights and a day up
+a tree, the enthusiasm of the hunters had suddenly waned and Big
+Reuben&#8217;s closer acquaintance had been shunned by all alike. Thereafter,
+the bear had continued his depredations unchecked.</p>
+
+<p>Among his many other pieces of mischief, he had killed a valuable calf
+for us once, once before he had raided the pig-pen, and now here he was
+again.</p>
+
+<p>Without waiting to put on any extra clothing, Joe and I followed my
+father through the kitchen, I grabbing a revolver from its nail in the
+wall, and Joe snatching down the great eight-bore duck-gun and slipping
+into it two cartridges prepared for this very contingency, each
+cartridge containing twelve buck-shot and a big spherical bullet&mdash;a
+terrific charge for close quarters. Once outside the kitchen-door, I ran
+to the wood-shed and seized the torch which, like the cartridges, had
+been made ready for this emergency. It consisted of a broom-handle <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>with
+a great wad of waste, soaked in kerosene, bound with wire to one end of
+it.</p>
+
+<p>Lighting the torch, I held it high and followed two paces behind the
+others as they advanced towards the pig-pen. We had not progressed
+twenty yards, however&mdash;luckily for us, as it turned out&mdash;when there
+issued through the roof of the pen a great dark body, dimly seen by the
+light of the torch.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;There he is!&#8221; cried my father, as the bear dropped out of sight behind
+the corral fence. &#8220;Look out, now! We&#8217;ll get a shot at him as he runs up
+the hill!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>But Big Reuben had no intention whatever of running up the hill; he
+feared neither man nor beast, and the next moment he appeared round the
+corner of the corral, charging full upon us, open-mouthed.</p>
+
+<p>With a single impulse, we all fired one shot at him and then turned and
+fled, helter-skelter, for the kitchen, all tumbling in together,
+treading on each others&#8217; heels; my father slamming behind us the door,
+which fortunately opened outward.</p>
+
+<p>The kitchen was a slight frame structure, built on to the back of the
+house as a T-shaped <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>addition. We were barely inside when bang! came a
+heavy body against the door, with such force as to send several
+milk-pans clashing to the floor.</p>
+
+<p>My father had hastily loaded again, and now, hearing the bear&#8217;s paws
+patting high up on the door, he fired a chance shot through it. The bear
+was hit, seemingly, for we heard him grunt; but that he was not killed
+by any means was evident, for the next moment, with a clattering crash,
+the kitchen window, glass, frame and all, was knocked into the room, and
+a great hairy arm and fierce, grinning head were thrust through the gap.</p>
+
+<p>Joe, who was standing just opposite the window, jumped backward, and
+catching his heels against the great tub wherein the week&#8217;s wash was
+soaking, he sat down in it with a splash. Seeing this, I sprang forward
+and thrust my torch into the bear&#8217;s face; upon which he dropped to the
+ground again. A half-second later, Joe, still sitting in the tub, fired
+his second barrel. It was a good shot, but just a trifle too late, and
+its only effect was to blow my torch to shreds, leaving us with the dim
+light of the lantern only.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;Into the house!&#8221; shouted my father; whereupon we all retreated from the
+kitchen into the main building. There, while Joe held the door partly
+open and I held the lantern so as to throw a light into the kitchen, my
+father knelt upon the floor waiting for the bear to give him another
+chance. But Big Reuben was much too clever to do anything of the sort;
+he was not going to put himself into any such trap as that; and
+presently my mother from up-stairs called out that she could see him
+going off.</p>
+
+<p>We waited about for half an hour, but as there was no more disturbance
+we all went back to bed, where for another half-hour Joe and I lay
+talking, unable, naturally, to go to sleep at once after such a lively
+stirring-up.</p>
+
+<p>By sunrise next morning we were all out to see what damage had been
+done. The bear had torn a great hole in the roof of the pen, had jumped
+in and had killed and partly eaten one pig, choosing, as a bear of his
+sagacity naturally would, the best one. We were fortunate, though, to
+have come off so cheaply; doubtless the light of our torch shining
+through the chinks of the logs had disturbed him.</p>
+
+<p>If there had been any question as to the marauder&#8217;s <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>identity, that was
+settled at once. His tracks were plain in the dust, and as one of his
+hind feet showed no marks of claws, we knew it was Big Reuben; for Big
+Reuben had once been caught in a trap and had only freed himself by
+leaving his toe-nails behind him.</p>
+
+<p>Outside the kitchen door and window the tracks were very plain; there
+was also a good deal of blood, showing that he had been hit at least
+once. But it was evident also that he had not been hurt very seriously,
+for there was no irregularity in his trail&mdash;no swaying from side to
+side, as from weakness&mdash;though we followed it up to the point where, at
+the upper end of our valley, the bear had climbed the cliff which
+bounded the Second Mesa. Though on this occasion he had thought fit to
+run away, there was little doubt but that he would live to fight another
+day.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Father,&#8221; said I, as we sat together at breakfast, &#8220;may Joe and I go and
+trail him up? If he keeps on bleeding it ought to be easy, and it is
+just possible that we might find him dead.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>My father at first shook his head, but presently, reconsidering, he
+replied: &#8220;Well, you <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>may go; but you must go on your ponies: it&#8217;s too
+dangerous to go a-foot. And in any case, if the trail leads you up to
+the loose rocks or into the big timber you must stop. You know what a
+tricky beast Big Reuben is. If he sees that he is followed he will lie
+in hiding and jump out on you. That&#8217;s how he caught Jed Smith, you
+remember.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ll take care, father,&#8221; said I. &#8220;We&#8217;ll stick to our ponies, and then
+we shall be all safe.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Very well, then; be off with you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>With this permission we set off, I carrying a rifle and Joe his &#8220;old
+cannon,&#8221; as he called the big shotgun; each with a crust of bread and a
+slice or two of bacon in his pocket by way of lunch. Picking up the
+trail where we had left it at the foot of the Second Mesa, we scrambled
+up the little cliff, looking out very sharply lest Big Reuben should be
+lying in wait for us in some crevice, and finding that the tracks led
+straight away for Mount Lincoln, we followed them, I doing the tracking
+while Joe kept watch ahead. The surface of the Second Mesa was very
+uneven: there were many little rocky hills and many small ca&ntilde;ons, some
+of the latter as much <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>as a hundred feet deep, so, keeping in mind the
+bear&#8217;s crafty nature, whenever the trail led us near any of these
+obstacles I would stand still while Joe examined the ca&ntilde;on or the rocks,
+as the case might be.</p>
+
+<p>Every time we did this, however, we drew a blank. The trail continued to
+lead straight away for the mountain without diverging to one side or the
+other, and for five or six miles we followed it until the stunted cedars
+began to give place to pine trees, when we decided that we might as well
+stop, especially as for some time past there had ceased to be any
+blood-marks on the stones and we had been following only the occasional
+imprint of the bear&#8217;s paws in the patches of sand.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The trail is headed straight for that rocky gorge, Phil,&#8221; said my
+companion, pointing forward, &#8220;and it&#8217;s no use going on. Even if your
+father hadn&#8217;t forbidden it, I wouldn&#8217;t go into that gorge, knowing that
+Big Reuben was in there somewhere, not if the county commissioners
+should offer me the whole county as a reward.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Nor I, either,&#8221; said I. &#8220;Big Reuben may have his mountain all to
+himself as far as I&#8217;m <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>concerned. So, come on; let&#8217;s get back. What time
+is it?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;After noon,&#8221; replied Joe, looking up at the sun. &#8220;We&#8217;ve been a long
+time coming, but it won&#8217;t take us more than half the time going back.
+Let&#8217;s dig out at once.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Turning our ponies, we set off at an easy lope, and had ridden about two
+miles on the back track when, skirting along the edge of one of the
+little ca&ntilde;ons I have mentioned, we noticed a tiny spring of water,
+which, issuing from the face of the cliff close to the top, fell in a
+thin thread into the chasm.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Joe,&#8221; said I, &#8220;let&#8217;s stop here and eat our lunch. I&#8217;m getting pretty
+hungry.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;All right,&#8221; said Joe; and in another minute we were seated on the edge
+of the cliff with our feet dangling in space, munching our bread and
+bacon, while the ponies, with the reins hanging loose, were cropping the
+scanty grass just behind us.</p>
+
+<p>About five feet below where we sat was a little ledge some eighteen
+inches wide, which, on our left, gradually sloped upward until it came
+to the top, while in the other direction it sloped downward, diminishing
+in width until it &#8220;petered <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>out&#8221; entirely. The little spring fell upon
+this ledge, and running along it, fell off again at its lower end. As
+the best place to fill our tin cup was where the water struck the ledge,
+we, when we had finished our lunch, walked down to that point.</p>
+
+<p>Filling the cup, I was in the act of handing it to Joe, who was behind
+me, when a sudden clatter of hoofs caused us to straighten up. Our eyes
+came just above the level of the cliff, and the first thing they
+encountered was Big Reuben himself, not ten feet away, coming straight
+for us at a run!</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Duck!&#8221; yelled Joe; and down we went&mdash;only just in time, too, for the
+bear&#8217;s great claws rattled on the surface of the rock as he made a slap
+at us.</p>
+
+<p>Where had he come from? Had he followed us back from the mountain?
+Hardly: we had come too quickly. Had he seen us coming in the early
+morning, and, making a circuit out of our sight, lain in wait for us as
+we returned? Such uncanny cleverness seemed hardly possible, even for
+Big Reuben, clever as he was known to be.</p>
+
+<p>These questions, however, did not occur to us <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>at the moment. All that
+concerned us just then was that there was Big Reuben, looking down at us
+from the edge of the cliff.</p>
+
+<p>There was no doubt that it was the same bear we had interviewed in the
+night, for all the hair on one side of his face was singed off where I
+had thrust at him with the torch, while one of his ears was tattered and
+bloody, showing that some of Joe&#8217;s buck-shot, at least, had got him as
+he dropped from the window.</p>
+
+<p>Joe and I were on our hands and knees, when the bear, going down upon
+his chest, reached for us with one of his paws. He could not quite touch
+us, but he came so uncomfortably close that we crept away down the
+ledge, which, dipping pretty sharply, soon put us out of his reach
+altogether.</p>
+
+<p>Seeing this, the bear rose to his feet again, gazed at us for a moment,
+and then stepped back out of sight.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Has he gone?&#8221; I whispered; but before Joe could answer Big Reuben
+appeared again, walking down the ledge towards us. Of course we sidled
+away from him, until the ledge had become so narrow that I could go no
+farther; and lucky it was for us that the ledge was narrow, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>for what
+was standing-room for us was by no means standing-room for the bear: his
+body was much too thick to allow him to come near us, or even to
+approach the spot whence we had just retreated.</p>
+
+<p>As it was obvious that the bear could advance no farther, for he was
+standing on the very edge of the ledge and there was a bulge in the rock
+before him which would inevitably have pushed him off into the chasm had
+he attempted to pass it, Joe and I returned to the spring, where we had
+room to stand or to sit down as we wished.</p>
+
+<p>The enemy watched our approach, with a glint of malice in his little
+piggy eyes, but when he saw that we intended to come no nearer, he lay
+down where he was and began unconcernedly licking his paws.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He thinks he can starve us out,&#8221; said Joe; &#8220;but if I&#8217;m not mistaken we
+can stand it longer than he can, even if he did eat half a pig last
+night. And there&#8217;s one thing certain, Phil: if we don&#8217;t get home
+to-night, somebody will come to look for us in the morning.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; I assented. &#8220;But they&#8217;ll get a pretty bad scare at home if we
+don&#8217;t turn up. Is there <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>no way of sending that beast off? If we could
+only get hold of one of the guns&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>By standing upright we could see my rifle lying on the ground and Joe&#8217;s
+big gun standing with its muzzle pointed skyward, leaning against a
+boulder. They were only six feet away, but six feet were six feet: we
+could not reach them without climbing up, and that was out of the
+question&mdash;the bear could get there much more quickly than we could.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Phil!&#8221; exclaimed my companion, suddenly. &#8220;Have you got any twine in
+your pocket?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; I replied, pulling out a long, stout piece of string. &#8220;Why?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Perhaps we can &#8216;rope&#8217; my gun. See, its muzzle stands clear. Then we
+could drag it within reach.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I very soon had a noose made, and being the more expert roper of the two
+I swung it round and round my head, keeping the loop wide open, and
+threw it. My very first cast was successful. The noose fell over the
+muzzle of the gun and settled half way down the barrel, where it was
+stopped by the rock.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Good!&#8221; whispered Joe. &#8220;Now, tighten it up gently and pull the gun
+over.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span></p><p>I followed these directions, and presently we heard the gun fall with a
+clatter upon the rocks; for, fearing it might go off when it fell, we
+had both ducked below the rim of the wall.</p>
+
+<p>Our actions had made the bear suspicious, and when the gun came
+clattering down he rose upon his hind feet and looked about him. Seeing
+nothing moving, however, he came down again, when I at once began to
+pull the gun gently towards me, keeping my head down all the time lest
+one of the hammers, catching against a rock, should explode the charge.</p>
+
+<p>At length, thinking it should be near enough, I ceased pulling, when Joe
+straightened up, reached out, and, to my great delight, when he withdrew
+his hand the gun was in it.</p>
+
+<p>Ah! What a difference it made in our situation!</p>
+
+<p>Joe, first opening the breach to make sure the gun was loaded, advanced
+as near the bear as he dared, and kneeling down took careful aim at his
+chest. But presently he lowered the gun again, and turning to me, said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Phil, can you do anything to make him turn his head so that I can get a
+chance at him behind <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>the ear? I&#8217;m afraid a shot in front may only wound
+him.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;All right,&#8221; said I. &#8220;I&#8217;ll try.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>With my knife I pried out of the face of the cliff a piece of stone
+about the size and shape of the palm of my hand, and aiming carefully I
+threw it at the bear. It struck him on the very point of his nose&mdash;a
+tender spot&mdash;and seemingly hurt him a good deal, for, with an angry
+snarl, he rose upright on his hind feet.</p>
+
+<p>At that instant a terrific report resounded up and down the ca&ntilde;on, the
+whole charge of Joe&#8217;s ponderous weapon struck the bear full in the
+chest&mdash;I could see the hole it made&mdash;and without a sound the great beast
+dropped from the ledge, fell a hundred feet upon the rocks below,
+bounded two or three times and then lay still, all doubled up in a heap
+at the bottom.</p>
+
+<p>Big Reuben had killed his last pig!</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">Crawford&#8217;s Basin</span></h3>
+
+<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">Y</span>ou might think, perhaps, as many people in our neighborhood thought,
+that Joe was my brother. As a matter of fact he was no relation at all;
+he had dropped in upon us, a stranger, two years before, and had stayed
+with us ever since.</p>
+
+<p>It was in the haying season that he came, at a moment when my father and
+I were overwhelmed with work; for it was the summer of 1879, the year of
+&#8220;the Leadville excitement,&#8221; when all the able-bodied men in the district
+were either rushing off to Leadville itself or going off prospecting all
+over the mountains in the hope of unearthing other Leadvilles. Ranch
+work was much too slow for them, and as a consequence it was impossible
+for us to secure any help that was worth having.</p>
+
+<p>What made it all the more provoking was that we had that year an
+extra-fine stand of grass&mdash;the weather, too, was magnificent&mdash;yet,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>unless we could get help, it was hardly likely that we could take full
+advantage of our splendid hay-crop.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless, as what could not be cured must be endured, my father and
+I tackled the job ourselves, working early and late, and we were making
+very good progress, all things considered, when we had the misfortune to
+break a small casting in our mowing-machine; a mishap which would
+probably entail a delay of several days until we could get the piece
+replaced.</p>
+
+<p>It was just before noon that this happened, and we had brought the
+machine up to the wagon-shed and had put up the horses, when, on
+stepping out of the stable, we were accosted by a tall, black haired,
+blue eyed young fellow of about my own age, who asked if he could get a
+job with us.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, you can,&#8221; replied my father, promptly; and then, remembering the
+accident to the machine, he added, &#8220;at least, you can as soon as I get
+this casting replaced,&#8221; holding out the broken piece as he spoke.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;May I look at it?&#8221; asked the young fellow; and taking it in his hand he
+went on: &#8220;I see you have a blacksmith-shop over there; I think I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>can
+duplicate this for you if you&#8217;ll let me try: I was a blacksmith&#8217;s
+apprentice only a month ago.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Do you think you can? Well, you shall certainly be allowed to try. But
+come in now: dinner will be ready in five minutes; you shall try your
+hand at blacksmithing afterwards. What&#8217;s your name?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Joe Garnier,&#8221; replied the boy. &#8220;I come from Iowa. I was going to
+Leadville, but I met so many men coming back, with tales of what numbers
+of idle men there were up there unable to get work, that, hearing of a
+place called Sulphide as a rising camp, I decided to go there instead.
+This is the right way to get there, isn&#8217;t it?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, this is the way to Sulphide. Did you expect to get work as a
+miner?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, I intended to take any work I could get, but if you can give me
+employment here, I&#8217;d a good deal rather work out in the sun than down in
+a hole in the ground.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You replace that casting if you can, and I&#8217;ll give you work for a
+month, at least, and longer if we get on well together.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Thank you,&#8221; said the stranger; and with that we went into the house.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span></p><p>The newcomer started well: he won my mother&#8217;s good opinion at once by
+wiping his boots carefully before entering, and by giving himself a
+sousing good wash at the pump before sitting down to table. It was plain
+he was no ordinary tramp&mdash;though, for that matter, the genus &#8220;tramp&#8221; had
+not yet invaded the three-year-old state of Colorado&mdash;for his manners
+were good; while his clear blue eyes, in contrast with his brown face
+and wavy black hair, gave him a remarkably bright and wide-awake look.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as dinner was over, we all repaired to the blacksmith-shop,
+where Joe at once went to work. It was very evident that he knew what he
+was about: every blow seemed to count in the right direction; so that in
+about half an hour he had fashioned his piece of iron into the desired
+shape, when he plunged it into the tub of water, and then, clapping it
+into the vise, went to work on it with a file; every now and then
+comparing it with the broken casting which lay on the bench beside him.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;There!&#8221; he exclaimed at last. &#8220;I believe that will fit.&#8221; And, indeed,
+when he laid them side by side, one would have been puzzled to tell
+which was which, had not the old piece been <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>painted red while the other
+was not painted at all.</p>
+
+<p>Joe was right: the piece did fit; and in less than an hour from the time
+we had finished dinner we were at work again in the hay-field.</p>
+
+<p>The month which followed was a strenuous one, but by the end of it we
+had the satisfaction of knowing that we had put up the biggest crop of
+hay ever cut on the ranch.</p>
+
+<p>Our new helper, who was a tall, stout fellow for his age, and an
+untiring worker, proved to be a capital hand, and though at first he was
+somewhat awkward, being unused to farm labor, before we had finished he
+could do a better day&#8217;s work than I could, in spite of the fact that I
+had been a ranch boy ever since I had been a boy at all.</p>
+
+<p>We all took a great liking for Joe, and we were very pleased, therefore,
+when, the hay being in, it was arranged that he should stay on. For
+there was plenty of work to be done that year&mdash;extra work, I mean&mdash;such
+as building fences, putting up an ice-house and so forth, in which Joe,
+having a decided mechanical turn, proved a valuable assistant. So, when
+the spring came round again it found Joe still with us; and with us he
+continued to stay, becoming so much one <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>of the family that many people,
+as I said, who did not know his story, supposed that he and I were
+brothers in fact, as we soon learned to become brothers in feeling.</p>
+
+<p>Long before this, of course, Joe had told us all about himself and how
+he had come to leave his old home and make his way westward.</p>
+
+<p>Of French-Canadian descent, the boy, left an orphan at three years of
+age, had been taken in by a neighbor, a kind-hearted blacksmith, and
+with him he had lived for the twelve years following, when the
+blacksmith, now an old man, had decided to go out of business. Just at
+this time &#8220;the Leadville excitement&#8221; was making a great stir in the
+country; thousands of men were heading for the new Eldorado, and Joe,
+his old friend consenting, determined to join the throng.</p>
+
+<p>It was, perhaps, lucky for the young blacksmith that he started rather
+late, for, on his approach to the mountains, he encountered files of
+disappointed men streaming in the opposite direction, and hearing their
+stories of the overcrowded condition of things in Leadville, he
+determined to try instead the mining camp of Sulphide, when, passing our
+place on the way <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>he was caught by my father, as I have described, and
+turned into a ranchman.</p>
+
+<p>Such was the condition of affairs with us when Big Reuben made his final
+raid upon our pig-pen.</p>
+
+<p>The reward of one hundred dollars which the county paid us for our
+exploit in ridding the community of Big Reuben&#8217;s presence came in very
+handily for Joe and me. It enabled us to achieve an object for which we
+had long been hoarding our savings&mdash;the purchase of a pair of mules.</p>
+
+<p>For the past two years, in the slack season, after the gathering of our
+hay and potato crops, we had hired out during the fine weather remaining
+to a man whose business it was to cut and haul timbers for the mines in
+and around the town of Sulphide, which lay in the mountains seven miles
+southwestward from our ranch. We found it congenial work, and Joe and I,
+who were now seventeen years old, hardened to labor with ax, shovel or
+pitchfork, saw no reason why we should not put in these odd five or six
+weeks cutting timbers on our own account. No reason but one, that is to
+say. My father would readily lend us one of his wagons, but he could not
+spare <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>a team, and so, until we could procure a team of our own, we were
+obliged to forego the honor and glory&mdash;to say nothing of the expected
+profits&mdash;of setting up as an independent firm.</p>
+
+<p>Now, however, we had suddenly and unexpectedly acquired the necessary
+funds, and with the money in our pockets away we went at once to Ole
+Johnson&#8217;s, from whom we bought a stout little pair of mouse-colored
+mules upon which we had long had an eye.</p>
+
+<p>But though the firm of Crawford and Garnier might now, if it pleased,
+consider itself established, it could not enter upon the practice of its
+business for some time yet. It was still the middle of summer, and there
+was plenty to do on the ranch: the hay and the oats would be ready to
+cut in two weeks, while after that there were the potatoes to gather&mdash;a
+very heavy piece of work.</p>
+
+<p>All these tasks had to be cleared out of the way before we could move up
+to Sulphide to begin on our timber-cutting enterprise. But between the
+harvesting of the oats and the gathering of the potato-crop there
+occurred an incident, which, besides being remarkable in itself, had a
+very notable effect upon my father&#8217;s fortunes&mdash;and, incidentally, upon
+our own.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span></p><p>To make understandable the ins and outs of this matter, I must pause a
+moment to describe the situation of our ranch; for it is upon the
+peculiarity of its situation that much of my story hinges.</p>
+
+<p>Anybody traveling westward from San Remo, the county seat, with the idea
+of getting up into the mountains, would encounter, about a mile from
+town, a rocky ridge, which, running north and south, extended for
+several miles each way. Ascending this bluff and still going westward,
+he would presently encounter a second ridge, the counterpart of the
+first, and climbing that in turn he would find himself upon the
+wide-spreading plateau known as the Second Mesa, which extended, without
+presenting any serious impediment, to the foot of the range&mdash;itself one
+of the finest and ruggedest masses of mountains in the whole state of
+Colorado.</p>
+
+<p>In a deep depression of the First Mesa&mdash;known as Crawford&#8217;s Basin&mdash;lay
+our ranch. This &#8220;Basin&#8221; was evidently an ancient lake-bed&mdash;as one could
+tell by the &#8220;benches&#8221; surrounding it&mdash;but the water of the lake having in
+the course of ages sawed its way out through <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>the rocky barrier, now ran
+off through a little ca&ntilde;on about a quarter of a mile long.</p>
+
+<p>The natural way for us to get from the ranch down to San Remo was to
+follow the stream down this ca&ntilde;on, but, curiously enough, for more than
+half the year this road was impassable. The lower end of Crawford&#8217;s
+Basin, for a quarter of a mile back from the entrance of the ca&ntilde;on, was
+so soft and water-logged that not even an empty wagon could pass over
+it. In fact, so soft was it that we could not get upon it to cut hay and
+were obliged to leave the splendid stand of grass that grew there as a
+winter pasture. In the cold weather, when the ground froze up, it was
+all right, but at the first breath of spring it began to soften, and
+from then until winter again we could do nothing with it. It was, in
+fact, little better than a source of annoyance to us, for, until we
+fenced it off, our milk cows, tempted by the luxuriant grass, were
+always getting themselves mired there.</p>
+
+<p>This wet patch was known to every teamster in the county as &#8220;the
+bottomless forty rods,&#8221; and was shunned by them like a pestilence. Its
+existence was a great drawback to us, for, between San Remo, where the
+smelters were, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>the town of Sulphide, where the mines were, there
+was a constant stream of wagons passing up and down, carrying ore to the
+smelters and bringing back provisions, tools and all the other
+multitudinous necessaries required by the population of a busy mining
+town. Had it not been for the presence of &#8220;the bottomless forty rods,&#8221;
+all these wagons would have come through our place and we should have
+done a great trade in oats and hay with the teamsters. But as it was,
+they all took the mesa road, which, though three miles longer and
+necessitating the descent of a long, steep hill where the road came down
+from the First Mesa to the plains, had the advantage of being hard and
+sound at all seasons of the year.</p>
+
+<p>My father had spent much time and labor in the attempt to make a
+permanent road through this morass, cutting trenches and throwing in
+load after load of stones and brush and earth, but all in vain, and at
+length he gave it up&mdash;though with great reluctance. For, not only did
+the teamsters avoid us, but we, ourselves, when we wished to go with a
+load to San Remo, were obliged to ascend to the mesa and go down by the
+hill road.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span></p><p>The cause of this wet spot was apparently an underground stream which
+came to the surface at that point. The creek which supplied us with
+water for irrigation had its sources on Mount Lincoln and falling from
+the Second Mesa into our Basin in a little waterfall some twelve feet
+high, it had scooped out a circular hole in the rock about a hundred
+feet across and then, running down the length of the valley, found its
+way out through the ca&ntilde;on. Now this creek received no accession from any
+other stream in its course across the Basin, but for all that the amount
+of water in the ca&ntilde;on was twice as great as that which came over the
+fall; showing conclusively that the marsh whence the increase came must
+be supplied by a very strong underground stream.</p>
+
+<p>The greater part of Crawford&#8217;s Basin was owned by my father, Philip
+Crawford, the elder, but a portion of it, about thirty acres at the
+upper end, including the pool, the waterfall and the best part of the
+potato land, was owned by Simon Yetmore, of Sulphide.</p>
+
+<p>My father was very desirous of purchasing this piece of ground, for it
+would round out the ranch to perfection, but Yetmore, knowing how <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>much
+he desired it, asked such an unreasonable price that their bargaining
+always fell through. Being unable to buy it, my father therefore leased
+it, paying the rent in the form of potatoes delivered at Yetmore&#8217;s store
+in Sulphide&mdash;for Simon, besides being mayor of Sulphide and otherwise a
+person of importance, was proprietor of Yetmore&#8217;s Emporium, by far the
+largest general store in town.</p>
+
+<p>He was an enterprising citizen, Simon was, always having many irons in
+the fire; a clever fellow, too, in his way; though his way was not
+exactly to the taste of some people: he drove too hard a bargain. In
+fact, the opinion was pretty general that his name fitted him to a
+nicety, for, however much he might get, he always wanted yet more.</p>
+
+<p>My father distrusted him; yet, strange to say, in spite of that fact,
+and of the added fact that he had always fought shy of all mining
+schemes, he and Yetmore were partners in a prospecting venture. It was,
+in a measure, an accident, and it came about in this way:</p>
+
+<p>The smelter-men down at San Remo were always crying out for more
+lead-ores to mix with the &#8220;refractory&#8221; ores produced by most of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>the
+mines in our district, publishing a standing offer of an extra-good
+price for all ores containing more than a stated percentage of lead. In
+spite of the stimulus this offer gave to the prospecting of the
+mountains, north, south and west of us, there had been found but one
+mine, the Samson, of which the chief product was lead, and this did not
+furnish nearly enough to satisfy the wants of the smelter-men.</p>
+
+<p>Its discovery, however, proved the existence of veins of galena&mdash;the ore
+from which lead chiefly comes&mdash;in one part of the district, and the
+prospectors became more active than ever; though without result. That
+section of country where the Samson had been discovered was deeply
+overlaid with &#8220;wash,&#8221; and as the veins were &#8220;blanket&#8221; veins&mdash;lying flat,
+that is&mdash;and did not crop out above the surface, their discovery was
+pretty much a matter of chance.</p>
+
+<p>Among the prospectors was one, Tom Connor, who, having had experience in
+the lead-mines of Missouri, proposed to adopt one of the methods of
+prospecting in use in that country, to wit, the core-drill. But to
+procure and operate a core-drill required money, and this Tom Connor had
+not. He therefore applied to Simon Yetmore, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>who agreed to supply part
+of the necessary funds&mdash;making good terms for himself, you may be
+sure&mdash;if Tom would provide the rest. The rest, however, was rather more
+than the sum-total of Tom&#8217;s scanty capital, and so he came to my father,
+who was an old friend of his, and asked him to make up the difference.</p>
+
+<p>My father declined to take any share in the enterprise, for, though most
+of the ranchmen round about were more or less interested in mining, he
+himself looked upon it as being too near akin to gambling; but feeling
+well disposed towards Tom, and the sum required being very moderate, he
+lent his friend the money, quite prepared, knowing Tom&#8217;s optimistic,
+harum-scarum character, never to see it again.</p>
+
+<p>In this expectation, however, he was happily deceived. It is true he did
+not get back his money, but he received his money&#8217;s worth, and that in a
+very curious way.</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">Yetmore&#8217;s Mistake</span></h3>
+
+<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">T</span>hree months had elapsed when Tom Connor turned up one day with a very
+long face. All his drilling had brought no result; he was at the end of
+his tether; he could see no possible chance of ever repaying the
+borrowed money, and so, said he, would my father take his interest in
+the drill in settlement of the debt?</p>
+
+<p>Very reluctantly my father consented&mdash;for what did he want with a
+one-third share in a core-drill?&mdash;whereupon Tom, the load of debt being
+off his mind, brightened up again in an instant&mdash;he was a most mercurial
+fellow&mdash;and forthwith he fell to begging my father&#8217;s consent to his
+making one more attempt&mdash;just one. He was sure of striking it this time,
+he had studied the formation carefully and he had selected a spot where
+the chances of disappointment were, as he declared, &#8220;next-to-nothing.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>My father knew Tom well enough to know that he had been just as sure
+twenty times before, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>but Tom was so eager and so plausible that at last
+he agreed that he should sink one more hole&mdash;but no more.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And mind you, Tom,&#8221; said he, &#8220;I won&#8217;t spend more than fifty dollars;
+that is the very utmost I can afford, and I believe I am only throwing
+that away. But I&#8217;ll spend fifty just to satisfy you&mdash;but that&#8217;s all,
+mind you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Fifty dollars!&#8221; exclaimed Tom. &#8220;Fifty! Bless you, that&#8217;ll be more than
+enough. Twenty ought to do it. I&#8217;m going to make your fortune for twenty
+dollars, Mr. Crawford, and glad of the chance. You&#8217;ve treated me
+&#8216;white,&#8217; and the more I can make for you the better I&#8217;ll be pleased.
+Inside of a week I&#8217;ll be coming back here with a lead-mine in my
+pocket&mdash;you see if I don&#8217;t.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;All right, Tom,&#8221; said my father, laughing, as he shook hands with him.
+&#8220;I shall be glad to have it, even if it is only a pocket edition. So,
+good-bye, old man, and good luck to you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>It was two days after this that my father at breakfast time turned to us
+and said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Boys, how would you like to take your ponies and go and see Tom Connor
+at work? There is not much to do on the ranch just now, and an outing of
+two or three days will do you good.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span></p><p>Needless to say, we jumped at the chance, and as soon as we could get
+off, away we went, delighted at the prospect of making an expedition
+into the mountains.</p>
+
+<p>The place where Tom was at work was thirty miles beyond Sulphide, a long
+ride, nearly all up hill, and it was not till towards sunset that we
+approached his camp. As we did so, a very surprising sight met our gaze:
+three men, close together, with their backs to us, down on their hands
+and knees, like Mahomedans saying their prayers.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What are they up to?&#8221; asked Joe. &#8220;Have they lost something?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>At this moment, my horse&#8217;s hoof striking a stone caused the three men to
+look up. One was Connor, one was his helper, and the other, to our
+surprise, was Yetmore.</p>
+
+<p>Connor sprang to his feet and ran towards us, crying:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What did I tell you, boys! What did I tell you! Get off your ponies,
+quick, and come and see!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He was wild with excitement.</p>
+
+<p>We slid from our horses, and joining the other two, went down on our
+knees beside them. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>Upon the ground before them lay the object of their
+worship: a &#8220;core&#8221; from the drill, neatly pieced together, about eight
+feet long and something less than an inch in diameter. Of this core,
+four feet or more at one end and about half a foot at the other was
+composed of some kind of stone, but in between, for a length of three
+feet and an inch or two, it was all smooth, shining lead-ore.</p>
+
+<p>Tom Connor had struck it, and no mistake!</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Tom,&#8221; said Yetmore, as we all rose to our feet again, &#8220;this <i>looks</i>
+like a pretty fair strike; but you&#8217;ve got to remember that we know
+nothing about the extent of the vein&mdash;one hole doesn&#8217;t prove much. It is
+three feet thick at this particular point, but it may be only three
+inches five feet away; and as to its length and breadth, why, that&#8217;s all
+pure speculation. All the same I&#8217;m ready to make a deal with you. I&#8217;ll
+buy your interest or I&#8217;ll sell you mine. What do you say?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What&#8217;s the use of that kind of talk?&#8221; growled Connor. &#8220;You know I
+haven&#8217;t a cent to my name. Besides, I haven&#8217;t any interest.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You&mdash;what!&mdash;you haven&#8217;t any interest!&#8221; cried the other. &#8220;What do you
+mean?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve sold it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;Sold it! Who to?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;To Mr. Crawford, two days ago.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, you are a&mdash;&mdash;&#8221; Yetmore began; but catching sight of Tom&#8217;s
+glowering face he stopped and substituted, &#8220;Well, I&#8217;m sorry to hear it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, I ain&#8217;t,&#8221; said Tom, shortly. &#8220;If Mr. Crawford makes a fortune out
+of it I&#8217;ll be mighty well pleased. He&#8217;s treated me &#8216;white,&#8217; <i>he</i> has.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>From the tone and manner of this remark it was easy to guess that Tom
+did not love Mr. Yetmore: he had found him a difficult partner to get
+along with, probably.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I certainly hope he will,&#8221; said Yetmore, smiling, &#8220;for if he does I
+shall. Sold it to Mr. Crawford, eh? So that accounts for you two boys
+being up here. Got here just in time, didn&#8217;t you? You&#8217;ll stay over
+to-morrow, of course, and see Tom uncover the vein?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Are you proposing to uncover it, Tom?&#8221; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes. It&#8217;s only four feet down; one shot will do it. You&#8217;ll stay too, I
+suppose, Mr. Yetmore?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Certainly,&#8221; replied the other. But as he said it, I saw a change come
+over his face&mdash;it was a leathery face, with a large, long nose. Some
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>idea had occurred to him I was sure, especially when, seeing that I was
+looking at him, he dropped his eyes, as though fearing they might betray
+him.</p>
+
+<p>Whatever the idea might be, however, I ceased to think of it when Tom
+suggested that it was getting late and that we had better adjourn to the
+cabin for supper.</p>
+
+<p>Taking our ponies over to the log stable, therefore, we gave them a good
+feed of oats, and soon afterwards were ourselves seated before a
+steaming hot meal of ham, bread and coffee; after which we spent an hour
+talking over the great strike, and then, crawling into the bunks, we
+very quickly fell asleep.</p>
+
+<p>Early next morning we walked about half a mile up the mountain to the
+scene of the strike, when, having first shoveled away two or three feet
+of loose stuff, Tom and his helper set to work, one holding the drill
+and the other plying the hammer, drilling a hole a little to one side of
+the spot whence the core had come.</p>
+
+<p>They were no more than well started when Yetmore, remarking that he had
+forgotten his tobacco, walked back to the cabin to get it&mdash;an action to
+which Joe and I, being interested in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>the drilling, paid little
+attention. It was only when Connor, turning to select a fresh drill,
+asked where he was, that we remembered how long he had been gone.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Gone back to the cabin, has he?&#8221; remarked Tom. &#8220;Well, he&#8217;s welcome to
+stay there as far as I&#8217;m concerned.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The work went on, until presently Tom declared that they had gone deep
+enough, and while we others cleared away the tools, Connor himself
+loaded and tamped the hole.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Now, get out of the way!&#8221; cried he; and while we ran off and hid behind
+convenient trees, Tom struck a match and lighted the fuse. The dull thud
+of an explosion shortly followed; but on walking back to the spot we
+were all greatly surprised to see that the rock had remained intact&mdash;it
+was as solid as ever.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, that beats all!&#8221; exclaimed Tom. &#8220;The thing has shot downward; it
+must be hollow underneath. We&#8217;ll have to put in some short holes and
+crack it up.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>It did not take long to put in three short holes, and these being
+charged and tamped, we once more took refuge behind the trees while Tom
+touched them off. This time there were <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span>three sharp explosions, a shower
+of fragments rattled through the branches above our heads, and on going
+to inspect the result we found that the rock had been so shattered that
+it was an easy matter to pry out the pieces with pick and crowbar&mdash;a
+task of which Joe and I did our share.</p>
+
+<p>At length, the hole being now about three feet deep, Joe, who was
+working with a crowbar, gave a mighty prod at a loose piece of rock,
+when, to the astonishment of himself and everybody else, the bottom of
+the hole fell through, and rock, crowbar and all, disappeared into the
+cavity beneath.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, what kind of a vein is it, anyhow?&#8221; cried Tom, going down upon
+his knees and peering into the darkness. &#8220;Blest if there isn&#8217;t a sort of
+cave down here. Knock out some more, boys, and let me get down. This is
+the queerest thing I&#8217;ve struck in a long time.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>We soon had the hole sufficiently enlarged, when, by means of a rope
+attached to a tree, Tom slid down into it, and lighting a candle, peered
+about.</p>
+
+<p>Poor old Tom! The change on his face would have been ludicrous had we
+not felt so sorry for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>him, when, looking up at us he said in lugubrious
+tones: &#8220;Done again, boys! Come down and see for yourselves.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>We quickly slid down the rope, when, our eyes having become accustomed
+to the light, Tom pointed out to us the extraordinary accident that had
+caused him to believe he had struck a three-foot vein of galena.</p>
+
+<p>Though there was no sign of such a thing on the surface, it was evident
+that the place in which we stood had at one time been a narrow,
+water-worn gully in the mountain-side. Ages ago there had been a
+landslide, filling the little gully with enormous boulders. That these
+rocks came from the vein of the Samson higher up the mountain was also
+pretty certain, for among them was one pear-shaped boulder of galena
+ore, standing upright, upon the apex of which rested the immense
+four-foot slab of stone through which Tom had bored his drill-hole. By a
+chance that was truly marvelous, the drill, after piercing the great
+slab, had struck the very point of the galena boulder and had gone
+through it from end to end, so that when the core came up it was no
+wonder that even Tom, experienced miner though he was, should have been
+deceived <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>into the belief that he had discovered a three-foot vein of
+lead-ore.</p>
+
+<p>As a matter of fact, there was no vein at all&mdash;just one single chunk of
+galena, not worth the trouble of getting it out. Connor&#8217;s lead-mine
+after all had turned out to be only a &#8220;pocket edition.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Tom&#8217;s disappointment was naturally extreme, but, as usual, his low
+spirits were only momentary. We had hardly climbed up out of the hole
+again when he suddenly burst out laughing.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ho, ho, ho!&#8221; he went, slapping his leg. &#8220;What will Yetmore say? I&#8217;m
+sorry, Phil, that I couldn&#8217;t keep my promise to your father, but I&#8217;ll
+own up that as far as Yetmore is concerned I&#8217;m rather glad. I don&#8217;t like
+the Honorable Simon, and that&#8217;s a fact. What&#8217;s he doing down at the
+cabin all this time, I wonder. Come! Let&#8217;s gather up the tools and go
+down there: there&#8217;s nothing more to be done here.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>On arriving at the cabin, Yetmore&#8217;s non-appearance was at once
+explained. Fastened to the table with a fork was a piece of paper, upon
+which was written in pencil, &#8220;Gone to look for the horses.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Of course, Joe and I at once ran over to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>the stable. It was empty; all
+three of the horses were gone.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Queer,&#8221; remarked Joe. &#8220;I feel sure I tied mine securely, but you see
+halters and all are gone.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; I replied. &#8220;And I should have relied upon our ponies&#8217; staying
+even if they had not been tied up; you know what good camp horses they
+are. Let&#8217;s go out and see which way they went.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>We made a cast all round the stable, and presently Joe called out, &#8220;Here
+they are, all three of them.&#8221; I thought he had found the horses, but it
+was only their tracks he had discovered, which with much difficulty we
+followed over the stony ground, until, after half an hour of careful
+trailing, they led us to the dusty road some distance below camp, where
+they were plainly visible.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Our ponies have followed Yetmore&#8217;s horse,&#8221; said Joe, after a brief
+inspection. &#8220;Do you see, Phil, they tread in his tracks all the time?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>For the tracks left by our own ponies were easily distinguishable from
+those of Yetmore&#8217;s big horse, our animals being unshod.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What puzzles me though, Joe,&#8221; said I, &#8220;is <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>that there are no marks of
+the halter-ropes trailing in the dust; and yet they went off with their
+halters.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s true. I don&#8217;t understand it. And there&#8217;s another thing, Phil:
+Yetmore hasn&#8217;t got on their trail yet, apparently; see, the marks of his
+boots don&#8217;t show anywhere. He must be wandering in the woods still.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I suppose so. Well, let us go on and see if they haven&#8217;t stopped to
+feed somewhere.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>We went on for half a mile when we came to a spot where the tracks
+puzzled us still more. For the first time a man&#8217;s footmarks appeared.
+That they were Yetmore&#8217;s I knew, for I had noticed the pattern of the
+nails in the soles of his boots as he had sat with his feet resting on a
+chair the night before. But where had he dropped from so suddenly? We
+could find no tracks on either side of the road&mdash;though certainly the
+ground was stony and would not take an impression easily&mdash;yet here they
+were all at once right on top of the horses&#8217; hoof-prints.</p>
+
+<p>Moreover, his appearance seemed to have been the signal for a new
+arrangement in the position of the horses, for our ponies had here taken
+the lead, while Yetmore&#8217;s horse came treading in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>their tracks.
+Moreover, again, twenty yards farther on, the horses had all broken into
+a gallop. What did it mean?</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, this is a puzzler!&#8221; exclaimed Joe, taking off his hat and
+rumpling his hair, as his habit was in such circumstances. &#8220;How do you
+figure it out, Phil?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why,&#8221; said I. &#8220;I&#8217;ll tell you what I think. Yetmore has caught sight of
+the horses strolling down the road and has followed them, keeping away
+from the road himself for fear they should see him and take alarm.
+Dodging through the scrub-oak and cutting across corners, he has come
+near enough to them to speak to his own horse; the horse has stopped and
+Yetmore has caught him. That was where his tracks first showed in the
+road. Then he has jumped upon his horse and galloped after our ponies,
+which appear to have bolted.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That sounds reasonable,&#8221; Joe assented; &#8220;and in that case he&#8217;ll head
+them and drive them back; so we may as well walk up to the cabin again
+and wait for him.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>To this I agreed, and we therefore turned round and retraced our steps.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s only one thing about this that I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>can&#8217;t understand,&#8221; remarked
+Joe, as we trudged up the hill, &#8220;and that is about the halters&mdash;why they
+leave no trail. That does beat me.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, that is certainly a queer thing; unless they managed to scrape
+them off against the trees before they took to the road. In that case,
+though, we ought to have found them; and anyhow it is hard to believe
+that all three horses should have done the same thing.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>We found Tom very busy packing up when we reached the cabin, and on our
+telling him the result of our horse-hunt he merely nodded, saying,
+&#8220;Well, they&#8217;ll be back soon, I suppose, and then I&#8217;ll ride down with
+you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why, are you going to quit, Tom?&#8221; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; he replied. &#8220;Your father limited me to one more hole, you
+remember, and if I know him he&#8217;ll stick to it; and as to working any
+longer for Yetmore, no thank you; I&#8217;ve had enough of it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>So saying, Tom, who had already cleaned and put away the tools, began
+tumbling his scanty wardrobe into a gunny-sack, and this being done, he
+turned to us and said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve got a pony out at pasture about a mile up the valley. I&#8217;ll go and
+bring him down; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>and while I&#8217;m gone you might as well pitch in and get
+dinner ready. You needn&#8217;t provide for Sandy Yates: he&#8217;s gone off already
+to see if he can get a job up at the Samson.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Sandy Yates was the helper.</p>
+
+<p>In an hour or less Tom was back and we were seated at dinner, without
+Yetmore, who had not yet turned up, when the conversation naturally fell
+upon the subject of the runaway horses. We related to Tom how we had
+trailed them through the woods down to the road, told him of the sudden
+appearance of Yetmore&#8217;s tracks, and how the horses had then set off at a
+run, followed by Yetmore.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But the thing I can<i>not</i> understand,&#8221; said Joe, harking back to the old
+subject, &#8220;is why the halter-ropes don&#8217;t show in the dust.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t they?&#8221; exclaimed Tom, suddenly sitting bolt upright and clapping
+his knife and fork down upon the table. &#8220;Don&#8217;t they? Just you wait a
+minute.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>With that he jumped up, strode out of the cabin, and went straight
+across to the stable. In two minutes he was back again, and standing in
+the doorway, with his hands in his pockets, he said:</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;Boys, I&#8217;ve got another surprise for you: Yetmore&#8217;s saddle&#8217;s gone!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;His saddle gone!&#8221; I exclaimed. &#8220;Is that why you went to the stable? Did
+you expect to find it gone?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s just what I did.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You did! Why?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Without replying directly, Tom came in, sat down, and leaning his elbows
+on the table, said, with a quiet chuckle, the meaning of which we could
+not understand:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Should you like to know, boys, what Yetmore did when he came down for
+his tobacco this morning? He went to the stable, saddled his horse,
+untied your two ponies and led them out. Then he mounted his horse and
+taking the halter-ropes in his hand he led your ponies by a roundabout
+way through the woods down to the road. After leading them at a walk
+along the road for half a mile he dismounted&mdash;that was where his tracks
+showed&mdash;and either took off the halters and threw them away, or what is
+more likely, tied them up around the ponies&#8217; necks so that they
+shouldn&#8217;t step on them. Then he mounted again and went off at a gallop,
+driving your ponies ahead of him.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span></p><p>As Tom concluded, he leaned back in his chair, bubbling with suppressed
+merriment, until the sight of our round-eyed wonder was too much for him
+and he burst into uproarious laughter, which was so infectious that we
+could not help joining in, though the cause of it was a perfect mystery
+to us both.</p>
+
+<p>At length, when he had laughed himself out, he leaned forward again, and
+rubbing the tears out of his eyes with the back of his hand, he said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Can&#8217;t you guess, boys, why Yetmore has gone off with your horses?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I shook my head. &#8220;No,&#8221; said I, &#8220;unless he wants to steal them, and he&#8217;d
+hardly do that, I suppose.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No; anyhow not in such a bare-faced way as that. What he&#8217;s after is to
+make you boys walk home.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Make us walk home!&#8221; cried Joe. &#8220;What should he want to do that for?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Tom grinned, and in reply, said: &#8220;Yetmore thought that as soon as we
+uncovered that fine three-foot vein of galena you would be for getting
+your ponies and galloping off home to tell Mr. Crawford of the great
+strike, and as he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>wanted to get there first he stole your
+ponies&mdash;temporarily&mdash;to make sure of doing it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But why should he want to get there first?&#8221; I asked. &#8220;You are talking
+in riddles, Tom, and we haven&#8217;t the key.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, I know you haven&#8217;t. You don&#8217;t know Yetmore. I do. He&#8217;s gone down to
+buy your father&#8217;s share in the claim for next-to-nothing before he hears
+of the strike!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The whole thing was plain and clear now; and the hilarity of our friend,
+Connor, was explained. He had no liking for Yetmore, as we have seen,
+and it delighted him immeasurably to think of that too astute gentleman
+rushing off to buy my father&#8217;s share of a valuable mine, and, if he
+succeeded, finding himself the owner of a worthless boulder instead.</p>
+
+<p>For myself, I was much puzzled how to act. Naturally, I felt pretty
+indignant at Yetmore&#8217;s action, and it seemed to me that if, in trying to
+cheat my father, he should only succeed in cheating himself, it would be
+no more than just that he should be allowed to do so. But at the same
+time I thought that my father ought to be informed of the state of the
+case as soon as possible&mdash;he, not I, was the one to judge&mdash;and so,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>turning to Connor, I asked him to lend me his pony so that I might set
+off at once.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What! And spoil the deal!&#8221; cried Connor; and at first he was disposed
+to refuse. But on consideration, he added: &#8220;Well, perhaps you&#8217;re right.
+Your father&#8217;s an honest man, if ever there was one, and I doubt if he&#8217;d
+let even a man like Yetmore cheat himself if he could help it; and so I
+suppose you must go and tell him the particulars as soon as you can. All
+I hope is that he will have made his deal before you get there. Yes, you
+can take the pony.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>But it was not necessary to borrow Connor&#8217;s steed after all, for when we
+stepped outside the cabin, there were our own ponies coming up the road.
+The halters were fastened up round their necks, and they showed evident
+signs of having been run hard some time during the morning. Presumably
+Yetmore had abandoned them somewhere on the road and they had walked
+leisurely back.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, boys,&#8221; said Connor, &#8220;we may as well all start together now; but
+as your ponies have had a good morning&#8217;s work already, we can&#8217;t expect
+to make the whole distance this evening. We&#8217;ll stop over night at
+Thornburg&#8217;s, twenty <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>miles down, and go on again first thing in the
+morning.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>This we did, and by ten o&#8217;clock we reached home, where the first person
+we encountered was my father.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, Tom,&#8221; he cried, as the miner slipped down from his horse. &#8220;So you
+made a strike, did you?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>At this Tom opened his eyes pretty widely. &#8220;How did you know?&#8221; he asked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I didn&#8217;t know,&#8221; my father replied, smiling, &#8220;but I guessed. Does it
+amount to much?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, no, I can&#8217;t say it does,&#8221; Tom replied, as he covered his mouth
+with his hand to hide the grin which would come to the surface.
+&#8220;Yetmore&#8217;s been here, I suppose?&#8221; he added, inquiringly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, he has,&#8221; answered my father, surprised in his turn. &#8220;Why do you
+ask?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, I just thought he might have, that&#8217;s all.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, he was here yesterday afternoon. I sold him my one-third share.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Did you?&#8221; asked Tom, eagerly. &#8220;I hope you got a good price.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, I made a very satisfactory bargain. I traded my share for his
+thirty acres here, so that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>now, at last, I own the whole of Crawford&#8217;s
+Basin, I&#8217;m glad to say.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Bully!&#8221; cried Tom, clapping his hands together with a report which made
+his pony shy. &#8220;That&#8217;s great! Tell us about it, Mr. Crawford.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why, Yetmore rode in yesterday afternoon, as I told you, on his way to
+town&mdash;he said. But I rather suspected the truth of his statement. He had
+come in a desperate hurry, for his horse was in a lather, and if he was
+in such haste to get to town, why did he waste time talking to me, as he
+did for twenty minutes? But when, just as he was starting off again, he
+turned back and asked me if I wanted to sell my share in the drill and
+claim, I knew that that was what he had come about, and I had a strong
+suspicion that he had heard of a strike of some sort and was trying to
+get the better of me. So when he asked what I wanted for my share, I
+said I would take his thirty acres, and in spite of his protestations
+that I was asking far too much, I stuck to it. The final result was that
+I rode on with him to town, where we exchanged deeds and the bargain was
+completed.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s great!&#8221; exclaimed Connor once more, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>rubbing his hands. &#8220;And now
+I&#8217;ll tell you our part of the story.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>When he had finished, my father stood thinking for a minute, and then
+said: &#8220;Well, the deal will have to stand. Yetmore believed we had a
+three-foot vein of galena, and it is perfectly evident that he meant to
+get my share out of me at a trifling price before I was aware of its
+value. It was a shabby trick. If he had dealt squarely with me, I would
+have offered to give him back his deed, but, as it is, I shan&#8217;t. The
+deal will have to stand.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Thus it was that my father became sole owner of Crawford&#8217;s Basin.</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">Lost In The Clouds</span></h3>
+
+<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">T</span>he fact that he had lost his little all in the core-boring venture did
+not trouble Tom Connor in the least; the money was gone, and as worrying
+about it would not bring it back, Tom decided not to worry. The same
+thing had happened to him many a time before, for his system of life was
+to work in the mines until he had accumulated a respectable sum, and
+then go off prospecting till such time as the imminence of starvation
+drove him back again to regular work.</p>
+
+<p>It was so in this case; and being known all over the district as a
+skilful miner, his specialty being timber-work, he very soon got a good
+job on the Pelican as boss timberman on a section of that important
+mine.</p>
+
+<p>One effect of Tom&#8217;s getting work on the Pelican was that he secured for
+Joe and me an order for lagging&mdash;small poles used in the mines to hold
+up the ore and waste&mdash;and our potato-crop being gathered and marketed,
+my father gave us <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>permission to go off and earn some extra money for
+ourselves by filling the order which Tom&#8217;s kindly thoughtfulness had
+secured for us.</p>
+
+<p>The place we had chosen as the scene of our operations was on the
+northern slope of Elkhorn Mountain, which lay next south of Mount
+Lincoln, and one bright morning in the late fall Joe and I packed our
+bedding and provisions into a wagon borrowed from my father and set out.</p>
+
+<p>We had chosen this spot, after making a preliminary survey for the
+purpose, partly because the growth of timber was&mdash;as it nearly always
+is&mdash;much thicker on the northern slopes of Elkhorn than on the south
+side of Lincoln, and also because, being a rather long haul, it had not
+yet been encroached upon by the timber-cutters of Sulphide.</p>
+
+<p>On a little branch creek of the stream which ran through Sulphide we
+selected a favorable spot and went to work. It was rather high up, and
+the country being steep and rocky, we had to make our camp about a mile
+below our working-ground, snaking out the poles as we cut them. This, of
+course, was a rather slow process, but it had its compensation in the
+fact that from the foot <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>of the mountain nearly all the way to Sulphide
+our course lay across the Second Mesa, which was fairly smooth going,
+and as it was down hill for the whole distance we could haul a very big
+load when we did start. In due time we filled our contract and received
+our pay, after which, by advice of Tom Connor, we branched out on
+another line of the same business.</p>
+
+<p>Being unable to get a second contract, and being, in fact, afraid to
+take one if we could get it on account of the lateness of the
+season&mdash;for the snow might come at any moment and prevent our carrying
+it out&mdash;we consulted Tom, who suggested that we put in the rest of the
+fine weather cutting big timbers, hauling them to town, and storing them
+on a vacant lot, or, what would be better, in somebody&#8217;s back yard.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;For,&#8221; said he, &#8220;though the Pelican and most of the other mines have
+their supplies for the winter on hand or contracted for, it is always
+likely they may want a few more stulls or other big timbers than they
+think. I&#8217;ll keep you in mind, and if I hear of any such I&#8217;ll try and
+make a deal for you, either for the whole stick or cut in lengths to
+order.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>As this seemed like good sense to us, we at <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>once went off to find a
+storage place, a quest in which we were successful at the first attempt.</p>
+
+<p>Among my father&#8217;s customers was the widow Appleby, who conducted a small
+grocery store on a side street in town. She was accustomed to buy her
+potatoes from us, and my father, knowing that she had a hard struggle to
+make both ends meet, had always been very easy with her in the matter of
+payment, giving her all the time she needed.</p>
+
+<p>This act of consideration had its effect, for, when we went to her and
+suggested that she rent us her back yard for storage purposes, she
+readily assented, and not only refused to take any rent, but gave us as
+well the use of an old stable which stood empty on the back of her lot.</p>
+
+<p>This was very convenient for us, for though a twenty-foot pole,
+measuring twelve inches at the butt is not the sort of thing that a
+thief would pick up and run away with, it was less likely that he would
+attempt it from an enclosed back yard than if the poles were stored in
+an open lot. Besides this, a stable rent-free for our mules, and a loft
+above it rent-free for ourselves to sleep in was a great accommodation.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span></p><p>Returning to the Elkhorn, therefore, we went to work in a new place, a
+place where some time previously a fire had swept through a strip of the
+woods, killing the trees, but leaving them standing, stark and bare, but
+still sound as nuts&mdash;just the thing we wanted. Our chief difficulty this
+time was in getting the felled timbers out from amidst their
+fellows&mdash;for the dead trees were very thick and the mountain-side very
+steep&mdash;but by taking great care we accomplished this without accident.
+The loading of these big &#8220;sticks&#8221; would have been an awkward task, too,
+had we not fortunately found a cut bank alongside of which we ran our
+wagon, and having snaked the logs into place upon the bank we skidded
+them across the gap into the wagon without much difficulty.</p>
+
+<p>We had made three loads, and the fine weather still holding, we had gone
+back for a fourth and last one, when, having got our logs in place on
+the cut bank all ready to load, Joe and I, after due consultation,
+decided that we would take a day off and climb up to the saddle which
+connected the two mountains. We had never been up there before, and we
+were curious to see what the country was like on the other side.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span></p><p>Knowing that it would be a long and hard climb, we started about
+sunrise, taking a rifle with us; not that we expected to use it, but
+because it is not good to be entirely defenseless in those wild,
+out-of-the-way places. Following at first our little creek, we went on
+up and up, taking it slowly, until presently the pines began to thin
+out, the weather-beaten trees, gnarled, twisted and stunted, becoming
+few and far between, and pretty soon we left even these behind and
+emerged upon the bare rocks above timber-line. Here, too, we left behind
+our little creek.</p>
+
+<p>For another thousand feet we scrambled up the rocks, clambering over
+great boulders, picking our way along the edges of little precipices,
+until at last we stood upon the summit of the saddle.</p>
+
+<p>To right and left were the two great peaks, still three thousand feet
+above us, but westward the view was clear. As far as we could see&mdash;and
+that, I expect, was near two hundred miles&mdash;were ranges and masses of
+mountains, some of them already capped with snow, a magnificent sight.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That is fine!&#8221; cried Joe, enthusiastically. &#8220;It&#8217;s well worth the
+trouble of the climb. I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>only wish we had a map so that we could tell
+which range is which.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, it&#8217;s a great sight,&#8221; said I. &#8220;And the view eastward is about as
+fine, I think. Look! That cloud of smoke, due east about ten miles away,
+comes from the smelters of San Remo, and that other smoke a little to
+the left of it is where the coal-mines are. There&#8217;s the ranch, too, that
+green spot in the mesa; you wouldn&#8217;t think it was nearly a mile square,
+would you?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s Sulphide down there, of course,&#8221; remarked Joe, pointing off
+towards the right. &#8220;But what are those other, smaller, clouds of smoke?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Those are three other little mining-camps, all tributary to the
+smelters at San Remo, and all producing refractory ores like the mines
+of Sulphide. My! Joe!&#8221; I exclaimed, as my thoughts reverted to Tom
+Connor and his late core-boring failure. &#8220;What a great thing a good vein
+of lead ore would be! Better than a gold mine!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I expect it would. Poor old Tom! He bears his disappointment pretty
+well, doesn&#8217;t he?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He certainly does. He says, now, that he&#8217;s going to stick to
+straightforward mining and leave prospecting alone; but he&#8217;s said that
+every <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>year for the past ten years at least, and if there&#8217;s anything
+certain about Tom it is that when spring comes and he finds himself once
+more with money in his pocket, he&#8217;ll be off again hunting for his
+lead-mine.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Sure to. Well, Phil, let&#8217;s sit down somewhere and eat our lunch. We
+mustn&#8217;t stay here too long.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;All right. Here&#8217;s a good place behind this big rock. It will shelter us
+from the east wind, which has a decided edge to it up here.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>For half an hour we sat comfortably in the sun eating our lunch, all
+around us space and silence, when Joe, rising to his feet, gave vent to
+a soft whistle.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Phil,&#8221; said he, &#8220;we must be off. No time to waste. Look eastward.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I jumped up. A wonderful change had taken place. The view of the plains
+was completely cut off by masses of soft cloud, which, coming from the
+east, struck the mountain-side about two thousand feet below us and were
+swiftly and softly drifting up to where we stood.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, we must be off,&#8221; said I. &#8220;It won&#8217;t do to be caught up here in the
+clouds: it would be dangerous getting down over the rocks. And <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span>besides
+that, it might turn cold and come on to snow. Let us be off at once.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>It was fortunate we did so, for, though we traveled as fast as we dared,
+the cloud, coming at first in thin whisps and then in dense masses,
+enveloped us before we reached timber-line, and the difficulty we
+experienced in covering the small intervening space showed us how risky
+it would have been had the cloud caught us while we were still on the
+summit of the ridge.</p>
+
+<p>As it was, we lost our bearings immediately, for the chilly mist filled
+all the spaces between the trees, so that we could not see more than
+twenty yards in any direction. As to our proper course, we could tell
+nothing about it, so that the only thing left for us to do was to keep
+on going down hill. We expected every moment to see or hear our little
+creek, but we must have missed it somehow, for, though we ought to have
+reached it long before, we had been picking our way over loose rocks and
+fallen trees for two hours before we came upon a stream&mdash;whether the
+right or the wrong one we could not tell. Right or wrong, however, we
+were glad to see it, for by following it we should sooner or later reach
+the foot of the mountain and get below the cloud.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span></p><p>But to follow it was by no means easy: the country was so unexpectedly
+rough&mdash;a fact which convinced us that we had struck the wrong creek. As
+we progressed, we presently found ourselves upon the edge of a little
+ca&ntilde;on which, being too steep to descend, obliged us to diverge to the
+left, and not only so, but compelled us to go up hill to get around it,
+which did not suit us at all.</p>
+
+<p>After a time, however, we began to go down once more, but though we kept
+edging to the right we could not find our creek again. The fog, too, had
+become more dense than ever, and whether our faces were turned north,
+south or east we had no idea.</p>
+
+<p>We were going on side by side, when suddenly we were astonished to hear
+a dog bark, somewhere close by; but though we shouted and whistled there
+was no reply.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It must be a prospector&#8217;s dog,&#8221; said Joe, &#8220;and the man himself must be
+underground and can&#8217;t hear us.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Perhaps that&#8217;s it,&#8221; I replied. &#8220;Well, let&#8217;s take the direction of the
+sound&mdash;if we can. It seemed to me to be that way,&#8221; pointing with my
+hand. &#8220;I wish the dog would bark again.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span></p><p>The dog, however, did not bark again, but instead there happened another
+surprising thing. We were walking near together, carefully picking our
+way, when suddenly a big raven, coming from we knew not where, flew
+between us, so close that we felt the flap of his wings and heard their
+soft <i>fluff-fluff</i> in the moisture-laden air, and disappeared again into
+the fog before us with a single croak.</p>
+
+<p>It was rather startling, but beyond that we thought nothing of it, and
+on we went again, until Joe stopped short, exclaiming:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Phil, I smell smoke!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I stopped, too, and gave a sniff. &#8220;So do I,&#8221; I said; &#8220;and there&#8217;s
+something queer about it. It isn&#8217;t plain wood-smoke. What is it?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Sulphur,&#8221; replied Joe.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Sulphur! So it is. What can any one be burning sulphur up here for?
+Anyhow, sulphur or no sulphur, some one must have lighted the fire, so
+let us follow the smoke.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>We had not gone far when we perceived the light of a fire glowing redly
+through the fog, and hurried on, expecting to find some man beside it.</p>
+
+<p>But not only was there nobody about, which <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>was surprising enough, but
+the fire itself was something to arouse our curiosity. Beneath a large,
+flat stone, supported at the corners by four other stones, was a hot bed
+of &#8220;coals,&#8221; while upon the stone itself was spread a thin layer of black
+sand. It was from these grains of sand, apparently, that the smell of
+sulphur came; though what they were or why they should be there we could
+not guess.</p>
+
+<p>We were standing there, wondering, when, suddenly, close behind us, the
+dog barked again. Round we whirled. There was no dog there! Instead,
+perched upon the stump of a dead tree, sat a big black raven, who eyed
+us as though enjoying our bewilderment. Bewildered we certainly were,
+and still more so when the bird, after staring us out of countenance for
+a few seconds, cocked his head on one side and said in a hoarse voice:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Gim&#8217;me a chew of tobacco!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>And then, throwing back his head, he produced such a perfect imitation
+of the howl of a coyote, that a real coyote, somewhere up on the
+mountain, howled in reply.</p>
+
+<p>All this&mdash;the talking raven, the mysterious fire, the encompassing
+shroud of fog&mdash;made us <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>wonder whether we were awake or asleep, when we
+were still more startled by a voice behind us saying, genially:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Good-evening, boys.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Round we whirled once more, to find standing beside us a man, a tall,
+bony, bearded man, about fifty years old, carrying in his hand a long,
+old-fashioned muzzle-loading rifle. He was dressed all in buckskin,
+while the moccasins on his feet explained how it was he had been able to
+slip up on us so silently.</p>
+
+<p>Naturally, we were somewhat taken aback by the sudden appearance of this
+wild-looking specimen of humanity, when, thinking that he had alarmed
+us, perhaps, the man asked, pleasantly: &#8220;Lost, boys?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; I replied, reassured by his kindly manner. &#8220;We have been up to
+the saddle and got caught in the clouds. We don&#8217;t know where we are. We
+are trying to get back to our camp on a branch of Sulphide creek.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah! You are the two boys I&#8217;ve seen cutting timbers down there, are you?
+Well, your troubles are over: I can put you on the road to your camp in
+an hour or so; I know every foot of these mountains.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;But come in,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;I suppose you are hungry, and a little
+something to eat won&#8217;t be amiss.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>When the man said, &#8220;Come in,&#8221; we naturally glanced about us to see where
+his house was, but none being visible we concluded it must be some
+distance off in the mist. In this, however, we were mistaken. The side
+of the mountain just here was covered with enormous rocks&mdash;a whole cliff
+must have tumbled down at once&mdash;and between two of these our guide led
+the way. In a few steps the passage widened out, when we saw before us,
+neatly fitted in between three of these immense blocks of stone&mdash;one on
+either side and one behind&mdash;a little log cabin, with chimney, door and
+window all complete; while just to one side was another, a smaller one,
+which was doubtless a storehouse. Past his front door ran a small stream
+of water which evidently fell from a cliff near by, for, though we could
+not see the waterfall we could hear it plainly enough.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well!&#8221; I exclaimed. &#8220;Whoever would have thought there was a house in
+here?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No one, I expect,&#8221; replied the man. &#8220;At any rate, with one exception,
+you are the first <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>strangers to cross the threshold; and yet I have
+lived here a good many years, too. Come in and make yourselves at home.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Though we wondered greatly who our host could be and were burning to ask
+him his name, there was something in his manner which warned us to hold
+our tongues. But whatever his name might be, there was little doubt
+about his occupation. He was evidently a mighty hunter, for, covering
+the walls, the floor and his sleeping-place were skins innumerable,
+including foxes, wolves and bears, some of the last-named being of
+remarkable size; while one magnificent elk-head and several heads of
+mountain-sheep adorned the space over his fireplace.</p>
+
+<p>Our host having lighted a fire, was busying himself preparing a simple
+meal for us, when there came a gentle cough from the direction of the
+doorway, and there on the threshold stood the raven as though waiting
+for permission to enter.</p>
+
+<p>The man turned, and seeing the bird standing there with its head on one
+side, said, laughingly: &#8220;Ah, Sox, is that you? Come in, old fellow, and
+be introduced. These gentlemen are friends of mine. Say &#8216;Good-morning.&#8217;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><a name="illo078" id="illo078"></a></p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 307px;">
+<img src="images/i078.jpg" width="307" class="jpg ispace" height="500" alt="&#8220;&#8216;AH, SOX, IS THAT YOU?&#8217;&#8221;" title="" />
+<span class="caption">&#8220;&#8216;AH, SOX, IS THAT YOU?&#8217;&#8221;</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;Good-morning,&#8221; repeated the raven; and having thus displayed his good
+manners, he half-opened his wings and danced a solemn jig up and down
+the floor, finally throwing back his head and laughing so heartily that
+we could not help joining in.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Clever fellow, isn&#8217;t he?&#8221; said the man. &#8220;His proper name is Socrates,
+though I call him Sox, for short. He is supposed to be getting on for a
+hundred years old, though as far as I can see he is just as young as he
+was when I first got him, twenty years ago. Here,&#8221;&mdash;handing us each a
+piece of meat&mdash;&#8220;give him these and he will accept you as friends for
+life.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Whether he accepted us as friends remained to be seen, but he certainly
+accepted our offerings, bolting each piece at a single gulp; after which
+he hopped up on to a peg driven into the wall, evidently his own private
+perch, and announced in a self-satisfied tone: &#8220;First in war, first in
+peace,&#8221; ending up with a modest cough, as though he would have us
+believe that he knew the rest well enough but was not going to trouble
+us with any such threadbare quotation.</p>
+
+<p>This solemn display of learning set us laughing again, upon which
+Socrates, seemingly <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span>offended, sank his head between his shoulders and
+pretended to go to sleep; though, that it was only pretense was evident,
+for, do what he would, he could not refrain from occasionally opening
+one eye to see what was going on.</p>
+
+<p>Having presently finished the meal provided for us, we suggested that we
+ought to be moving on, so, bidding adieu to Socrates, and receiving no
+response from that sulky philosopher, we followed our host into the
+open.</p>
+
+<p>That he had not exaggerated when he said he knew every foot of these
+mountains, seemed to be borne out by the facts. He went straight away,
+regardless of the fog, up hill and down, without an instant&#8217;s
+hesitation, we trotting at his heels, until, in about an hour we found
+ourselves once more below the clouds, and could see not far away our two
+mules quietly feeding.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Now,&#8221; said our guide, &#8220;I&#8217;ll leave you. If ever you come my way again I
+shall be glad to see you; though I expect it would puzzle you to find my
+dwelling unless you should come upon it by accident. Good-bye.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Good-bye,&#8221; we repeated, &#8220;and many thanks for your kindness. If we can
+do anything in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>return at any time we shall be glad of the chance. We
+live in Crawford&#8217;s Basin.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, do you?&#8221; said our friend. &#8220;You are Mr. Crawford&#8217;s boys, then, are
+you? Well, many thanks. I&#8217;ll remember. And now, good-bye to you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>With that, this strange man turned round and walked up into the clouds
+again. In two minutes he had vanished.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, that was a queer adventure,&#8221; remarked Joe. &#8220;I wonder who he is,
+and why he chooses to live all by himself like that.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes. It&#8217;s a miserable sort of existence for such a man; for he seems
+like a sociable, good-hearted fellow. It isn&#8217;t every one, for instance,
+who would walk three or four miles over these rough mountains just to
+help a couple of boys, whom he never saw before and may never see again.
+I wish we could make him some return.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, perhaps we may, some day,&#8221; Joe replied.</p>
+
+<p>Whether we did or not will be seen later.</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">What We Found in the Pool</span></h3>
+
+<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">T</span>hough we got back to camp pretty late, we set to work to load our poles
+at once, fearing that there was going to be a fall of snow which might
+prevent our getting them to town. This turned out to be a wise
+precaution, for when we started in the morning the snow was already
+coming down, and though it did not extend as far as Sulphide, the
+mountains were covered a foot deep before night.</p>
+
+<p>This fall of snow proved to be much to our advantage, for one of the
+timber contractors, fearing he might not be able to fill his order,
+bought our &#8220;sticks&#8221; from us, to be delivered, cut into certain lengths,
+at the Senator mine.</p>
+
+<p>This occupied us several days, when, having delivered our last load, we
+thanked Mrs. Appleby for the use of her back yard&mdash;the only payment she
+would accept&mdash;and then set off home, where we proudly displayed to my
+father and mother the money we had earned and related how we <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>had earned
+it; including, of course, a description of our meeting with the wild man
+of the woods.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And didn&#8217;t he tell you who he was?&#8221; asked my father, when we had
+finished.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No,&#8221; I replied; &#8220;we were afraid to ask him, and he didn&#8217;t volunteer any
+information.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And you didn&#8217;t guess who he was?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No. Why should we? Who is he?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why, Peter the Hermit, of course. I should have thought the presence of
+the raven would have enlightened you: he is always described as going
+about in company with a raven.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;So he is. I&#8217;d forgotten that. But, on the other hand he is always
+described also as being half crazy, and certainly there was no sign of
+such a thing about him that we could see. Was there, Joe?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No. Nobody could have acted more sensibly. Who is he, Mr. Crawford? And
+why does he live all by himself like that?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I know nothing about him beyond common report. I suppose his name is
+Peter&mdash;though it may not be&mdash;and because he chooses to lead a secluded
+life, some genius has dubbed him &#8216;Peter the Hermit&#8217;; though who he
+really is, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>or why he lives all alone, or where he comes from, I can&#8217;t
+say. Some people say he is crazy, and some people say he is an escaped
+criminal&mdash;but then people will say anything, particularly when they know
+nothing about it. Judging from the reports of the two or three men who
+have met him, however, he appears to be quite inoffensive, and evidently
+he is a friendly-disposed fellow from your description of him. If you
+should come across him again you might invite him to come down and see
+us. I don&#8217;t suppose he will, but you might ask him, anyhow.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;All right,&#8221; said I. &#8220;We will if we get the chance.&#8221; And so the matter
+ended.</p>
+
+<p>It was just as well that we returned to the ranch when we did, for we
+found plenty of work ready to our hands, the first thing being the
+hauling of fire-wood for the year. To procure this, it was not necessary
+for us to go to the mountains: our supply was much nearer to hand. The
+whole region round about us had been at some remote period the scene of
+vigorous volcanic action. Both the First and Second Mesas were formed by
+a series of lava-flows which had come down from Mount Lincoln, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span>and
+ending abruptly about eight miles from the mountains, had built up the
+cliff which bounded the First Mesa on its eastern side. Then, later, but
+still in a remote age, a great strip of this lava-bed, a mile wide and
+ten or twelve miles long, north and south, had broken away and subsided
+from the general level, forming what the geologists call, I believe, a
+&#8220;fault,&#8221; thus causing the &#8220;step-up&#8221; to the Second Mesa. The Second Mesa,
+because the lava had been hotter perhaps, was distinguished from the
+lower level by the presence of a number of little hills&mdash;&#8220;bubbles,&#8221; they
+were called, locally, and solidified bubbles of hot lava perhaps they
+were. They were all sorts of sizes, from fifty to four hundred feet high
+and from a hundred yards to half a mile in diameter. Viewed from a
+distance, they looked smooth and even, like inverted bowls, though when
+you came near them you found that their sides were rough and broken. I
+had been to the top of a good many of them, and all of those I had
+explored I had found to be depressed in the centre like little craters.
+From some of them tiny streams of water ran down, helping to swell the
+volume of our creek.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p><p>Most of these so-called &#8220;bubbles,&#8221; especially the larger ones, were well
+covered with pine-trees, and as there were three or four of them within
+easy reach of the ranch, it was here that we used to get our fire-wood.</p>
+
+<p>There was a good week&#8217;s work in this, and after it was finished there
+was more or less repairing of fences to be done, as there always is in
+the fall, and the usual mending of sheds, stables and corrals.</p>
+
+<p>The weather by this time had turned cold, and &#8220;the bottomless forty
+rods&#8221; having been frozen solid enough to bear a load, Joe and I were
+next put to work hauling oats down to the livery stable men in San Remo,
+as well as up to Sulphide.</p>
+
+<p>Before this task was accomplished the winter had set in in earnest. We
+had had one or two falls of snow, though in our sheltered Basin the heat
+of the sun was still sufficient to clear off most of it again, and the
+frost had been sharp enough to freeze up our creek at its sources, so
+that our little waterfall was now converted into a motionless icicle.
+Fortunately, we were not dependent upon the creek for the household
+supply of water: we had one pump which never <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>failed in the back kitchen
+and another one down by the stables.</p>
+
+<p>The creek having ceased to run, the surface of the pool was no longer
+agitated by the water pouring into it, and very soon it was solidly
+frozen over with a sheet of ice twelve inches thick, when, according to
+our yearly custom, we proceeded to cut this ice and stow it away in the
+ice-house; having previously been up to the sawmill near Sulphide and
+brought away, for packing purposes, several wagon-loads of sawdust,
+which the sawmill men readily gave us for nothing, being glad to have it
+hauled out of their way. We had taken the opportunity to do this when we
+took our loads of oats up to Sulphide, thus utilizing the empty wagons
+on the return trip.</p>
+
+<p>The pool, as I have said, measured about a hundred feet each way, though
+on account of its shallowness around the edges we could only cut ice
+over a surface about fifty feet square. Being frozen a foot thick,
+however, this gave us an ample supply for all our needs.</p>
+
+<p>The labor of cutting, hauling and housing the ice fell to Joe and me, my
+father having generally plenty of other work to do. He had taken in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span>a
+number of young cattle for a neighboring cattleman for the winter, and
+having sold him the bulk of our hay crop and at the same time undertaken
+to feed the stock, this daily duty alone took up a large part of his
+time. Besides this, &#8220;the forty rods&#8221; having become passable, the
+freighters and others now came our way instead of taking the longer
+hill-road, and their frequent demands for a sack, or a load, of oats,
+and now and then for hay or potatoes, added to the work of
+stock-feeding, kept my father pretty well occupied.</p>
+
+<p>Joe and I, therefore, went to work by ourselves, beginning operations on
+that part of the pool nearest the point where the water used to pour in.
+We had taken out ten or a dozen loads of beautiful, clear ice, when, one
+day, Yetmore, who was riding down to San Remo, seeing us at work,
+stopped to watch us.</p>
+
+<p>He was a queer fellow. Though he must have been perfectly well aware
+that we distrusted him; and though, after the late affair of the
+lead-boulder&mdash;a miscarriage of his schemes which was doubtless extremely
+galling to him&mdash;one would think he would have rather avoided us than
+not, he appeared to feel no embarrassment whatever, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>but with a greeting
+of well-simulated cordiality he dismounted and walked over to the pool
+to see what we were doing. Perhaps&mdash;and this, I think, is probably the
+right explanation&mdash;if he did entertain the idea of some day &#8220;getting
+even&#8221; with us, he had decided to postpone any such attempt until he saw
+an opportunity of doing so at a profit.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Fine lot of ice,&#8221; he remarked, after standing for a moment watching Joe
+as he plied the saw. &#8220;Does this creek always freeze up like this?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; I replied. &#8220;It heads in Mount Lincoln, and is made up of a number
+of small streams which always freeze up about the first of November.
+That reduces the flow to about one-third its usual size; and when the
+little streams which come down from three or four of the &#8216;bubbles&#8217;
+freeze up too, the creek stops entirely; which makes it mighty
+convenient for us to cut ice, as you see.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I see. Is the pool the same depth all over?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No,&#8221; I answered. &#8220;Just here, under the fall, it is deepest, but round
+the edges it is so shallow that we can&#8217;t take a stroke with the saw, the
+sand comes so close up to the ice. In fact, in some places, the ice
+rests right upon the sand.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;How deep is it here?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Four or five feet, I think. Try it, Joe.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Joe, who had just laid down the saw and had taken up the long ice-hook
+we used for drawing the blocks of ice within reach, lowered the hook,
+point downward, into the water. Then, pulling it out again, he stood it
+up beside him, finding that the wet mark on the staff came up to his
+chin.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Five feet and three or four inches,&#8221; said he.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Is the bottom solid or sandy?&#8221; asked Yetmore.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I didn&#8217;t notice. I&#8217;ll try it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>With that Joe lowered the pole once more.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Seems solid,&#8221; he remarked, giving two or three hard prods. But he had
+scarcely said so, when, to our surprise, several bits of rough ice about
+as big as my hand bobbed up from the bottom.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Hallo!&#8221; exclaimed Yetmore. &#8220;Ground ice!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What&#8217;s ground ice?&#8221; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why, ice formed at the bottom of the pool. It is not uncommon, I
+believe, though I don&#8217;t remember to have seen any before. Pretty dirty
+stuff, isn&#8217;t it? Must be a sandy bottom.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>So saying, he stooped down, and picking up <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>the only bit of ice which
+happened to be within reach, he examined its under side. As he did so, I
+saw him give a little start, as though there were something about it to
+cause him surprise, but just as I reached out my hand to ask him to let
+me see it, he threw it back into the water out of reach&mdash;an action which
+struck me as being hardly polite.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I must be off,&#8221; said he, in apparent haste, &#8220;so, good-bye. Hope you
+will get your crop in before it snows. Looks threatening to me; you&#8217;ll
+have to hurry, I think.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>This prediction seemed to me rather absurd, with the thermometer at zero
+and the sky as clear as crystal; but Yetmore was an indoor man and could
+not be expected to judge as can one whose daily work depends so much
+upon what the weather is doing or is going to do. It did not occur to me
+then&mdash;though it did later&mdash;that he only wanted us to get to work again
+at once, and so divert our minds from the subject of the ground ice.</p>
+
+<p>As I made no comment on his remark, Yetmore walked away, remounted his
+horse and rode off; while Joe and I went briskly to work again.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span></p><p>We had been at it some time, when Joe stopped sawing, and straightening
+up, said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s queer about those bits of ground ice, Phil. Do you notice how they
+all float clean side up? Wait a bit and I&#8217;ll show you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Taking the ice-hook, he turned over one of the bits with its point,
+showing its soiled side, but the moment he released it, the bit of ice
+&#8220;turned turtle&#8221; again.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Do you see?&#8221; said he. &#8220;The sand acts like ballast. It must be heavy
+stuff.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; said I. &#8220;Hook a bit of it out and let&#8217;s look at it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>This was soon done, when, on examining it, we found the under side to be
+crusted with very black sand, which, whatever might be its nature, was
+evidently heavy enough to upset the balance of a small fragment of ice.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What is it made of, I wonder?&#8221; said Joe.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know,&#8221; I replied, &#8220;but perhaps it is that black sand which the
+prospectors are always complaining of as getting in their way when they
+are panning for gold.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s what it is, Phil, I expect,&#8221; cried Joe. &#8220;And what&#8217;s more, that&#8217;s
+what Yetmore thought, too, or else why should he throw that bit of ice
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>back into the water so quickly when you held out your hand for it? He
+didn&#8217;t want you to see it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It does look like it,&#8221; I assented. &#8220;Poke up a few more, Joe, and we
+will take them home and show them to my father: perhaps he&#8217;ll know what
+the stuff is.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Joe took the ice-hook and prodded about on the bottom, every prod
+bringing up one or two bits of ice, each one as it bobbed to the surface
+showing its sandy side for a moment and then turning over, clean side
+up. Drawing these to the edge of the ice, we picked them out, laying
+them on a gunny-sack we had with us, and when, towards sunset, we had
+carried home and housed our last load, and had stabled and fed the
+mules, we took our scraps over to the blacksmith-shop, where the tinkle
+of a hammer proclaimed that my father was at work doing some mending of
+something.</p>
+
+<p>He was much interested in hearing of the ground ice and of the way it
+brought up the black sand with it, and still more so in our description
+of Yetmore&#8217;s action.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Let me look at it,&#8221; said he; and taking one of our specimens, he
+stepped to the door to examine <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span>it, the light in the shop being too dim.
+He came back smiling.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Queer fellow, Yetmore!&#8221; said he. &#8220;One would think that the lesson of
+the lead-boulder might have taught him that a man may sometimes be too
+crafty. I think this is likely to prove another case of the same kind. I
+believe he has made a genuine discovery here&mdash;though what it may lead to
+there is no telling&mdash;and if he had had the sense to let you look at that
+piece of dirty ice, instead of throwing it back into the water, thus
+arousing your curiosity, he would probably have kept his discovery to
+himself. As it is, he is likely to have Tom Connor interfering with him
+again&mdash;that is to say, if this sand is what I think it is. I don&#8217;t think
+it is the &#8216;black sand&#8217; of the prospectors&mdash;it is too shiny, and it has a
+bluish tinge besides&mdash;I think it is something of far more value. We&#8217;ll
+soon find out. Give me that piece of an iron pot, Phil; it will do to
+melt the ice in.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Having broken up some of our ice into small pieces, we placed it in a
+large fragment of a broken iron pot, and this being set upon the forge,
+Joe took the bellows-handle and soon had the fire roaring under it. It
+did not take long <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>to melt the ice, when, pouring off the water, we
+added some more, repeating the process until there was no ice left. The
+last of the water being then poured away, there remained nothing but
+about a spoonful of very fine, black, shiny sand.</p>
+
+<p>The receptacle was once more placed upon the fire, and while my father
+kept the contents stirred up with a stick, Joe seized the bellows-handle
+again and pumped away. Presently he began to cough.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What&#8217;s the matter, Joe?&#8221; asked my father, laughing.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Sulphur!&#8221; gasped Joe.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Sulphur!&#8221; cried I. &#8220;I don&#8217;t smell any sulphur.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Come over here, then, and blow the bellows,&#8221; replied Joe.</p>
+
+<p>I took his place, but no sooner had I done so than I, too, began to
+cough. The smell of sulphur evidently came from our spoonful of sand,
+and as I was standing between the door and the window the draft blew the
+fumes straight into my face. On discovering this, I pulled the
+bellows-handle over to one side, when I was no more troubled.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span></p><p>The iron pot, being set right down on the &#8220;duck&#8217;s nest&#8221; and heaped all
+around with glowing coals, had become red-hot, when my father, peering
+into it, held up his hand.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;ll do, Phil. That&#8217;s enough,&#8221; he cried. &#8220;Give me the tongs, Joe.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>My father removed the melting-pot, and making a hole with his heel in
+the sandy floor of the shop, he poured the contents into it.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Lead!&#8221; we both cried, with one voice.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, lead,&#8221; my father replied. &#8220;Galena ore, ground fine by the action
+of water.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Do you mean,&#8221; I asked, &#8220;that there is a lead-mine in the bottom of the
+pool?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, no. But there is a vein of galena, size and value unknown,
+somewhere up on Lincoln Mountain. The fine black sand sticking to the
+ground ice was brought down by our stream, being reduced to powder on
+the way, and deposited in the pool, where its weight has kept it from
+being washed out again.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I see. And do you suppose Yetmore recognized the sand as galena ore?
+Would he be likely to know it in the form of sand?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I expect so. He&#8217;s a sharp fellow enough. He must have seen pulverized
+samples of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>galena many a time in the assayers&#8217; offices. I&#8217;ve seen them
+myself: that was what gave me my clue.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And what do you suppose he&#8217;ll do?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He is pretty certain, I think, to try to get hold of some of the stuff,
+so that he may test it and make sure; though how he will go about it
+there&#8217;s no telling. It will be interesting to see how he manages it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And what shall you do, father? Go prospecting?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>My father laughed, knowing that this was a joke on my part; for I was
+well aware that he would not think of such a thing.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Not for us, Phil,&#8221; he answered. &#8220;We have our mine right here. Raising
+oats and potatoes may be a slow way of getting rich, but it is a good
+bit surer than prospecting. No, we&#8217;ll tell Tom Connor about it and let
+him go prospecting if he likes. You shall go up to Sulphide the first
+Saturday after the ice-cutting is finished and give him our information.
+There&#8217;s no hurry about it: he can&#8217;t go prospecting while the mountains
+are all under snow. Come along in to supper now. You&#8217;ve fed the mules, I
+suppose.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p><p>It was a snapping cold night that night, and about half-past eight I
+went into the kitchen to look at the thermometer which hung outside the
+door. As I came back, I happened to glance out of the west window, when,
+to my surprise, I thought I saw a glimmer of light up by the pool.
+Stepping quickly into the house again, I went to the front door and
+looked out. Yes, there was a light up there!</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Father,&#8221; I called out, &#8220;there&#8217;s somebody up at the pool with a light.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>My father sprang out of his chair. &#8220;Is there?&#8221; he cried. &#8220;Then it&#8217;s
+Yetmore, up to some of his tricks. Get into your coats, boys, and let&#8217;s
+go and see what he&#8217;s about.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>As we went out I took down the unlighted stable-lantern and carried it
+with me in case we might need it, and shutting the door softly behind
+me, ran after the others. We had not covered half the distance to the
+pool, however, when the light up there suddenly went out, and a minute
+later we heard the sound of galloping hoofs, muffled by the thin carpet
+of snow, going off in the direction of Sulphide. Our visitor, whoever he
+was, had departed.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;Well, come on, anyhow,&#8221; said my father. &#8220;Let us see what he was doing.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>As the thermometer was then standing at three degrees below zero, we
+knew that the sheet of clear water we had left in the afternoon should
+have been solidly frozen over again by this time. What was our surprise,
+therefore, to find that such was not the case: there was only a thin
+film of ice; it was but just beginning to form.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That is easily explained,&#8221; remarked my father. &#8220;The ice did form, but
+some one has chopped it out and thrown it to one side there. See?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; replied Joe, &#8220;and then he took the ice-hook, which I know I left
+standing upright against the rocks, and poked up the ground ice. See,
+there are several bits floating about, and I remember quite well that we
+cleared out every one of them this afternoon. Didn&#8217;t we, Phil?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; said I, &#8220;I&#8217;m sure we did, because I remember that those two or
+three bits that had no sand in them we threw into that corner instead of
+pitching them into the water again. I suppose it&#8217;s Yetmore, father.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;Oh, not a doubt of it. Did he leave any tracks?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>By the light of the lantern we searched about, and though there were no
+tracks to be seen on the smooth ice, there were plenty in the snow below
+the pool. They were the foot-prints of a smallish man, for his tracks,
+in spite of his wearing over-shoes, were not so big as the prints made
+by Joe&#8217;s boots&mdash;though, as Joe himself remarked, that was not much to go
+by, he being a six-footer with feet to match, &#8220;and a trifle over,&#8221; as
+his friends sometimes considerately assured him.</p>
+
+<p>Following these foot-prints, we were led to the south gate, where, it
+was easy to see, a horse had been standing for some time tied to the
+gate-post.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, he&#8217;s got off with his samples all right,&#8221; remarked my father.
+&#8220;He&#8217;s a smart fellow, and enterprising, too. He would deserve to win, if
+only he were not so fond of taking the crooked way of doing things. Come
+along. Let&#8217;s get back to the house. There&#8217;s nothing more to be done
+about it at present.&#8221;</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">Long John Butterfield</span></h3>
+
+<p style="float: left; font-size: 100%; line-height: 80%; margin-top: 0;">&#8220;</p><p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">B</span>oys,&#8221; said my father next morning, &#8220;I&#8217;ve been thinking over this
+discovery of ours. It won&#8217;t do to wait till you&#8217;ve finished the
+ice-cutting to notify Tom Connor. He has been a good friend to us, and I
+feel that we owe him some return for enabling me to get this piece of
+land from Yetmore, even though it was, in a manner, accidental; and as
+Tom is sure to go off prospecting in the spring, whether or no, we may
+as well give him the chance&mdash;if he wants it&mdash;to go hunting for this
+supposed vein of galena.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s pretty sure to want to,&#8221; said I.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, I think he is. And as Yetmore will certainly find out the nature
+of the black sand, and will be sending out a prospector or two himself
+as soon as the snow clears off, we must at least give Tom an equal
+chance. So, instead of waiting for you to finish cutting the ice, I&#8217;ll
+write him a letter at once, telling him all about it, and send it up by
+this morning&#8217;s coach.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span></p><p>One of the advantages to us of the frosty weather was that the mail
+coach between San Remo and Sulphide came our way instead of taking the
+hill-road, so that during the winter months we received our mail daily,
+whereas, through the greater part of the year, while the &#8220;forty rods&#8221;
+were &#8220;bottomless,&#8221; we had to go ourselves to San Remo to get it. The
+coach, going up, passed our place about ten in the morning, and by it my
+father sent the promised letter.</p>
+
+<p>We quite expected that Tom would come flying down at once, but instead
+we received from him next morning a reply, stating that he could not
+leave his work, and asking my father to allow us boys to do a little
+prospecting for him&mdash;which, I may say, we boys were ready enough to do
+if my father did not object.</p>
+
+<p>He did not object; being, indeed, very willing that we should put in a
+day&#8217;s work for the benefit of our friend. For, as he said, to undertake
+one day&#8217;s prospecting for a friend was a very different matter from
+taking to prospecting as a business.</p>
+
+<p>It is a fascinating pursuit; men who contract the prospecting disease
+seldom get the fever entirely <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>out of their systems again, and it was
+for this reason my father was so set against it, considering that no
+greater misfortune could befall two farmer-boys like ourselves than to
+be drawn into such a way of life. Now that we were seventeen years old,
+however, and might be supposed to have some discretion, he had little
+fear for Joe and me, knowing, as he did, that we shared his sentiments.
+We had seen enough of the life of the prospector to understand that a
+more precarious way of making a living could hardly be invented.</p>
+
+<p>How many men get rich at it? I have heard it estimated at one man in
+five thousand; and whether this estimate&mdash;or, rather, this guess&mdash;is
+right or wrong, it shows the trend of opinion.</p>
+
+<p>Suppose a prospector does strike a vein of ore: what is the common
+result? By the time he has sunk a shaft ten feet deep he must have a
+windlass and a man to work it, and being in most cases too poor to hire
+a miner, his only way of getting help is to take in a partner. The two
+go on sinking, until presently the hole is too deep to use a windlass
+any more&mdash;a horse-whim is needed and then a hoisting engine. But it is
+seldom that the ore dug out of a shaft will pay <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span>the expense of sinking
+it&mdash;for powder and drills, ropes, buckets and timbers, are expensive
+things&mdash;much less enable the owner to lay by anything, and the
+probability is that to buy a hoisting engine he must sell another
+portion of his claim. And so it goes, until, by the time his claim has
+been turned into a mine&mdash;for, as the common and very true saying is,
+&#8220;Mines are made, not found&#8221;&mdash;his share of it will probably have been
+reduced to one-quarter or less; while it is quite within the limits of
+probability that, becoming wearied by long waiting for the slow
+development of his prospect, he will have sold out for what he can get
+and gone back to his old life.</p>
+
+<p>But though I do not advocate the business of prospecting as a way of
+making a living&mdash;I had rather pitch hay or dig potatoes myself&mdash;I am far
+from wishing to disparage the prospector himself or to belittle the
+results of his work. He is the pioneer of civilization; and personally
+he is generally a fine fellow. At the same time, as in every other
+profession, the ranks of the prospectors include their share of the
+riff-raff. It was so in our district, and we were destined shortly to
+come in contact with one of them.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span></p><p>Tom Connor in his letter instructed us as to what he wished us to do: it
+was very simple. He asked us to walk up the little ca&ntilde;on along which our
+stream flowed, when it did flow, and to examine the bed of each of its
+feeders as we came to them, to determine, if possible, which of the
+branch streams it was that brought down the powdered lead-ore. He also
+suggested that we get out some more of the black sand from the bottom of
+the pool for him to see, and at the same time ascertain, if we could,
+how much of a deposit there was there.</p>
+
+<p>The last request we performed first. Taking down to the pool a long,
+pointed iron rod, we lowered it into the water, marking the depth by
+tying a bit of string round the rod at high-water-mark, and then bored a
+hole down through the frozen sand until we struck bed-rock. By this
+means we discovered that the deposit was five inches thick at the upper
+end of the pool. A few feet further from the waterfall, however, the
+deposit was thicker, but we noticed at the same time that the ground ice
+which came up carried with it more or less yellow sand. The further we
+retreated from the waterfall, too, the larger became the proportion of
+yellow sand, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>until towards the edge of the pool it had taken the place
+of the black sand altogether.</p>
+
+<p>Having done this, we poked up a lot of the ground ice, which we
+collected and put into a tin bucket, and taking this home we melted the
+ice, poured off the water, and made a little parcel of the sand that
+remained.</p>
+
+<p>A few days later we had finished our ice-cutting and had stowed away the
+crop in the ice-house, when we were at length free to go off and make
+the little prospecting expedition that Tom had asked us to undertake.</p>
+
+<p>First walking up the bed of the ca&ntilde;on, where the water was now
+represented by sheets of crackling white ice, we arrived presently at
+the first branch creek which came in on the right. This we ascended in
+turn, going some distance up it before we found a likely patch of sand,
+into which we chopped a hole with the old hatchet we had brought for the
+purpose, disclosing a little of the black material at the bottom; though
+the amount was so scanty that we could not be sure it was really the
+black sand we were seeking.</p>
+
+<p>Going on up this branch creek, much impeded by the snow which became
+deeper and deeper <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>the higher we ascended, we were nearing one of the
+bends when Joe, who was in advance, suddenly stopped, exclaiming:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Look there, Phil! Tracks coming down the bank. Somebody is ahead of
+us.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;So there is,&#8221; said I. &#8220;What can he be doing, I wonder?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Following these tracks a short distance, we very soon discovered the
+reason for their being there. The man was on the same quest as
+ourselves!</p>
+
+<p>In a bend of the stream where the snow lay two feet thick, he had dug a
+hole down to the sand, and then through the sand itself to bed-rock. At
+the bottom of the hole was a little black sand, showing the marks of a
+hatchet or knife-blade where it had been gouged out, but all around the
+hole, between the bed-rock and the yellow sand above, was a black line
+an inch thick, composed of the shiny, powdered galena ore. There could
+be no doubt that the man ahead of us was hunting the same game as we
+were.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Do you suppose it&#8217;s Yetmore, Joe?&#8221; said I.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No,&#8221; Joe answered, emphatically, &#8220;I&#8217;m sure it isn&#8217;t. Look at his
+tracks: they are bigger than mine.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It can&#8217;t be Tom, himself, can it?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;No, I&#8217;m pretty sure it isn&#8217;t Tom either. Tom is a big, powerful fellow,
+all right, but he&#8217;s not more than five feet ten, while this man, I
+think, is extra-tall&mdash;see the length of his stride where he came down
+the bank. Whoever he is, though, Phil, he&#8217;s an experienced prospector.
+He hasn&#8217;t wasted his time, as we have, trying unlikely places, but has
+chosen this spot and gone slap down through snow and everything, just as
+if he knew that the black sand would be found at the bottom.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s true,&#8221; said I. &#8220;I wonder who it is. We must find out if we can,
+Joe, so that we may be able to tell Tom who his competitor is. Let&#8217;s
+follow his tracks.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Getting out of the creek-bed again, we walked along the bank for nearly
+a mile, until Joe, stopping short, held up his finger.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Hark!&#8221; he whispered. &#8220;Somebody chopping.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>There was a sound as of metal being struck against stone somewhere ahead
+of us, so on we went again, making as little noise as possible, until
+presently Joe stopped again, and pointing forward, said softly, &#8220;There
+he is, look!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The man was down in the creek-bed again, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span>all we could see of him
+above the bank was his hat. We therefore went forward once more, timing
+our steps by the blows of the hatchet, until we could see the man&#8217;s head
+and shoulders; but we did not gain much by that, as he had his back to
+us and was too intent upon his work to turn round. At length, however,
+he ceased chopping, and gathering the chips of frozen sand in his hands,
+he cast them to one side. In doing so, he showed his face for a moment,
+and in that brief glimpse I recognized who it was.</p>
+
+<p>Joe looked at me with raised eyebrows, as much as to say, &#8220;Do you know
+him?&#8221; to which I replied with a nod, and laying my hand on my
+companion&#8217;s arm, I drew him back until only the top of the man&#8217;s hat was
+visible again, when I whispered, &#8220;It&#8217;s Long John Butterfield.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What! The man they call &#8216;The Yellow Pup&#8217;? How do you suppose <i>he</i> came
+to hear of the black sand?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;From Yetmore. He is a prospector whom Yetmore grub-stakes every
+summer.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;&#8216;Grub-stakes,&#8217;&#8221; repeated Joe, inquiringly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes. Some prospectors go out on their own account, you know, but some
+of them are &#8216;grub-staked.&#8217; This man is employed by Yetmore. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span>He sends
+him out prospecting every spring, providing him with tools and &#8216;grub&#8217;
+and paying him some small wages. Whether it is part of the bargain that
+Long John is to get any share of what he may find, I don&#8217;t know, but
+probably it is&mdash;that is the general rule. There is very little doubt
+that Yetmore has sent him out now, just as Tom has sent us out, to see
+which stream the lead-ore in the pool came from.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Not a doubt of it. Well, shall we go ahead and speak to him?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Before I could reply, the man himself rose up, looked about him, and at
+once espied us. At seeing us standing there silently watching him, he
+gave a not-unnatural start of alarm, but perceiving that he had only two
+boys to deal with, even if we were pretty big, he climbed up the bank
+and advanced towards us with a threatening air.</p>
+
+<p>Standing six feet five inches in his over-shoes, he was a rather
+formidable-looking object as he came striding down upon us, a shovel in
+one hand and a hatchet in the other; but as we knew him by reputation
+for a blusterer and a coward, we awaited his coming without any alarm
+for our safety.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span></p><p>Long John Butterfield was a well-known character in Sulphide. Though a
+prospector all summer, he was a bar-room loafer all winter, spending his
+time hanging around the saloons, and doing only work enough in the way
+of odd jobs to keep himself from starving until spring came round again,
+when Yetmore would provide for him once more.</p>
+
+<p>It had formerly been his ambition to pass for a &#8220;bad man,&#8221; though he
+found it difficult to maintain that reputation among the unbelieving
+citizens of Sulphide, who knew that he valued his own skin far too
+highly to risk it seriously. He had been wont to call himself &#8220;The
+Wolf,&#8221; desiring to be known by that title as sounding sufficiently
+fierce and &#8220;bad,&#8221; and being of a most unprepossessing appearance, with
+his matted hair, retreating forehead, long, sharp nose and projecting
+ears, he did represent a wolf pretty well&mdash;though, still better, a
+coyote.</p>
+
+<p>As the people of Sulphide, however, declined to take him at his own
+valuation, greeting his frequent outbreaks of simulated ferocity with
+derisive jeers&mdash;even the small boys used to scoff at him&mdash;he was reduced
+to practising his arts upon strangers, which he always hastened to do
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>when he thought it was not likely to be dangerous. Unluckily for him,
+though, he once tried one of his tricks upon an inoffensive newcomer,
+with a result so unexpected and unwelcome that his only desire
+thereafter was that people should forget that he had ever called himself
+&#8220;The Wolf&#8221;&mdash;a desire in which his many acquaintances, whether
+working-men or loafers, readily accommodated him. But as they playfully
+substituted the less desirable title of &#8220;The Yellow Pup,&#8221; Long John
+gained little by the move.</p>
+
+<p>It happened in this way: There came out from New York at one time a
+young fellow named Bertie Van Ness, a nephew of Marsden, the cattle man,
+some of whose stock we were feeding that winter. He arrived at Sulphide
+by coach one morning, and before going on to Marsden&#8217;s he stepped into
+Yetmore&#8217;s store to buy himself a pair of riding gauntlets. Long John was
+in there, and seeing the well-dressed, dapper little man, with his white
+collar and eastern complexion&mdash;not burned red by the Colorado sun, as
+all of ours are&mdash;he winked to the assembled company as much as to say,
+&#8220;See me take a rise out of the tenderfoot,&#8221; sidled up to Bertie, who was
+a foot shorter than himself, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span>leaned over him, and putting on his worst
+expression, said, in a harsh, growling voice, &#8220;I&#8217;m &#8216;The Wolf.&#8217;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>It was a trick that had often been successful before: peace-loving
+strangers, not knowing whom they had to deal with, would usually back
+away and sometimes even take to their heels, which was all that Long
+John desired. In the present instance, however, the &#8220;bad man&#8221;
+miscalculated. The little stranger, seeing the ugly face within a foot
+of his own, withdrew a step, and without waiting for the formality of an
+introduction, struck &#8220;The Wolf&#8221; a very sharp blow upon the end of his
+nose, at the same time remarking, &#8220;Howl, then, you beast.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Long John did howl. Clapping his hands over his face, he retreated,
+roaring, from the store, amid the enthusiastic plaudits of those
+present.</p>
+
+<p>Thus it was that the name of &#8220;The Wolf&#8221; fell into disuse and the title,
+&#8220;Yellow Pup,&#8221; was substituted; and if at any time thereafter Long John
+became obstreperous or in any way made himself objectionable, it was
+only necessary for some one in company to say &#8220;Bow-wow,&#8221; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>when the
+offender would forthwith efface himself, with promptness and dispatch.</p>
+
+<p>This was the man who came striding down upon Joe and me, looking as
+though he were going to eat us up at a mouthful and think nothing of it.
+Doubtless he supposed that, being country boys, we had not heard the
+story of Bertie Van Ness, for, advancing close to us he said fiercely:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What you doing here? Be off home! Do you know who <i>I</i> am? I&#8217;m &#8216;The
+Wolf&#8217;!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;So I&#8217;ve heard,&#8221; said I, calmly; a remark which took all the wind out of
+the gentleman&#8217;s sails at once. He collapsed with ridiculous suddenness,
+and with a sheepish grin, said, &#8220;I was only just a-trying you, boys, to
+see if you was easy scart.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, you see we&#8217;re not,&#8221; remarked Joe. &#8220;What are <i>you</i> doing up here?
+Pretty early for prospecting, isn&#8217;t it?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Not any earlier for me than it is for you,&#8221; replied Long John, with a
+glance at the hatchet in Joe&#8217;s hand. He was sharp enough.</p>
+
+<p>Joe laughed. &#8220;That&#8217;s true,&#8221; said he. &#8220;I suppose we&#8217;re both hunting the
+same thing. Did you find any of it in that hole up there?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span></p><p>Long John hesitated. He would have preferred to lie about it, probably,
+but knowing that we could go and see for ourselves in a couple of
+minutes, he made a virtue of necessity and replied:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, there&#8217;s some of it there; but it don&#8217;t amount to much. I guess the
+vein ain&#8217;t worth looking for. Come and see.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>We walked forward and looked into the hole Long John had chopped, when
+we saw that his prospector&#8217;s instinct had hit upon the right place
+again. Here also was a black streak an inch thick below the yellow sand.</p>
+
+<p>It was evident that the vein of galena was somewhere up-stream, though
+we ourselves were unable to judge from the amount of the deposit whether
+it was likely to be big or little. Long John might be telling the truth
+when he &#8220;guessed&#8221; that it was not worth looking for, though, from what
+we knew of him, we, in turn, &#8220;guessed&#8221; that what he said was most likely
+to be the opposite of what he thought.</p>
+
+<p>We could not tell, either, whether our new acquaintance was speaking
+the truth when he declared that he was satisfied with his day&#8217;s work and
+had already decided to go home again; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>I think it rather likely that,
+being unable to devise any scheme for shaking us off, and not caring to
+act as prospector for us as well as for Yetmore, he preferred to go back
+at once and report progress. He was right, at any rate, in saying that
+the drifts ahead were too deep to admit of further prospecting; for the
+mountains began to close in just here, and the snow was becoming pretty
+heavy.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless, Joe and I thought we would try a little further, if only
+for the reason that Long John would not, and we were about to part
+company, when we were startled to hear a voice above our heads say,
+&#8220;Good-morning,&#8221; and, looking quickly up, we saw, seated on a dead
+branch, a raven, to all appearance asleep, with his feathers fluffed out
+and his head sunk between his shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>That it was our friend, Socrates, we could not doubt, and we looked all
+around for the hermit, but as there was no one to be seen, Joe,
+addressing the raven, said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Hallo, Sox! Where&#8217;s your master?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Chew o&#8217; tobacco,&#8221; replied the raven.</p>
+
+<p>At this Long John burst out laughing. &#8220;Well, you&#8217;re a cute one,&#8221; said
+he; and thrusting his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span>hand into his pocket he brought out a piece of
+tobacco which he invited Socrates to come and get. Sox flew down to a
+convenient rock and reached for the morsel, but the moment he perceived
+that it was not anything he could eat, he drew back in disdain, and
+eying Long John with severity, remarked, &#8220;Bow-wow.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Now, as I have intimated, nothing was so exasperating to Long John as to
+have any one say &#8220;bow-wow&#8221; to him, and not considering that the offender
+was only a bird, he raised his hatchet and would have ended Sox&#8217;s career
+then and there had not Joe stayed his arm.</p>
+
+<p>At being thus thwarted, Long John turned upon my companion, and for a
+moment I felt a little uneasy lest his temper should for once get the
+better of his discretion; but I need not have alarmed myself, for Long
+John&#8217;s outbreaks of rage were always carefully calculated when directed
+against any one or anything capable of retaliation in kind, and very
+probably he had already concluded that two well-grown boys like
+ourselves, used to all kinds of hard work, might prove an awkward
+handful for one whose muscles had been rendered flabby by lack of
+exercise.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span></p><p>At any rate, he quickly calmed down again, pretending to laugh at the
+incident; but though he made some remark about &#8220;a real smart bird,&#8221; I
+guessed from the gleam in his little ferrety eyes that if he could lay
+hands on Socrates, that aged scholar&#8217;s chances of ever celebrating his
+one hundredth anniversary would be slim indeed.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Who&#8217;s the thing belong to, anyhow?&#8221; asked John. &#8220;There&#8217;s no one living
+around here that I know of.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He belongs to a man who lives somewhere up on this mountain,&#8221; I
+replied. &#8220;You&#8217;ve probably heard of him: Peter the Hermit.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Him!&#8221; exclaimed Long John, looking quickly all around, as though he
+feared the owner might make his appearance. &#8220;Well, I&#8217;m off. I&#8217;ve got to
+get back to Sulphide to-night, so I&#8217;ll dig out at once.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>So saying, he picked up his long-handled shovel, and using it
+upside-down as a walking-staff, away he went, striding over the snow at
+a great pace; while Socrates, seeing him depart, very appropriately
+called after him, &#8220;Good-bye, John.&#8221;</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">The Hermit&#8217;s Warning</span></h3>
+
+<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">A</span>s it was now after midday, we concluded to eat our lunch before going
+any further, so, sitting down on the rocks, we produced the bread and
+cold bacon we had brought with us and prepared to refresh ourselves.
+Observing this, Socrates, who had flown up into a tree when Long John
+threatened him with the hatchet, now flipped down again and took up his
+station beside us, having plainly no apprehension that we would do him
+any harm, and doubtless thinking that if there was any food going he
+might come in for a share.</p>
+
+<p>I was just about to offer him a scrap of bacon, when the bird suddenly
+gave a croak and flew off up the mountain. Naturally, we both looked up
+to ascertain the reason for this sudden departure, when we were startled
+to see a tall, bearded man with a long staff in his hands, skimming down
+the snow-covered slope of the mountain towards us. One glance showed us
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span>that it was our friend, the hermit, though how he could skim over the
+snow like that without moving his feet was a puzzle to us, until, on
+approaching to within twenty yards of where we sat, he stuck his staff
+into the snow and checked his speed, when we perceived that he was
+traveling on skis.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;How are you, boys?&#8221; he cried, shaking hands with us very heartily. &#8220;I&#8217;m
+glad to see you again. Much obliged to you, Joe, for interfering on
+behalf of old Sox. I would not have the bird hurt for a good deal. I saw
+the whole transaction from where I was standing up there in that grove
+of aspens. Why did your companion go off so suddenly?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know,&#8221; I replied. &#8220;I only just mentioned to him that Sox
+belonged to you, when he picked up his shovel and skipped.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Peter laughed. &#8220;I understand,&#8221; said he. &#8220;The gentleman and I have met
+before, and have no wish to meet again. Our first and only interview was
+not conducive to a desire for further acquaintance. He is not a friend
+of yours, I hope.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Not at all,&#8221; I replied. &#8220;We never met him before.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;Well, I&#8217;m glad of that, because he is not one to be intimate with: he
+is a thief.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why do you say that?&#8221; asked Joe, rather startled.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Because I happen to know it&#8217;s so. I&#8217;ll tell you how. I had set a
+bear-trap once up on the mountain back of my house, and going up next
+day to see if I had caught anything, I found this fellow busy skinning
+my bear. He had come upon it by accident, I suppose, and the bear being
+caught by both front feet, and being therefore perfectly helpless, he
+had bravely shot it, and was preparing to walk off with the skin when I
+appeared.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And what did you say to him?&#8221; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Nothing,&#8221; replied Peter. &#8220;I just sat down on a rock near by, with my
+rifle across my knees, and watched him; and he grew so embarrassed and
+nervous and fidgety that he couldn&#8217;t stand it any longer, and at last he
+sneaked off without completing his job and without either of us having
+said a word.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That certainly was a queer interview,&#8221; remarked Joe, laughing, &#8220;and a
+most effective way, I should think, of dealing with a blustering rogue
+like Long John.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;Long John?&#8221; repeated the hermit, inquiringly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, Long John Butterfield; known also as &#8216;The Yellow Pup.&#8217;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, that&#8217;s who it is, is it? I&#8217;ve heard of him from my friend, Tom
+Connor.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Tom Connor!&#8221; we both exclaimed. &#8220;Do you know Tom Connor, then?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, we have met two or three times in the mountains, and he once spent
+the night with me in my cabin&mdash;he is the &#8216;one exception&#8217; I told you
+about, you remember. He seems like a good, honest fellow, and he has
+certainly been most obliging to me.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>As we looked inquiringly at him, wondering how Tom could have found an
+opportunity to be of service to one living such a secluded life as the
+hermit did, our friend went on:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I happened to mention to him that I had great need of an iron pot, and
+three days afterwards, on returning home one evening, what should I find
+standing outside my door but a big iron pot, and in it a chip, upon
+which was written in pencil, &#8216;Compliments of T. Connor.&#8217;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Just like Tom,&#8221; said I, laughing. &#8220;He has more friends than any other
+man in the district, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>and he deserves it, for when he makes a friend he
+can&#8217;t rest easy until he has found some way of doing him a service.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And he&#8217;s as honest as they make &#8217;em,&#8221; Joe continued. &#8220;If he&#8217;s a friend,
+he&#8217;s a friend, and if he&#8217;s an enemy, he&#8217;s an enemy&mdash;he doesn&#8217;t leave you
+in doubt.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Just what I should think,&#8221; said the hermit. &#8220;Very different from Long
+John, if I&#8217;m not mistaken. That gentleman, I suspect, is of the kind
+that would shake hands with you in the morning and then come in the
+night and burn your house down. What were you and he doing, by the way?
+I&#8217;ve been watching you for an hour. First one and then the other would
+kneel down in the snow and chop a hole in the bed of the creek, then get
+up, walk a mile, and do it again. If I may be allowed to say so,&#8221; he
+went on, laughing, &#8220;it appeared to an outsider like a crazy sort of
+amusement.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I should think it might,&#8221; said I, laughing too; and I then proceeded to
+tell our friend the object of these seemingly senseless actions.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And do you expect to go prospecting for this vein of galena in the
+spring?&#8221; he inquired, when I had concluded.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;Not we!&#8221; I exclaimed. &#8220;My father wouldn&#8217;t let us if we wanted to. We
+are doing this work for Tom Connor, whom my father is anxious to serve,
+he having done us, among others, a very good turn.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I see,&#8221; said the hermit. &#8220;And this man, Yetmore, or, rather, his
+henchman, Long John, will be coming as soon as the snow is off to hunt
+for the vein in competition with our friend, Connor.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That is what we expect.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, then, I can help you a little. We will, at least, secure for
+Connor a start over the enemy.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;How?&#8221; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You remember, of course,&#8221; said the hermit, &#8220;that sulphurous stuff that
+was cooking on the flat stone outside my door the day you came down to
+my house through the clouds? That was galena ore.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why, of course!&#8221; I exclaimed, slapping my leg. &#8220;What pudding-heads we
+must have been, Joe, not to have thought of it before. I had forgotten
+all about it. Have you found the vein, then?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, I have not; nor have I ever taken the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span>trouble to look for it,
+having found a place where I can get a sufficient supply for my purposes
+to last for years.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And what do you use it for?&#8221; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;To make bullets from. I get the powdered ore, roast out the sulphur on
+that flat stone, and then melt down the residue.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And where do you get it?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That is what I am going to tell you. You know that deep, rocky gorge
+where Big Reuben had his den? Well, near the head of that gorge is a
+basin in the rock in which is a large quantity of this powdered galena,
+all in very fine grains, showing that they have traveled a considerable
+distance. That stream is one of the four little rills which make up this
+creek, and if you tell Connor of this deposit it will save him the
+trouble of prospecting the other three creeks, as he would otherwise
+naturally do; and as Long John will pretty certainly do, for the creek
+coming out of Big Reuben&#8217;s gorge is the last of the four he would come
+to if he took up his search where he left off to-day&mdash;which would be the
+plan he would surely follow. It should save Connor a day&#8217;s work at
+least&mdash;perhaps two or three.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s true,&#8221; I responded. &#8220;It is an important <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span>piece of information. I
+wonder, though, that nobody else has ever found the deposit you speak
+of.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Do you? I don&#8217;t. Considering that Big Reuben was standing guard over
+it, I think it would have been rather remarkable if any one had
+discovered it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s true enough,&#8221; remarked Joe. &#8220;But that being the case, how did
+you come to discover it yourself? Big Reuben was no respecter of
+persons, that I&#8217;m aware of.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah, but that&#8217;s just it. He was. He was afraid of me; or, to speak more
+correctly, he was afraid of Sox&mdash;the one single thing on earth of which
+he was afraid. Before I knew of his existence, I was going up the gorge
+one day when Big Reuben bounced out on me, and almost before I knew what
+had happened I found myself hanging by my finger-tips to a ledge of rock
+fifteen feet up the cliff, with the bear standing erect below me trying
+his best to claw me down. My hold was so precarious that I could not
+have retained it long, and my case would have been pretty serious had it
+not been for Socrates. That sagacious bird, seeming to recognize that I
+was in desperate straits, flew up, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>perched upon the face of the cliff
+just out of reach of the bear&#8217;s claws, and in a tone of authority
+ordered him to lie down. The astonishment of the bear at being thus
+addressed by a bird was ludicrous, and at any other time would have made
+me laugh heartily. He at once dropped upon all fours, and when Socrates
+flipped down to the ground and walked towards him, using language fit to
+make your hair stand on end, the bear backed away. And he kept on
+backing away as Sox advanced upon him, pouring out as he came every word
+and every fragment of a quotation he had learned in the course of a long
+and studious career. One of the reasons I have for thinking that he is
+getting on for a hundred years old is that Sox on that occasion raked up
+old slang phrases in use in the first years of the century&mdash;phrases I
+had never heard him use before, and which I am sure he cannot have heard
+since he has been in my possession.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;This stream of vituperation was too much for Big Reuben. He feared no
+man living, as you know, but a common black raven with a man&#8217;s voice in
+his stomach was &#8216;one too many for him,&#8217; as the saying is. He turned and
+bolted; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>while Socrates, flying just above his head, pursued him with
+jeers and laughter, until at last he found inglorious safety in the
+inmost recesses of his den, whither Sox was much too wise to follow
+him.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t wonder you set a high value on old Sox, then,&#8221; said I. &#8220;He
+probably saved your life that time.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He certainly did: I could not have held on five minutes longer.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And did you ever run across Big Reuben again?&#8221; asked Joe.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes. Or, rather, I suppose I should say &#8216;no.&#8217; I saw him a good many
+times, but he never would allow me to come near him. Whether he thought
+I was in league with the Evil One, I can&#8217;t say, but, at any rate, one
+glimpse of me was enough to send him flying; and as I was sure I need
+have no fear of him, I had no hesitation in walking up the gorge if it
+happened to be convenient; and thus it was that I discovered the deposit
+of lead-ore up near its head.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>As this piece of information precluded the necessity of our prospecting
+any further, and as we had by this time finished our meal&mdash;which <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>was
+shared by Peter and his attendant sprite&mdash;we informed our friend that it
+was time for us to be starting back; upon which he remarked that he
+would go part of the way with us, as, by taking one of the gulches
+farther on he would find an easier ascent to his house than by returning
+the way he had come. Hanging his skis over his shoulder, therefore, he
+trudged along beside us at a pace which made us hustle to keep up with
+him.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Do you think you would be able to find my house again?&#8221; asked the
+hermit as we walked along.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No,&#8221; I replied, &#8220;I&#8217;m sure we couldn&#8217;t. When we came down the mountain
+in the clouds that day we were so mixed up that we did not even know
+whether we were on Lincoln or Elkhorn, though we had kept away so much
+to the left coming down that we rather thought we must have got on to
+one of the spurs of Lincoln.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, you had. I&#8217;ll show you directly what line you took.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Half a mile farther on, at the point where the stream we were following
+joined our own creek, our friend stopped, and pointing up the mountain,
+said:</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;If you ever have occasion to come and look me up, all you have to do is
+to follow your own creek up to its head, when you will come to a high,
+unscalable cliff, and right at the foot of that cliff you will see the
+great pile of fallen rocks in which my house is hidden. You can see the
+cliff from here. When you came down that day you missed the head of the
+creek you had followed in going up, and by unconsciously bearing to your
+left all the time you passed the heads of several others as well, and so
+at length you got into the valley which would have brought you out here
+if you had continued to follow it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I see. How far up is it to your house?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;About five miles from where we stand.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It must be all under snow up there,&#8221; remarked Joe. &#8220;I wonder you are
+not afraid of being buried alive.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The hermit smiled. &#8220;I&#8217;m not afraid of that,&#8221; said he. &#8220;It is true the
+gulch below me gets drifted pretty full&mdash;there is probably forty feet of
+snow in it at this moment&mdash;but the point where my house stands always
+seems to escape; a fact which is due, I think, to the shape of the cliff
+behind it. It is in the form of a horseshoe, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span>and whichever way the wind
+blows, the cliff seems to give it a twist which sends the snow off in
+one direction or another, so that, while the drifts are piled up all
+around me, the head of the gulch is always fairly free.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s convenient,&#8221; said Joe. &#8220;But for all that, I think I should be
+afraid to live there myself, especially in the spring.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why?&#8221; asked the hermit. &#8220;Why in the spring particularly?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I should be afraid of snowslides. The mountain above the cliff is very
+steep&mdash;at least it looks so from here.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It is very steep, extremely steep, and the snow up there is very heavy
+this winter&mdash;I went up to examine it two days ago. But at the same time
+I saw no traces of there ever having been a slide. There are a good many
+trees growing on the slope, some of them of large size, which is pretty
+fair evidence that there has been no slide for a long time&mdash;not for a
+hundred years probably. For as you see, there and there&#8221;&mdash;pointing to
+two long, bare tracks on the mountain-side&mdash;&#8220;when the slides do come
+down they clean off every tree in their course. No, I have no fear of
+snowslides.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;By the way,&#8221; he continued, &#8220;there is one thing you might tell Tom
+Connor when you see him, and that is that Big Reuben&#8217;s creek heads in a
+shallow draw on the mountain above my house. If you follow with your eye
+from the summit of the cliff upward, you will notice a stretch of bare
+rock, and above it a strip of trees extending downward from left to
+right. It is among those trees that the creek heads.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You might mention that to Connor,&#8221; he went on, &#8220;in case he should
+prefer to begin his prospecting downward from the head of the creek
+instead of upward from Big Reuben&#8217;s gorge. And tell him, too, that if he
+will come to me, I shall be glad to take him up there at any time.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Very well,&#8221; said I, &#8220;we&#8217;ll do so.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, we&#8217;ll certainly tell him,&#8221; said Joe. &#8220;It might very well happen
+that Tom would prefer to begin at the top, especially if he should find
+that Long John had got ahead of him and was already working up from
+below.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Exactly. That is what I was thinking of. Well, I must be off. I have a
+longish tramp before me, and the sunset comes pretty early under my
+cliff.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;Won&#8217;t you come home with us to-night?&#8221; I asked. &#8220;We have only two miles
+to go. My father told me to ask you the next time we met, and this is
+such a fine opportunity. I wish you would.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes; do,&#8221; Joe chimed in.</p>
+
+<p>But the hermit shook his head. &#8220;You are very kind to suggest it,&#8221; said
+he, &#8220;and I am really greatly obliged to you, and to Mr. Crawford also,
+but I think not. Thank you, all the same; but I&#8217;ll go back home. So,
+good-bye.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Some other time, perhaps,&#8221; suggested Joe.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Perhaps&mdash;we&#8217;ll see. By the way, there was one other thing I intended to
+say, and that is:&mdash;look out for Long John! He is a dangerous man if he
+is a coward; in fact, all the more dangerous <i>because</i> he is a coward.
+So now, good-bye; and remember&#8221;&mdash;holding up a warning finger&mdash;&#8220;look out
+for Long John!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>With that, he slipped his feet into his skis and away he went; while Joe
+and I turned our own faces homeward.</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">The Wild Cat&#8217;s Trail</span></h3>
+
+<p style="float: left; font-size: 100%; line-height: 80%; margin-top: 0;">&#8220;</p><p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">H</span>e is quite right,&#8221; said my father, when, on reaching home again, we
+related to him the results of our day&#8217;s work and told him how the hermit
+had warned us against Long John. &#8220;He is quite right. Your hermit is a
+man of sense in spite of his reputation to the contrary. Yetmore, of
+course, will do anything he can to forestall Tom Connor, but, if I am
+not mistaken, he will not venture beyond the law; whereas Long John, I
+feel sure, would not be restrained by any such consideration. He would
+be quite ready to resort to violence, provided always that he could do
+it without risk to his own precious person. The hermit is right, too, in
+saying that Long John is all the more dangerous for being the cowardly
+creature that he is: whatever he may do to head off Tom will be done in
+the dark&mdash;you may be sure of that. We must warn Tom, so that he may be
+on his guard.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m afraid it won&#8217;t be much use warning Tom,&#8221; said I. &#8220;He is such a
+heedless fellow <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>and so chuck full of courage that he won&#8217;t trouble to
+take any precautions.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t suppose he will, but we will warn him, all the same, so that he
+may at least go about with his eyes open. I&#8217;ll write to him again
+to-morrow. And now to our own business. Come into the back room. I want
+your opinion.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>It had been my father&#8217;s custom for some time back&mdash;and a very good
+custom, too, I think&mdash;whenever there arose a question of management
+about the affairs of the ranch, to take Joe and me into consultation
+with him. It is probable enough that our opinion, when he got it, was
+not worth much, but the mere fact that we were asked for it gave us a
+feeling of responsibility and grown-up-ness which had a good effect.
+Whenever, therefore, any question of importance turned up, the whole
+male population of Crawford&#8217;s Basin voted upon it, and though it is true
+that nine times out of ten any proposition advanced by my father would
+receive a unanimous vote, it did happen every now and then that one of
+us would make a suggestion which would be adopted, much to our
+satisfaction, thus adding a zest to the work, whatever it might be. For
+whether the plan originated with my father or <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>with one of us, as we all
+voted on it we thereby made it our own, and having made it our own; we
+took infinitely more interest in its accomplishment than does the
+ordinary hired man, who is told to do this or do that without reason or
+explanation.</p>
+
+<p>It will be readily understood, too, how flattering it was to a couple of
+young fellows like ourselves to be asked for our opinion by a man like
+my father, for whose good sense and practical knowledge we had the
+greatest respect, and of course we were all attention at once, when,
+seating himself in his desk chair, he began:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You remember that when Marsden&#8217;s cattle first came they broke a couple
+of the posts around the hay-corral, and that when we re-set them we
+found that the butt-ends of the posts were beginning to get pretty
+rotten?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He happened to catch Joe&#8217;s eye, who replied:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I remember; and you said at the time that we should have to renew the
+fence entirely in two years or less.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Exactly. Well, now, this is what I&#8217;ve been thinking: instead of
+renewing with posts and poles, why not build a rough stone wall all
+round the present fence, which, when once done, would <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>last forever?
+Within a half-mile of the corral there is material in plenty fallen from
+the face of the Second Mesa; and everything on the ranch being in good
+working order, you two boys would be free to put in several weeks
+hauling stones and dumping them outside the fence&mdash;the actual building I
+would leave till next fall. It will mean a long spell of pretty hard
+work, for you will hardly gather material enough if you keep at it all
+the rest of the winter. Now, what do you think?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It seems to me like a good plan,&#8221; Joe answered. &#8220;We can take two teams
+and wagons, help each other to load, drive down together, and help each
+other to unload; for I suppose you would use stones as big as we can
+handle by preference.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, the bigger the better; especially for the lower courses and for
+the corners. What&#8217;s your opinion, Phil?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I agree with Joe,&#8221; I replied. &#8220;And with such a short haul&mdash;for it will
+average nearer a quarter than half a mile&mdash;I should think we might even
+collect stones enough for the purpose this winter, provided there
+doesn&#8217;t come a big fall of snow and stop us.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;Then you shall begin to-morrow,&#8221; said my father.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But here&#8217;s another question,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;Should we build the wall
+close around the present fence, or should we increase the size of the
+corral while we are about it?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I should keep to the present dimensions,&#8221; said I. &#8220;There is no chance
+that I see of our ever increasing the size of our hay-crop to any great
+extent, and the corral we have now has always held it all, even that
+very big crop we had the summer Joe came. If&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, &#8216;if,&#8217;&#8221; my father interrupted, knowing very well what I had in
+mind. &#8220;<i>If</i> we could drain &#8216;the bottomless forty rods&#8217; we should need a
+corral half as big again; but I&#8217;m afraid that is beyond us, so we may as
+well confine ourselves to providing for present needs.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;My wig!&#8221; exclaimed Joe&mdash;his favorite exclamation&mdash;at the same time
+rumpling his hair, as though that were the wig he referred to. &#8220;What a
+great thing it would be if we could but drain those forty rods!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It undoubtedly would,&#8221; replied my father. &#8220;It would about double the
+value of the ranch, I think; for, besides diverting the present county
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span>road between San Remo and Sulphide&mdash;for everybody would then leave the
+old hill-road and come past our door instead&mdash;it would give us a large
+piece of new land for growing oats and hay. And, do you know, I begin to
+think it is very possible that within a couple of years we shall have a
+market for more oats and hay than we can grow, even including the &#8216;forty
+rods.&#8217;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why?&#8221; I asked, in surprise; for, at present, though we disposed of our
+produce readily enough, it could not be said that there was a booming
+market.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It is just guess-work,&#8221; my father replied, &#8220;pure guess-work on my part,
+with a number of good big &#8216;ifs&#8217; about it; but if Tom Connor or Long
+John, or, indeed, any one else, should discover a big vein of lead-ore
+up on Mount Lincoln&mdash;and the chances, I think, begin to look
+favorable&mdash;what would be the result?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know,&#8221; said I. &#8220;What?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why, this whole district would take a big leap forward&mdash;that is what
+would happen. You see, as things stand now, the smelters, not being able
+to procure in the district lead-ores enough for fluxing purposes, are
+obliged to bring them in by railroad from other camps. This is very
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span>expensive, and the consequence is that they are obliged to make such
+high charges for smelting that any ore of less value than thirty dollars
+to the ton is at present worthless to the miner: the cost of hauling it
+to the smelter and the smelter-charges when it gets there eat up all the
+proceeds.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I see,&#8221; said Joe. &#8220;And the discovery of a mine which would provide the
+smelters with all the lead-ore they wanted would bring down the charges
+of smelting and enable the producers of thirty dollar ore to work their
+claims at a profit.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Precisely. And as nine-tenths of the claims in the district produce
+mainly low-grade ore, which is now left lying on the dumps as worthless,
+and as even the big mines take out, and throw aside, probably ten tons
+of low-grade in getting out one ton of high-grade, you can see what a
+&#8216;boost&#8217; the district would receive if all this unavailable material were
+suddenly to become a valuable and marketable commodity.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I should think it would!&#8221; exclaimed Joe, enthusiastically. &#8220;The
+prospectors would be getting out by hundreds; the population of Sulphide
+would double; San Remo would take a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>great jump forward; while we&mdash;why,
+we shouldn&#8217;t <i>begin</i> to be able to grow oats and hay enough to meet the
+demand.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>My father nodded. &#8220;That&#8217;s what I think,&#8221; said he.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And there&#8217;s another thing,&#8221; cried I, taking up Joe&#8217;s line of prophecy.
+&#8220;If a big vein of lead-ore should be discovered anywhere about the head
+of our creek, the natural way for the freighters to get down to San Remo
+would be through here, if&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s it,&#8221; interrupted my father. &#8220;That&#8217;s the whole thing. <span class="smcap">I-f, if.</span>&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Dear me! What a big, big little word that was. To represent it of the
+size it looked to us, it would be necessary to paint it on the sky with
+the tail of a comet dipped in an ocean of ink!</p>
+
+<p>After a pause of a minute or two, during which we all sat silent,
+considering over again what we had considered many and many a time
+before: whether there were not some possible way of draining off the
+&#8220;forty rods,&#8221; Joe suddenly straightened himself in his seat, rumpled his
+hair once more&mdash;by which sign I knew he had some idea in his head&mdash;and
+said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I suppose you have thought of it before, Mr. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>Crawford, but would it be
+possible to run a tunnel up from the lower edge of the First Mesa, and
+so draw off the water?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I have thought of it before, Joe,&#8221; replied my father, &#8220;and while I
+think it might work, I have concluded that it is out of the question.
+How long a tunnel would it take, do you calculate?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, a little more than a quarter of a mile, I suppose.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes. Say twelve hundred feet, at least. Well, to run a tunnel of that
+length would be cheap at ten dollars a foot.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Phew!&#8221; Joe whistled, opening his eyes widely. &#8220;That is a staggerer,
+sure enough. It does look as if there was no way out of it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, I&#8217;m afraid not,&#8221; said my father. &#8220;And as to making a permanent road
+across the marsh, I have tried everything I can think of including
+corduroying with long poles covered with brush and earth. But it was no
+use. We had a very wet season that summer, and the road, poles and all,
+was covered with water. That settled it to my mind; we could not expect
+the freighters and others to come our way when, at any time, they might
+find the road under water.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;No; that did seem to be a clincher. Well, as there appears to be no
+more to be said, let&#8217;s get to bed, Phil. If we are going to haul rocks
+to-morrow, we shall need a good night&#8217;s sleep as a starter.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The cliff which bounded the eastern edge of the Second Mesa&mdash;at the same
+time bounding the ranch on its western side&mdash;was made up of layers of
+rock of an average thickness of about a foot, having been evidently
+built up by successive small flows of lava. The stones piled at the foot
+of the bluff being flat on both sides were therefore very convenient for
+wall-building, and so plentiful that we made rapid progress at first in
+hauling them down to the corral. At the end of three weeks, however, we
+had picked up all those fragments that were most accessible, and were
+now obliged to loosen up the great heaps of larger slabs and crack the
+stones with a sledgehammer. Some of these heaps were so large, and the
+stones composing them of such great size, that when we came to dislodge
+them we found that an ordinary crowbar made no impression; but we
+overcame that difficulty, at Joe&#8217;s suggestion, by using a big pine pole
+as a lever. Inserting the butt-end of the pole between <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span>two big rocks,
+we would tie a rope to the other end and hitch the mules to it. The
+leverage thus obtained was tremendous, and unless the pole broke,
+something had to come. In this way we could sometimes bring down at one
+pull rock enough to keep us busy for a week.</p>
+
+<p>Day after day, without a break, we continued this work, and though it
+was certainly hard labor we enjoyed it, especially when, by constant
+practice we found ourselves handling all the time bigger and bigger
+stones with less and less exertion.</p>
+
+<p>It would seem that there could not be much art in so simple a matter as
+putting a stone into a wagon, and as far as stones of moderate size are
+concerned there is not. But when you come to deal with slabs of rock
+weighing a thousand pounds or more, you will find that the &#8220;know how&#8221;
+counts for very much more than mere strength.</p>
+
+<p>Of course, to handle pieces of this size it was necessary to use skids
+and crowbars, with which, aided by little rollers made of bits of
+gas-pipe, we did not hesitate to tackle stones which, when we first
+began, we should have cracked into two or three pieces.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span></p><p>We had been at it, as I have said, for more than three weeks, when it
+happened one day that while driving down with our last load, we were met
+face to face by a wildcat, with one of our chickens in its mouth. There
+were a good many of these animals having their lairs among the fallen
+rocks at the foot of the mesa, and they caused us some trouble, but this
+was the first time I had known one to make a raid on the chicken-yard in
+broad daylight. I suppose rabbits were scarce, and the poor beast was
+driven to this unusual course by hunger.</p>
+
+<p>I was driving the mules at the moment, but Joe, who was walking beside
+the wagon, picked up a stone and hurled it at the cat. The animal, of
+course, bolted&mdash;taking his chicken with him, though&mdash;and disappeared
+among the rocks close to where we had just been at work.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Joe,&#8221; said I, &#8220;we&#8217;ll bring up the shotgun to-morrow. We may stir that
+fellow out and get a shot at him.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Accordingly, next day, we took the gun with us, and leaning it against a
+tree near the wagon, set about our usual work. The first stone we loaded
+that morning was an extra-large one, and Joe on one side of the wagon
+and I on the other <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>were prying it into position with our pinch-bars,
+when my companion, who was facing the bluff, gently laid down his bar
+and whispered:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Keep quiet, Phil! Don&#8217;t move! I see that wildcat! Get hold of the lines
+in case the mules should scare, while I see if I can reach the gun.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Stooping behind the wagon, he slipped away to where the gun stood, came
+stooping back, and then, straightening up, he raised the gun to his
+shoulder. Up to that moment the cat had stood so still that I had been
+unable to distinguish it, but just as Joe raised the gun it bolted. My
+partner fired a snap-shot, and down came the cat, tumbling over and
+over.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Good shot!&#8221; I cried. But hardly had I done so when the animal jumped up
+again and popped into a hole between two rocks before Joe could get a
+second shot.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Let&#8217;s dig him out, Joe,&#8221; I cried. And seizing a crowbar, I led the way
+to the foot of the cliff.</p>
+
+<p>Working away with the bar, while Joe stood ready with the gun, I soon
+enlarged the hole enough to let me look in, but it was so dark inside,
+and I got into my own light so much that I could see nothing.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span></p><p>I happened to have a letter in my pocket, and taking the envelope I
+dropped a little stone into it, screwed up the corner, and lighting the
+other end, threw the bit of paper into the hole. My little fire-brand
+flickered for a moment, and then burned up brightly, when I saw the
+wildcat lying flat upon its side, evidently quite dead.</p>
+
+<p>Thereupon we both set to work and enlarged the hole so that Joe could
+crawl in, which he immediately did. I expected him to come out again in
+a moment, but it was a full minute before he reappeared, and when he did
+so he only poked out his head and said, in an excited tone:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Come in here, Phil! Here&#8217;s the queerest thing&mdash;just come in here for a
+minute!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Of course I at once crept through the hole, to find myself in a little
+chamber about ten feet long, six feet wide and four feet high, built up
+of great flat slabs of stone, which, falling from above, had
+accidentally so arranged themselves as to form this little room.</p>
+
+<p>At first I thought it was the little room itself to which Joe had
+referred as &#8220;queer,&#8221; but Joe, scouting such an idea, exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, no, bless you! I didn&#8217;t mean that. That&#8217;s nothing. Look here!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span></p><p>So saying, he struck a match and showed me, along one side of the
+chamber, a great crack in the ground, three feet wide, extending to the
+left an unknown distance&mdash;for in that direction it was covered by loose
+rocks of large size&mdash;while to the right it pinched out entirely.</p>
+
+<p>It was evident to me that this crevice had existed ever since the great
+break had occurred which had separated the First from the Second Mesa,
+but that, being covered by the fragments which had fallen from the
+cliff&mdash;itself formed by the subsidence of the First Mesa from what had
+once been the general level&mdash;it had hitherto remained concealed.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, that certainly is &#8216;queer,&#8217;&#8221; said I. &#8220;How deep is it, I wonder?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t know. Pitch a stone into it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I did so; judging from the sound that the crevice was probably thirty or
+forty feet deep.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s what I should guess,&#8221; said Joe. &#8220;But there&#8217;s another thing,
+Phil, a good deal queerer than a mere crack in the ground. Lie down and
+put your ear over the hole and listen.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I did as directed, and then at length I understood where the &#8220;queerness&#8221;
+came in. I could distinctly hear the rush of water down below!</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span></p><p>Rising to my knees, I stared at Joe, who, kneeling also, stared back at
+me, both keeping silence for a few seconds. At length:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Where does it come from, Joe?&#8221; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know,&#8221; Joe replied. &#8220;Mount Lincoln, perhaps. But I do know
+where it goes to.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You do? Where?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Down to &#8216;the forty rods,&#8217; of course.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s it!&#8221; I cried, thumping my fist into the palm of the other hand.
+&#8220;That&#8217;s certainly it! Look here, Joe. I&#8217;ll tell you what we&#8217;ll do. We&#8217;ll
+quit hauling rock for this morning, go and get a long rope, climb down
+into this crack, see how much water there is, and find out if we can
+where it goes to.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;All right,&#8221; said Joe. &#8220;Your father won&#8217;t object, I&#8217;m sure.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, he won&#8217;t object. Though he relies on our doing a good day&#8217;s work
+without supervision, he relies, too, on our using our common sense, and
+I&#8217;m sure he&#8217;ll agree that this is a matter that ought to be investigated
+without delay. It may be of the greatest importance.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;All right!&#8221; cried Joe. &#8220;Then let us get about it at once!&#8221;</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">The Underground Stream</span></h3>
+
+<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">I</span>t was on a Saturday morning that we made this discovery, and as my
+father and mother had both driven down to San Remo and would not be back
+till sunset, we could not ask permission to abandon our regular work and
+go exploring. But, as I had said to Joe, though he trusted us to work
+faithfully at any task we might undertake, my father also expected us to
+use our own discretion in any matter which might turn up when he was not
+at hand to advise with us.</p>
+
+<p>I had, therefore, no hesitation in driving back to the ranch, when,
+having unloaded our one stone and stabled the mules, Joe and I, taking
+with us a long, stout rope and the stable-lantern, retraced our steps to
+the wildcat&#8217;s house.</p>
+
+<p>The first thing to be done was to enlarge the entrance so that we might
+have daylight to work by, and this being accomplished, we lighted the
+lantern and lowered it by a cord into the hole. We found, however, that
+a bulge in the rock <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span>prevented our seeing to the bottom, and all we
+gained by this move was to ascertain that the crevice was about forty
+feet deep, as we had guessed. The next thing, therefore, was for one of
+us to go down, and the only way to do this was to slide down a rope.</p>
+
+<p>This, doubtless, would be easy enough, but the climbing up again might
+be another matter. We were not afraid to venture on this score, however,
+for, as it happened, we had both often amused ourselves by climbing a
+rope hung from one of the rafters in the hay-barn, and though that was a
+climb of only twenty feet, we had done it so often and so easily that we
+did not question our ability to ascend a rope of double the length.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Who&#8217;s to go down, Joe, you or I?&#8221; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Whichever you like, Phil,&#8221; replied my companion. &#8220;I suppose you&#8217;d like
+to be the first, wouldn&#8217;t you?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, yes, that&#8217;s a matter of course,&#8221; I answered, &#8220;but as you are the
+discoverer you ought to have first chance, so down you go, old chap!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Very well, then,&#8221; said Joe, &#8220;if you say so, I&#8217;ll go.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;Well, I do&mdash;so that settles it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I knew Joe well enough to be sure he would be eager to be the first, and
+though I should have liked very much to take the lead myself, it seemed
+to me only just that Joe, as the original discoverer, should, as I had
+said, be given the choice.</p>
+
+<p>This question being decided, we tied one end of the rope around a big
+stone, heavy enough to hold an elephant, and dropped the other end into
+the hole. The descent at first was very easy, for the walls being only
+three feet apart, and there being many rough projections on either side,
+it was not much more difficult than going down a ladder, especially as
+I, standing a little to one side, lowered the lantern bit by bit, that
+Joe might have a light all the time to see where to set his feet.</p>
+
+<p>Arrived at the bulge, Joe stopped, and standing with one foot on either
+wall, looked up and said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It opens out below here, Phil; I shall have to slide the rest of the
+way. You might lower the lantern down to the bottom now, if you please.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I did so at once, and then asked:</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;Can you see the bottom, Joe?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; he replied. &#8220;The crevice is much wider down there, and the floor
+seems to be smooth and dry. I can&#8217;t see any sign of water anywhere, but
+I can hear it plainly enough. Good-bye for the present; I&#8217;m going down
+now.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>With that he disappeared under the bulge in the wall, while I, placing
+my hand upon the rope, presently felt the strain slacken, whereupon I
+called out:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;All right, Joe?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;All right,&#8221; came the answer.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;How&#8217;s the air down there?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Seems to be perfectly fresh.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Can you see the water?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, I can&#8217;t; but I can hear it. There&#8217;s a heap of big rocks in the
+passage to the south and the splashing comes from the other side of it.
+I&#8217;m going to untie the lantern, Phil, and go and explore a bit. Just
+wait a minute.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Very soon I heard his voice again calling up to me.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s all right, Phil. I&#8217;ve found the water. You may as well come down.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Look here, Joe,&#8221; I replied. &#8220;Before I come <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span>down, it might be as well
+to make sure that you can come up.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s something in that,&#8221; said Joe, with a laugh. &#8220;Well, then, I&#8217;ll
+come up first.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I felt the rope tauten again, and pretty soon my companion&#8217;s head
+appeared, when, scrambling over the bulge, he once more stood astride of
+the crevice, and looking up said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s perfectly safe, Phil. The only troublesome bit is in getting over
+the bulge, and that doesn&#8217;t amount to anything. It&#8217;s safe enough for you
+to come down.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Very well, then, I&#8217;ll come; so go on down again.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Taking a candle we had brought with us, I set it on a projection where
+it would cast a light into the fissure, and seizing the rope, down I
+went. The descent was perfectly easy, and in a few seconds I found
+myself standing beside Joe at the bottom.</p>
+
+<p>The crevice down here was much wider than above&mdash;ten or twelve feet&mdash;the
+floor, composed of sandstone, having a decided downward tilt towards the
+south. In this direction Joe, lantern in hand, led the way.</p>
+
+<p>Piled up in the passage was a large heap of
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>lava-blocks which had fallen, presumably, through the opening above, and
+climbing over these, we saw before us a very curious sight.</p>
+
+<p><a name="illo155" id="illo155"></a></p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 306px;">
+<img src="images/i155.jpg" class="jpg ispace" width="306" height="500" alt="&#8220;WE SAW BEFORE US A VERY CURIOUS SIGHT&#8221;" title="" />
+<span class="caption">&#8220;WE SAW BEFORE US A VERY CURIOUS SIGHT&#8221;</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>On the right hand side of the crevice&mdash;that is to say, on the western or
+Second Mesa side&mdash;between the sandstone floor and the lowest ledge of
+lava, there issued a thin sheet of water, coming out with such force
+that it swept right across, and striking the opposite wall, turned and
+ran off southward&mdash;away from us, that is. Only for a short distance,
+however, it ran in that direction, for we could see that the stream
+presently took another turn, this time to the eastward, presumably
+finding its way through a crack in the lava of the First Mesa.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m going to see where it goes to,&#8221; cried Joe; and pulling off his
+boots and rolling up his trousers, he waded in. He expected to find the
+water as cold as the iced water of any other mountain stream, but to his
+surprise it was quite pleasantly warm.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll tell you what it is, Phil,&#8221; said he, stepping back again for a
+moment. &#8220;This water must run under ground for a long distance to be as
+warm as it is. And what&#8217;s more, there must be a good-sized reservoir
+somewhere between the lava <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span>and the sandstone to furnish pressure enough
+to make the water squirt out so viciously as it does.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Entering the stream again, which, though hardly an inch deep, came out
+of the rock with such &#8220;vim&#8221; that when it struck his feet it flew up
+nearly to his knees, Joe waded through, and then turning, shouted to me:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It goes down this way, Phil, through a big crack in the lava. It just
+goes flying. Don&#8217;t trouble to come&#8221;&mdash;observing that I was about to pull
+off my own boots&mdash;&#8220;you can&#8217;t see any distance down the crack.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>But whatever there was to be seen, I wanted to see too, and disregarding
+his admonition, I pretty soon found myself standing beside my companion.</p>
+
+<p>The great cleft into which we were peering was about six feet wide at
+the bottom, coming together some twenty feet above our heads, having
+been apparently widened at the base by the action of the water, which,
+being here ankle-deep, rushed foaming over and around the many blocks of
+lava with which the channel was encumbered. As far as we could see, the
+fissure led straight away without a bend; and Joe was for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span>trying to
+walk down it at once. I suggested, however, that we leave that for the
+present and try another plan.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Look here, Joe,&#8221; said I. &#8220;If we try to do that we shall probably get
+pretty wet, and stand a good chance besides of hurting our feet among
+the rocks. Now, I propose that we go down to the ranch again, get our
+rubber boots, and at the same time bring back with us my father&#8217;s
+compass and the tape-measure and try to survey this water-course. By
+doing that, and then by following the same line on the surface, we may
+be able to decide whether it is really this stream which keeps &#8216;the
+forty rods&#8217; so wet.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t think there can be any doubt about that,&#8221; Joe replied; &#8220;but I
+think your plan is a good one, all the same, so let us do it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>We did not waste much time in getting down to the ranch and back again,
+when, pulling on our rubber boots, we proceeded to make our survey. It
+was not an easy task.</p>
+
+<p>With the ring at the end of the tape-measure hooked over my little
+finger, I took a candle in that hand and the compass in the other, and
+having ascertained that the course of the stream was due southeast, I
+told Joe to go ahead. My <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>partner, therefore, with his arm slipped
+through the handle of the lantern and with a pole in his hand with which
+to test the depth of the stream, thereupon started down the passage,
+stepping from rock to rock when possible, and taking to the water when
+the rocks were too far apart, until, having reached the limit of the
+tape-measure, he made a mark upon the wall with a piece of white chalk.</p>
+
+<p>This being done, I noted on a bit of paper the direction and the
+distance, when Joe advanced once more, I following as far as to the
+chalk-mark, when the operation was repeated.</p>
+
+<p>In this manner we worked our way, slowly and carefully, down the
+passage, the direction of which varied only two or three degrees to one
+side or the other of southeast, until, having advanced a little more
+than a thousand feet, we found our further progress barred.</p>
+
+<p>For some time it had appeared to us that the sound of splashing water
+was increasing in distinctness, though the stream itself made so much
+noise in that hollow passage that we could not be sure whether we were
+right or not. At length, however, having made his twentieth chalk-mark,
+indicating one thousand feet, Joe, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>waving his lantern for me to come
+on, advanced once more; but before I had come to his last mark, he
+stopped and shouted back to me that he could go no farther.</p>
+
+<p>Wondering why not, I slowly waded forward, Joe himself winding up the
+tape-measure as I approached, until I found myself standing beside my
+companion, when I saw at once &#8220;why not.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The stream here took a sudden dive down hill, falling about three feet
+into a large pool, the limits of which we could not discern&mdash;for we
+could see neither sides nor end&mdash;its surface unbroken, except in a few
+places where we could detect the ragged points of big lava-blocks
+projecting above the water, while here and there a rounded boulder
+showed its smooth and shining head.</p>
+
+<p>Joe, very carefully descending to the edge of the pool, measured the
+depth with his rod, when, finding it to be about four feet deep, we
+concluded that we would let well enough alone and end our survey at this
+point.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Come on up, Joe,&#8221; I called out. &#8220;No use trying to go any farther: it&#8217;s
+too dangerous; we might get in over our heads.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Just a minute,&#8221; Joe replied. &#8220;Let&#8217;s see if <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span>we can&#8217;t find out which way
+the current sets in the pool.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>With that he took from his pocket a newspaper he had brought with him in
+case for any purpose we should need to make a &#8220;flare,&#8221; and crumpling
+this into a loose ball he set it afloat in the pool. Away it sailed,
+quickly at first, and then more slowly; and taking a sight on it as far
+as it was distinguishable, I found that the set of the current continued
+as before&mdash;due southeast.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;All right, Joe,&#8221; I cried. &#8220;Come on, now.&#8221; And Joe, giving me the end of
+his stick to take hold of, quickly rejoined me, when together we made
+our way carefully up the stream again, and climbing the rope, once more
+found ourselves out in the daylight.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Now, Joe,&#8221; said I, &#8220;let us run our line and find out where it takes
+us.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Having previously measured the distance from the point where the
+underground stream turned southeast to where the rope hung down, we now
+measured the same distance back again along the foot of the bluff, and
+thence, ourselves turning southeastward, we measured off a thousand
+feet. This brought us down to the lowest of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span>old lake-benches, about
+a hundred yards back of the house, when, sighting along the same line
+with the compass, we found that that faithful little servant pointed us
+straight to the entrance of the lower ca&ntilde;on.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then that does settle it!&#8221; cried Joe. &#8220;We&#8217;ve found the stream that
+keeps &#8216;the forty rods&#8217; wet; there can be no doubt of it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>It did, indeed seem certain that we had at last discovered the stream
+which supplied &#8220;the forty rods&#8221; with water; but allowing that we <i>had</i>
+discovered it:&mdash;what then? How much better off were we?</p>
+
+<p>Beneath our feet, as we had now every reason to believe, ran the
+long-sought water-course, but between us and it was a solid bed of lava
+about forty feet thick; and how to get the water to the surface, and
+thus prevent it from continuing to render useless the meadow below, was
+a problem beyond our powers.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It beats me,&#8221; said Joe, taking off his hat and tousling his hair
+according to custom. &#8220;I can see no possible way of doing it. We shall
+have to leave it to your father. Perhaps he may be able to think of a
+plan. Do you suppose he&#8217;ll venture to go down the rope, Phil?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;No, I don&#8217;t,&#8221; I replied. &#8220;It is all very well for you and me, with our
+one hundred and seventy pounds, or thereabouts, but as my father weighs
+forty pounds more than either of us, and has not been in the habit of
+climbing ropes for amusement as long as I can remember, I think the
+chances are that he won&#8217;t try it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I suppose not. It&#8217;s a pity, though, for I&#8217;m sure he would be
+tremendously interested to see the stream down there in the crevice.
+Couldn&#8217;t we&mdash;&mdash;Look here, Phil: couldn&#8217;t we set up a ladder to reach
+from the bottom up to the bulge?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I shook my head.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t think so,&#8221; I answered. &#8220;It would take a ladder twenty feet
+long, and the bulge in the wall would prevent its going down.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s true. Well, then, I&#8217;ll tell you what we can do. We&#8217;ll make two
+ladders of ten feet each&mdash;a ten-foot pole will go down easily
+enough&mdash;set one on the floor of the crevice and the other on that wide
+ledge about half way up to the bulge. What do you think of that?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, I think we could do that,&#8221; I replied. &#8220;We&#8217;ll try it anyhow. But we
+must go in and get some dinner now: it&#8217;s close to noon.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>We did not take long over our dinner&mdash;we <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span>were too anxious to get to
+work again&mdash;and as soon as we had finished we selected from our supply
+of fire-wood four straight poles, each about ten feet long, and with
+these, a number of short pieces of six-inch plank, a hammer, a saw and a
+bag of nails, we drove back to the scene of action.</p>
+
+<p>Even a ten-foot pole, we found, was an awkward thing to get down to the
+bottom of the fissure, but after a good deal of coaxing we succeeded in
+lowering them all, when we at once set to work building our ladders.</p>
+
+<p>The first one, standing on the floor of the crevice, reached as high as
+the ledge Joe had mentioned, while the second, planted upon the ledge
+itself, leaned across the chasm, its upper end resting against the rock
+just below the bulge, so that, with the rope to hold on by, it ought to
+be easy enough to get up and down. It is true that the second ladder
+being almost perpendicular, looked a little precarious, but we had taken
+great care to set it up solidly and were certain it could not slip. As
+to the strength of the ladders, there was nothing to fear on that score,
+for the smallest of the poles was five inches in diameter at the little
+end.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span></p><p>This work took us so long, for we were very careful to make things
+strong and firm, that it was within half an hour of sunset ere we had
+finished, and as it was then too late to begin hauling rocks, we drove
+down to the ranch again at once.</p>
+
+<p>As we came within sight of the house, we had the pleasure of seeing the
+buggy with my father and mother in it draw up at the door. Observing us
+coming, they waited for us, when, the moment we jumped out of the wagon,
+before we could say a word ourselves, my father exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Hallo, boys! What are you wearing your rubber boots for?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>My mother, however, looking at our faces instead of at our feet, with
+that quickness of vision most mothers of boys seem to possess, saw at
+once that something unusual had occurred.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What&#8217;s happened, Phil?&#8221; she asked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve made a discovery,&#8221; I replied, &#8220;and we want father to come and see
+it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Can&#8217;t I come, too?&#8221; she inquired, smiling at my eagerness.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m afraid not,&#8221; I answered. &#8220;I wish you could, but I&#8217;m afraid your
+petticoats would get in the way.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span></p><p>To this, perceiving easily enough that we had some surprise in store for
+my father, and not wishing to spoil the fun, my mother merely replied:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, would they? Well, I&#8217;m afraid I couldn&#8217;t come anyhow: I must go in
+and prepare supper. So, be off with you at once, and don&#8217;t be late. You
+can tell me all about it this evening.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;One minute, father!&#8221; I cried; and thereupon I ran to the house,
+reappearing in a few seconds with his rubber boots, which I thrust into
+the back of the buggy, and then, climbing in on one side while Joe
+scrambled in on the other, I called out:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Now, father, go ahead!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Where to?&#8221; he asked, laughing.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, I forgot,&#8221; said I. &#8220;Up to our stone-quarry.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>If we had expected my father to be surprised, we were not disappointed.
+At first he rather demurred at going down our carefully prepared
+ladders, not seeing sufficient reason, as he declared, to risk his neck;
+but the moment we called his attention to the sound of water down below,
+and he began to understand what the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span>presence of the rubber boots meant,
+he became as eager as either Joe or I had been.</p>
+
+<p>In short, he went with us over the whole ground, even down to the pool;
+and so interested was he in the matter that he quite forgot the flight
+of time, until, having reascended the ladders and followed with us our
+line on the surface down to the heap of stones with which we had marked
+the thousand-foot point, he&mdash;and we, too&mdash;were recalled to our duties by
+my mother, who, seeing us standing there talking, came to the back-door
+of the kitchen and called to us to come in at once if we wanted any
+supper.</p>
+
+<p>Long was the discussion that ensued that evening as we sat around the
+fire in the big stone fireplace; but long as it was, it ended as it had
+begun with a remark made by my father.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well,&#8221; said he, as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his
+slippered feet before the fire, &#8220;it appears to come to this: instead of
+discovering a way to drain &#8216;the forty rods,&#8217; you have only provided us
+with another insoluble problem to puzzle our heads over. There seems to
+be no way that we can figure out&mdash;at present, anyhow&mdash;by which the water
+can be brought to the surface, and consequently our only resource <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span>is,
+apparently, to discover, if possible, where it first runs in under the
+lava-bed, to come squirting out again down in that fissure&mdash;an almost
+hopeless task, I fear.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It does look pretty hopeless,&#8221; Joe assented; &#8220;though we have found out
+one thing, at least, which may be of service in our search, and that is
+that the water runs between the lava and the sandstone. That fact should
+be of some help to us, for it removes from the list of streams to be
+examined all those whose beds lie below the sandstone.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s true enough,&#8221; I agreed. &#8220;But, then again, the source may not be
+some mountain stream running off under the lava, as we have been
+supposing. It is quite possible that it is a spring which comes up
+through the sandstone, and not being able to get up to daylight because
+of the lava-cap, goes worming its way through innumerable crevices to
+the underground reservoir we suppose to exist somewhere beneath the
+surface of the Second Mesa.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That is certainly a possibility,&#8221; replied my father. &#8220;Nevertheless, it
+is my opinion that it will be well worth while making an examination of
+the creeks on Mount Lincoln. The <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span>streams to search would be those
+running on a sandstone bed and coming against the upper face of the
+lava-flow. It is worth the attempt, at least, and when the snow clears
+off you boys shall employ any off-days you may have in that way.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It would be well, wouldn&#8217;t it, to tell Tom Connor about it?&#8221; suggested
+Joe. &#8220;He would keep his eyes open for us. I suppose prospectors as a
+rule don&#8217;t take much note of such things, but Tom would do so, I&#8217;m sure,
+if we asked him.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; replied my father. &#8220;That is a good idea; and if either of you
+should come across your friend, the hermit, again, be sure to ask him.
+He knows Mount Lincoln as nobody else does, and if he had ever noticed
+anything of the sort he would tell us. Don&#8217;t forget that. And now to
+bed.&#8221;</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">How Tom Connor Went Boring for Oil</span></h3>
+
+<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">O</span>ne thing was plain at any rate: we could do nothing towards finding the
+source of the underground stream until the snow cleared off the
+mountain, and that was likely to be later than usual this year, for the
+fall had been exceedingly heavy in the higher parts. We could see from
+the ranch that many of the familiar hollows were obliterated&mdash;leveled
+off by the great masses of snow which had drifted into them and filled
+them up.</p>
+
+<p>We therefore went about our work of hauling stone, and so continued
+while the cold weather lasted, interrupted only once by a heavy storm
+about the end of January, which, while it added another two feet to the
+thick blanket of snow already covering the mountains, quickly melted off
+down in the snug hollow where the ranch lay, so that our work was not
+delayed more than two or three days.</p>
+
+<p>One advantage to us of this storm was that it <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span>enabled us to learn
+something&mdash;not much, certainly, but still something&mdash;regarding the
+source of the stream in the fissure. It did not show us where that
+source was, but it proved to us pretty clearly where it was <i>not</i>.</p>
+
+<p>On the morning of the storm, Joe, at breakfast-time, turning to my
+father, said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Wouldn&#8217;t it be a good plan to go and measure the flow of the water down
+in the crevice, Mr. Crawford? We might be able to find out, by watching
+its rise and fall, whether the melting of the snow on the Second Mesa,
+or on the foot-hills beyond, or on the mountain itself affects it most.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s a very good idea, Joe,&#8221; my father replied. &#8220;Yes; as soon as we
+have fed the stock you can make a measuring-stick and go up there; and
+what&#8217;s more, you had better make a practice of measuring it every day.
+The increase or decrease of the flow might be an important guide as to
+where it comes from.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>This we did, and thereby ascertained pretty conclusively that the source
+was nowhere on the Second Mesa, for in the course of a couple of weeks
+the heavy fall of new snow covering that wide stretch of country melted
+off without <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span>making any perceptible difference in the volume of the
+stream.</p>
+
+<p>Though there were several other falls of snow up in the mountains later
+in the season, this was the last one of any consequence down on the
+mesas. The winter was about over as far as we were concerned, and by the
+middle of the next month, the surface of &#8220;the bottomless forty rods&#8221;
+beginning to soften again, the freighters, who had been coming our way
+ever since the early part of November, deserted us and once more went
+back to the hill road&mdash;to our mutual regret. For a few days longer the
+stage-coach kept to our road, but very soon it, too, abandoned us, after
+which, except for an occasional horseback-rider, we had scarcely a
+passer-by.</p>
+
+<p>As was natural, we greatly missed this constant coming and going, though
+we should have missed it a good deal more but for the fact that with the
+softening of the ground our spring work began, when, Marsden&#8217;s cattle
+having been removed by their owner, Joe and I started plowing for oats.
+With the prospect of a steady season&#8217;s work before us, we entered upon
+our labors with enthusiasm. We had never felt so &#8220;fit&#8221; before, for our
+long spell of stone-hauling had put us <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span>into such good trim that we were
+in condition to tackle anything.</p>
+
+<p>At the same time, we did not forget our underground stream, keeping
+strict watch upon it as the snow-line retreated up the foot-hills of
+Mount Lincoln. But though one of us visited the stream every day, taking
+careful measurement of the flow, we could not see that it had increased
+at all. The intake must be either high on the mountain, or, as I had
+suggested, the spring must come up through the sandstone underlying the
+Second Mesa and was therefore not affected by the running off of the
+snow-water on the surface.</p>
+
+<p>As the town of Sulphide was so situated that its inhabitants could not
+see Mount Lincoln on account of a big spur of Elkhorn Mountain which cut
+off their view, any one in that town wishing to find out how the snow
+was going off on the former mountain was obliged to ride down in our
+direction about three miles in order to get a sight of it.</p>
+
+<p>Tom Connor, having neither the time to spare nor the money to spend on
+horse-hire, could not do this for himself, but, knowing that the
+mountain was visible to us any day and all day, he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>had requested us to
+notify him when the foot-hills began to get bare. This time had now
+arrived&mdash;it was then towards the end of March&mdash;and my father
+consequently wrote to Tom, telling him so; at the same time inviting him
+to come down to us and make his start from the ranch whenever he was
+ready.</p>
+
+<p>To our great surprise, we received a reply from him next afternoon,
+brought down by young Seth Appleby, the widow Appleby&#8217;s ten-year-old
+boy, in which he stated that he could not start just yet as he was out
+of funds, but that he was hoping to raise one hundred and fifty dollars
+by a mortgage on his little house, which would be all he would need, and
+more, to keep him going for the summer.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why, what&#8217;s the meaning of this!&#8221; exclaimed my father, when he had read
+the letter. &#8220;How does Tom come to be out of funds at this time of year?
+He&#8217;s been at work all winter at high wages and he ought to have saved up
+quite a tidy sum&mdash;in fact, he was counting on doing so. What&#8217;s the
+matter, I wonder? Did he tell you anything about it, Seth?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No,&#8221; replied the youngster, &#8220;he didn&#8217;t tell me, but he did tell mother,
+and then mother, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span>she asked all the miners who come to our store, and
+they told her all about it. It was mother that sent me down with the
+letter, and she told me I was to be sure and &#8217;splain all about it to
+you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That was kind of Mrs. Appleby,&#8221; said my father. &#8220;But come in, Seth, and
+have something to eat, and then you can give us your mother&#8217;s message.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Seated at the table, with a big loaf, a plate of honey and a pitcher of
+milk before him, young Seth, after he had taken off the fine edge of a
+remarkably healthy appetite, related to us between bites the story he
+had been sent down to tell. It was a long and complicated story as he
+told it, and even when it was finished we could not be quite sure that
+we had it right; but supposing that we had, it came to this:</p>
+
+<p>Tom had worked faithfully on the Pelican, never having missed a day, and
+had earned a very considerable sum of money, of which he had, with
+commendable&mdash;and, for him, unusual&mdash;discretion, invested the greater
+part in a little house, putting by one hundred and fifty dollars for his
+own use during the coming summer. The fund reserved would have been
+sufficient to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span>see him through the prospecting season had he stuck to
+it; but this was just what he had not done.</p>
+
+<p>Two years before, a friend of his had been killed in one of the mines by
+that most frequent of accidents: picking out a missed shot; since which
+time the widow, a bustling, hearty Irishwoman, had supported herself and
+her five children. But during the changeable weather of early spring,
+Mrs. Murphy had been taken down with a severe attack of pneumonia&mdash;a
+disease particularly dangerous at high altitudes&mdash;and distress reigned
+in the family. As a matter of course, Tom, ever on the lookout to do
+somebody a good turn, at once hopped in and took charge of everything;
+providing a doctor and a nurse for his old friend&#8217;s widow, and seeing
+that the children wanted for nothing; and all with such success that he
+brought his patient triumphantly out of her sickness; while as for
+himself, when he modestly retired from the fray, he found that he was
+just as poor as he had been at the beginning of winter.</p>
+
+<p>It is not to be supposed, however, that this worried Tom. Not a bit of
+it. It was unlucky, of course, but as it could not be helped there <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span>was
+no more to be said; and so long as he owned that house of his he could
+always raise one hundred and fifty dollars on it&mdash;it was worth three or
+four times as much, at least.</p>
+
+<p>As the prospecting season was now approaching, he therefore let it be
+known that he desired to raise this money, and then quietly went on with
+his work again, feeling confident that some one would presently make his
+appearance, cash in hand, anxious to secure so good a loan. Up to that
+morning, Seth believed, the expected capitalist had not turned up.</p>
+
+<p>As the boy finished his story, and&mdash;with a sigh at having reached his
+capacity&mdash;his meal as well, my father rose from his chair, exclaiming:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What a good fellow that is! When it comes to practical charity, Tom
+Connor leads us all. In fact, he is in a class by himself:&mdash;There is no
+Tom but Tom, and&#8221;&mdash;smiling at the little messenger&mdash;&#8220;Seth Appleby is his
+prophet&mdash;on this occasion.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>At which Seth opened his eyes, wondering what on earth my father was
+talking about.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Now, I&#8217;ll tell you what we&#8217;ll do,&#8221; the latter continued. &#8220;Seth says his
+mother wants another <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span>thousand pounds of potatoes; so you shall take
+them up this afternoon, Phil; have a good talk with her; find out the
+rights of this matter; and then, if there is anything we can do to help,
+we can do it understandingly.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I was very glad to do this, and with Seth on the seat beside me and his
+pony tied behind the wagon, away I went.</p>
+
+<p>As I had permission to stay in town over night if I liked, and as Mrs.
+Appleby urged me to do so, saying that I could share Seth&#8217;s room, I
+decided to accept her offer, and after supper we were seated in the
+store talking over Tom Connor&#8217;s affairs&mdash;which I found to be just about
+as Seth had described them&mdash;when who should burst in upon us but Tom
+himself. Evidently my presence was a surprise to him, for on seeing me
+he exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Hallo, Phil! You here! Got my message, did you?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; I replied, &#8220;we got it all right; and very much astonished we
+were.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Forthwith I tackled him on the subject, and though at first Tom was
+disposed to be evasive in his answers, finding that I had all the facts,
+he at length admitted the truth of the story.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;But, bless you!&#8221; cried he. &#8220;That&#8217;s nothing. I can raise a hundred and
+fifty easy enough on my house and pay it off again next winter, so
+there&#8217;s nothing to fuss about. And now, ma&#8217;am,&#8221; turning to Mrs. Appleby,
+and abruptly cutting off any further discussion of the topic, &#8220;now,
+ma&#8217;am, I&#8217;ll give you a little order for groceries, if you please&mdash;which
+was what I came in for.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>So saying, he took a scrap of paper out of his pocket and proceeded to
+read out item after item: flour and bacon, molasses and dried apples, a
+little tea and a great deal of coffee, and so on, and so on, until at
+last he crumpled up his list between his two big hands, saying:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;There! And we&#8217;ll top off with a gallon of coal oil, if you please.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah,&#8221; said the widow, laying down her pencil&mdash;she was a slight, nervous
+little woman&mdash;&#8220;I was afraid you&#8217;d come to coal oil presently. I haven&#8217;t
+a pint of it in the house.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, that&#8217;s a pity,&#8221; said her customer. &#8220;Then I suppose I&#8217;ll have to
+go down to Yetmore&#8217;s for coal oil after all.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, Yetmore can let you have it, I know,&#8221; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span>replied the widow, in a
+tone of voice which caused us both to look at her inquiringly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s got a barrel of it,&#8221; she continued. &#8220;A whole barrel of
+it&mdash;belonging to me.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Eh! What&#8217;s that?&#8221; cried Tom. &#8220;Belonging to you?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes. And he won&#8217;t give it up. You see, it was this way. I ordered a
+barrel from the wholesale people in San Remo, and they sent it up two
+days ago. Here&#8217;s the bill of lading. &#8216;One barrel coal oil, No. 668, by
+Slaughter&#8217;s freight line.&#8217; The freighters made a mistake and delivered
+it at Yetmore&#8217;s, and now he won&#8217;t give it up.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Won&#8217;t, eh!&#8221; cried Tom, with sudden heat. &#8220;We&#8217;ll just look into that.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s no use,&#8221; interposed Mrs. Appleby, holding up her hand
+deprecatingly. &#8220;You can&#8217;t take it by force; and I&#8217;ve tried persuasion.
+He&#8217;s got my barrel; there&#8217;s no mistake about that, because Seth went
+down and identified the number; but he says he ordered a barrel himself
+from the same firm and it isn&#8217;t his fault if they didn&#8217;t put the right
+number on.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, that&#8217;s coming it pretty strong,&#8221; said Tom, indignantly.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;Yes, and it&#8217;s hard on me,&#8221; replied the widow, &#8220;because people come in
+here for coal oil, and when they find I haven&#8217;t any they go off to
+Yetmore&#8217;s, and of course he gets the rest of their order. I might go to
+law,&#8221; she added, &#8220;but I can&#8217;t afford that; and by the time my case was
+settled Yetmore&#8217;s barrel will have arrived and he&#8217;ll send it over here
+and pretend to be sorry for the mistake.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I see. Well, ma&#8217;am, you put me down for a gallon of coal oil just the
+same, and get my order together as soon as you like. I&#8217;m going out now
+to take a bit of a stroll around town.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Though he spoke calmly, the big miner was, in fact, swelling with wrath
+at the widow&#8217;s tale of petty tyranny. Without saying a word more to her,
+and forgetting my existence, apparently, he marched off down the street
+with the determination of going into Yetmore&#8217;s and denouncing the
+storekeeper before his customers. But, no sooner had he come within
+sight of the store than he suddenly changed his mind.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ho, ho!&#8221; he laughed, stopping short and shoving his hands deep into his
+pockets. &#8220;Ho, ho! Here&#8217;s a game! He keeps it in the back <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span>end of the
+store, I know. I&#8217;ll just meander in and prospect a bit.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The store was a long, plainly-constructed building, such as may be seen
+in plenty in any Colorado mining camp, standing on the hillside with its
+back to the creek. In front its foundation was level with the street,
+but in the rear it was supported upon posts four feet high, leaving a
+large vacant space beneath&mdash;a favorite &#8220;roosting&#8221; place for pigs. It was
+the sight of these four-foot posts which caused the widow&#8217;s champion so
+suddenly to change his mind.</p>
+
+<p>To tell the truth, Tom Connor, in spite of his forty years, was no more
+than an overgrown boy, in whose simple character the love of justice and
+the love of fun jostled each other for first place. He believed he had
+discovered an opportunity to &#8220;take a rise&#8221; out of Yetmore and at the
+same time to compel the misappropriator of other people&#8217;s goods to
+restore the widow&#8217;s property. That the contemplated act might savor of
+illegality did not trouble him&mdash;did not occur to him, in fact. He was
+sure that he had justice on his side, and that was enough for him.</p>
+
+<p>Full of his idea, Tom walked into the store, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span>where he found Yetmore
+very busy serving customers, for it was near closing time, and to an
+inquiry as to what he wanted, he replied:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Nothing just now, thank ye. I&#8217;ll just mosey around and take a look at
+things.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>To this Yetmore nodded assent; for though he and the miner had no
+affection for each other, they were outwardly on good terms, and it was
+no unusual thing for Tom to come into the store.</p>
+
+<p>Connor &#8220;moseyed&#8221; accordingly, and kept on &#8220;moseying&#8221; until he reached
+the back of the building, and there, standing upright against the rear
+wall, was the barrel, and beside it, mounted on a chair, a putty-faced
+boy, a stranger to Tom, who was busy boring a hole in the top of it.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Trade pretty brisk?&#8221; inquired Connor, sauntering up.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You bet,&#8221; replied the youth, laconically.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What does &#8216;668&#8217; stand for?&#8221; asked the miner, tapping the top of the
+barrel with his finger.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s the number of the barrel,&#8221; was the reply. &#8220;The wholesalers down
+in San Remo always cut a number in their barrels when they send &#8217;em
+out.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;Your boss must be a right smart business man to run a &#8217;stablishment
+like this,&#8221; remarked Tom, after a pause, glancing about the store.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s what,&#8221; replied the boy, admiringly. &#8220;You&#8217;ll have to get up early
+to get around the boss. Why, this barrel here&mdash;&mdash;&#8221; He stopped short, as
+though suddenly remembering the value of silence, and screwing up one
+eye as if to indicate that he could tell things if he liked, he added,
+&#8220;Well, when the boss gets his hands on a thing he don&#8217;t let go easy, I
+tell you that.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah! Smart fellow, the boss.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You bet,&#8221; remarked the youth once more.</p>
+
+<p>All this time Tom had been taking notes. The thin, unplastered wall of
+the store was constructed of upright planks with battens over the
+joints. It was pierced with one window; and Tom noted that between the
+edge of the window and the centre of the barrel were four boards. He
+noted also that the barrel stood firm and square upon the floor and that
+the floor itself was water-tight.</p>
+
+<p>While he was making these observations, the boy finished his boring
+operation and having inserted a vent-peg in the hole, walked off. As
+soon as he was out of sight, Tom stepped up to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>the barrel, pulled out
+the vent-peg, dropped it into his pocket, and having done so, sauntered
+leisurely up the store again and went out.</p>
+
+<p>For a little while he hung around on the other side of the street and
+presently he had the satisfaction of seeing the lights in the store
+extinguished, soon after which Yetmore came out and locking the door
+behind him, walked away to his house.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah! So the putty-faced boy sleeps in the store, does he?&#8221; remarked Tom
+to himself; a conclusion in which he was confirmed when he saw a candle
+lighted and the boy making up his bed under the counter. A few minutes
+later the candle was blown out, when Tom set off briskly up the street
+for the widow&#8217;s store.</p>
+
+<p>He found Mrs. Appleby and Seth tidying up preparatory to closing the
+store, and stepping in, he said, &#8220;You don&#8217;t take in lodgers, I suppose,
+ma&#8217;am? I&#8217;m intending to stay down town to-night.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, we don&#8217;t,&#8221; replied the widow. &#8220;The house is not large enough. But
+if you&#8217;ve nowhere to sleep, you&#8217;re welcome to make up a bed on the
+floor&mdash;I can let you have some blankets.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;Thank ye, ma&#8217;am, I&#8217;ll be glad to do it, if you please.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Accordingly, after the widow had retired up-stairs to her room and Seth
+and I to ours, Tom spread his blankets on the floor and went to bed
+himself.</p>
+
+<p>All was dark and silent when, at one o&#8217;clock in the morning, Tom sat up
+in bed, and after fumbling about for a minute, found a match and lighted
+a candle.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Have to get up early to get around the boss, eh?&#8221; said he to himself,
+with a chuckle. &#8220;Wonder if this is early enough.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>In his stocking-feet he walked to the back door and opened it wide.
+After pausing for an instant to listen, he came back, and lifting the
+empty oil barrel from its stand he carried it outside. Next he selected
+two buckets, and having reached down from a high shelf a large funnel,
+an auger and a faucet, he carried them and his boots into the back yard,
+and having locked the door behind him, walked off into the darkness.</p>
+
+<p>In a short time he reappeared, leading a horse, to which was harnessed a
+low wood-sled. Upon this sled he firmly lashed the barrel, and gathering
+up the other implements he took the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>horse by the bridle and led him
+away down the silent street; for the town of Sulphide as yet boasted
+neither a lighting system nor a police force&mdash;or, rather, the police
+force was accustomed to betake himself to bed with the rest of the
+community&mdash;so Tom had the dark and empty street entirely to himself.</p>
+
+<p>In a few minutes he drew up at the rear of Yetmore&#8217;s store, where,
+leaving the horse standing, he proceeded to count four planks from the
+edge of the window. Having marked the right plank, he took the auger,
+and crawling beneath the store, set to work boring a hole up through the
+floor. Presently the auger broke through, coming with a thump against
+the bottom of the barrel above, when Tom withdrew the instrument, and
+taking out his knife enlarged the hole considerably.</p>
+
+<p>So far, so good. Next he set a bucket beneath the hole, took the faucet
+between his teeth in order to have it handy, and inserting the auger, he
+set to, boring a hole in the bottom of the barrel. Soon the tool popped
+through, when Tom hastily substituted the faucet, which he drove firmly
+in with a blow of his horny palm.</p>
+
+<p>The putty-faced boy inside the store stirred in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span>his blankets, muttered
+something about &#8220;them pigs,&#8221; and went to sleep again.</p>
+
+<p>Tom waited a moment to listen, and then drew off a bucket of oil. As
+soon as this was full he replaced it with the other bucket and emptied
+the first one into the barrel on the sled. This process he repeated
+until the oil began to dribble, when he carefully knocked out the
+faucet, and having collected his tools and emptied the last bucket into
+the barrel, he again took the horse by the bridle and silently led him
+away.</p>
+
+<p>Arrived once more in the widow&#8217;s back yard, Tom unshipped the barrel and
+went off to restore the horse to its stable. He soon returned, and
+having unlocked the back door and re-lighted his candle, he proceeded to
+get the barrel into the house and back upon its stand; a work of immense
+labor, rendered all the harder by the necessity of keeping silence. Tom
+was a man of great strength, however, and at last he had the
+satisfaction of seeing the barrel once more in its place without having
+heard a sound from the sleepers overhead. Having washed the buckets and
+tools, he put them back where they came from, locked the door, and for
+the second time that night went to bed.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span></p><p>It was about half-past six in the morning that Tom, happening to look
+out of the front window, saw Yetmore coming hurriedly up the street,
+like a hound following the trail of the sled. Stepping to the little
+window at the rear, Tom peeped out and saw the storekeeper enter the
+back yard, walk to the spot where the sled had stopped, and stand for a
+minute examining the marks in the soil. Having apparently satisfied
+himself, he turned about and went off down the street again.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What&#8217;s he going to do about it, I wonder?&#8221; said Tom to himself. &#8220;Reckon
+I&#8217;ll just mosey down to the store and see.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>As he heard Seth coming down the stairs, he unlocked the front door and
+stepping outside, walked down to Yetmore&#8217;s.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Morning,&#8221; said he, cheerfully. &#8220;It&#8217;s a bit early for customers, I
+suppose, but I&#8217;m in a hurry this morning and I&#8217;d like to know whether
+you can let me have a gallon of coal oil.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Sorry to say I can&#8217;t,&#8221; replied the storekeeper. &#8220;Our only barrel sprang
+a leak last night and every drop ran out.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You don&#8217;t say!&#8221; exclaimed Tom, with an <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span>air of concern. &#8220;Then I suppose
+I&#8217;ll have to go up to the widow Appleby&#8217;s. She&#8217;s got plenty, I know.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>As he said this he looked hard at Yetmore, who in turn looked hard at
+him.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Maybe,&#8221; said the storekeeper presently, &#8220;maybe you know something about
+that leak?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Tom nodded. &#8220;I do,&#8221; said he. &#8220;I know <i>all</i> about it; and I&#8217;m the only
+one that does. I know the whole story, too, from one end to the other.
+The widow has got her barrel of oil; and you and I can make a sort of a
+guess as to how she got it. As to your barrel, it unfortunately sprung a
+leak. Is that the story?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Yetmore stood for a minute glowering at the big miner, and then said,
+shortly, &#8220;That&#8217;s the story.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;All right,&#8221; replied Tom; and turning on his heel, he went out.</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">Tom&#8217;s Second Window</span></h3>
+
+<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">M</span>rs. Appleby never did quite understand how her barrel of oil had been
+recovered for her. All she knew for certain was that her good friend,
+Mr. Connor, had somehow procured it from Yetmore, and that Yetmore was,
+as Mr. Connor said, &#8220;agreeable.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>As for myself, when Tom that morning, taking me aside, related with many
+chuckles how he had occupied himself during the night, I must own that
+my only feeling was one of satisfaction at the thought that Yetmore had
+been made to restore the widow&#8217;s property, and that the fear of ridicule
+would probably keep him silent on the subject. Sharing with most boys
+the love of fair play and the hatred of oppression, Tom&#8217;s cleverness and
+promptness of action seemed to me altogether commendable.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless, I foresaw one consequence of the transaction which, I
+thought, was pretty sure to follow, namely, that it would arouse in
+Yetmore an angry resolve to &#8220;get even&#8221; with Tom by <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span>hook or by crook.
+That he would resort to active reprisals if the opportunity presented
+itself I felt certain, and so I warned our friend. But Tom, careless as
+usual, refused to take any precautions, believing that Yetmore would not
+venture as long as he&mdash;Tom&mdash;had, as he expressed it, two such damaging
+shots in his magazine as the story of the lead boulder and the story of
+the oil barrel; on both of which subjects he had, with rare discretion,
+determined to keep silence unless circumstances should warrant their
+disclosure.</p>
+
+<p>It was not till I had reached home again and had jubilantly retailed the
+story to my father, that I began to understand how there might be yet
+another aspect to the matter. Instead of receiving it with a hearty
+laugh and a &#8220;Good for Tom,&#8221; as I had anticipated, he shook his head and
+said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m sorry to hear it. Tom made a mistake that time. That Yetmore should
+be made to give up the barrel of oil is proper enough; but what right
+has Tom to appropriate to himself the duties of judge, jury and
+executive officer? It is just such cases as this that earn for the
+American people the reputation of a nation <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span>without respect for law. No.
+Tom meant well, I know, but in my opinion he made a mistake all the
+same.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I never thought of it in that light,&#8221; said I; &#8220;so it is just as well,
+probably, that Tom didn&#8217;t let me into the secret beforehand, because I&#8217;m
+afraid I should have been only too ready to help if he had asked me.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, it is just as well you were not given the choice, I expect,&#8221;
+replied my father, smiling. &#8220;I&#8217;m glad Tom had the sense to take the
+whole responsibility on his own shoulders. Does he expect that Yetmore
+will be content to let the matter rest where it is?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He seems to think so; though he is such a heedless fellow that it
+wouldn&#8217;t bother him much if he thought otherwise.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, in my opinion he will do well to keep his eyes open. As I told
+you before, I think Yetmore&#8217;s natural caution would prompt him to keep
+within the law, but it is not impossible now, Tom having set him the
+example&mdash;for one such transgression of the law is apt to breed
+another&mdash;that he will think himself justified in resorting to lawless
+measures in his turn; especially as he will have that fellow, Long John,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span>jogging his elbow and whispering evil counsels in his ear all the
+time.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>How correct my father was in his presumption; how Long John did devise a
+scheme of retaliation; and how Joe and I inadvertently got our fingers
+into the pie, I shall have to relate in due course.</p>
+
+<p>But though my father disapproved of Tom&#8217;s action, that fact did not
+lessen his desire to help his friend when I had related to him how Tom
+had indeed spent all his savings on Mrs. Murphy and her family.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What a good-hearted, harum-scarum fellow he is!&#8221; exclaimed my father.
+&#8220;He knows&mdash;in fact, no one knows better&mdash;that there is a possible
+fortune waiting for him somewhere up here on Lincoln; he saves up all
+winter so that he may be free to go and hunt for it in the spring; yet
+at the first note of distress, away he runs and tumbles all his savings
+into Mrs. Murphy&#8217;s lap, who, when all is said and done, has no real
+claim upon him, thus taking the risk of being stranded in town while
+Long John goes off and cuts him out. What are we going to do about it,
+boys? What can you suggest?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It would certainly be a shame,&#8221; said Joe, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span>&#8220;if Tom, by his act of
+charity, should put himself out of the running in the search for that
+vein of galena. Yet he will surely do so if he can&#8217;t raise that money.
+And even if he should raise it, he might be late in getting it, in which
+case Long John would get the start of him.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s the case in a nutshell,&#8221; my father assented; &#8220;and, as I said
+before: What are we going to do about it?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why&mdash;&mdash;&#8221; Joe began; and then he suddenly jumped up and coming across
+the room he whispered something in my ear. I replied with a nod;
+whereupon Joe returned to his chair, and addressing my father once more,
+said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll tell you what we&#8217;ll do, Mr. Crawford. Phil and I made forty
+dollars last fall cutting timbers&mdash;it was Tom who got us our order,
+too&mdash;and we have it still. We&#8217;ll put that in&mdash;eh, Phil?&mdash;if it will be
+any use.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; said I. &#8220;Gladly.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Good!&#8221; exclaimed my father. &#8220;Then that settles it. Now, <i>I&#8217;ll</i> tell you
+what we&#8217;ll do. I&#8217;ll add sixty dollars to it&mdash;that is all I can afford
+just now&mdash;and you two shall ride back to Sulphide this afternoon, give
+Tom the money, and tell him he shall have fifty more in a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span>couple of
+months if he needs it. And tell him at the same time that he needn&#8217;t go
+mortgaging his little house. We don&#8217;t want security from Tom Connor: we
+know him too well. I&#8217;d rather have his word than some men&#8217;s bond. You
+shall ride up to see him this afternoon, and you needn&#8217;t hurry back
+to-day; for that rain of last night has made the ground too wet to
+continue plowing; and, if I&#8217;m not mistaken, we&#8217;re in for another storm
+to-night, in which case the soil won&#8217;t be in condition again for two or
+three days.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I need hardly say that Joe and I were delighted to undertake this
+mission, and about four o&#8217;clock we reached Mrs. Appleby&#8217;s, where we put
+up our ponies in her stable. Then, as Tom would not be quitting work for
+another hour, instead of going direct to his house, we climbed up to the
+Pelican, intending to catch him there and walk home with him.</p>
+
+<p>Presently arriving at the great white dump of bleached porphyry to which
+the citizens of Sulphide were accustomed to point with pride as an
+indication of the immense amount of work it had taken to make the
+Pelican the important mine it was, we scrambled up to the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span>engine-house,
+where for some minutes we stood watching the busy engine as it whirled
+to the surface the buckets of waste. Then, stepping over to the mouth of
+the shaft, we paused again to watch the top-men as they emptied the big
+buckets into the car and trundled the car itself to the edge of the
+dump, upset it, and trundled it back again for more.</p>
+
+<p>As we stood there, a miner came up, and stepping out of the cage, nodded
+to us in passing.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Want anybody, boys?&#8221; he asked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re waiting for Tom Connor,&#8221; I replied. &#8220;He&#8217;s down below, isn&#8217;t he?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, he&#8217;s down in the fifth. I&#8217;ll take you down there if you like. I&#8217;m
+going back in a minute.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What do you think, Joe?&#8221; I asked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, let&#8217;s go,&#8221; my companion replied. &#8220;I&#8217;ve never been inside a mine,
+and I should like to see one.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;All right,&#8221; said the miner. &#8220;Come over here to the dressing-room and
+I&#8217;ll give you a lamp and a couple of slickers. It&#8217;s a bit wet down
+there.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Joe and I were soon provided with water-proof coats, and in company with
+our new friend we <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span>stepped into the cage, when the miner, shutting the
+door behind us, called out to the engineer, &#8220;Fifth level, McPherson,&#8221;
+and instantly the floor of the cage seemed to drop from under us. After
+a fall of several miles, as it appeared to us, the cage stopped, when,
+peering through the wire lattice-work, we saw before us a dark passage,
+upon one side of which hung a white board with a big &#8220;5&#8221; painted upon
+it.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Here you are,&#8221; said the miner, stepping out of the cage and handing us
+a lighted lamp. &#8220;Just walk straight along this drift about three hundred
+feet&mdash;it&#8217;s all plain sailing&mdash;and you&#8217;ll find Tom Connor at work there.
+I&#8217;m going on down to the seventh myself.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>With that he stepped back into the cage, rang the bell, and vanished,
+leaving us standing there eyeing each other a little dubiously at
+finding ourselves left to our own guidance, four hundred feet below the
+surface of the earth.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I hadn&#8217;t reckoned on that,&#8221; said I. &#8220;I thought he was coming with us.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;So did I,&#8221; replied Joe. &#8220;But it doesn&#8217;t really matter. All we have to
+do is to walk along this passage; so let&#8217;s go ahead.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>That our obliging friend had been right when <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>he stated that it was &#8220;a
+bit wet&#8221; down here was evident, for the drops of water from the roof of
+the drift kept pattering upon our slickers, and presently, when we had
+advanced something over half the distance, one of them fell plump upon
+the flame of our lamp and put it out!</p>
+
+<p>We stopped short, not knowing what pitfalls there might be ahead of us,
+and each felt in all his pockets for a match. We had none! Never
+anticipating any such contingency as this, we had ventured into this
+black hole without a match in our possession.</p>
+
+<p>I admit that we were scared&mdash;the darkness was so very dark and the
+silence so very silent&mdash;but fortunately it was only for a moment.
+Standing stock still, for, indeed, we dared not move, we shouted for
+Tom, when, to our infinite relief, we heard his familiar voice call out:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Hallo, there! That you, Patsy? I&#8217;m coming. Does the boss want me?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The next moment a light appeared moving towards us, and as soon as we
+could safely do so we advanced to meet it.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;How are you, Tom?&#8221; we both cried, simultaneously, assuming an off-hand
+manner, as though we had not been scared a bit.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span></p><p>Tom stopped, not recognizing us for a moment, and then exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Hallo, boys! What are you doing down here? Who brought you down?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>We told him how we came to be there, and how our lamp had gone out; at
+which Tom shook his head.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, it was certainly a smart trick to send you down into this wet
+hole and not even see that you had a match in your pocket. What would
+you have done if I&#8217;d happened to have left the drift?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The very idea gave me cold chills all down my back.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We should have been badly scared, Tom, and that&#8217;s a fact,&#8221; I replied;
+&#8220;but I hope we should have kept our heads. I believe we should have sat
+down where we were and shouted till somebody came.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, that would have been the best thing you could do, though you
+might have had to shout a pretty long time, for there is nobody working
+in this level just now but me, and, as a matter of fact, I should have
+left it myself in another five minutes. But it&#8217;s all right as it
+happens; so now you can come along with me. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span>I&#8217;m going out the other way
+through Yetmore&#8217;s ground.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yetmore&#8217;s ground?&#8221; exclaimed Joe, inquiringly.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, Yetmore is working the old stopes of the Pelican on a lease&mdash;it is
+one of his many ventures. In the early days of the camp mining was
+conducted much more carelessly than it is now; freight and smelter
+charges were a good bit higher, too, so that a considerable amount of
+ore of too low grade to ship then was left standing in the stopes.
+Yetmore is taking it out on shares. His ground lies this way. Come on.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>So saying, Tom led the way to the end of the drift, where, going down
+upon his hands and knees, he crawled through a man-hole, coming out into
+a little shaft which he called a &#8220;winze.&#8221; Ascending this by a short
+ladder, we found ourselves in the old, abandoned workings, and still
+following our guide, we presently walked out into the daylight&mdash;greatly
+to our surprise.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why, where have we got to, Tom?&#8221; cried Joe, as we stared about us, not
+recognizing our surroundings.</p>
+
+<p>Tom laughed. &#8220;This is called Stony Gulch,&#8221; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span>he replied. &#8220;The mine used
+to be worked through this tunnel where we just came out, but the tunnel
+isn&#8217;t used now except temporarily by Yetmore&#8217;s men. He only runs a day
+shift and at night he closes the place with that big door and locks it
+up. The Pelican buildings are just over the hill here, and we may as
+well go up at once: it will be quitting-time by the time we get there.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>We climbed over the hill, therefore, and having restored our slickers,
+went on with Tom down to his little cottage, which was only about a
+quarter of a mile from the mine.</p>
+
+<p>It was not until we were inside his house that we explained to Tom the
+object of our visit, at the same time handing over to him my father&#8217;s
+check for one hundred dollars. The good fellow was quite touched by this
+very simple token of good-will on our part; for, though he was ever
+ready to help others, it seemed never to have occurred to him that
+others might like sometimes to help him.</p>
+
+<p>This little bit of business being settled, we all pitched in to assist
+in getting supper ready, and presently we were seated round Tom&#8217;s table
+testing the result of our cookery. As we sat there, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span>Joe, pointing to a
+window-sash and some planed and fitted lumber which stood leaning
+against the wall, asked:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What are you going to do with that, Tom? Put in a second window?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; replied our host. &#8220;And I was intending to do it this evening. You
+can help me now you&#8217;re here. The stuff is all ready; all we have to do
+is to cut the hole in the wall and slap it in. It&#8217;s just one sash, not
+intended to open and shut, so it&#8217;s a simple job enough.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Where does it go?&#8221; asked Joe.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;There, on the right-hand side of the door. Old man Snyder, in the next
+house west, put one in some time ago, and it&#8217;s such an improvement that
+I decided to do the same. We&#8217;ll step out presently and look at Snyder&#8217;s,
+and then you&#8217;ll see. Hallo! Come in!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>This shout was occasioned by a tapping at the door, and in response to
+Tom&#8217;s call there stepped in a tall miner, whom I recognized as George
+Simpson, one of the Pelican men.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Come in, George,&#8221; cried our host. &#8220;Come in and have some supper. What&#8217;s
+new?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, I won&#8217;t take any supper, thank ye,&#8221; replied the miner. &#8220;I must get
+along home. I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span>just dropped in to speak to you. You know Arty
+Burns?&mdash;works on the night shift? Well, Arty&#8217;s sick. When he came up to
+the mine to-night he was too sick to stand, so I packed him off home
+again and told him to go to bed where he belonged and I&#8217;d see to it that
+somebody went on in his place, so that he shouldn&#8217;t lose his job. I&#8217;m
+proposing to work half his shift for him myself, and I want to find
+somebody&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;All right, George,&#8221; Connor cut in. &#8220;I&#8217;ll take the other half. Which do
+you want? First or second?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Second, if it&#8217;s all the same to you, Tom. If I don&#8217;t get home first my
+old woman will think there&#8217;s something the matter. So, if you don&#8217;t
+mind, you can go on first and I&#8217;ll relieve you at half-time.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;All right, George, then I&#8217;ll get out at once. You boys can wash up, if
+you will; and you&#8217;ll find a mattress and plenty of blankets in the back
+room. I&#8217;ll be back soon after eleven.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>With that, carrying a lantern in his hand, for it was getting dark, away
+he went; while the miner hurried off across lots for town; neither of
+them, apparently, thinking it anything out of the way to do a full day&#8217;s
+work and then, instead <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span>of taking his well-earned rest, to go off and do
+another half-day&#8217;s work in order to &#8220;hold the job&#8221; for a third man, to
+whom neither of them was under any obligation.</p>
+
+<p>Nor <i>was</i> it anything out of the way; for the silver-miners of Colorado,
+whatever their faults, did in those days, and probably do still,
+exercise towards their fellows a practical charity which might well be
+counted to cover a multitude of sins.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Look here, Phil!&#8221; exclaimed my companion, after we had washed and put
+away the dishes. &#8220;I&#8217;ll tell you what we&#8217;ll do. Let&#8217;s pitch in and put in
+Tom&#8217;s second window for him!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Good idea!&#8221; I cried. &#8220;We&#8217;ll do it! Let&#8217;s go out first, though, Joe, and
+take a look at old Snyder&#8217;s house, so that we may see what effect Tom
+expects to get.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Come on, then!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The row of six little houses, of which Tom&#8217;s was the third, counting
+from the west, had been one of Yetmore&#8217;s speculations. They were
+situated on the southern outskirts of town, and were mostly occupied by
+miners working on the Pelican. Each house was an exact counterpart of
+every other, they having been <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span>built by contract all on one pattern.
+Each had a room in front and a room behind; one little brick chimney; a
+front door with two steps; and a window on the right-hand side of the
+door as you faced the house. All were painted the same color.</p>
+
+<p>Yetmore having secured the land, had laid it out as &#8220;Yetmore&#8217;s Addition&#8221;
+to the town of Sulphide; had marked out streets and alleys, and had
+built the six houses as a starter, hoping thereby to draw people out
+there. But as yet his building-lots were a drug in the market: they were
+too far out; there being a vacant space of a quarter of a mile or
+thereabouts between them and the next nearest houses in town. The
+streets themselves were undistinguishable from the rest of the country,
+being merely marked out with stakes and having had no work whatever
+expended upon them.</p>
+
+<p>The six houses, built about three hundred feet apart, all faced
+north&mdash;towards the town&mdash;and being so far apart and all so precisely
+alike, it was absolutely impossible for any one coming from town on a
+dark night to tell which house was which. Not even the tenants
+themselves, coming across the vacant lots after nightfall, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span>could tell
+their own houses from those of their neighbors; and consequently it was
+a common event for one of the sleepy inmates, stirred out of bed by a
+knock at the door, to find a belated citizen outside inquiring whether
+this was his house or somebody else&#8217;s. Not infrequently they neglected
+to knock first, and walking straight in, found themselves, to their
+great embarrassment, in the wrong house.</p>
+
+<p>Old man Snyder, a somewhat irritable old gentleman, having been thus
+disturbed two nights in succession, determined that he would no longer
+subject himself to the nuisance. He bought a single sash and inserted a
+second window on the other side of his door; a device which not only
+saved him from intrusion, but served as a guide to his neighbors in
+finding their own houses. It was also a very obvious improvement, and we
+did not wonder that Tom Connor had determined to follow his neighbor&#8217;s
+example.</p>
+
+<p>Old Snyder&#8217;s house was the second from the western end of the street,
+Tom Connor&#8217;s, three hundred feet distant, came next, while next to
+Tom&#8217;s, another three hundred feet away, was a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span>house which still
+belonged to Yetmore and was at that moment standing empty.</p>
+
+<p>You will wonder, very likely, why I should go into all these details,
+but you will cease to wonder, I think, when you see presently of what
+transcendent importance to Joe and me was the situation of these three
+houses.</p>
+
+<p>Joe and I, laying hands on our host&#8217;s kit of tools, at once went to work
+on the window. As Tom had said, it was a simple job, and though it was
+something of a handicap to work by lamplight, we went at it so
+vigorously that by nine o&#8217;clock we had completed our task&mdash;very much to
+our satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p>Stepping outside to observe the effect, we saw that old Snyder&#8217;s windows
+were lighted up also; but we had hardly noted that fact when his light
+went out.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The old fellow goes to bed early, Joe,&#8221; said I.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221; Joe replied; and then, with a sudden laugh, added: &#8220;My wig, Phil!
+I hope there won&#8217;t be anybody coming out from town to-night. If they do,
+there&#8217;ll be complications. They will surely be taking our two windows
+for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span>old Snyder&#8217;s, for, now that his light is out, you can&#8217;t see his
+house at all.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s a fact,&#8221; said I. &#8220;If Snyder&#8217;s right-hand neighbor should come
+out across the flats to-night he would see our two windows, and,
+supposing them to be Snyder&#8217;s windows, he would be almost sure to go
+blundering into the old fellow&#8217;s house. My! How mad he would be!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Wouldn&#8217;t he! And any one coming out to visit Tom would pretty certainly
+go and pound on the door of the empty house to the left.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, let us hope that nobody does come out,&#8221; said I. &#8220;Come on, now,
+Joe. Let&#8217;s get back. It&#8217;s going to rain pretty soon.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes; your father was right when he predicted more rain. It&#8217;s going to
+be a biggish one, I should think. How dark it is! I don&#8217;t wonder people
+find a difficulty in telling which house is which when all the lights
+are out. Here it comes now. Step out, Phil.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>As he spoke, a blast of wind from the mountains struck us, and a few
+needles of cold rain beat against our right cheeks.</p>
+
+<p>We were soon inside again, when, having shut our door, we sat down to a
+game of checkers, in which we became so absorbed that we failed to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span>note
+the lapse of time until Tom&#8217;s dollar clock, hanging on the wall, banged
+out the hour of ten.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;To bed, Joe!&#8221; I cried, springing out of my chair. &#8220;Why, we haven&#8217;t been
+up so late for weeks.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Stepping into the back room, we soon had mattress and blankets spread
+upon the floor, when, quickly undressing, I crept into bed, while Joe,
+returning to the front room, blew out the light.</p>
+
+<p>Five minutes later we were both asleep, with a comfortable consciousness
+that we had done a good evening&#8217;s work; though we little suspected how
+good an evening&#8217;s work it really was. For it is hardly too much to say
+that had we <i>not</i> put in Tom&#8217;s second window that night we might both
+have been dead before morning.</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">Tom Connor&#8217;s Scare</span></h3>
+
+<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">W</span>hen Long John Butterfield (it was Yetmore himself who told us all this
+long afterwards) when Long John, returning from his day&#8217;s prospecting up
+among the foot-hills of Mount Lincoln, had related to his employer the
+result of his labors, two conclusions instantly presented themselves to
+the worthy mayor of Sulphide. A man less acute than Yetmore would have
+understood at once that we had discovered the nature of the black sand
+in the pool, and that just as he had sent out Long John, so my father
+had sent out us boys to determine, if possible, which stream it was that
+had brought down the powdered galena.</p>
+
+<p>Moreover, knowing my father as he did&mdash;whose opinions on prospecting as
+a business were no secret in the community&mdash;Yetmore was sure that it was
+in the interest of Tom Connor we had been sent out; and it was equally
+plain to him that, such being the case, Tom&#8217;s information<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> on the
+subject would be just as good as his own. He was, of course, unaware
+that our information was in reality a good deal better than his own,
+thanks to the hint given us by our friend, Peter, as to the deposit at
+the head of Big Reuben&#8217;s gorge.</p>
+
+<p>Knowing all this, Yetmore had no doubt that Tom would be starting out
+the moment the foot-hills were bare, and as Long John could do no
+more&mdash;for it was obviously useless to start before the ground was
+clear&mdash;it would result in a race between the two as to who should get
+out first and keep ahead of the other; in which case Tom&#8217;s chances would
+be at least equal to his competitor&#8217;s.</p>
+
+<p>But was there no way by which Tom Connor might be delayed in starting,
+if only for a day or two? That was the question; and very earnestly it
+was discussed between the pair.</p>
+
+<p>Vain, however, were their discussions; they could think of no way of
+keeping Tom in town. For, though Long John threw out occasional hints as
+to how <i>he</i> would manage it, if his employer would only give him leave,
+his schemes always suggested the use of unlawful means of one sort or
+another, and Yetmore would have <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span>none of them; for he had at least
+sufficient respect for the law to be afraid of it.</p>
+
+<p>A gleam of hope appeared when it was rumored about town that Tom Connor
+was trying to raise money on his house; a rumor which Yetmore very
+quickly took pains to verify. In this he had no trouble whatever, for
+everybody knew the circumstances, and everybody, Yetmore found, was loud
+in his praises of Tom&#8217;s self-sacrifice in spending his hard-earned
+savings for the benefit of Mrs. Murphy and her distressed family.</p>
+
+<p>The fact that his rival was out of funds caused Yetmore to rub his hands
+with glee. Here, indeed, was a possible chance to keep him tied up in
+town. It all depended upon his being able to prevent Tom from securing
+the loan he sought, and diligently did the storekeeper canvass one plan
+after another in his own mind&mdash;but still in vain. The sum desired was so
+moderate that some one would almost surely be found to advance it.</p>
+
+<p>While his schemes were still fermenting in his head, there came late one
+night a knock at his door&mdash;it was the very night that Tom Connor went
+boring for oil&mdash;and Long John Butterfield
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span>slipped into the house. Long John, too, had heard of Tom&#8217;s necessities;
+he, too, had perceived the value of the opportunity; and being
+untrammeled by any respect for law as long as there was little
+likelihood that the law would find him out, he had devised in his own
+mind a plan which would promptly and effectually prevent Tom from
+raising any money on his house.</p>
+
+<p><a name="illo213" id="illo213"></a></p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 306px;">
+<img src="images/i213.jpg" width="306" class="jpg ispace" height="500" alt="&#8220;&#8216;CAN FOLKS SEE IN FROM OUTSIDE?&#8217;&#8221;" title="" />
+<span class="caption">&#8220;&#8216;CAN FOLKS SEE IN FROM OUTSIDE?&#8217;&#8221;</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>This plan he had now come to suggest to his employer.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Any one in the house with you, Mr. Yetmore?&#8221; he inquired.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, John, I&#8217;m all alone. Come in. Why do you ask?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, I just wanted to talk to you, and I didn&#8217;t want anybody listening,
+that&#8217;s all. Can folks see in from outside?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, not while the curtains are drawn. Come on in. What&#8217;s all this
+mystery about?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Long John entered, and sitting down close to his friend, he began,
+speaking in a low tone:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You&#8217;ve heard about Tom Connor trying to raise money on his house, o&#8217;
+course? Well, I can stop him, if you say so. Any one can see what Tom
+wants the money for. He&#8217;ll get that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span>hundred and fifty, sure, and then
+off he&#8217;ll go. He&#8217;s a thorough good prospector, better&#8217;n me, and with
+equal chances the betting will be in his favor. If there&#8217;s a big vein,
+there&#8217;s a big fortune for the finder, and it&#8217;s for you to say whether
+Tom Connor is to get a shot at it or not.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Long John paused a moment, and then, emphasizing each point with an
+extended finger, he continued: &#8220;Without money Tom can&#8217;t move&mdash;that&#8217;s
+sure; he&#8217;s strapped just now&mdash;that&#8217;s sure; and his only way of getting
+the cash is by raising it on that house of his&mdash;and that&#8217;s sure. Now,
+Mr. Yetmore, you say the word and he shan&#8217;t get it. No personal violence
+that you&#8217;re always objecting to. Just the simplest little move; nobody
+hurt and nobody the wiser.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Yetmore gazed at him earnestly for a few moments, and then said: &#8220;It&#8217;s
+against the law, I suppose.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, yes,&#8221; replied Long John, with a careless shrug of his shoulders.
+&#8220;It&#8217;s against the law all right; but what does that matter to you? I&#8217;m
+the one to do the job, and I&#8217;m the only one <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span>the law can touch, if it
+can touch any one; and I don&#8217;t mean that it shall touch me. It&#8217;s safe
+and it&#8217;s sure.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, John, what is it?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Long John rose from his chair, leaned forward, and whispered in the
+other&#8217;s ear a little sentence of five words.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment Yetmore gazed open-eyed at his henchman, then suddenly
+turned pale, then shook his head.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I daren&#8217;t, John,&#8221; said he. &#8220;It&#8217;s a simple plan and it looks safe; and
+even if it were found out it would be about impossible for the law to
+prove anything against me, whatever it might do to you. But it isn&#8217;t the
+law I&#8217;m afraid of&mdash;it&#8217;s the people. Tom Connor has always been a
+favorite, and just now he is more of a favorite than ever, and if it
+should be found out, or even suspected, that I had any part in such a
+deed my business would be ruined: the whole population would turn their
+backs upon me. I daren&#8217;t do it, John.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, boss,&#8221;said Long John, with an air of resignation, shoving his
+hands deep into his pockets and thrusting out his long legs to the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span>fire, &#8220;if you won&#8217;t, you won&#8217;t, I suppose; but it seems to me you&#8217;re a
+bit over-timorous. Who&#8217;s to suspect, anyhow?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Who&#8217;s to suspect!&#8221;exclaimed Yetmore, sharply. &#8220;Why, Tom Connor,
+himself, and old Crawford and those two meddling boys of his. They&#8217;d not
+only suspect&mdash;they&#8217;d know that you had done the job and that I&#8217;d paid
+you for it. And if they should go around telling their version of the
+story, everybody would believe them and nothing I could say would count
+against them; for they&#8217;ve all of them, worse luck, got the reputation of
+being as truthful as daylight, while, as for me&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Long John laughed. &#8220;As for you, you haven&#8217;t, eh? Well, Mr. Yetmore, it&#8217;s
+for you to say, of course, but it seems to me you&#8217;re missing the chance
+of a lifetime. Anyhow, my offer stands good, and if you change your mind
+you&#8217;ve only got to wink at me and I&#8217;ll trump Tom Connor&#8217;s ace for him so
+sudden he&#8217;ll be dizzy for a week.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>With that, Long John arose, slipped out of the house and sneaked off
+home by a back alley, leaving Yetmore pacing up and down his room with
+his hands behind him, thinking over and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span>over again what would be the
+result if he should authorize Long John to go ahead.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No,&#8221;said he at last, as he took up the lamp to go to bed, &#8220;I daren&#8217;t.
+It&#8217;s a good idea, simple, sure and probably safe, but I daren&#8217;t risk it.
+No. Law or no law, the public would be down on me for certain. I must
+think up some other scheme.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Though he thus dismissed the subject from his mind, as he believed, the
+idea still lurked in the corners of his brain in spite of himself, and
+when at six in the morning he awoke, there was the little black imp
+sitting on the pillow, as it were, waiting to go on with the discussion.</p>
+
+<p>Yetmore, however, brushed aside the tempter, jumped into his clothes and
+walked off to the store, where he found the putty-faced boy anxiously
+awaiting his appearance in order that he himself might be off to his
+breakfast.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Pht!&#8221;exclaimed the proprietor, the moment he set foot inside the
+store. &#8220;What&#8217;s this smell of coal oil?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t smell it,&#8221;replied the boy.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You don&#8217;t! Hm! I suppose you&#8217;ve got used to it. Well, get along to your
+breakfast.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>As the boy ran off, Yetmore walked to the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span>back of the building. Here
+the scent was so strong that he was convinced the barrel must be
+leaking, so, seizing hold of it, he gave a mighty heave, when the empty
+barrel came away in his hands, as the saying is. He almost fell over.</p>
+
+<p>To ascertain the nature of the leak was the work of a moment; to trail
+the sled to Mrs. Appleby&#8217;s back yard was the work of five minutes; but
+having done this, Yetmore was at fault, for, knowing well enough that
+neither the widow nor her son were capable of such an undertaking, he
+was at a loss to imagine who the culprit might be.</p>
+
+<p>It was only when Tom Connor a minute later stepped into the store and
+arranged that story of the leaky oil-barrel which he had described as
+being &#8220;agreeable&#8221;to Yetmore, that the storekeeper arrived at a true
+understanding of the whole matter. To say that he was enraged would be
+to put it too mildly, and, as always seems to be the case, the fact that
+he, himself, had been in the wrong to begin with, only exasperated him
+the more.</p>
+
+<p>The result was what any one might have expected.</p>
+
+<p>Hardly had Connor turned the corner out of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span>sight, than there appeared,
+&#8220;snooping&#8221;up the street, that sheep in wolfs clothing, Long John
+Butterfield. Instantly Yetmore&#8217;s resolution was taken. Seizing a broom,
+he stepped outside and made pretense to sweep the sidewalk, and as Long
+John, with a casual nod, sauntered past, the angry storekeeper caught
+his eye and whispered:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve reconsidered. Go ahead.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Bully for you,&#8221;replied the other in a low tone; and passed on.</p>
+
+<p>No one would have guessed that in that brief instant a criminal act had
+been arranged. Nor did Tom Connor, as he went chuckling up the street,
+guess that by his lawless recovery of the widow&#8217;s property he had given
+Yetmore the excuse he longed for to defy the law himself. Least of all
+did any of them&mdash;not even Long John&mdash;guess that between them they were
+to come within an ace of snuffing out the lives of two innocent
+outsiders, namely, Joe Garnier and myself. Yet such was the case. It was
+only the accidental putting in of Tom&#8217;s second window that saved us.</p>
+
+<p>Long John, being authorized to proceed, at once made his preparations,
+which were simple enough, and all he wanted now was an opportunity. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span>By
+an unlooked-for chance, which, with his perverted sense of right and
+wrong, seemed to him to be providential, his opportunity turned up that
+very night.</p>
+
+<p>The miner, George Simpson, hastening homeward from Connor&#8217;s house,
+happened to overtake Long John in the street, and as he passed gave him
+a friendly &#8220;Good-night.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Good-night,&#8221;said John. &#8220;You&#8217;re late to-night, aren&#8217;t you?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, a bit late. One of our men&#8217;s sick, and I&#8217;ve been fixing things
+so&#8217;s he won&#8217;t lose his job. Tom Connor and I are going to work his shift
+for him.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;So!&#8221;cried Long John, with sudden interest. &#8220;Which half do you take?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The second. Tom&#8217;s gone off already, and I&#8217;m going to relieve him at
+eleven. So I must be getting along: I want my supper and two or three
+hours&#8217; sleep.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>So Tom would be out of his house till eleven o&#8217;clock! Such a chance
+might never occur again. Long John hastened home at once and got
+everything ready.</p>
+
+<p>As it would not do to start too early, because people might be about,
+John waited till nearly ten <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span>o&#8217;clock, and then sallied out. As he
+rounded the corner of his shack a furious blast of wind, driving the
+rain before it, almost knocked him over.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Good!&#8221;he exclaimed. &#8220;There won&#8217;t be a soul out o&#8217; doors to-night.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>With his head bent to the storm and his hat pulled down over his ears,
+John made his way through alleys and bye-streets to the edge of town,
+and then set off across the intervening empty space towards the house
+where Joe and I were at that moment playing our last game of checkers.
+As he approached, he saw dimly through the blur of rain the light of two
+windows.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Good!&#8221;he exclaimed a second time. &#8220;Old Snyder not gone to bed yet.
+Mighty kind of the old gent to leave his light burning for me to steer
+by. If it hadn&#8217;t been for him I&#8217;d &#8217;a&#8217; had a job to tell which was the
+right house. As it is, I&#8217;ve borne more to the right than I thought.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>At this moment the town clock struck ten, and almost immediately
+afterwards the light in the windows went out.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Never mind,&#8221;remarked John to himself. &#8220;I know where I am now.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span></p><p>Advancing a little further, he caught sight of the dim outline of the
+house through the rain, and turning short to his left, he measured off
+one hundred steps along the empty street, a distance which brought him
+opposite the next house to the east.</p>
+
+<p>All was dark and silent, as he had expected, but to make sure he
+approached the house and thumped upon the door. There was no reply.
+Again he thumped and struck the door sharply with the handle of his
+knife. Silence!</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s out all right,&#8221;muttered John. &#8220;Was there ever such a lucky
+chance? Howling wind, driving rain, dark as the ace of spades, and Tom
+Connor not coming back for an hour!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Dark it surely was. The night was black. Not a glimmer of light in any
+direction. Even the town itself, only a quarter-mile away, seemed to
+have been blotted from the face of the earth.</p>
+
+<p>As he had noticed in coming across the flats that there were lights
+still burning in two of the other houses, the patient plotter, in order
+to give the inmates a chance to get to bed and to sleep, sat waiting on
+the leeward side of the building for a full half hour. At the end of
+that time, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span>however, he arose, moved along a few steps, and then, going
+down on his hands and knees, crept under the house. Ten minutes later he
+came crawling out again, feet foremost. Once outside, he struck a match,
+and sheltering it in his cupped hands he applied the flame to the end of
+something which looked like a long, stiff cord about as thick as a lead
+pencil. Presently there was a sharp &#8220;spit&#8221;from the ignited &#8220;cord,&#8221;
+blowing out the match and causing John to shake his hand with a gesture
+of pain, as though it had been scorched.</p>
+
+<p>Next moment Long John sprang to his feet and fled away into the
+darkness; not straight across lots as he had come, but by a roundabout
+way which would bring him into town from the eastern side.</p>
+
+<p>Then, for two minutes, except for the roaring of the wind, all was
+silence.</p>
+
+<p>Joe and I were sound asleep on the floor of Tom&#8217;s back room, when by a
+single impulse we both sprang out of bed with an irrepressible cry of
+alarm, and stood for a moment trembling and clinging to each other in
+the darkness. The sound of a frightful explosion was ringing in our
+ears!</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;What was it, Joe?&#8221;I cried. &#8220;Which direction?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know,&#8221;my companion replied. &#8220;I hope it isn&#8217;t an accident up at
+the Pelican. Let&#8217;s get into our clothes, Phil.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Lighting the lamp, we quickly dressed, and putting on our hats and
+overcoats we went out into the storm. All was dark, except that in the
+windows of each of the occupied houses in the row we could see a light
+shining. The whole street had been roused up.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It must have been a powder-magazine,&#8221;Joe shouted in my ear. &#8220;Or else
+the boiler in the engine-house of the Pelican. What do you say, Phil?
+Shall we go up there? We might be able to help.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, come on!&#8221;I cried. &#8220;Let&#8217;s go and see first, though, if Tom hasn&#8217;t
+a second lantern. We shall save time by it if he has.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Our hurried search for a lantern was vain, however, so we determined to
+set off without one. As we closed the door behind us, our clock struck
+eleven, and a moment later we heard faintly the eleven o&#8217;clock whistle
+up at the Pelican.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Good!&#8221;cried Joe. &#8220;It isn&#8217;t the boiler <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span>blown up, anyhow, so Tom&#8217;s
+safe; for he is working underground and the explosion, whatever it was,
+was on the surface.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>With bent heads we pushed our way against the wind, until, looking up
+presently, I saw the light of a lantern coming quickly towards us.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Here&#8217;s Tom, Joe,&#8221;I shouted. &#8220;Pull up!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>We stopped, and as the light swiftly approached we detected the beating
+footsteps of a man running furiously.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then there is an accident!&#8221;cried Joe. &#8220;Ho, Tom! That you?&#8221;he shouted.</p>
+
+<p>It was Tom, who, suddenly stopping, held the lantern high, looking first
+at one and then at the other of us. He was still in his miner&#8217;s cap and
+slicker, his face was as white as a ghost&#8217;s, and he was so out of breath
+that for a moment he could not speak.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Hurt, Tom?&#8221;I cried, in alarm.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No,&#8221;&mdash;with a gasp.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Anybody hurt?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What is it, then?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Scared!&#8221;And then, still panting violently: &#8220;Come to the house,&#8221;said
+he.</p>
+
+<p>Once inside, I brought Tom a dipper of water, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span>which quickly restored
+him, when, turning his still blanched face towards us, he said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Boys, I&#8217;ve had the worst scare of my life!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;How, Tom?&#8221;I asked. &#8220;That explosion? Was it up at the Pelican?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, it wasn&#8217;t; and I didn&#8217;t know anything about it until I came up at
+eleven, when George, who was waiting to go on, told me there had been a
+heavy explosion down in the direction of my house. When he told me that,
+there rushed into my head all of a sudden an idea which nearly knocked
+me over&mdash;it was like a blow from a hammer. I grabbed the lantern, which
+I had just lighted, and ran for it. Can you guess what I expected to
+find?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>We shook our heads.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I expected to find my house blown to pieces, and you two boys lying
+dead out in the rain!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>We stared at him in amazement.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What do you mean?&#8221;I asked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Look here, boys,&#8221;Tom went on. &#8220;When George Simpson told me there had
+been an explosion down this way, it came into my head all at once that
+Yetmore or Long John&mdash;probably Long John&mdash;had heard that I was out at
+work to-night, and not knowing that you were <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span>staying the night with me,
+had come and wrecked my house.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But why should they?&#8221;Joe asked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;So as to prevent my raising money on it, and so keep me tied up in town
+while they skipped out to look for that vein of galena. I&#8217;m glad to find
+I was wrong. I did &#8217;em an in&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He stopped short, and following his gaze, we saw that he was staring at
+the second window.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;When did you put that in?&#8221;he cried.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Just after you left. We finished by nine o&#8217;clock.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;How soon did you go to bed?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Just after ten.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Come with me!&#8221;cried Tom, springing from his chair and seizing the
+lantern. &#8220;I know what&#8217;s happened now!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>With us two close at his heels, he led the way to the spot where
+Yetmore&#8217;s empty house had stood. Not a vestige of it remained, except
+the upper part of the chimney, which lay prone in the great hole dug out
+by the violence of the explosion.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Boys,&#8221;said Tom, in a tone of unusual gravity, &#8220;if you live a hundred
+years you&#8217;ll never have a narrower squeak than you&#8217;ve had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span>to-night. If
+Long John did this&mdash;and I&#8217;m pretty sure he did&mdash;he meant to blow up my
+house, but being misled by those two windows, he has blown up Yetmore&#8217;s
+house instead. You never did, and I doubt if you ever will do, a better
+stroke of work in your lives than when you put in my second window!&#8221;</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">The Ore-theft</span></h3>
+
+<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">A</span>t half past five next morning Joe and I slipped out of bed, leaving Tom
+Connor, who had to go to work again at seven, still fast asleep. While
+Joe quietly prepared breakfast, I went out to examine by daylight the
+scene of last night&#8217;s explosion.</p>
+
+<p>The first discovery I made was the imprint in the mud of footsteps, half
+obliterated by the rain. The tracks were very large and very far apart,
+proving that the owner of the boots that made them was a big man, and
+that he had gone off at a great pace; a discovery which tended to
+confirm in my mind Tom&#8217;s guess that it was indeed Long John who had done
+the mischief.</p>
+
+<p>At this moment the tenant of the house next to the east came out&mdash;Hughy
+Hughes was his name; a Welshman&mdash;and as he walked towards me I saw him
+stoop to pick up something.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That was a rascally piece of work, wasn&#8217;t it?&#8221;said he, as he joined
+me. &#8220;Scared us &#8217;most to death, it did. See, here&#8217;s the fuse he used. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span>I
+just picked it up; fifteen feet of it. Wonder who the fellow was. Pretty
+state of things when folks take to blowing up each other&#8217;s houses. Like
+enough Yetmore has his enemies, but it&#8217;s a pretty mean enemy as &#8217;d try
+to get even by any such scalawag trick as this.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>This speech enlightened me as to what would be the general theory
+regarding the outrage. It would be set down as an act of revenge on the
+part of some enemy of Yetmore&#8217;s; and so Tom and Joe thought, too, when I
+went back to the house and told them about it.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;ll be the theory, all right,&#8221;said Tom. &#8220;And as far as I see, we
+may as well let it go at that. We have no evidence to present, and it
+would look rather like malice on our part if we were to charge Long John
+with blowing his best friend&#8217;s house to pieces just because we happen to
+suspect him of it. And so, I guess, boys, we may as well lay low for the
+present: we shan&#8217;t do any good by putting forward our own theories.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I dare say,&#8221;he went on, after a moment&#8217;s reflection, &#8220;I dare say, if
+we were to go around telling what we thought and why we thought it, we
+might influence public opinion; but, when <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span>you come to think of it, we
+have no real proof; so we&#8217;ll just hold our tongues. Are you in a hurry
+to get home?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No,&#8221;I replied. &#8220;We shan&#8217;t be able to plow for two days at the very
+least, so there is nothing to hurry home for.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, then,&#8221;said Tom, &#8220;I&#8217;ll tell you what I wish you&#8217;d do. I must go
+back to work in a few minutes, but I wish you two would go down town and
+hear what folks have to say about this business, and then come back here
+and have dinner with me at twelve. Will you?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;All right,&#8221;said I. &#8220;We&#8217;ll do that.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>We found the town in a great state of excitement. Everybody was talking
+about the explosion, which, as the newspaper said, &#8220;would cast a blight
+upon the fair fame of Sulphide.&#8221;Yetmore&#8217;s store was crowded with
+people, shaking hands with him and expressing their indignation at the
+outrage; the universal opinion being, as we had anticipated, that some
+miscreant had done it out of revenge.</p>
+
+<p>Joe and I, squeezing in with the rest, presently found ourselves near
+the counter, when Yetmore, catching my eye, nodded to me and said:</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;How are you, Phil? I didn&#8217;t know you were in town.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221;said I, &#8220;we came in last evening and spent the night in Tom
+Connor&#8217;s house.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Yetmore started and turned pale.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;In Tom Connor&#8217;s house?&#8221;he repeated, huskily.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221;I replied. &#8220;We were asleep in his back room when that explosion
+woke us up.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>At this Yetmore stared at me for a moment, and then, as he realized how
+narrowly he had missed being party to a murder, he turned a dreadful
+white color, staggered, and I believe might have fallen had he not sat
+himself down quickly upon a sack of potatoes.</p>
+
+<p>A draft of water soon brought back his color, when, addressing the
+sympathizing crowd, Yetmore said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It made me feel a bit sick to think what chances these boys ran last
+night. Every one knows how hard it is to tell those houses apart; and
+that fellow might easily have made a mistake and blown up Tom Connor&#8217;s
+house on one side or Hughy Hughes&#8217; on the other.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221;said I; &#8220;and all the more so as Joe and I last evening put a
+second window into <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span>Tom&#8217;s house, so that any one coming across lots
+after dark might just as well have taken Tom&#8217;s house for old Snyder&#8217;s.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Phew!&#8221;whistled one of the men in the crowd. &#8220;Then it&#8217;s Hughy Hughes
+that&#8217;s to be congratulated. If that rascal <i>had</i> made such a mistake,
+and had chosen the second house from Tom&#8217;s instead of the second house
+from Snyder&#8217;s we&#8217;d have been making arrangements for six funerals about
+now. Hughy has four children, hasn&#8217;t he?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I could not help feeling sorry for Yetmore. Convinced as I was that he
+had at least connived in a plot to destroy Tom&#8217;s house, I felt sure that
+he had been far from intending personal injury to any one; and I felt
+sure, too, that he was thoroughly sincere, when, rising from his seat
+and addressing the assemblage, he said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Men, I&#8217;m sorry to lose my house, of course&mdash;that goes without
+saying&mdash;but when I think of what might have happened it doesn&#8217;t trouble
+me that much&#8221;&mdash;snapping his finger and thumb. &#8220;I tell you, men, I&#8217;m
+downright thankful it was <i>my</i> house that was blown up and nobody
+else&#8217;s.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>As he said this he looked at Joe and me, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span>I felt convinced that it
+was to us and not to the assembled throng that he addressed his remark.
+The people, however, not knowing what we did, loudly applauded the
+magnanimity of the sentiment, and many of them pressed forward to shake
+hands again.</p>
+
+<p>Yetmore had never been so popular as he was at that moment. Everybody
+sympathized with him over his loss; everybody admired the dignified way
+in which he accepted it; and everybody would have been delighted to hear
+that some compensating piece of good fortune had befallen him.</p>
+
+<p>Strange to say, at that very moment that very thing happened.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly we were all attracted by a distant shouting up the street.
+Looking through the front window, we saw that all the people outside had
+turned and were gazing in that direction. By one impulse everybody in
+the store surged out through the doorways, when we saw, still some
+distance away, a man running down the middle of the street, waving his
+cap and shouting some words we could not distinguish. We were all on
+tiptoe with expectation.</p>
+
+<p>At length the man approached, broke through <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span>the group, ran up to
+Yetmore, who was standing on his door-step, shook hands with him, and
+then turning round, he shouted out:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Great strike in the Pelican, boys! In the old workings above the
+fifth&mdash;Yetmore&#8217;s lease. One of those pockets of tellurium that&#8217;s never
+been known to run less than twenty thousand to the ton. Hooray for
+Yetmore!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The shout that went up was genuinely hearty. Once more the mayor was
+mobbed by his enthusiastic fellow citizens and once more he shook hands
+till his arm ached&mdash;during which proceeding Joe and I slipped away.</p>
+
+<p>We had not gone far when I heard my name called, and turning round I saw
+a man on horseback who handed me a letter.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve just come up through your place,&#8221;said he, &#8220;and your father asked
+me to give you this if I should see you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The note was to the effect that the rain had been heavy on the ranch, no
+plowing was possible, and so we were to stay in town that day and come
+down on the morrow after the mail from the south came in, as he was
+expecting an important letter, and it would thus save another trip up
+and down.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span></p><p>We were glad enough to do this, so, making our way up the street past
+the knots of people, all talking over and over again the two exciting
+topics of the day, we retraced our steps to Tom&#8217;s house, where we got
+ready the dinner against Tom&#8217;s return. Shortly after twelve he came in,
+when we related to him what we had learned in town; demanding in our
+turn particulars of the great strike.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a rich strike, all right,&#8221;said Tom, &#8220;but there isn&#8217;t much of
+it&mdash;about five hundred pounds&mdash;just a pocket, and not a very large one.
+But it is very rich stuff, carrying over three thousand ounces of silver
+and a thousand of gold to the ton. The five hundred pounds should be
+worth ten or twelve dollars a pound. They&#8217;ve found the same stuff
+several times before in the Pelican, always unexpectedly and always in
+pockets.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then,&#8221;remarked Joe, &#8220;Yetmore will have made, perhaps, six thousand
+dollars this morning.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, no,&#8221;said Tom; &#8220;he won&#8217;t have done anything of the sort; though I
+don&#8217;t wonder you should think so after the way the people have been
+carrying on down town. They&#8217;ve just been <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span>led away by their enthusiasm.
+Most of &#8217;em know the terms of Yetmore&#8217;s lease well enough, but they have
+forgotten them for the moment. Yetmore pays the company a certain
+percentage of all the ore he gets out, and it is specially provided in
+the lease that should he come upon any of the well-known tellurium ore,
+the company is to have three-fifths of the proceeds and Yetmore only
+two-fifths. He&#8217;ll make a good thing out of it though, anyway.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You say there&#8217;s about five hundred pounds of the ore: have they taken
+it all out already?&#8221;asked Joe.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, taken it out, sorted it, sacked it in little fifty-pound sacks,
+sewed up the sacks and piled them in one of the drifts, all ready to
+ship down to San Remo to-morrow by express.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why do they leave it in the mine?&#8221;I asked. &#8220;Is it safer than taking it
+down to the express office?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes: it would be pretty difficult to steal it out of the mine, with all
+the lights going and all the miners about, whereas, if it was just
+stacked in the express office, somebody might&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Somebody might cut a hole in the floor and drop it through,&#8221;remarked
+Joe, laughing.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;That&#8217;s so,&#8221;said Tom, adding, &#8220;I tell you what it is, boys: I begin to
+think I wasn&#8217;t quite so smart as I thought I was when I got back that
+coal oil for the widow. I wouldn&#8217;t wonder a particle if it wasn&#8217;t just
+that that decided Yetmore to come and blow my house to smithereens.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I shouldn&#8217;t either,&#8221;said Joe.</p>
+
+<p>Tom having departed to his work again, Joe and I once more went into
+town, where we spent the time going about, listening to the talk of the
+people, who were still standing in groups on the street corners,
+discussing the great events of the day.</p>
+
+<p>But if the people were excited, as they certainly were, their excitement
+was a mere flutter in comparison with the storm which swept over the
+community next morning.</p>
+
+<p>The ten sacks of high-grade ore had been stolen during the night!</p>
+
+<p>The news came down about eight o&#8217;clock in the morning, when, at once,
+and with one accord, all the men in the place who could get away swarmed
+up to the Pelican&mdash;we among them.</p>
+
+<p>The thief, whoever he was, was evidently familiar <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span>with the workings of
+the mine, for, going round into Stony Gulch, he had forced the door at
+the exit of the old tunnel, cutting out the staple with auger and saw,
+and then, clambering through the disused, waste-encumbered drifts, he
+had carried out the little sacks one by one and made away with them
+somehow.</p>
+
+<p>Wrapping his feet in old rags in order to disguise his foot-prints, he
+had taken the sacks of ore across the gulch to the stony ground beyond,
+where his boots would leave no impression, and there all trace of him
+was lost. Whether he had buried the sacks somewhere near by, or, if not,
+how he had managed to spirit them away, were matters of general
+speculation; though to most minds the question was settled when one of
+Yetmore&#8217;s clerks came hastily up to the mine and called out that the
+roan pony and the two-wheeled delivery cart, used to carry packages up
+to the mines, were missing. The thief, seemingly, had not only stolen
+Yetmore&#8217;s ore, but had borrowed Yetmore&#8217;s horse and cart to convey it
+away.</p>
+
+<p>If this were true, it proved that the thief must have an intimate
+knowledge of the country, for, in spite of the heavy rain of the night
+before, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span>not a sign of a wheel-mark was there to be found: the cart had
+been conducted over the rocks with such skill as to leave no trace
+whatever. Cart, pony, ore and thief had vanished as completely as though
+the earth had opened and swallowed them.</p>
+
+<p>At first everybody sympathized with Yetmore over his loss, but presently
+an ugly rumor began to get about when people bethought them of the terms
+of the lease. Those who did not like the storekeeper, and they were not
+a few, began to pull long faces, nudge each other with their elbows, and
+whisper together that perhaps Yetmore knew more of this matter than he
+pretended.</p>
+
+<p>Joe and I were at a loss to understand what they were driving at, until
+one man, more malicious or less discreet than the others, spoke up.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;How are we to know,&#8221;said he, &#8220;that Yetmore didn&#8217;t steal this ore
+himself? Three-fifths of it belongs to the company&mdash;he&#8217;d make a mighty
+good thing by it. I&#8217;m not saying he did do it, but&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He ended with a closing of one eye and a sideways jerk of his head more
+expressive than words.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;Oh, that&#8217;s ridiculous!&#8221;Joe blurted out. &#8220;Yetmore isn&#8217;t
+over-scrupulous, I dare say, but he&#8217;s a long way from being a fool, and
+he&#8217;d never make such a blunder as to steal the ore and then use his own
+horse and cart to carry it off.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, I don&#8217;t know,&#8221;said the man. &#8220;It might be just a trick of his to
+put folks off the scent.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>And though Joe and I, for our part, felt sure that Yetmore had had
+nothing to do with it, we found that many people shared this man&#8217;s
+suspicions; the consequence being that the mayor&#8217;s popularity of the day
+before waned again as suddenly as it had arisen.</p>
+
+<p>In the midst of this excitement the mail-coach from the south came in,
+when Joe and I, carrying with us the expected letter for my father, set
+off home again; little suspecting&mdash;as how should we suspect&mdash;that the
+ore-thief, whoever he might be, was about to render us a service of
+greater value by far than the ore and the cart and the pony combined.</p>
+
+<p>We were jogging along on the homeward road, and were just rounding the
+spur of Elkhorn Mountain which divided our valley from <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span>Sulphide, when
+Joe suddenly laid his hand on my arm and cried: &#8220;Pull up, Phil. Stop a
+minute.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What&#8217;s the matter?&#8221;I asked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Get down and come back a few steps,&#8221;Joe answered; and on my joining
+him, he pointed out to me in a sandy patch at the mouth of a steep draw
+coming in from the left, some deeply-indented wheel-marks.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, what of that, Joe?&#8221;said I, laughing. &#8220;Are you thinking you&#8217;ve
+found the trail of the ore-thief?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No,&#8221;Joe replied, &#8220;I&#8217;m not jumping at any such conclusion; but, at the
+same time, it&#8217;s possible. If the ore-thief started northward from the
+Pelican, and the chances are he did, for we know he carried the sacks
+across to the north side of Stony Gulch, this would be the natural place
+for him to come down into the road; for it is plain to any one that he
+could never get a loaded cart&mdash;or an empty one either, for that
+matter&mdash;over the rocky ridge which crowns this spur. If he was making
+his way north, he had to get into the road sooner or later, and this
+gully was his last chance to come down.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s true,&#8221;I assented; &#8220;and this cart&mdash;it&#8217;s <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span>a two-wheeler, you
+see&mdash;was heavily loaded. Look how it cuts into the sand.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221;said Joe; &#8220;and it was drawn by one smallish horse, led by a man;
+a big man, too: look at his tracks.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But the ore-thief, Joe, had his feet wrapped up in rags, and these are
+the marks of a number twelve boot.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, you don&#8217;t suppose the thief would walk over this rough mountain
+with his feet wrapped up in rags, do you? In the dark, too. They&#8217;d be
+catching against everything. No; he would take off the rags as soon as
+he reached hard ground and throw them into the cart; for it is not to be
+expected either that he would leave them lying on his trail to show
+people which way he had gone.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, of course not. But which way did he go, Joe; across the road or
+down it?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Down it. See. The wheel-tracks bear to the left. And if you want
+evidence that he came down in the dark, here you are. Look how one wheel
+skidded over this half-buried, water-worn boulder and slid off and
+scraped the spokes against this projecting rock. Look at the blue paint
+it left on the rock.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;Blue paint!&#8221;I cried. &#8220;Joe, Yetmore&#8217;s cart was painted blue! I remember
+it very well. A very strongly-built cart, as it had to be to scramble up
+those rough roads that lead to the mines, painted blue with black
+trimmings. Joe, I begin to believe this is the ore-thief, after all.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It does look like it. But where was he going? Not down to the smelter
+at San Remo, surely.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Not he,&#8221;I replied. &#8220;He would know better than that. The smelter has
+undoubtedly been notified of the robbery by this time, and the character
+of the Pelican tellurium is so well known that any one offering any of
+it for sale would have to give a very clear story as to how he came by
+it. No; this fellow will have to hide or bury the ore and leave it lying
+till he thinks the robbery is forgotten; and even then he will probably
+have to dispose of it at a distance in small lots or broken up very fine
+and mixed with other ore.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;In that case,&#8221;said Joe, &#8220;we shall find his trail leaving the road
+again on one side or the other.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I expect so. We&#8217;ll keep a lookout. But <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span>come on, now, Joe: we mustn&#8217;t
+delay any longer.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The road had been traveled over by several vehicles since last night,
+and the trail of the cart was undistinguishable with any certainty until
+we had passed the point where the highway branched off to the right to
+go down to San Remo; after which it appeared again, apparently headed
+straight for the ranch.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Do you suppose he can have crossed our valley, Phil?&#8221;asked my
+companion.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No, I expect not,&#8221;I replied. &#8220;Keep your eyes open; we shall find the
+tracks going off to one side or the other pretty soon&mdash;to the left most
+likely, for the best hiding-places would be up in the mountains.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Sure enough, after traversing a bare, rocky stretch of road, we found
+that the tracks no longer showed ahead of us. The man had taken
+advantage of the hard ground to turn off. Pulling up our ponies, we both
+jumped to the ground once more, and going back a short distance, we made
+a cast on the western side of the road. In a few minutes Joe called out:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Here we are, Phil! See! The wheel touched the edge of this little sandy
+spot, and if you <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span>look ahead about forty yards you&#8217;ll see where it ran
+over an ant-hill. It seems as though he were heading for our ca&ntilde;on. Do
+you think that&#8217;s likely?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221;I replied. &#8220;I think it is very likely. There is one place where
+he can get down, you remember, and then, by following up the bed of the
+stream for a short distance he will come to a draw which will lead him
+to the top of the Second Mesa&mdash;just the place he would make for. For, to
+any one knowing the country, as he evidently does, there would be a
+thousand good hiding-places in which to stow away ten small sacks of
+ore&mdash;you might search for years and not find them.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221;said Joe. &#8220;But there&#8217;s the horse and cart, Phil. How will he
+dispose of them?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Oh, that will be easy enough. He would tumble the cart into some ca&ntilde;on,
+perhaps, turn loose the horse, and be back in Sulphide before morning.
+But come on, Joe. We really mustn&#8217;t waste any more time; it&#8217;s getting on
+for six now.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>It was fortunate we did not delay any longer, for we found my father
+anxiously pacing up and down the room, wondering what was keeping <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span>us.
+Without heeding our explanation at the moment, he hastily tore open the
+letter we had brought, read it through, and then stepping to the foot of
+the stairs, called out:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Get your things on, mother. We must start at once. The train leaves at
+seven forty-five. There&#8217;s no time to lose.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Turning to us, he went on: &#8220;Boys, I have to go to Denver. I may be gone
+five or six days&mdash;can&#8217;t tell how long. I leave you in charge. If you can
+get at the plowing, go ahead; but I&#8217;m afraid you won&#8217;t have the chance.
+If I&#8217;m not mistaken, there&#8217;s another rain coming&mdash;wettest season I
+remember. Joe, run out and hitch up the big bay to the buckboard. Phil,
+you will have to drive down to San Remo with us and bring back the rig.
+Go in and get some supper now; it&#8217;s all ready on the table.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>In ten minutes we were off, I sitting on a little trunk at the back of
+the carriage, explaining to my father over his shoulder as we drove
+along the events of the last two days, and how it was we had taken so
+much time coming down from Sulphide.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It certainly does look as though the thief <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span>had come down this way,&#8221;
+said he; &#8220;and though we are not personally concerned in the matter, I
+think one of you ought to ride up to Sulphide again on Monday and give
+your information. Hunt up Tom Connor and tell him. And I believe&#8221;&mdash;he
+paused to consider&mdash;&#8220;yes, I believe I would tell Yetmore, too. I&#8217;m sure
+he is not concerned in this robbery; and I&#8217;m even more sure that if he
+was a party to the blowing up of that house, he never intended any harm
+to you. Yes, I think I&#8217;d tell Yetmore. It will prove to him that we bear
+him no ill-will, and may have a good effect.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Having seen them off on the train, I turned homeward again, going
+slowly, for the clouds were low and it was very dark. The consequence
+was that it was nearly ten by the time I reached the ranch, and before I
+did so the rain was coming down hard once more.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Wet night, Joe,&#8221;said I, as I pulled off my overcoat. &#8220;No plowing for a
+week, I&#8217;m afraid.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I expect not,&#8221;replied my companion. &#8220;It isn&#8217;t often we have to
+complain of too much rain in Colorado, but we are certainly getting an
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span>over supply just now. There&#8217;s one man, though, who&#8217;ll be glad of it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Who&#8217;s that?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That ore-thief. It will wash out his tracks completely.&#8221;</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">The Snow-Slide</span></h3>
+
+<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">T</span>he rain, which continued pretty steadily all day, Sunday, had ceased
+before the following morning, when, looking through the rifts in the
+clouds to the west we could see that a quantity of new snow had fallen
+on the mountains.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;There&#8217;ll be no trouble about water for irrigating this year, Joe,&#8221;said
+I, as I returned from the stable after feeding the horses. &#8220;There&#8217;s more
+snow up there, I believe, than I&#8217;ve ever seen before. It ought to last
+well into the summer, especially as the winds have drifted the gulches
+full and it has settled into solid masses.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, there ought to be a good supply,&#8221;answered Joe, who was busy
+cooking the breakfast. &#8220;Which of the ponies do you think I had better
+take this morning, Phil? The pinto?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I thought so. I&#8217;ve given him a good feed of oats. He&#8217;ll enjoy the
+outing, I expect, for he&#8217;s feeling pretty chipper this morning. He
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span>tried to nip me in the ribs while I was rubbing him down. He needs a
+little exercise.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>We had arranged between us that Joe should ride to Sulphide that morning
+to see Tom Connor and Yetmore, as my father had directed; and
+accordingly, as soon as he could get off, away he went; the pinto pony,
+very fresh and lively, going off as though he intended to gallop the
+whole distance.</p>
+
+<p>Left to myself, I first went up to measure the flow of the underground
+stream, according to custom, and then, taking a shovel, I went to work
+clearing the headgates of our ditches, which had become more or less
+encumbered with refuse during the winter. There were two of them, set in
+niches of the rock on either side of the pool; for, to irrigate the land
+on both sides of the creek, we necessarily had to have two ditches. I
+had been at it only a few minutes when I noticed a curious booming noise
+in the direction of the mountains, which, continuing for a minute or
+two, presently died out again. From my position close under the wall of
+the Second Mesa, I could see nothing, and though it seemed to me to be a
+peculiar and unusual sound, I concluded that it was only a storm
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span>getting up; for, even at a distance of seven miles, we could often hear
+the roaring of the wind in the pine-trees.</p>
+
+<p>A quarter of an hour later, happening to look up the Sulphide road, I
+was rather surprised to see a horseman coming down, riding very fast. He
+was about a mile away when I first caught sight of him, and I could not
+make out who he was, but presently, as I stood watching, a slight bend
+in the road allowed the sunlight to fall upon the horse&#8217;s side, when I
+recognized the pinto. It was Joe coming home again.</p>
+
+<p>I knew very well, of course, that he could not have been all the way to
+Sulphide and back in so short a time, and my first thought was that the
+spirited pony was running away with him; but as he approached I saw that
+Joe was leaning forward in the saddle, rather urging forward his steed
+than restraining him.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What&#8217;s up?&#8221;I thought to myself, as I stood leaning on my shovel. &#8220;Has
+he forgotten something? He seems to be in a desperate hurry if he has:
+Joe doesn&#8217;t often push his horse like that. Something the matter, I&#8217;m
+afraid.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>There was a rather steep pitch where the road came down into our valley,
+and it was a regular <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span>practice with us to descend this hill with some
+caution. Here, at any rate, I expected Joe to slacken his pace; but when
+I saw him come flying down at full gallop, where a false step by the
+pony would endanger both their necks, I knew there was something the
+matter, and flinging down my shovel, I ran to meet him.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What is it, Joe?&#8221;I cried, as soon as he came within hearing.</p>
+
+<p>Pulling in his pony, which, poor beast, stood trembling, with hanging
+head and legs astraddle, the breath coming in blasts from its scarlet
+nostrils, Joe leaped to the ground, crying:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;A snow-slide! A fearful great snow-slide! Right down on Peter&#8217;s house!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>For a moment we stood gazing at each other in silence, when Joe,
+speaking very rapidly, went on:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We must get up there at once, Phil: we may be able to help Peter.
+Though if he was in his house when the slide came down, I&#8217;m afraid we
+can do nothing. His cabin must be buried five hundred feet deep, and the
+heavy snow will pack like ice with its own weight.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ll take a couple of shovels, anyhow,&#8221;I cried. &#8220;I&#8217;ll get &#8217;em. Pull
+your saddle off the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span>pinto, Joe, he&#8217;s used up, poor fellow, and slap it
+on to the little gray. Saddle my pony, too, will you? I&#8217;ll clap some
+provisions into a bag and bring &#8217;em along: there&#8217;s no knowing how long
+we&#8217;ll be gone!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;All right,&#8221;replied Joe. And without more words, he turned to unsaddle
+the still panting pony, while I ran to the house.</p>
+
+<p>In five minutes, or less, we were under way.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Not too fast!&#8221;cried Joe. &#8220;We mustn&#8217;t blow the ponies at the start.
+It&#8217;s a good eight miles up to Peter&#8217;s house.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>As we ascended the hill and came up on top of the Second Mesa, I was
+able to see for the first time the great scar on the mountain where the
+slide had come down.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Phew!&#8221;I whistled. &#8220;It was a big one, and no mistake. Did you see it
+start, Joe?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, I saw it start. I happened to be looking up there, thinking it
+looked pretty dangerous, when a great mass of snow which was overhanging
+that little cliff up there near the saddle, fell and started the whole
+thing. It seemed to begin slowly. I could see three or four big patches
+of snow fall from the precipice above Peter&#8217;s cabin as though pushed
+over, and then <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span>the whole great mass, fifteen feet thick, I should
+think, three hundred yards wide and four or five times as long, came
+down with a rush, pouring over the cliff with a roar like thunder. I
+wonder you didn&#8217;t hear it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I did,&#8221;I replied, remembering the noise I had taken for a wind-storm,
+&#8220;but being under the bluff, and the waterfall making so much noise, I
+couldn&#8217;t hear distinctly, and so thought nothing of it. Why!&#8221;I cried,
+as I looked again. &#8220;There used to be a belt of trees running diagonally
+across the slope. They&#8217;re all gone!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, every one of them. There were some biggish ones, too, you
+remember; but the slide snapped them off like so many carrots. It cut a
+clean swath right through them, as you see.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Where were you, Joe, when you saw it come down?&#8221;I asked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;More than half way to Sulphide. I came back in fifteen minutes&mdash;four
+miles.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Poor little Pinto! No wonder he was used up!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>We had been riding at a smart lope, side by side, while this
+conversation was going on, and in due time we reached the foot-hills.
+Here our pace was necessarily much reduced, but we continued <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span>on up
+Peter&#8217;s creek as rapidly as possible until the gulch became so narrow
+and rocky, and so encumbered with great patches of snow, that we thought
+we could make better time on foot.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving our ponies, therefore, we went scrambling forward, until, about
+half a mile from our destination, Joe suddenly stopped, and holding up
+his hand, cried eagerly:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Hark! Keep quiet! Listen!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Bow, wow, wow! Bow, wow, wow, wow, wow!&#8221;came faintly to our ears from
+far up the mountain.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s old Sox!&#8221;cried Joe. &#8220;There are no dogs up here!&#8221;And clapping his
+hands on either side of his mouth, he gave a yell which made the echoes
+ring. Almost immediately the sharp report of a rifle came down to us,
+and with a spontaneous cheer we plunged forward once more.</p>
+
+<p>It was hard work, for we were about nine thousand feet above sea level;
+the further we advanced, too, the more snow we encountered, until
+presently we found the narrow valley so blocked with it that we had to
+ascend the mountain-spur on one side to get around it. In doing so, we
+came in sight of the cliff behind <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span>Peter&#8217;s house, and then, for the
+first time, we understood what a snow-slide really meant.</p>
+
+<p>Reaching half way up the thousand-foot precipice was a great slope of
+snow, completely filling the end of the valley; and projecting from it
+at all sorts of angles were trees, big and little, some whole, some
+broken off short, some standing erect as though growing there, some
+showing nothing but their roots. At the same time, from the edge of the
+precipice upward to the summit of the ridge, we had a clear view of the
+long, bare track left by the slide, with the snow-banks, fifteen or
+twenty feet thick, still standing on either side of it, held back by the
+trees.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What a tremendous mass of snow!&#8221;I exclaimed, &#8220;There must be ten
+million tons of it! And what an irresistible power! Peter&#8217;s house must
+have been crushed like an eggshell!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221;replied Joe. &#8220;But meanwhile where&#8217;s Peter?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Once more he shouted; and this time, somewhere straight ahead of us,
+there was an answering shout which set us hurrying forward again with
+eager expectancy.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span></p><p>At the same moment, up from the ground flew old Sox, perched upon the
+root of an inverted tree, where, showing big and black against the snow
+bank behind him, he set to work to bark a continuous welcome as we
+struggled forward to the spot, one behind the other.</p>
+
+<p>Beneath a tree, stretched on a mat of fallen pine-needles, just on the
+very outer edge of the slide, lay our old friend, the hermit, who, when
+he saw us approaching, raised himself on his elbow, and waving his other
+hand to us, called out cheerily:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;How are you, boys? Glad to see you! You&#8217;re welcome&mdash;more than welcome!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Hurt, Peter?&#8221;cried Joe, running forward and throwing himself upon his
+knees beside the injured man.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;A trifle. No bones broken, I believe, but pretty badly bruised and
+strained, especially the right leg above the knee. I find I can&#8217;t
+walk&mdash;at least not just yet.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;How did you escape the slide?&#8221;I asked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why, I had warning of it, luckily. I was up pretty early this morning
+and was just about to leave the house, when a dab of snow&mdash;a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span>couple of
+tons, maybe&mdash;came down and knocked off my chimney. I knew what that
+meant, and I didn&#8217;t waste much time, you may be sure, in getting out. I
+grabbed my rifle and ran for it. I was hardly out of my door when the
+roar began, and you may guess how I ran then. I had reached almost this
+spot when down it came. The edge of it caught me and tumbled me about;
+sometimes on the surface, sometimes on the ground; now on my face and
+now feet uppermost, I was pitched this way and that like a cork in a
+torrent, till a big tree&mdash;the one Sox is sitting on, I think&mdash;slapped me
+on the back with its branches and hurled me twenty feet away among the
+rocks. It was then I got hurt; but on the other hand, being flung out of
+the snow like that saved me from being buried, so I can&#8217;t complain. It
+was as narrow a shave as one could well have.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It certainly was,&#8221;said I. &#8220;And did you hold on to the rifle all the
+time?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes; though why, I can&#8217;t say. The natural instinct to hold on to
+something, I suppose. But how is it you are on hand so promptly? It did
+occur to me as I lay here that one of you might notice that there had
+been a slide and remember <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span>me, but I never expected to see you here so
+soon.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, that was another piece of good fortune,&#8221;I replied. &#8220;Joe saw the
+slide come down and rode a four-mile race to come and tell me. We did
+not lose a minute in getting under way, and we haven&#8217;t wasted any time
+in getting here either. But now we are here, the question is: How are we
+going to get you out?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Where do you propose to take me?&#8221;asked Peter.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Down to our house.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>For a brief instant the hermit looked as though he were going to demur;
+but if he had entertained such an idea, he thought better of it, and
+thanked me instead.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s very good of you,&#8221;said he; &#8220;though it gives me an odd sensation.
+I haven&#8217;t been inside another man&#8217;s house for years.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, don&#8217;t you think it&#8217;s high time you changed your habits?&#8221;ask Joe,
+laughing. &#8220;And you couldn&#8217;t have a better opportunity&mdash;your own house
+smashed flat; yourself helpless; and we two all prepared to lug you off
+whether you like it or not.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well,&#8221;said Peter, smiling at Joe&#8217;s threat, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span>&#8220;then I suppose I may as
+well give in. You&#8217;re very kind, though, boys,&#8221;he added, seriously, &#8220;and
+I&#8217;m very glad indeed to accept your offer.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then let us pitch in at once and start downward,&#8221;said Joe. &#8220;Do you
+think you could walk with help?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I doubt it; but I&#8217;ll have a try.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>It was no use, though. With one arm over Joe&#8217;s shoulder and the other
+over mine he essayed to walk, but the attempt was a failure. His right
+leg dragged helplessly behind; he could not take a step.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve got to think of some other way,&#8221;said Joe, as Peter once more
+stretched himself at full length upon the ground. &#8220;Can we&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>But here he was interrupted.</p>
+
+<p>All this time, Sox, with rare backwardness, had remained perched upon
+his tree-root, looking on and listening, but at this moment down he
+flew, alighted upon the ground near Peter&#8217;s head, made a complete
+circuit of his master&#8217;s prostrate form, then hopped up on his shoulder,
+and having promenaded the whole length of his body from his neck to his
+toes, he shook out his feathers and settled himself comfortably upon the
+hermit&#8217;s left foot.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span></p><p>We all supposed he intended to take a nap, but in another two seconds he
+straightened up again, eyed each of us in turn, and, with an air of
+having thought it all out and at last decided the matter beyond dispute,
+he remarked in a tone of gentle resignation:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;John Brown&#8217;s body.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Having delivered this well-considered opinion with becoming solemnity,
+he threw back his head and laughed a rollicking laugh, as though he had
+made the very best joke that ever was heard.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You black heathen, Sox!&#8221;cried his master. &#8220;I believe you would laugh
+at a funeral.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Lies,&#8221;said Sox, opening one eye and shutting it again; a remark which,
+though it sounded very much as though intended as an insult to Peter,
+was presumably but the continuation of his previous quotation.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Get out, you old rascal!&#8221;cried the hermit, &#8220;shooing&#8221;away the bird
+with his hat. &#8220;Your conversation is not desired just now.&#8221;And as Sox
+flew back to his perch, Peter continued: &#8220;How far down did you leave
+your ponies, boys?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;About a mile,&#8221;I replied.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;Then I believe the best way will be for one of you to go down and bring
+up one of the ponies. I can probably get upon his back with your help,
+and then, by going carefully, I believe we can get down.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;All right,&#8221;said Joe, springing to his feet. &#8220;We&#8217;ll try it. I&#8217;ll go
+down. The little gray is the one, Phil, don&#8217;t you think?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221;I answered. &#8220;The little gray&#8217;s the one; he&#8217;s more sober-minded
+than my pony and very sure-footed. Bring the gray.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Without further parley, away went Joe, and in about three-quarters of an
+hour he appeared again, leading the pony by the bridle.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s pretty rough going,&#8221;said he, &#8220;but I think we can make it if we
+take it slowly. The pony came up very well. Now, Peter let&#8217;s see if we
+can hoist you into the saddle.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>It was a difficult piece of work, for Peter, though he had not an ounce
+of fat on his body, was a pretty heavy man, and being almost helpless
+himself, the feat was not accomplished without one or two involuntary
+groans on the part of the patient. At last, however, we had him settled
+into the saddle, when Joe, carrying the rifle, took the lead, while I,
+with the two shovels <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span>over my shoulder, brought up the rear. In this
+order the procession started, but it had no more than started when Peter
+called to us to stop.</p>
+
+<p>In order to avoid going up the hill more than was necessary, we were
+skirting along the edge of the great snow-bank, when, as we passed just
+beneath the big tree upon one of whose roots Socrates was perched,
+Peter, looking up to call to the bird, espied something which at once
+attracted his attention.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Wait a moment, boys, will you?&#8221;he requested, checking the pony; and
+then, turning to me, he continued: &#8220;Look up there, Phil. Do you see that
+black stone stuck among the roots? Poke it out with the shovel, will
+you? I should like to look at it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Wondering rather at his taking any interest in stones at such a time, I
+nevertheless obeyed his behest, and with two or three vigorous prods I
+dislodged the black fragment, catching it in my hand as it fell; though
+it was so unexpectedly heavy that I nearly let it drop.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah!&#8221;exclaimed Peter, when I had handed it up to him. &#8220;Just what I
+thought! This will interest Tom Connor.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why?&#8221;we both asked. &#8220;What is it?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;A chunk of galena. Look! Do you see how it is made up of shining cubes
+of some black mineral? Lead&mdash;lead and sulphur. There&#8217;s a vein up there
+somewhere.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And the big tree, pushing its roots down into the vein, has brought
+away a piece of it, eh?&#8221;asked Joe.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, that is what I suppose. There are some bits of light-colored rock
+up there, too, Phil. Pry out one or two of those, will you?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I did as requested, and on my passing them to Peter, he said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;These are porphyry rocks. The general formation up there is limestone,
+I know&mdash;I&#8217;ve noticed it frequently&mdash;but I expect it is crossed
+somewhere&mdash;probably on the line of the belt of trees&mdash;by a porphyry
+dike. Put the specimens into your pocket, Joe; we must keep them to show
+to Connor. It&#8217;s a very important find. And now let us get along.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The journey down the gulch was very slow and very difficult&mdash;we made
+hardly a mile an hour&mdash;though, when we left the mountain and started
+across the mesa we got along better. When about half way, I left the
+others and galloped home, where I lighted a fire and heated <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span>a lot of
+water, so that, when at length Peter arrived, I had a steaming hot
+tubful all ready for him in the spare room on the ground floor.</p>
+
+<p>Though our friend protested against being treated like an invalid,
+declaring his belief that he would be about right again by morning, he
+nevertheless consented to take his hot bath and go to bed; though I
+think he was persuaded to do so more because he was unwilling to
+disappoint us after all our preparations, than because he really
+expected to derive any benefit.</p>
+
+<p>Be that as it may&mdash;and for my part I shall always hold that it was the
+hot bath that did it&mdash;when we went into Peter&#8217;s room next morning, what
+was our surprise to find our cripple up and dressed. Though his right
+leg was still so stiff as to be of little use to him, he declined our
+help, and with the aid of a couple of broomsticks propelled himself out
+of his bedroom and into the kitchen, where Joe was busy getting the
+breakfast ready. His rapid recovery was astonishing to both of us;
+though, as Joe remarked later, we need not be so very much surprised,
+for, with his hardy life and abstemious habits he was as healthy as any
+wild animal.</p>
+
+<p>As we sat at our morning meal, we talked <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span>over our find of yesterday,
+and discussed what was the proper course for us to pursue.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;First, and most important,&#8221;said Peter, &#8220;Tom Connor must be notified.
+We must waste no time. The prospectors are beginning to get out, and any
+one of them, noticing the new scar on the mountain, might go exploring
+up there. When does Tom quit work on the Pelican?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;This evening,&#8221;replied Joe. &#8220;It was this evening, wasn&#8217;t it, Phil?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221;I replied. &#8220;He was to quit at five this evening, and his
+intention then was to come down here next day and make this place his
+base of operations.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then the thing to do,&#8221;said Joe, &#8220;is for me to ride up there this
+morning&mdash;I started to go yesterday, you know, Peter&mdash;and catch Tom up at
+the mine at noon. When he hears of our discovery, I&#8217;ve not a doubt but
+that he will pack up and come back with me this evening, so as to get a
+start first thing to-morrow.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I expect he will,&#8221;said I. &#8220;And while you are up there, Joe, you can
+see Yetmore and give him your information about those cart-tracks.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What do you mean?&#8221;asked Peter. &#8220;Information about what cart-tracks?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;Oh, you haven&#8217;t heard of it, of course,&#8221;said I; and forthwith I
+explained to him all about the ore-theft, and how we suspected that the
+thief was in hiding somewhere in the foot-hills. Peter listened
+attentively, and then asked:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Are you sure there was only one of them?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, that&#8217;s the general supposition,&#8221;I replied. &#8220;Why?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I thought there might be a pair of them, that&#8217;s all. I&#8217;ll tell you an
+odd thing that happened only the day before yesterday, which may or may
+not have a bearing on the case. When I got home about dusk that evening,
+I found that some one had broken into my house and had stolen a
+hind-quarter of elk, a box of matches, a frying-pan, and&mdash;of all queer
+things to select&mdash;a bear-trap. What on earth any one can want with a
+bear-trap at this season of the year, I can&#8217;t think, when there is
+hardly a bear out of his winter-quarters yet; and if he was he&#8217;d be as
+thin as a rail. I found the fellow&#8217;s tracks easily enough&mdash;tall man&mdash;big
+feet&mdash;long stride&mdash;and trailed them down the gulch to a point where
+another man had been sitting on a rock waiting for him. This other man&#8217;s
+track was peculiar: he was lame&mdash;stepped short with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span>his right foot, and
+the foot itself was out of shape. Their trail went on down the hill
+towards the mesa, but it was then too dark to follow it, and I was going
+off to take it up again next morning when that slide came down and
+changed my programme.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well,&#8221;said Joe, who had sat with his elbows on the table and his chin
+on his hands, listening closely, &#8220;where the lame man springs from I
+don&#8217;t know, but if they should be the ore-thieves their stealing the
+meat and the frying-pan was a natural thing to do; for if they are going
+into hiding they will need provisions.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221;replied Peter; &#8220;and whether they knew of my place before or came
+upon it by accident, they would probably think it safer to steal from me
+than to raid one of the ranches and thus risk bringing all the ranchmen
+about their ears like a swarm of hornets.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s true,&#8221;said Joe. &#8220;Yes, I must certainly tell Tom and Yetmore
+about them: it may be important. And I&#8217;ll start at once,&#8221;he added,
+rising from the table as he spoke. &#8220;I&#8217;ll take the buckboard, Phil, and
+then I can bring back Tom&#8217;s camp-kit and tools for him; otherwise he
+would have to pack them on his pony <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span>and walk himself. I expect you will
+see us back somewhere about seven this evening.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>With that he went out, and soon afterwards we heard the rattle of wheels
+as he drove away.</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">The Big Reuben Vein</span></h3>
+<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">B</span>ut it seemed as though Joe were destined never to get to Sulphide. I
+was still in the kitchen, when, not more than twenty minutes later, I
+heard the rattle of wheels again, and looking out of the window, there I
+saw my partner by the stable tying up his horse.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Hallo, Joe!&#8221;I cried, throwing open the door. &#8220;What&#8217;s up?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Without replying at the moment, Joe came striding in, shut the door, and
+throwing his hat down upon the table, said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I came back to tell you something. I&#8217;ve a notion, Phil, that we&#8217;ve got
+to go hunting for that vein ourselves, and not lose time by going up to
+tell Tom.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why? What makes you think that, Joe?&#8221;I asked, in surprise.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s what I came back to tell you. You know that little treeless
+&#8216;bubble&#8217; that stands on the edge of the ca&ntilde;on only about half a mile
+up-stream <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span>from here? Well, when I drove up the hill out of our valley
+just now I turned, naturally, to look at the scar on the mountain, when
+the first thing to catch my eye was the figure of a man standing on top
+of the &#8216;bubble.&#8217;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Is that so? What was he doing?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He was looking at the scar, too.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;How do you know that, Joe?&#8221;I asked, incredulously. &#8220;You couldn&#8217;t tell
+at that distance whether he had his back to you or his face.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah, but I could, though,&#8221;Joe replied; &#8220;and I&#8217;ll tell you how. After a
+minute or so the man turned&mdash;I could see that motion distinctly
+enough&mdash;caught sight of me, and instantly jumped down behind the rocks.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Didn&#8217;t want to be seen, eh?&#8221;remarked Peter. &#8220;And what did you do
+next?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I felt sure he was watching me, though I couldn&#8217;t see him,&#8221;Joe went
+on, &#8220;and so, to make him suppose I hadn&#8217;t observed him, I stayed where I
+was for a minute, and then drove leisurely on again. There&#8217;s a dip in
+the road, you know, Phil, a little further on, and as soon as I had
+driven down into it, out of sight, I pulled up, jumped out of the
+buckboard, and running up the hill again I crawled to the top <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span>of the
+rise and looked back. There was the man, going across the mesa at a run,
+headed straight for Big Reuben&#8217;s gorge!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Joe paused, and for a moment we all sat looking at each other in
+silence.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Any idea who he was?&#8221;I asked presently.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221;replied Joe, without hesitation. &#8220;It was Long John Butterfield.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;You seem very sure,&#8221;remarked Peter; &#8220;but do you think you could
+recognize him so far off?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I feel sure it was Long John,&#8221;Joe answered. &#8220;I have very long sight;
+and as the man stood there on top of the &#8216;bubble,&#8217; with the sun shining
+full upon him, he looked as tall as a telegraph pole. Yes, I feel
+certain it was Long John.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then Yetmore has started him out to prospect for that vein!&#8221;I cried.
+&#8220;He is probably camped in the neighborhood of Big Reuben&#8217;s gorge,
+following up the stream, and I suppose he heard the roar of the slide
+yesterday and came down this way the first thing this morning to get a
+look at the scar.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s it, I expect,&#8221;Joe answered.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And you suppose,&#8221;said Peter, &#8220;that he went <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span>running back to his camp
+to get his tools and go prospecting up on the scar.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Joe nodded.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then, what do you propose to do?&#8221;asked the hermit.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve been thinking about it as I drove back,&#8221;replied Joe, &#8220;and my
+opinion is that Phil and I ought to go up at once, see if we can&#8217;t find
+the spot where that big tree was rooted out, and stake the claim for Tom
+Connor. If we lose a whole day by going up to Sulphide to notify Tom, it
+would give Long John a chance to get in ahead of us and perhaps beat us
+after all.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The bare idea of such a catastrophe was too much for me. I sprang out of
+my chair, crying, &#8220;We&#8217;ll go, Joe! And we&#8217;ll start at once! How are we to
+get up there, Peter? There must be any amount of snow; and we are
+neither of us any good on skis, even if we had them.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, there&#8217;s plenty of snow,&#8221;replied Peter promptly, entering with
+heartiness into the spirit of the enterprise, &#8220;lots of snow, but you can
+avoid most of it by taking the ridge on the right of the creek and
+following along its summit to where it connects with the saddle. You&#8217;ll
+find a little cliff up there, barring your way, but <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span>by turning to your
+left and keeping along the foot of the precipice you will come presently
+to the upper end of the slide, and then, by coming down the slide, you
+will be able to reach the place where the line of trees used to stand,
+which is the place you want to reach.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Is it at all dangerous?&#8221;asked Joe.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why, yes,&#8221;replied Peter, &#8220;it is a bit dangerous, especially on the
+slide itself now that the trees are gone; though if you are ordinarily
+careful you ought to be able to make it all right, there being two of
+you. For a man by himself it would be risky&mdash;a very small accident might
+strand him high and dry on the mountain&mdash;but where there are two
+together it is reasonably safe.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Come on, then, Joe,&#8221;said I. &#8220;Let&#8217;s be off.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Wait a bit!&#8221;cried our guest, holding up his hand. &#8220;You talk of staking
+a claim for Tom Connor; well, suppose you <i>should</i> find the spot where
+the big tree was rooted out, and <i>should</i> find a vein there&mdash;do you know
+how to write a location-notice?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No,&#8221;said I, blankly. &#8220;We don&#8217;t.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, I&#8217;ll write you out the form,&#8221;said Peter. &#8220;I&#8217;ve read hundreds of
+them and I remember it <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span>well enough, and you can just copy the wording
+when you set up your stake&mdash;if you have occasion to set one up at all.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He sat down and quickly wrote out the form for us, when, pocketing the
+paper, we went over to the stable, saddled up, and leaving Peter in
+charge, away we rode, armed with a pick, a shovel, an ax and a coil of
+rope.</p>
+
+<p>According to the hermit&#8217;s directions, instead of following up the bed of
+the creek which led to his house, we took to the spur on the right, the
+top of which being treeless, had been swept bare of snow by the winds
+and presented no serious obstacle to our sure-footed ponies. We were
+able, therefore, to ride up the mountain so far that we presently found
+ourselves looking down upon Peter&#8217;s house, or, rather, upon the mountain
+of snow which covered it. But here the character of the spur changed,
+or, to speak more accurately, here the spur ended and another one began.
+Between the two, half-filled with well-packed snow, lay a deep crevice,
+which, bearing away down hill to our right, was presently lost among the
+trees.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;From the lay of the land,&#8221;said Joe, &#8220;I should judge that this is the
+head of the creek <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span>which runs through Big Reuben&#8217;s gorge&mdash;Peter told us
+it started up here, you remember. And from the look of it,&#8221;he
+continued, &#8220;I should suppose that the shortest way of getting over to
+the slide would be to cut right across here to the left through the
+trees. But that is out of the question: the snow would be ten feet over
+our heads; so our only way is to cross this gulch and go on up as far as
+we can along the top of the next ridge, as Peter said.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then we shall have to leave the ponies here,&#8221;I remarked, &#8220;and do the
+rest on foot: there&#8217;s no getting them across this place.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Accordingly, we abandoned our ponies at this point, and having with some
+difficulty scrambled across the gulch ourselves, we ascended to the
+ridge of the next spur and continued our way upward. This spur was
+crowned by an outcrop of rock, which being much broken up and the cracks
+being filled with snow, made the walking not only difficult but
+dangerous. By taking care, however, we avoided any accident, and, after
+a pretty stiff climb arrived at the foot of a perpendicular ledge of
+rocks which cut across our course at right angles&mdash;the little cliff
+Peter had told us we should find barring our way.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span></p><p>Here, turning to the left, as directed, we skirted along the base of the
+cliff, sometimes on the rocks and sometimes on the edge of the snow
+which rested against them, until at last we reached a point whence we
+could look right down the steep slope of the slide.</p>
+
+<p>Covered with loose shale, the slope for its whole length appeared to be
+smooth and of uniform pitch, except that about three-quarters of the way
+down we could see a line of snow hummocks stretching all across its
+course, indicating pretty surely that here had grown a strip of trees,
+which being most of them broken off short had caught and held a little
+snow against the stumps.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s where we want to get, Joe!&#8221;I cried, eagerly. &#8220;Down there to
+that row of stumps! This is a limestone country&mdash;all this shale, you
+see, is composed of limestone chips&mdash;but that tree-root in which we
+found the chunk of galena held two or three bits of porphyry as well,
+you remember, and if it did come from down there, there&#8217;s a good chance
+that that line of stumps indicates the course of a porphyry outcrop, as
+Peter guessed, cutting across the limestone formation.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;Well, what of that?&#8221;asked Joe. &#8220;Is a porphyry outcrop a desirable
+thing to find? Is it an &#8216;indication&#8217;?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s plain you&#8217;re no prospector, Joe,&#8221;said I, laughing; &#8220;and though I
+don&#8217;t set up to know much about it myself, I&#8217;ve learned enough from
+hearing Tom Connor talk of &#8216;contact veins&#8217; to know that if there&#8217;s a
+vein in the neighborhood the most promising place to look for it is
+where the limestone and the porphyry come in contact.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Is that so?&#8221;cried Joe, beginning to get excited. &#8220;Then let us get down
+there at once; for, ten to one, that&#8217;s where our big tree came from.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s all very well,&#8221;said I. &#8220;The row of stumps is our goal, all
+right, but how are we going to get down there? I don&#8217;t feel at all
+inclined to trust myself on this loose shale. The pitch is so steep that
+I should be afraid of its starting to slide and carrying us with it,
+when I don&#8217;t see anything to stop us from going down to the bottom and
+over the precipice at the lower end.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s true,&#8221;Joe assented. &#8220;No, it won&#8217;t do to trust ourselves on this
+treacherous shale; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span>it&#8217;s too dangerous. What we must do, Phil, is to get
+across to that long spur of rocks over there and climb down that. It
+will bring us close down to the line of stumps.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The spur to which Joe referred, connecting at its upper end with the
+cliff at the foot of which we were then standing, reached downward like
+a great claw to within a short distance of the chain of snow hummocks,
+and undoubtedly our safest course would be to follow it to its lowest
+extremity and begin our descent from there. It was near the further edge
+of the slide, however, and to get over to it we had to take a course
+close under the cliff, holding on to the rocks with our right hands as
+we skirted along the upper edge of the shaly slope. It was rather slow
+work, for we had to be careful, but at length we reached our
+destination, when, turning once more to our left, we scrambled down the
+spur to its lowest point.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Now, Phil,&#8221;cried Joe, &#8220;you stay where you are while I go down. No use
+to take unnecessary risks by both going down together. You sit here, if
+you don&#8217;t mind, and wait for me; I won&#8217;t be any longer than I can help.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;All right,&#8221;said I; &#8220;but take the end of the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span>rope in your hand, Joe. No use for <i>you</i> to take unnecessary risks,
+either.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><a name="illo281" id="illo281"></a></p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 307px;">
+<img src="images/i281.jpg" width="307" class="jpg ispace" height="500" alt="&#8220;HE SHOT DOWNWARD LIKE AN ARROW&#8221;" title="" />
+<span class="caption">&#8220;HE SHOT DOWNWARD LIKE AN ARROW&#8221;</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s a fact,&#8221;replied my companion. &#8220;Yes, I&#8217;ll take the rope.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>With a shovel in one hand and the end of the rope in the other, Joe
+started downward, but presently, having advanced as far as the rope
+extended, he dropped it and went cautiously on, using the shovel-handle
+as a staff. Down to this point he had had little difficulty, but a few
+steps further on, reaching presumably the change of formation we had
+expected to find, where the smooth, icy rock beneath the shale was
+covered only by an inch or so of the loose material, the moment he
+stepped upon it Joe&#8217;s feet slipped from under him and falling on his
+back he shot downward like an arrow.</p>
+
+<p>I held my breath as I watched him, horribly scared lest he should go
+flying down the whole remaining length of the slope and over the
+precipice; but my suspense lasted only a few seconds, for presently a
+great jet of snow flew into the air, in the midst of which Joe vanished.
+The next moment, however, he appeared again, hooking the snow out of his
+neck with his finger, and called out to me:</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;All right, Phil! I fell into a hole where a tree came out. I&#8217;m going to
+shovel out the snow now. Don&#8217;t let go of that rope whatever you do.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>So saying he set to work with the shovel, making the snow fly, while I
+sat on the rocks a hundred feet above, watching him. In about a quarter
+of an hour he looked up and called out to me:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve found it, Phil. Right in this hole. It&#8217;s the hole our big tree
+came out of, I believe. Can&#8217;t tell how much of a vein, though, the
+ground is frozen too hard. Bring down the pick, will you? Come down to
+the end of the rope and throw it to me.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>In response to this request, having first tied a knot in the end of the
+rope and fixed it firmly in a crack in the rocks, I went carefully down
+as far as it reached, when, with a back-handed fling, I sent the pick
+sliding down to my partner.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t you think I might venture down and help you, Joe?&#8221;I called out.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No!&#8221;replied Joe with much emphasis. &#8220;You stay where you are, Phil. It
+would be too risky. I can do the work by myself all right.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span></p><p>Still keeping my hold on the rope, therefore, I sat myself down on the
+shale, while Joe, pick in hand, went to work again. Pretty soon he
+straightened up and said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve found the vein all right, Phil; I don&#8217;t think there can be a doubt
+of it. Good strong vein, too, I should say.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;How wide is it?&#8221;I asked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Can&#8217;t tell how wide it is. I&#8217;ve found what I suppose to be the porphyry
+hanging-wall, right here&#8221;&mdash;tapping the rock with his pick&mdash;&#8220;and I&#8217;ve
+been trying to trench across the vein to find the foot-wall, but the
+shale runs in on me faster than I can dig it out.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What do you propose to do, then, Joe?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Try one of those other holes further along and see if I can&#8217;t find the
+vein again and get its direction. You sit still there, Phil. I shall
+want you to give me a hand out of here soon.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>With extreme caution he made his way along the line of stumps, helping
+himself with the pick in one hand and the shovel in the other, until,
+about a hundred yards distant, he arrived at another hole where a tree
+had been rooted out, and here he went to work again. This time he kept
+at it for a good half hour, but <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span>at length he laid down his tools, and
+for a few minutes occupied himself by building with loose pieces of rock
+a little pillar about eighteen inches high.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Can you see that, Phil?&#8221;he shouted.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, I can see it,&#8221;I called back.</p>
+
+<p>This seemed to be all Joe wanted, for he at once picked up his tools
+again, and with the same caution made his way back to the first hole.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What&#8217;s your pile of stones for, Joe?&#8221;I asked.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why, I found the vein again, hanging-wall and all, and I set up that
+little monument so as to get the line of the vein from here.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Taking out of his pocket a little compass we had brought for the
+purpose, he laid it on the rock, and sighting back over his &#8220;monument,&#8221;
+he found that the vein ran northeast and southwest.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Phil,&#8221;said he, &#8220;do you see that dead pine, broken off at the top, with
+a hawk&#8217;s nest in it, away back there on the upper side of the gulch
+where we left the ponies?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes,&#8221;I replied, &#8220;I see it. What of it?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The line of the vein runs right to that tree, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span>and I propose we get
+back and hunt for it there. I don&#8217;t want to set up the location-stake
+here: this place is too difficult to get at and too dangerous to work
+in. So I vote we get back to the dead tree and try again there. What do
+you say?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;All right,&#8221;I replied. &#8220;We&#8217;ll do so.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Very well, then I&#8217;ll come up now.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>But this was more easily said than done. Do what he would, Joe could not
+get up to where I sat, holding out to him first a hand and then a foot.
+He tried walking and he tried crawling, but in vain; the rock beneath
+the shale was too steep and too smooth and too slippery. At length, at
+my suggestion, Joe threw the shovel up to me, when, on my lying flat and
+reaching downward as far as I could stretch, he succeeded in hooking the
+pick over the shoulder of the shovel-blade, after which he had no more
+difficulty.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, Joe,&#8221;said I, when we had safely reached the rocks again, &#8220;it&#8217;s
+just as well we didn&#8217;t both go down together after all, isn&#8217;t it?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s what it is,&#8221;replied my partner, heartily. &#8220;If you had tried to
+come down with me we should both probably have tumbled into <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span>that hole
+together, and there we should have had to stay till somebody came up to
+look for us; and there&#8217;d have been precious little fun in that. Did it
+scare you when I went scooting down the slide on my back?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It certainly did,&#8221;I replied. &#8220;I expected to have to go down to Peter&#8217;s
+house and lug <i>you</i> home next&mdash;if there was any of you left.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, to tell you the truth, I was a bit scared myself. It was a great
+piece of luck my falling into that hole. It&#8217;s a dangerous place, this,
+and the sooner we get out of it the better; so, let us start back, at
+once.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Making our way up the spur, we again skirted along between the upper
+edge of the slide and the foot of the cliff, and ascending once more to
+the ridge, we retraced our steps down it until we presently arrived at
+the dead tree with the hawk&#8217;s nest in it.</p>
+
+<p>Here, after a careful inspection of the ground, we went to work, Joe
+with the pick, and I, following behind him, throwing out the loose stuff
+with the shovel and searching through each shovelful for bits of galena.
+In this way we worked, cutting a narrow trench across the line where we
+supposed the vein ought to run, until <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span>presently Joe himself gave a
+great shout which brought me to his side in an instant.</p>
+
+<p>With the point of his pick he had hooked out a lump of galena as big as
+his head!</p>
+
+<p>My! How excited we were! And how we did work! We just flew at it, tooth
+and nail&mdash;or, rather, pick and shovel. If our lives had depended on it
+we could not have worked any harder, I firmly believe. The consequence
+was that at the end of an hour we had uncovered a vein fifteen feet
+wide, disclosing a porphyry wall on one side and a limestone wall on the
+other.</p>
+
+<p>The vein was not, of course, a solid body of ore. Very far from it.
+Though there were bits of galena scattered pretty thickly all across it,
+the bulk of the vein-matter was composed of scraps of quartz mixed with
+yellow earth&mdash;the latter, as we afterwards learned, being itself
+decomposed lead-ore&mdash;to say nothing of grass-roots, tree-roots and other
+rubbish which helped to make up the mass.</p>
+
+<p>But that we had found a real, genuine vein, even we, novices as we were
+at the business, could not doubt, and very heartily we shook hands with
+each other when our trenching at length brought us up against the
+limestone foot-wall. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span>With the discovery of this foot-wall, Joe called a
+halt.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Enough!&#8221;he cried. &#8220;Enough, Phil! Let&#8217;s stop now. We&#8217;ve got the vein,
+all right, and a staving good vein it is, and all we have to do for the
+present is to set up our location-stake. To-morrow Tom will come up
+here, when he can make his camp and get to work at it regularly, sinking
+his ten-foot prospect-hole. What are we going to name it? The &#8216;Hermit&#8217;?
+The &#8216;Raven&#8217;? The &#8216;Socrates&#8217;?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Call it the &#8216;Big Reuben,&#8217;&#8221;I suggested.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Good!&#8221;exclaimed Joe. &#8220;That&#8217;s it! The &#8216;Big Reuben&#8217; it shall be.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>This, therefore, was the title we wrote upon our location-notice, by
+which we claimed for Tom Connor a strip of ground fifteen hundred feet
+in length along the course of the vein and one hundred and fifty feet
+wide on either side of it; and thus did our old enemy, Big Reuben, lend
+his name to a &#8220;prospect&#8221;which was destined later to take its place
+among the foremost mines of our district.</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">The Wolf With Wet Feet</span></h3>
+
+<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">W</span>e had been so expeditious, thanks largely to Joe&#8217;s good judgment in
+tumbling into the right hole at the start when he slid down the shale,
+that we reached home well before sunset, when, according to the
+arrangement we had made as we rode down, Joe started again that same
+evening for Sulphide. This time he made the trip without interruption,
+and when at eight o&#8217;clock next morning he drove up to our house, Tom
+Connor was with him.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;How are you, old man?&#8221;cried the latter, springing to the ground and
+shaking hands very heartily with our guest. &#8220;That was a pretty narrow
+squeak you had.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It certainly was,&#8221;replied Peter. &#8220;And if it hadn&#8217;t been for these
+boys, I&#8217;d have been up there yet. What&#8217;s the news, Connor? Any clue to
+your ore-thieves?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Not much but what you and the boys have furnished. But ask Joe, he&#8217;ll
+tell you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;Well,&#8221;said Joe, &#8220;in the first place, Long John has disappeared. He has
+not been seen since the evening before the robbery. No one knows what&#8217;s
+become of him.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Is that so?&#8221;I cried. &#8220;Then I suppose the robbery is laid to him.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, to him and another man. I&#8217;ll tell you all about it. After I had
+been to the mine and given Tom our news, I went down town to Yetmore&#8217;s
+and had a long talk with him. That was a good idea of your father&#8217;s,
+Phil, that we should go and tell Yetmore: he took it very kindly, and
+repeated several times how much obliged he felt. He seems most anxious
+to be friendly.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s my opinion,&#8221;Tom Connor cut in, &#8220;that he got such a thorough scare
+that night of the explosion, and is so desperate thankful he didn&#8217;t blow
+you two sky-high, that he can&#8217;t do enough to make amends.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s it, I think,&#8221;said Joe. &#8220;And I believe it is a great relief to
+him also to find that we are not trying to lay the blame on him. Anyhow,
+he couldn&#8217;t have been more friendly than he was; and he told me things
+which seem to throw some light on the matter of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span>ore-theft. There
+<i>was</i> seemingly a second man concerned in it; a man with a club-foot,
+Peter.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Ah, ha!&#8221;said Peter. &#8220;Is that so?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes. There used to be a man about town known as &#8216;Clubfoot,&#8217; a crony of
+Long John&#8217;s,&#8221;Joe continued. &#8220;He was convicted of ore-stealing about
+three years ago, and was sent to the penitentiary. A few days ago he
+escaped, and it is Yetmore&#8217;s opinion that he ran straight to Long John
+for shelter. On the night after the explosion he&mdash;Yetmore, I mean, you
+know&mdash;went to John&#8217;s house &#8216;to give the blundering numskull a piece of
+his mind,&#8217; as he said&mdash;we can guess what about&mdash;and John wouldn&#8217;t let
+him in; so they held their interview outside in the dark. I gathered
+that there was a pretty lively quarrel, which ended in Yetmore telling
+Long John that he had done with him, and that he needn&#8217;t expect him to
+grub-stake him this spring.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It is Yetmore&#8217;s belief that the reason John wouldn&#8217;t let him into his
+house&mdash;it&#8217;s only a one-roomed shanty, you know&mdash;was that Clubfoot was
+then inside; and he further believes that John, finding himself deprived
+of his expected summer&#8217;s work, and no doubt incensed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span>besides at
+Yetmore&#8217;s going back on him, as he would consider it, then and there
+planned with Clubfoot the robbery of the ore; both of them being
+familiar with the workings of the Pelican.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That sounds reasonable,&#8221;remarked Peter; &#8220;though, when all is said and
+done, it amounts to no more than a guess on Yetmore&#8217;s part. But, look
+here!&#8221;he went on, as the thought suddenly occurred to him. &#8220;If Long
+John is not prospecting for Yetmore or himself either, being supposedly
+in hiding, what was he doing on the &#8216;bubble&#8217; yesterday?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;But perhaps he is prospecting for himself,&#8221;Tom Connor broke in. &#8220;Here
+we are, theorizing away like a house afire on the idea that he is the
+thief, when maybe he had nothing to do with it. And if he is prospecting
+for himself, the sooner I get up to that claim the better if I don&#8217;t
+want to be interfered with. I reckon I&#8217;ll dig out right away. If you
+boys,&#8221;turning to us, &#8220;can spare the time and the buckboard you can help
+me a good bit by carrying up my things for me.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;All right, Tom,&#8221;said I. &#8220;We can do so.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Starting at once, therefore, with a load of provisions, tools and
+bedding, we carried them <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span>up the mountain as far as we could on wheels,
+and then packed them the rest of the way on horseback, when, having seen
+Tom comfortably established in camp near the Big Reuben&mdash;with the look
+of which he expressed himself as immensely pleased&mdash;Joe and I turned
+homeward again about four in the afternoon.</p>
+
+<p>We were driving along, skirting the rim of our ca&ntilde;on, and were passing
+between the stream and the little treeless &#8220;bubble&#8221;upon which Joe had,
+as he believed, seen Long John standing the day before, when my
+companion remarked:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I should very much like to know, Phil, what Long John was doing up
+there. Do you suppose&mdash;&mdash;Whoa! Whoa, there, Josephus! What&#8217;s the matter
+with you?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>This exclamation was addressed to the horse; for at this moment the
+ordinarily well-behaved Josephus shied, snorted, and standing up on his
+hind feet struck out with his fore hoofs at a big timber-wolf, which,
+springing out from the shelter of some boulders on the margin of the
+ca&ntilde;on and passing almost under his nose, ran off and disappeared among
+the rocks.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He must have been down to the stream to get a drink,&#8221;suggested Joe.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;He couldn&#8217;t,&#8221;said I; &#8220;the ca&ntilde;on-wall is too steep; no wolf could
+scramble up.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, if he didn&#8217;t,&#8221;remarked my companion, &#8220;how did he get his feet
+wet? Look here at his tracks.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>As he said this, Joe pointed to the bare stone before us, where the
+wolf&#8217;s wet tracks were plainly visible.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well,&#8221;said I, &#8220;then I suppose there must be a way up after all. Wait a
+moment, Joe, while I take a look.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Jumping from the buckboard, I stepped over to the boulders whence the
+wolf had appeared, where, to my surprise, I found a pool, or, rather, a
+big puddle of water, which, overflowing, dripped into the ca&ntilde;on.</p>
+
+<p>Where the water came from I could not at first detect, but on a more
+careful inspection I found that it ran, a tiny thread, along a crack in
+the lava not more than a couple of inches wide, which, on tracing it
+back, I found we had driven over without noticing. Apparently the water
+came down from the &#8220;bubble&#8221;through a rift in the crater-wall.</p>
+
+<p>As I have stated before, several of the little craters contributed small
+streams of water to our <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span>creek, but this was not one of them, so,
+turning to my companion, I said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Joe, this is the first time I have ever seen any water come down from
+that &#8216;bubble.&#8217; Let us climb up to the top and take a look inside.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Away we went, therefore, scrambling up the rocky slope, when, having
+reached the rim, we looked down into the little crater. The area of its
+floor was only about an acre in extent, but instead of being grown over
+with grass and sagebrush, as was the case with most of them, this one
+was covered with blocks of stone of all sizes, some of them weighing
+several tons. It was evident that the walls, which were only about
+thirty feet in height, had at one time been much higher, but that in the
+course of ages they had broken down and thus littered the little
+bowl-shaped depression with the fragments.</p>
+
+<p>The thread of water which had drawn us up there came trickling out from
+among these blocks of stone, and we set out at once to trace it up to
+its source while we still had daylight. But this, we found, was by no
+means easy, for, though the stream did not dodge about much, but ran
+pretty directly down to the crack in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span>wall, its course was so much
+impeded by rocks, under and around which it had to make its way&mdash;while
+over and around them we had to make <i>our</i> way&mdash;that it was ten or
+fifteen minutes before we discovered where it came from.</p>
+
+<p>We had expected to find a pool of rain-water, more or less extensive,
+seeping through the sand and slowly draining away. What we actually did
+find was something very different: something which filled us with wonder
+and excitement!</p>
+
+<p>About the middle of the little crater there came boiling out of the
+ground a strong spring, which, running along a deep, narrow channel it
+had in the course of many centuries worn in the solid stone floor of the
+crater, disappeared in turn beneath the litter of rocks. A short
+distance below the spring the channel was half filled for some distance
+with fragments of stone of no great size, which, checking the rush of
+the water, caused it to lap over the edge. It was this slight overflow
+which supplied the driblet we had followed up from the ca&ntilde;on below.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Joe!&#8221;I exclaimed, greatly excited. &#8220;Do you know what I think?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;Yes, I do,&#8221;my companion answered like a flash. &#8220;I think so, too. Come
+on! Let&#8217;s find out at once!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Following the channel, we went clambering over the rocks, which just
+here were not quite so plentiful, until, at a distance from the spring
+of about fifty yards, we came upon a large circular pool in which the
+water flowed continuously round and round as though stirred with a
+gigantic spoon, while in the centre it spun round violently, a perfect
+little whirlpool, and sank with a gurgle into the earth.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment we stood gazing spellbound at this natural phenomenon,
+hardly realizing what it meant, and then, with one impulse, we both
+threw our hats into the air with a shout, seized each other&#8217;s hands, and
+danced a wild and unconventional dance, with no witness but a solitary
+eagle, which, passing high overhead, paused for an instant in his flight
+to wonder, probably, what those crazy, unaccountable human beings were
+up to now.</p>
+
+<p>At length, out of breath, we stopped, when Joe, clapping his hands
+together to emphasize his words, cried:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;At last we&#8217;ve found it, Phil! This, <i>surely</i>, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span>is the water-supply that
+keeps the &#8216;forty rods&#8217; wet!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It must be,&#8221;I replied, no less excited than my partner. &#8220;It must be;
+it can&#8217;t be anything else. But how are we going to prove it, Joe?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The only way I see is to divert the flow here; then, if our underground
+stream stops, we shall know this is it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yes, but how are we to divert it?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why, look here,&#8221;Joe answered. &#8220;The spring, I suppose, is a little
+extra-strong just now, causing that slight overflow up above here. Well,
+what we must do is to take the line marked out for us by the overflow,
+and following it from the channel down to the crack in the crater-wall,
+break up and throw aside all the rocks that get in the way; then cut a
+new channel and send the whole stream off through the crack, when it
+will pour into the ca&ntilde;on, run across the ranch on the surface, and the
+&#8216;forty rods&#8217; will dry up!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He gazed at me eagerly, with his fists shut tight, as though he were all
+ready to spring upon the impeding rocks and fling them out of the way at
+once.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s all right, Joe,&#8221;I replied. &#8220;It&#8217;s a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span>good programme. But it&#8217;s a
+tremendous piece of work, all the same. There are scores of rocks to be
+broken up and moved; and when that is done, there is still the new
+channel to be cut in the solid stone bed of the crater. The present
+channel is about eighteen inches deep; we shall have to make the new one
+six inches deeper, and something like a hundred feet long: a big job by
+itself, Joe.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I know that,&#8221;Joe answered. &#8220;It&#8217;s a big job, sure enough, and will take
+time and lots of hard work. Still, we can do it&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And what&#8217;s more we will do it!&#8221;I cried. &#8220;What&#8217;s the best way of
+setting about it?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We shall have to blast out the channel and blow to pieces all the
+bigger rocks,&#8221;Joe replied. &#8220;It would take forever to do it with pick
+and sledge&mdash;in fact, it couldn&#8217;t be done. We shall have to use powder
+and drill.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, then,&#8221;said I, &#8220;I&#8217;ll tell you what we&#8217;ll do. We&#8217;ll borrow the
+tools from Tom Connor. He left a number of drills, you know, stored in
+our blacksmith-shop, and he&#8217;ll lend &#8217;em to us I&#8217;m sure. One of us had
+better drive back to the Big Reuben to-morrow morning and ask him.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;All right, Phil, we&#8217;ll do so. My! I wish&mdash;it doesn&#8217;t sound very
+complimentary&mdash;but I wish your father would stay away another week. I
+believe we can do this work in a week, and wouldn&#8217;t it be grand if we
+could have the stream headed off before he got home! But how about the
+plowing, Phil? I was forgetting that.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why, the only plowing left,&#8221;I replied, &#8220;is the potato land, and that,
+fortunately, is not urgent; whereas the turning of this stream is
+urgent&mdash;extremely urgent&mdash;and my opinion is that we ought to get at it.
+Anyhow, we&#8217;ll begin on it, and if my father thinks proper to set us to
+plowing instead when he gets home&mdash;all right.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, then, we&#8217;ll begin on this work as soon as we can. And now, Phil,
+let us get along home.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>We had been seated on a big stone while this discussion was going on,
+and were just about to rise, when Joe, suddenly laying his hand on my
+arm, held up a warning finger. &#8220;Sh!&#8221;he whispered. &#8220;Don&#8217;t speak. Don&#8217;t
+stir. I hear some one moving about!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Squatting behind the rocks, I held my breath <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span>and listened, and
+presently I heard distinctly, somewhere close by, the tinkle of two or
+three chips of stone as they rolled down into the crater. Some one was
+softly approaching the place where we sat.</p>
+
+<p>Though to move was to risk detection, our anxiety to see who was there
+was too strong to resist, so Joe, taking off his hat, slowly arose until
+he was able to peep through a chink between two of the big fragments
+which sheltered us. For a moment he stood there motionless, and then,
+tapping me on the shoulder, he signed to me to stand up too.</p>
+
+<p>Peeping between the stones, I saw, not fifty yards away, a man coming
+carefully down the crater-wall on the side opposite from that by which
+we ourselves had entered. In spite of his care, however, he every now
+and then dislodged a little fragment of stone, which came clattering
+down the steep slope. It was one of these that had given us notice of
+his approach.</p>
+
+<p>There was no mistaking the tall, gaunt figure, even though the light of
+the sunset sky behind him made him look a veritable giant. It was Long
+John Butterfield.</p>
+
+<p>He was headed straight for our hiding-place, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span>and it was with some
+uneasiness that I observed he had a revolver strapped about his waist.
+In appearance he looked wilder and more unkempt than ever, while the
+sharp, suspicious manner in which he would every now and then stop short
+and glance quickly all around, showed him to be nervous and ill at ease.</p>
+
+<p>While Joe and I stood there silent and rigid as statues, Long John came
+on down the slope, until presently he stopped scarce ten steps from us
+beside a big, flat stone. There, for a moment, he stood, his hand on his
+revolver, his body bent and his head thrust forward, his ears cocked and
+his little eyes roving all about the crater&mdash;the picture of a watchful
+wild animal&mdash;when, satisfied apparently that he was alone and
+unobserved, he went down upon his knees, threw aside several pieces of
+rock, and thrusting his arm under the flat stone, he pulled out&mdash;a sack!</p>
+
+<p>So close to us was he, that even in that uncertain light we could
+distinguish the word, &#8220;Pelican,&#8221;stenciled upon it in big black letters.</p>
+
+<p>Laying this sack upon the flat stone, John reached into the hole again,
+and, one after another, brought out four others. Apparently there were
+no more in there, for, having done <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span>this, he rose to his feet again,
+looked all about him once more, and then walked off a short distance
+up-stream. At the point where the channel overflowed he stopped again,
+when, to our wonderment he pulled off his coat, rolled up one sleeve,
+and going down upon his knees, began scratching around in the water. In
+a few seconds he fished out one at a time five dripping sacks, all of
+which he carried over and set down beside the first five.</p>
+
+<p>Evidently he was working with some set purpose; though to us watchers it
+was all a perfectly mysterious proceeding.</p>
+
+<p>A few steps from where the sacks were piled was a little ledge of rock
+less than a foot high, above which was a steep slope covered with loose
+fragments of stone. Taking up the sacks, two at a time, John carried
+them over to this spot, laid them all, end to end, close under the
+little ledge, and then, climbing up above them, he sat down, and with
+his big, flat feet sent the loose shale running down until the row of
+sacks was completely buried.</p>
+
+<p>This seemed to be all he wanted, for, having examined the result of his
+work and satisfied himself apparently that the sacks were perfectly
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span>concealed, he turned and went straight off up the crater-wall again,
+pausing at the crest for a minute to inspect the country ahead of him,
+and then, stepping over the rim, in another moment he had vanished.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Come on, Phil!&#8221;whispered my companion, eagerly. &#8220;Let us see which
+direction he takes.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Wait a bit,&#8221;I replied. &#8220;Give him five minutes: he might come back.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>We waited a short time, therefore, when, feeling pretty sure that John
+had gone for good, we scrambled to the summit of the ridge and looked
+out over the mesa. There we could see Long John striding away at a great
+pace, apparently making straight for Big Reuben&#8217;s gorge.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then Yetmore was right,&#8221;said Joe. &#8220;Those fellows were the ore-thieves
+after all. I wonder if they haven&#8217;t taken up their quarters in Big
+Reuben&#8217;s old cave. It would be a pretty good place for their purpose.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Quite likely,&#8221;I assented. &#8220;But what do you suppose, Joe, can have been
+Long John&#8217;s object in coming down here and moving those ore-sacks?&mdash;for,
+of course, they are the Pelican ore-sacks. They were well enough
+concealed before.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;It does look mysterious at first sight,&#8221;replied Joe, &#8220;but I expect the
+explanation is simple enough. I think it is probable that when they
+brought the ore up here the two men divided the spoils on the spot, each
+hiding his own share in a place of his own choosing; and our respected
+friend, John, thinking to get ahead of the other thief, has just come
+and stolen his partner&#8217;s share.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That would be a pretty shabby trick, but I expect it is just what he
+has done. He&#8217;ll be a bit surprised when he finds that some one has
+played a similar trick on him. For, of course, we can&#8217;t leave the sacks
+there, to be moved again if Long John should take the notion that the
+hiding place is not safe enough. How shall we manage it, Joe? If we are
+going to do anything this evening we must do it quickly: there won&#8217;t be
+daylight much longer.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>After a moment&#8217;s consideration, Joe replied: &#8220;Let us go down and carry
+those sacks outside the crater. Then get along home, and come back here
+with the wagon and team by daylight to-morrow and haul them off. It is
+too much of a load for the buckboard, even if we walked ourselves, so it
+won&#8217;t do to take them with us now.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;All right,&#8221;said I. &#8220;Then we&#8217;ll do that; and afterwards you can ride up
+to see Tom Connor about those tools, while I drive to Sulphide with the
+ore. Won&#8217;t Yetmore be glad to see me!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>There was no time to lose, and even as it was, the waning light made it
+pretty difficult to pick our way across the rock-strewn bottom of the
+crater with a fifty-pound sack under each arm, but at length we had them
+all safely laid away in a crack in the rocks just outside the crater,
+whence it would be handy to remove them in the morning.</p>
+
+<p>By the time we had finished it was dark, and we hurriedly drove off
+home, contemplating with some reluctance the chores which were still to
+be done. From this duty, however, we had a happy relief, for our good
+friend, Peter, anxious to make himself of some use, and taking his time
+about it, had managed to feed the horses and pigs, milk the cows, shut
+up the chickens and start the fire for supper&mdash;a service on his part
+which we very thoroughly appreciated.</p>
+
+<p>We had just sat down to our evening meal, and were telling Peter all
+about our two great finds of the afternoon, when our guest, whose <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span>long
+and solitary life as a hunter had made his hearing preternaturally
+sharp, straightened himself in his chair, and holding up one finger,
+said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Hark! I hear a horse coming up the valley at a gallop!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>At first Joe and I could hear nothing, but presently we detected the
+rhythmical beat of the hoofs of a horse approaching at a smart canter.
+Somebody was coming up from San Remo&mdash;for though a wheeled vehicle could
+not pass over the &#8220;forty rods,&#8221;a horseman could pick his way&mdash;and
+knowing that nobody ever came that way in the &#8220;soft&#8221;season unless our
+house was his destination, I stepped to the door, wondering who our
+visitor could be. Great was my surprise when the horseman, riding into
+the streak of light thrown through the open doorway, proved to be
+Yetmore!</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why, Mr. Yetmore!&#8221;I cried. &#8220;Is it you? Come in! You&#8217;re just in time
+for supper.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Thank you, Phil,&#8221;replied the storekeeper, &#8220;but I won&#8217;t stop. I was
+down at San Remo this afternoon, and it occurred to me to ride home this
+way and inquire of you if you&#8217;d seen or heard anything more of those
+ore-thieves. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span>By the way, before I forget it: I brought your mail for
+you;&#8221;at the same time handing me one letter and two or three
+newspapers.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Thank you,&#8221;said I, thrusting the letter into my pocket. &#8220;And as to the
+ore-thieves, Mr. Yetmore, we&#8217;ve seen one of them; but we&#8217;ve done
+something a good deal better than that&mdash;we&#8217;ve found the ore.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;What!&#8221;shouted Yetmore, so loudly that Joe came running out, thinking
+there must be something the matter. &#8220;What! You&#8217;ve found the ore!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>So saying, he leaped from his horse and seizing me by the arm, cried:
+&#8220;You&#8217;re not joking, are you, Phil? For goodness&#8217; sake, don&#8217;t fool me,
+boys. It&#8217;s a matter of life and death to me, almost!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>His anxiety was plainly expressed in his eager eyes and trembling hand,
+and I was glad to note the look of relief which came over his face when
+I replied:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m not fooling, Mr. Yetmore. We&#8217;ve found it all right&mdash;this evening.
+Come in and have some supper, and we&#8217;ll tell you all about it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Yetmore did not decline a second time, but forgetting even to tie up his
+horse, which Joe <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span>did for him, he followed me at once into the kitchen,
+where, hardly noticing Peter, to whom I introduced him, and neglecting
+entirely the food placed before him, he sat down and instantly
+exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Now, Phil! Quick! Go ahead! Go ahead! Don&#8217;t keep me waiting, there&#8217;s a
+good fellow! How did you find the ore? Where is it? What have you done
+with it?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Not to prolong his suspense, I at once related to him as briefly as
+possible the whole incident, winding up with the statement that we
+proposed to go and bring in the sacks by daylight on the morrow.</p>
+
+<p>At this conclusion Yetmore sprang to his feet.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Boys,&#8221;said he, in a tremulous voice, &#8220;you&#8217;ve done me an immense
+service; now do me one more favor: lend me your big gun. I&#8217;ll ride right
+up to the &#8216;bubble&#8217; and stand guard over the ore till morning. If I
+should lose it a second time I believe it would turn my head.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>That he was desperately in earnest was plain to be seen: his voice was
+shaky, and his hand, I noticed, was shaky, too, when he held it out
+entreating us to lend him our big gun.</p>
+
+<p>I was about to say he might take it, and welcome, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span>when Joe pulled me by
+the sleeve and whispered in my ear; I nodded my acquiescence; upon which
+my companion, turning to Yetmore, said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We can do better than that, Mr. Yetmore. We&#8217;ll hitch up the little
+mules and go and bring away the ore to-night.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>I have no doubt that to our anxious visitor the time seemed interminable
+while Joe and I were finishing our supper, but at length we rose from
+the table, and within a few minutes thereafter we were off; Yetmore
+himself sitting in the bed of the wagon with the big shotgun across his
+knees.</p>
+
+<p>As it was then quite dark, and as we did not wish to attract any
+possible notice by carrying a light, we were obliged to take it very
+slowly, one or other of us now and then descending from the wagon and
+walking ahead as a pilot. In due time, however, we reached the foot of
+the &#8220;bubble,&#8221;when, leaving Yetmore to take care of the mules, Joe and I
+climbed up to the crevice, and having presently, by feeling around with
+our hands, found the hiding-place of the sacks, we pulled them out and
+carried them, one at a time down to the wagon. All this, being <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span>done in
+the dark, took a long time, and it was pretty late when we drew up again
+at our own door.</p>
+
+<p>Here, for the first time, Yetmore, striking a match, examined the ten
+little sacks.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s all right, boys,&#8221;said he, with a great sigh of relief. &#8220;These are
+the sacks; and none of them has been opened, either.&#8221;He paused for a
+moment, and then, with much earnestness of manner, went on: &#8220;How am I to
+thank you, boys? You&#8217;ve done me a service of infinite importance. The
+loss of that ore almost distracted me: I needed the money so badly. But
+now, thanks to you, I shall be all right again. You don&#8217;t know how great
+a service you have done me. I shan&#8217;t forget it. We&#8217;ve not always been on
+the best of terms, I&#8217;m sorry to say&mdash;my fault, though, my fault
+entirely&mdash;but I should be very glad, if it suits you, to start fresh
+to-night and begin again as friends.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He was so evidently in earnest, that Joe and I by one impulse shook
+hands with him and declared that nothing would suit us better.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;And how about the ore, Mr. Yetmore?&#8221;I asked. &#8220;What will you do now?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;If you don&#8217;t mind,&#8221;he replied, &#8220;I should <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span>like to drive straight up to
+Sulphide at once. If you will lend me the mules and wagon, I&#8217;ll set
+right off. I&#8217;ll return them to-morrow.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Very well,&#8221;said I. &#8220;And you can leave your own horse in the stable, so
+that whoever brings down the team will have a horse to ride home on.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Yetmore, accordingly, climbed up to the seat and drove off at once,
+calling back over his shoulder: &#8220;Good-night, boys; and thank you again.
+I feel ten years younger than I did this morning!&#8221;</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">The Draining of the &#8220;Forty Rods&#8220;</span></h3>
+
+<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:25px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">A</span>s soon as Yetmore was out of sight, Joe and I turned into the house,
+where we found that Peter, wise man, had gone to bed; an example we
+speedily followed. But, tired though we were, we could neither of us go
+to sleep. For a long time we lay talking over the exciting events of the
+day, and going over the probable consequences, if, as now seemed
+certain, we had indeed discovered the source of our underground stream.
+First and foremost, by diverting it we should dry up the &#8220;forty rods&#8221;
+and render productive a large piece of land which at present was more
+bane than benefit; we should bring the county road past our door; we
+should more than double our supply of water for irrigation purposes&mdash;a
+fact which, by itself, would be of immense advantage to us.</p>
+
+<p>At present we had no more than enough water&mdash;sometimes hardly enough&mdash;to
+irrigate our crops, but by doubling the supply we could <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span>bring into use
+another hundred acres or more. On either side of our present cultivated
+area, and only three feet above it, spread the first of the old
+lake-benches, a fine, level tract of land, capable of growing any crop,
+but which, for lack of water, we had hitherto utilized only as a dry
+pasture for our stock. By a test we had once made of a little patch of
+it, we had found that it was well adapted to the cultivation of wheat;
+and as I lay there thinking&mdash;Joe having by this time departed to the
+land of dreams&mdash;I pictured in my mind the whole area converted into one
+flourishing wheat-field; I built a castle in the air in the shape of a
+flour-mill which I ran by power derived from our waterfall; and with a
+two-ton load of flour I was in imagination driving down to San Remo over
+the splendid road which traversed the now solid &#8220;forty rods,&#8221;when a
+light shining in my face disturbed me.</p>
+
+<p>It was the sun pouring in at our east window!</p>
+
+<p>Half-past seven! And we still in bed! Such a thing had not happened to
+me since that time when, a rebellious infant, I had been kept in bed
+perforce with a light attack of the measles.</p>
+
+<p>Needless to say, we were up and dressed in next to no time, when, on
+descending to the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span>kitchen, we found another surprise in store for us.
+Peter was gone! He must have been gone some hours, too, for the fire in
+the range had burned out. He had not deserted us, however, for on the
+table was a bit of paper upon which he had written, &#8220;Back pretty soon.
+Wait for me&#8220;&mdash;a behest we duly obeyed, not knowing what else to do.</p>
+
+<p>About an hour later I heard the trampling of horses outside the front
+door, and going out, there I saw Peter stiffly descending from the back
+of our gray pony; while beside him, with a broad grin on his jolly face,
+stood Tom Connor.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why, Tom!&#8221;I cried. &#8220;What brings you here?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Tom laughed. &#8220;Didn&#8217;t expect to see me, eh, Phil,&#8221;said he. &#8220;It&#8217;s Peter&#8217;s
+doing. While you two lazy young rascals were snoring away in bed, he
+started out at four-thirty this morning and rode all the way up to my
+camp to borrow my tools for you. And when he told me what you wanted &#8217;em
+for, I decided to come down, too. You did me a good turn in finding the
+Big Reuben for me&mdash;and &#8216;big&#8217; is the word for it, Phil, I can tell
+you&mdash;and so I thought I couldn&#8217;t do less than come down here for a day
+or two <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span>and give you a hand. It&#8217;s probable I can help you a good bit
+with your trench-cutting.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s no doubt about that, Tom,&#8221;I replied. &#8220;We shall be mighty glad
+of your help. You can give us a starter, anyhow. But you, Peter, we
+couldn&#8217;t think what had become of you. Don&#8217;t you think it was a bit
+risky to go galloping about the country with that game leg of yours?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I couldn&#8217;t very well go without it,&#8221;replied our guest, laughing. &#8220;No,
+I don&#8217;t think so,&#8221;he added, more seriously. &#8220;It was easy enough, all
+except the mounting and dismounting. In fact, Phil, I&#8217;m so nearly all
+right again that I should have no excuse to be hanging around here any
+longer if it were not that I can be of use to you by taking all the
+chores off your hands, thus leaving you and Joe free to get about your
+work in the crater.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That will be a great help,&#8221;I replied. &#8220;Though as to letting you go,
+Peter, we don&#8217;t intend to do that, at least till my father and mother
+get home.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;When <i>do</i> they get home?&#8221;asked Tom. &#8220;Have you heard from them since
+they left?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why!&#8221;I cried, suddenly remembering the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span>letter Yetmore had brought up
+from San Remo the previous evening. &#8220;I have a letter from my father in
+my pocket now. I&#8217;d forgotten all about it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Quickly tearing it open, I read it through. It was very short, being
+written mainly with the object of informing me that he was delayed and
+would not be home until the afternoon of the following Wednesday. This
+was Friday.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Joe!&#8221;I shouted; and Joe, who was in the stable, came running at the
+call. &#8220;Joe,&#8221;I cried, &#8220;we have till Wednesday afternoon to turn that
+stream. Four full days. Tom is going to help us. Peter will take the
+chores. Can we make it?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Good!&#8221;cried Joe. &#8220;Great! Make it? I should think so. We&#8217;ll do it if we
+have to work night and day. My! But this is fine!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He rubbed his hands in anticipation of the task ahead of him. I never
+did know a fellow who took such delight in tackling a job which had
+every appearance of being just a little too big for him.</p>
+
+<p>We did not waste any time, you may be sure. Having picked out the
+necessary tools, we went <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span>off at once, taking our dinners with us, and
+arriving at the foot of the &#8220;bubble,&#8221;we carried up into the crater the
+drills, hammers and other munitions of war we had brought with us.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I thought you said there was a driblet of water running out at the
+crevice,&#8221;remarked Tom. &#8220;I don&#8217;t see it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;There was yesterday,&#8221;I replied, &#8220;but it seems to have stopped. I
+wonder why.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s easily accounted for,&#8221;said Joe. &#8220;It was those sacks lying in
+the channel which backed up the water and made it overflow, and when
+Long John cleared the course by pulling out the sacks it didn&#8217;t overflow
+any more.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Then it&#8217;s to Long John you owe this discovery!&#8221;cried Tom. &#8220;If &#8216;The
+Wolf&#8217; hadn&#8217;t blocked that channel the water would not have run down to
+the ca&ntilde;on, and the other wolf would not have got his feet wet; and if
+the other wolf had not got his feet wet, you would never have thought of
+coming up here.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s all true,&#8221;I assented. &#8220;In fact, you may go further than that
+and say that if John had not stolen the ore he would not have blocked
+the channel with it, and we should not have found the spring; if Yetmore
+had not given <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span>John leave to blow up your house, John would not have
+stolen the ore; if you had not bored a hole in Yetmore&#8217;s oil-barrel,
+Yetmore would not have given John leave&mdash;it&#8217;s like the story of &#8216;The
+House that Jack Built.&#8217; And so, after all, it is to you we owe this
+discovery, Tom.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Well, that&#8217;s one way of getting at it,&#8221;said Tom, laughing. &#8220;But, come
+on! Let&#8217;s pick out our line and get to work.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;This won&#8217;t be so much of a job,&#8221;he remarked, when we had gone over the
+ground. &#8220;You ought to make quick work of it. We&#8217;ll follow the wet mark
+left by the overflow, throw all these rocks out of the way, and then
+pitch in and cut our trench. Come on, now; let&#8217;s begin at once. Phil,
+you throw aside all the rocks you can lift; Joe, take the sledge and
+crack all those too heavy to handle; I&#8217;ll take the single-hand drill and
+hammer and put some shots into the big ones. Now, boys, blaze away, and
+let&#8217;s see how much of a mark we can make before sunset.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Blaze away we did! Never before had Joe and I worked so hard for so long
+a stretch; not a minute did we lose, except on those four or five
+occasions when Tom, having put down a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span>hole into one of the large
+pieces, called out to us to get to cover, when, running for shelter, we
+crouched behind some friendly rock until a sharp, cracking explosion
+told us that another of the big obstructions was out of the way.</p>
+
+<p>So hard did we work, in fact, and so systematically, that by sunset we
+had cleared a path six feet wide. There remained only one more of the
+big rocks to break up, and into this Tom put a three-foot hole, which he
+charged and tamped, when, sending us ahead to hitch up the horse, he
+touched off the fuse, the explosion following just as we started
+homeward.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;A great day&#8217;s work, boys!&#8221;cried Tom. &#8220;If it wasn&#8217;t for the training
+you&#8217;ve had all winter handling rocks, you never could have done it.
+There is a good chance now, I think, of getting the trench cut before
+Wednesday evening. I&#8217;ll work with you all day to-morrow&mdash;I must get back
+to my camp then&mdash;and that will leave you two days and a half to finish
+up the job. You ought to do it if you keep hard at it.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>By sunrise next morning we were at it again, working under Tom&#8217;s
+direction, in the same systematic manner.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Take the sledge, Joe,&#8221;said he, &#8220;and crack <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span>up the fragments of that
+big rock we shot to pieces last night. Phil, you and I will put down our
+first hole, beginning here at the crevice and working upward. Now! Let&#8217;s
+get to work!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Tom and I, therefore, went to work with drill and hammer, Tom taking the
+larger share of the striking; for though the swinging of the seven-pound
+hammer is the harder part of the work, the turning of the drill is the
+more particular, and as our instructor justly remarked, it was as well I
+should have all the practice I could get while he was on hand to
+superintend.</p>
+
+<p>The hole being deep enough, Tom made me load and tamp it with my own
+hands, using black powder, which, though perhaps less effective for this
+particular kind of work than giant powder would have been, he regarded
+as safer for novices like ourselves to handle.</p>
+
+<p>Our first shot broke out the rock in very good style, and then, while I
+busied myself cracking up the big pieces and throwing them aside, Joe
+took my place.</p>
+
+<p>The second hole was loaded and tamped by Joe, under Tom&#8217;s supervision;
+after which my partner once more took the sledge, while I turned drill
+again.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span></p><p>In this order we worked all day, making, before quitting time, such
+encouraging progress that we felt very hopeful of getting the task
+completed before my father&#8217;s return.</p>
+
+<p>Tom having fairly started us, went back to his camp on Lincoln, leaving
+Joe and me to continue the work by ourselves; and sorely did we miss our
+expert miner when, on the Monday morning, we returned to the crater.
+Though we kept steadily at it all day, our progress was noticeably
+slower than it had been the first day, for, besides the fact that there
+were only two of us, and those the least skilful, as we ascended towards
+the stream each hole was a little deeper than the last, each charge a
+little stronger, and each shot blew out a greater amount of rock to be
+broken up and cast aside.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless, we made very satisfactory headway, and continuing our work
+the next two days with unabated energy and some increase of skill with
+every hole we put down, we made such progress that by two o&#8217;clock on the
+Wednesday afternoon there remained but three feet of rock to be shot out
+to make connection with the channel.</p>
+
+<p>I was for blasting this out forthwith, but Joe <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span>on the other hand
+suggested that we trim up our trench a little before turning in the
+water; for, hitherto, we had merely thrown out the loose pieces, and
+there were in consequence many projections and jagged corners both in
+the sides and bottom of our proposed water-course. These we attacked
+with sledge and crowbar, and in two hours or so had them pretty well
+cleared out of the way, when we went to work putting down our last hole.</p>
+
+<p>As we wanted to make a sure thing of it, we sank this hole rather deeper
+than any of the others, charging it with an extra allowance of powder.
+Then, the tools having been removed, I touched off the fuse and ran for
+shelter behind the big rock where Joe was already crouching, making
+himself as small as possible. Presently there was a tremendous bang!
+Rocks of every size and shape were flung broadcast all over the
+crater&mdash;some of them coming down uncomfortably close to our
+hiding-place&mdash;but as soon as the clatter ceased, up we both jumped and
+ran to see the result.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing could have been better. Our last shot had torn a great hole,
+extending across almost the whole width of the old channel, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span>our
+trench being six inches or more below the original level, the whole
+stream at once rushed into it, leaving its former bed high and dry.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Hooray, for us!&#8221;shouted Joe. &#8220;Come on, Phil! Let us run down and see
+it go into the ca&ntilde;on.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Away we went; but as the crater-side was pretty steep we had to descend
+with some caution; whereas the water, having no neck to break, went down
+headlong. The consequence was that the stream beat us to the ca&ntilde;on by a
+hundred yards, and by the time we arrived it was pouring over the edge
+in a sixty-foot cascade.</p>
+
+<p>We were in time, however, to see a wall of foam flying down the ca&ntilde;on; a
+sight which, while it delighted us, at the same time gave us something
+of a start.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Joe!&#8221;I cried. &#8220;How about our bridge?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Pht!&#8221;Joe whistled. &#8220;I never thought of it. It will go out, I&#8217;m afraid.
+Let us get down there at once.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Off we ran to where our horse was standing, eating hay out of the back
+of the buckboard, threw on the harness, hitched him up, and scrambling
+in, one on either side, away we went <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span>as fast as we dared over the
+uneven, rocky stretch of the mesa which lay between us and home.</p>
+
+<p>The course of the stream being more circuitous than the one we took
+across country, we beat the water down to the ranch; but only by a few
+seconds. We had hardly reached the bridge when the swollen stream leaped
+into the pool in such volume that I felt convinced it would sweep it
+clear of all the sand in it whether black or yellow; rushed under the
+bridge, and went tearing down the valley&mdash;a sight to see! Luckily the
+creek-bed was fairly wide and straight, so that the banks did not suffer
+much.</p>
+
+<p>As to the bridge, the stringers being very long and well set, and the
+floor being composed of stout poles roughly squared and firmly spiked
+down, it did not go out, though the water came squirting up between the
+poles in a way which made us fear it might tear them loose at any
+moment.</p>
+
+<p>To prevent this, we ran quickly to the stable, harnessed up the mules to
+the wood-sled, loaded the sled with some of our big flat lava-rocks, and
+driving back to the bridge, we laid these rocks upon the ends of the
+poles, leaving a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span>causeway between them wide enough for the passage of a
+wagon.</p>
+
+<p>We had just finished this piece of work, when we heard a rattle of
+wheels, and looking up the road we saw coming down the hill an
+express-wagon, driven by Sam Tobin, a San Remo liveryman, and in the
+wagon sat my father and mother.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Why, what&#8217;s all this?&#8221;cried the former, as the driver pulled up on the
+far side of the bridge. &#8220;Where does all this water come from?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Then did the pent-up excitement of the past week burst forth. The flood
+of water going under the bridge was a trifle compared with the flood of
+words we poured out upon my bewildered parents; both of us talking at
+the same time, interrupting each other at every turn, explaining each
+other&#8217;s explanations, and tumbling over each other, as it were, in our
+eagerness. All the details of the strenuous days since the snow-slide
+came down&mdash;the discovery of the Big Reuben, the recovery of the stolen
+ore, and above all the heading-off of the underground stream&mdash;were set
+forth with breathless volubility; so that if the hearers were a little
+dazed by the recital and a trifle confused as to the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span>particulars, it
+was not to be wondered at. One thing, at least, was clear to them: we
+had found and turned the underground stream; and when he understood
+that, my father leaped from the wagon, and shaking hands with both of us
+at once, he cried:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Boys, you certainly <i>have</i> done a stroke of work! If it had taken you a
+year instead of a week it would have been more than worth the labor. As
+to its actual money value, it is hard to judge yet; but whether that
+shall turn out to be much or little, there is one thing sure:&mdash;we have
+our work cut out for us for years to come&mdash;a grand thing by itself for
+all of us. And now, let us go on up to the house: Sam Tobin wants to get
+back home as soon as possible.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>This the driver was able to do at once, for the livery horses,
+frightened by the water which came spurting up through the floor of the
+bridge, declined to cross, so Joe and I, taking out the trunk, placed it
+on the wood-sled and thus drew it up to the house.</p>
+
+<p>As we walked along, my mother said:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;So the hermit has been staying with you, has he? And what sort of a man
+<i>is</i> your wild man now you&#8217;ve caught him?&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span></p><p>&#8220;He isn&#8217;t a wild man at all,&#8221;cried Joe, somewhat indignantly. &#8220;He&#8217;s a
+fine fellow&mdash;isn&#8217;t he, Phil? He has been of great help to us these last
+few days. We could never have finished our trench in time if he hadn&#8217;t
+taken the chores off our hands. He is in the kitchen now, getting the
+supper ready. I&#8217;ll run and bring him out.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>So saying, Joe ran forward&mdash;we others walking on more leisurely&mdash;and as
+we approached the house the pair came out of the front door side by
+side.</p>
+
+<p>In spite of Joe&#8217;s assurance to the contrary, my parents still had in
+their minds the idea that any one going by the name of &#8220;Peter, the
+Hermit&#8221;must be a rough, hirsute, unkempt specimen of humanity. Great
+was their surprise, therefore, when Peter, always clean and tidy, his
+hair and beard neatly trimmed in honor of their return, issued from the
+doorway, looking, with his clear gray eyes, his ruddy complexion and his
+spare, erect figure, remarkably young and alert.</p>
+
+<p>There was an added heartiness in their welcome, therefore, when Joe
+proudly introduced him; and though Peter threw out hints about <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span>sleeping
+in the hay-loft that night and taking himself off the first thing in the
+morning, my mother scouted the idea, telling him how she had long
+desired to make his acquaintance, and intimating that she should take it
+as a very poor compliment to herself if he should run off the moment she
+got home.</p>
+
+<p>So Peter, set quite at his ease, said no more about it, but went back
+into the kitchen, whence he presently issued again to announce that
+supper was ready.</p>
+
+<p>A very hearty and a very merry supper it was, too, and long and animated
+was the talk which followed, as we sat before the open fire that
+evening.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I feel almost bewildered,&#8221;said my father, &#8220;when I think of the amount
+and the variety of the work we have before us; it is astonishing that
+the turning of that stream should carry with it so many consequences, as
+I foresee it will&mdash;that and Tom Connor&#8217;s strike.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s no end to it!&#8221;cried Joe, jumping out of his chair, striding up
+and down the room, and, for the last time in this history, rumpling his
+hair in his excitement. &#8220;There&#8217;s no end to it! There&#8217;s the hay-corral to
+enlarge&mdash;rock hauling <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span>all winter for you and me, Phil! We shall need a
+new ice-pond; for this new water-supply won&#8217;t freeze up in winter like
+the old one did! Then, when the &#8216;forty rods&#8217; dries up, there will be the
+extension of our ditches down there; besides making a first-class road
+to bring all the travel our way&mdash;plenty of work in that, too! Then, when
+we bring the old lake-benches under cultivation, there will be new
+headgates needed and two new ditches to lay out, besides breaking the
+ground! Then&mdash;&mdash;Oh, what&#8217;s the use? There&#8217;s no end to it&mdash;just no end to
+it!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Joe was quite right. There was, and there still seems to be, no end to
+it.</p>
+
+<hr class="medium" />
+
+<p>The effect of Tom Connor&#8217;s strike on Mount Lincoln was just what my
+father had predicted: our whole district took a great stride forward;
+the mountains swarmed with prospectors; the town of Sulphide hummed with
+business; our new friend, Yetmore, doing a thriving trade, while our old
+friend, Mrs. Appleby, followed close behind, a good second.</p>
+
+<p>As for Tom, himself, he is one of our local capitalists now, but he is
+the same old Tom for all that. Just as he used to do when he was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span>poor,
+so he continues to do now he is rich: any tale of distress will empty
+his pocket on the spot. Though my father remonstrates with him
+sometimes, Tom only laughs and remarks that it is no use trying to teach
+old dogs new tricks; and moreover he does not see why he should not
+spend his money to suit himself. And so he goes his own way, more than
+satisfied with the knowledge that every man, woman and child in the
+district counts Tom Connor as a friend.</p>
+
+<p>The fate of those two poor ore-thieves was so horrible that I hesitate
+to mention it. It was six months later that a prospector on one of the
+northern spurs of Lincoln came upon two dead bodies. One, a club-footed
+man, had been shot through the head; the other, unmistakably Long John,
+was lying on his back, an empty revolver beside him, and one foot caught
+in a bear-trap. Though the truth will never be known, the presumption is
+that, setting the stolen trap in a deer run in the hope of catching a
+deer, they had got into a quarrel; Clubfoot, striking at his companion,
+had caused him to step backward into the trap, when, in his pain and
+rage, Long John had whipped out his revolver and shot the other. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span>What
+his own fate must have been is too dreadful to contemplate.</p>
+
+<p>And the Crawford ranch? Well, the Crawford ranch is the busiest place in
+the county.</p>
+
+<p>Peter, for whom my parents, like ourselves, took a great liking, quickly
+thawed out under my mother&#8217;s influence, and related to us briefly the
+reason for his having taken to his solitary life. He had been a
+school-teacher in Denver, but losing his wife and two children in an
+accident, he had fled from the place and had hidden himself up in our
+mountains, where for several years he had spent a lonely existence with
+no company but old Socrates. Now, however, his house destroyed and his
+mountain overrun with prospectors, he needed little inducement to
+abandon his old hermit-life; and accepting gladly my father&#8217;s suggestion
+that he stay and work on the ranch, he built for himself a good log
+cabin up near the waterfall, and there he and Socrates took up their
+residence.</p>
+
+<p>There was plenty of work for him and for all of us&mdash;indeed, for the
+first two years there was almost more than we could do. It took that
+length of time for the &#8220;forty rods&#8221;to drain off thoroughly, but by the
+middle of the third summer <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span>we were cutting hay upon it; the ore wagons
+from Sulphide and from the Big Reuben were passing through in a
+continuous stream; the stage-coach was coming our way; the old hill road
+was abandoned.</p>
+
+<p>In fact, everybody is busy, and more than busy&mdash;with one single
+exception.</p>
+
+<p>The only loafer on the place is old Sox&mdash;tolerated on account of his
+advanced age. That veteran, whose love of mischief and whose unfailing
+impudence would lead any stranger to suppose he had but just come out of
+the egg, spends most of his time strutting about the ranch, stealing the
+food of the dogs and chickens; awing them into submission by his
+supernatural gift of speech. And as though that were not enough, his
+crop distended with his pilferings to the point of bursting, he comes
+unabashed to the kitchen door and blandly requests my mother, of all
+people, to give him a chew of tobacco!</p>
+
+<p>But the mail-coach has just gone through, and I hear Joe shouting for
+me; I must run.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Yetmore wants fifty-hundred of oats, Phil,&#8221;he calls out. &#8220;You and I
+are to take it up. We must dig out at once if we are to get back
+to-night. To-morrow we break ground on our new <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span>ditches. A month or more
+of good stiff work for us, old chap!&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He rubs his hands in anticipation; for the bigger he grows&mdash;and he has
+grown into a tremendous fellow now&mdash;the more work he wants. There is no
+satisfying him.</p>
+
+<p>We have been very fortunate, wonderfully fortunate; but I am inclined to
+set apart as pre-eminently our lucky day that one in the summer of &#8217;79,
+when young Joe Garnier, the blacksmith&#8217;s apprentice, stopped at our
+stable-door to ask for work!</p>
+
+<h3>THE END</h3>
+
+<hr class="large" />
+<div class="centerbox bbox">
+
+<h2><i>By Amy E. Blanchard</i></h2>
+
+<h2>War of the Revolution Series</h2>
+
+<hr class="huge" />
+
+<p>The books comprising this series have become well known among the girls
+and are alike chosen by readers themselves, by parents and by teachers
+on account of their value from the historical standpoint, their purity
+of style and their interest in general.</p>
+
+<p><i>A Girl of &#8217;76</i></p>
+
+<p class="right">ABOUT COLONIAL BOSTON. 331 pp.</p>
+
+<p>It is one of the best stories of old Boston and its vicinity which has
+ever been written. Its value as real history and as an incentive to
+further study can hardly be overestimated.</p>
+
+<p><i>A Revolutionary Maid</i></p>
+
+<p class="right">A STORY OF THE MIDDLE PERIOD IN THE<br />
+WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE. 312 pp.</p>
+
+<p>No better material could be found for a story than the New Jersey
+campaign, the Battle of Germantown, and the winter at Valley Forge. Miss
+Blanchard has made the most of a large opportunity and produced a happy
+companion volume to &#8220;A Girl of &#8217;76.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><i>A Daughter of Freedom</i></p>
+
+<p class="right">A STORY OF THE LATTER PERIOD OF THE<br />
+WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE. 312 pp.</p>
+
+<p>In this story the South supplies the scenery, and good use is made of
+the familiar fact that a family often was divided in its allegiance. It
+is romantic but not sensational, well-written and rich in entertainment.</p>
+
+<h2>War of 1812 Series</h2>
+
+<p>This period is divided into two historical volumes for girls, the one
+upon the early portion describing the causes, etc., of the war, the
+latter showing the strife along the Northern border.</p>
+
+<p><i>A Heroine of 1812</i></p>
+
+<p class="right">A MARYLAND ROMANCE. 335 pp.</p>
+
+<p>This Maryland romance is of the author&#8217;s best; strong in historical
+accuracy and intimate knowledge of the locality. Its characters are of
+marked individuality, and there are no dull or weak spots in the story.</p>
+
+<p><i>A Loyal Lass.</i></p>
+
+<p class="right">A STORY OF THE NIAGARA CAMPAIGN OF 1814. 319 pp.</p>
+
+<p>This volume shows the intense feeling that existed all along the border
+line between the United States and Canada, and as was the case in our
+Civil War even divided families fought on opposite sides during this
+contest. It is a sweet and wholesome romance.</p>
+
+<p class="center">EACH VOLUME FULLY ILLUSTRATED. Price, $1.50</p>
+
+<p class="center">W. A. WILDE COMPANY,&mdash;Boston and Chicago</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="large" />
+
+<h3>TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:</h3>
+
+<p>Minor changes have been made to correct typesetters' errors; otherwise,
+every effort has been made to remain true to the author's words and
+intent.</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Boys of Crawford's Basin, by Sidford F. Hamp
+
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+Project Gutenberg's The Boys of Crawford's Basin, by Sidford F. Hamp
+
+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: The Boys of Crawford's Basin
+       The Story of a Mountain Ranch in the Early Days of Colorado
+
+Author: Sidford F. Hamp
+
+Illustrator: Chase Emerson
+
+Release Date: August 26, 2008 [EBook #26434]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOYS OF CRAWFORD'S BASIN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Janet Keller, D Alexander and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ The Boys of Crawford's Basin
+
+ _THE STORY OF A MOUNTAIN RANCH
+ IN THE EARLY DAYS OF COLORADO_
+
+ BY SIDFORD F. HAMP
+
+ _Author of "Dale and Fraser, Sheepmen," etc._
+
+ ILLUSTRATED BY CHASE EMERSON
+
+ W. A. WILDE COMPANY
+ BOSTON CHICAGO
+
+
+
+
+ _Copyrighted, 1907_
+
+ BY W. A. WILDE COMPANY
+
+ _All rights reserved_
+
+ THE BOYS OF CRAWFORD'S BASIN
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: "THERE WAS BIG REUBEN LOOKING DOWN AT US"]
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+In relating the adventures of "The Boys of Crawford's Basin," the
+author has endeavored to depict the life of the ranchman in the
+mountains of Colorado as he knew it towards the end of the "seventies"
+of the century just past.
+
+At that date, the railroads, after their long climb from the Missouri
+River to the foot of the Rocky Mountains, were still seeking a
+practicable passage westward over that formidable barrier, and in
+consequence, the mountain ranchman--who, by the way, was also sometimes
+a prospector and frequently a hunter--having no means of shipping his
+produce to the outside world, depended for his market upon one or
+another of the many little silver-mining camps scattered over the State.
+
+That infant State was but just learning to walk without leading-strings;
+and it has been the aim of the author to show how two stout young
+fellows, prone to honesty and not afraid of hard work, were able to do
+their share in advancing the prosperity of the growing Commonwealth in
+which their lot was cast.
+
+It may not be out of place, perhaps, to mention that, besides having had
+considerable experience in ranching, the author was, about the date of
+the story, himself prospecting for silver and working as a miner. He
+would add, too, that several of the incidents related therein, and those
+in his opinion the most remarkable, are drawn from actual facts.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+    I. BIG REUBEN'S RAID                           11
+
+   II. CRAWFORD'S BASIN                            27
+
+  III. YETMORE'S MISTAKE                           42
+
+   IV. LOST IN THE CLOUDS                          64
+
+    V. WHAT WE FOUND IN THE POOL                   82
+
+   VI. LONG JOHN BUTTERFIELD                      101
+
+  VII. THE HERMIT'S WARNING                       119
+
+ VIII. THE WILD CAT'S TRAIL                       134
+
+   IX. THE UNDERGROUND STREAM                     150
+
+    X. HOW TOM CONNOR WENT BORING FOR OIL         169
+
+   XI. TOM'S SECOND WINDOW                        190
+
+  XII. TOM CONNOR'S SCARE                         210
+
+ XIII. THE ORE-THEFT                              229
+
+  XIV. THE SNOW-SLIDE                             250
+
+   XV. THE BIG REUBEN VEIN                        271
+
+  XVI. THE WOLF WITH WET FEET                     289
+
+ XVII. THE DRAINING OF THE "FORTY RODS"           313
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+                                                 PAGE
+
+
+"THERE WAS BIG REUBEN LOOKING DOWN
+AT US"      _Frontispiece_                         22
+
+"AH, SOX, IS THAT YOU?'"                           78
+
+"WE SAW BEFORE US A VERY CURIOUS
+SIGHT"                                            155
+
+"'CAN FOLKS SEE IN FROM OUTSIDE?'"                213
+
+"HE SHOT DOWNWARD LIKE AN ARROW"                  281
+
+
+
+
+The Boys of Crawford's Basin
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+BIG REUBEN'S RAID
+
+
+"Wake up, boys! Wake up! Tumble out, there! Quick! Big Reuben's into the
+pig-pen again!"
+
+Our bedroom door was banged wide open, and my father stood before us--a
+startling apparition--dressed only in his night-shirt and a pair of
+boots, carrying a stable-lantern in one hand and a rifle in the other.
+
+"What is it?" cried Joe, as he bounced out of bed; and, "Where is it?"
+cried I, both of us half dazed by the sudden awakening.
+
+"It's Big Reuben raiding the pig-pen again! Can't you hear 'em
+squealing? Come on at once! Bring the eight-bore, Joe; and you, Phil,
+get the torch and the revolver. Quick; or he'll kill every hog in the
+pen!"
+
+Big Reuben was not a two-legged thief, as one might suppose from his
+name. He was a grizzly bear, a notorious old criminal, who, for the past
+two or three years, had done much harm to the ranchmen of our
+neighborhood, killing calves and colts and pigs--especially pigs.
+
+Like a robber-baron of old, he laid tribute on the whole community,
+raiding all the ranches in turn, traveling great distances during the
+night, but always retreating to his lair among the rocks before morning.
+This had gone on for a long time, when one day, in broad daylight, while
+Ole Johnson, the Swede, was plowing his upper potato-patch, the grizzly
+jumped down from a ledge of rocks and with one blow of his paw broke the
+back of Ole's best work-steer; Ole himself, frightened half to death,
+flying for refuge to his stable, where he shut himself up in the
+hay-loft for the rest of the day.
+
+This outrage had the effect of waking up the county commissioners, who,
+understanding at last that we had been terrorized long enough, now
+offered a reward of one hundred dollars for bruin's scalp--an offer
+which stimulated all the hunters round about to run the marauder to his
+lair.
+
+But Big Reuben was as crafty as he was bold. His home was up in one of
+the rocky gorges of Mount Lincoln to the west of us, where it would be
+useless to try to trail him; and after Jed Smith had been almost torn to
+pieces, and his partner, Baldy Atkins, had spent two nights and a day up
+a tree, the enthusiasm of the hunters had suddenly waned and Big
+Reuben's closer acquaintance had been shunned by all alike. Thereafter,
+the bear had continued his depredations unchecked.
+
+Among his many other pieces of mischief, he had killed a valuable calf
+for us once, once before he had raided the pig-pen, and now here he was
+again.
+
+Without waiting to put on any extra clothing, Joe and I followed my
+father through the kitchen, I grabbing a revolver from its nail in the
+wall, and Joe snatching down the great eight-bore duck-gun and slipping
+into it two cartridges prepared for this very contingency, each
+cartridge containing twelve buck-shot and a big spherical bullet--a
+terrific charge for close quarters. Once outside the kitchen-door, I ran
+to the wood-shed and seized the torch which, like the cartridges, had
+been made ready for this emergency. It consisted of a broom-handle with
+a great wad of waste, soaked in kerosene, bound with wire to one end of
+it.
+
+Lighting the torch, I held it high and followed two paces behind the
+others as they advanced towards the pig-pen. We had not progressed
+twenty yards, however--luckily for us, as it turned out--when there
+issued through the roof of the pen a great dark body, dimly seen by the
+light of the torch.
+
+"There he is!" cried my father, as the bear dropped out of sight behind
+the corral fence. "Look out, now! We'll get a shot at him as he runs up
+the hill!"
+
+But Big Reuben had no intention whatever of running up the hill; he
+feared neither man nor beast, and the next moment he appeared round the
+corner of the corral, charging full upon us, open-mouthed.
+
+With a single impulse, we all fired one shot at him and then turned and
+fled, helter-skelter, for the kitchen, all tumbling in together,
+treading on each others' heels; my father slamming behind us the door,
+which fortunately opened outward.
+
+The kitchen was a slight frame structure, built on to the back of the
+house as a T-shaped addition. We were barely inside when bang! came a
+heavy body against the door, with such force as to send several
+milk-pans clashing to the floor.
+
+My father had hastily loaded again, and now, hearing the bear's paws
+patting high up on the door, he fired a chance shot through it. The bear
+was hit, seemingly, for we heard him grunt; but that he was not killed
+by any means was evident, for the next moment, with a clattering crash,
+the kitchen window, glass, frame and all, was knocked into the room, and
+a great hairy arm and fierce, grinning head were thrust through the gap.
+
+Joe, who was standing just opposite the window, jumped backward, and
+catching his heels against the great tub wherein the week's wash was
+soaking, he sat down in it with a splash. Seeing this, I sprang forward
+and thrust my torch into the bear's face; upon which he dropped to the
+ground again. A half-second later, Joe, still sitting in the tub, fired
+his second barrel. It was a good shot, but just a trifle too late, and
+its only effect was to blow my torch to shreds, leaving us with the dim
+light of the lantern only.
+
+"Into the house!" shouted my father; whereupon we all retreated from the
+kitchen into the main building. There, while Joe held the door partly
+open and I held the lantern so as to throw a light into the kitchen, my
+father knelt upon the floor waiting for the bear to give him another
+chance. But Big Reuben was much too clever to do anything of the sort;
+he was not going to put himself into any such trap as that; and
+presently my mother from up-stairs called out that she could see him
+going off.
+
+We waited about for half an hour, but as there was no more disturbance
+we all went back to bed, where for another half-hour Joe and I lay
+talking, unable, naturally, to go to sleep at once after such a lively
+stirring-up.
+
+By sunrise next morning we were all out to see what damage had been
+done. The bear had torn a great hole in the roof of the pen, had jumped
+in and had killed and partly eaten one pig, choosing, as a bear of his
+sagacity naturally would, the best one. We were fortunate, though, to
+have come off so cheaply; doubtless the light of our torch shining
+through the chinks of the logs had disturbed him.
+
+If there had been any question as to the marauder's identity, that was
+settled at once. His tracks were plain in the dust, and as one of his
+hind feet showed no marks of claws, we knew it was Big Reuben; for Big
+Reuben had once been caught in a trap and had only freed himself by
+leaving his toe-nails behind him.
+
+Outside the kitchen door and window the tracks were very plain; there
+was also a good deal of blood, showing that he had been hit at least
+once. But it was evident also that he had not been hurt very seriously,
+for there was no irregularity in his trail--no swaying from side to
+side, as from weakness--though we followed it up to the point where, at
+the upper end of our valley, the bear had climbed the cliff which
+bounded the Second Mesa. Though on this occasion he had thought fit to
+run away, there was little doubt but that he would live to fight another
+day.
+
+"Father," said I, as we sat together at breakfast, "may Joe and I go and
+trail him up? If he keeps on bleeding it ought to be easy, and it is
+just possible that we might find him dead."
+
+My father at first shook his head, but presently, reconsidering, he
+replied: "Well, you may go; but you must go on your ponies: it's too
+dangerous to go a-foot. And in any case, if the trail leads you up to
+the loose rocks or into the big timber you must stop. You know what a
+tricky beast Big Reuben is. If he sees that he is followed he will lie
+in hiding and jump out on you. That's how he caught Jed Smith, you
+remember."
+
+"We'll take care, father," said I. "We'll stick to our ponies, and then
+we shall be all safe."
+
+"Very well, then; be off with you."
+
+With this permission we set off, I carrying a rifle and Joe his "old
+cannon," as he called the big shotgun; each with a crust of bread and a
+slice or two of bacon in his pocket by way of lunch. Picking up the
+trail where we had left it at the foot of the Second Mesa, we scrambled
+up the little cliff, looking out very sharply lest Big Reuben should be
+lying in wait for us in some crevice, and finding that the tracks led
+straight away for Mount Lincoln, we followed them, I doing the tracking
+while Joe kept watch ahead. The surface of the Second Mesa was very
+uneven: there were many little rocky hills and many small canyons, some
+of the latter as much as a hundred feet deep, so, keeping in mind the
+bear's crafty nature, whenever the trail led us near any of these
+obstacles I would stand still while Joe examined the canyon or the rocks,
+as the case might be.
+
+Every time we did this, however, we drew a blank. The trail continued to
+lead straight away for the mountain without diverging to one side or the
+other, and for five or six miles we followed it until the stunted cedars
+began to give place to pine trees, when we decided that we might as well
+stop, especially as for some time past there had ceased to be any
+blood-marks on the stones and we had been following only the occasional
+imprint of the bear's paws in the patches of sand.
+
+"The trail is headed straight for that rocky gorge, Phil," said my
+companion, pointing forward, "and it's no use going on. Even if your
+father hadn't forbidden it, I wouldn't go into that gorge, knowing that
+Big Reuben was in there somewhere, not if the county commissioners
+should offer me the whole county as a reward."
+
+"Nor I, either," said I. "Big Reuben may have his mountain all to
+himself as far as I'm concerned. So, come on; let's get back. What time
+is it?"
+
+"After noon," replied Joe, looking up at the sun. "We've been a long
+time coming, but it won't take us more than half the time going back.
+Let's dig out at once."
+
+Turning our ponies, we set off at an easy lope, and had ridden about two
+miles on the back track when, skirting along the edge of one of the
+little canyons I have mentioned, we noticed a tiny spring of water,
+which, issuing from the face of the cliff close to the top, fell in a
+thin thread into the chasm.
+
+"Joe," said I, "let's stop here and eat our lunch. I'm getting pretty
+hungry."
+
+"All right," said Joe; and in another minute we were seated on the edge
+of the cliff with our feet dangling in space, munching our bread and
+bacon, while the ponies, with the reins hanging loose, were cropping the
+scanty grass just behind us.
+
+About five feet below where we sat was a little ledge some eighteen
+inches wide, which, on our left, gradually sloped upward until it came
+to the top, while in the other direction it sloped downward, diminishing
+in width until it "petered out" entirely. The little spring fell upon
+this ledge, and running along it, fell off again at its lower end. As
+the best place to fill our tin cup was where the water struck the ledge,
+we, when we had finished our lunch, walked down to that point.
+
+Filling the cup, I was in the act of handing it to Joe, who was behind
+me, when a sudden clatter of hoofs caused us to straighten up. Our eyes
+came just above the level of the cliff, and the first thing they
+encountered was Big Reuben himself, not ten feet away, coming straight
+for us at a run!
+
+"Duck!" yelled Joe; and down we went--only just in time, too, for the
+bear's great claws rattled on the surface of the rock as he made a slap
+at us.
+
+Where had he come from? Had he followed us back from the mountain?
+Hardly: we had come too quickly. Had he seen us coming in the early
+morning, and, making a circuit out of our sight, lain in wait for us as
+we returned? Such uncanny cleverness seemed hardly possible, even for
+Big Reuben, clever as he was known to be.
+
+These questions, however, did not occur to us at the moment. All that
+concerned us just then was that there was Big Reuben, looking down at us
+from the edge of the cliff.
+
+There was no doubt that it was the same bear we had interviewed in the
+night, for all the hair on one side of his face was singed off where I
+had thrust at him with the torch, while one of his ears was tattered and
+bloody, showing that some of Joe's buck-shot, at least, had got him as
+he dropped from the window.
+
+Joe and I were on our hands and knees, when the bear, going down upon
+his chest, reached for us with one of his paws. He could not quite touch
+us, but he came so uncomfortably close that we crept away down the
+ledge, which, dipping pretty sharply, soon put us out of his reach
+altogether.
+
+Seeing this, the bear rose to his feet again, gazed at us for a moment,
+and then stepped back out of sight.
+
+"Has he gone?" I whispered; but before Joe could answer Big Reuben
+appeared again, walking down the ledge towards us. Of course we sidled
+away from him, until the ledge had become so narrow that I could go no
+farther; and lucky it was for us that the ledge was narrow, for what
+was standing-room for us was by no means standing-room for the bear: his
+body was much too thick to allow him to come near us, or even to
+approach the spot whence we had just retreated.
+
+As it was obvious that the bear could advance no farther, for he was
+standing on the very edge of the ledge and there was a bulge in the rock
+before him which would inevitably have pushed him off into the chasm had
+he attempted to pass it, Joe and I returned to the spring, where we had
+room to stand or to sit down as we wished.
+
+The enemy watched our approach, with a glint of malice in his little
+piggy eyes, but when he saw that we intended to come no nearer, he lay
+down where he was and began unconcernedly licking his paws.
+
+"He thinks he can starve us out," said Joe; "but if I'm not mistaken we
+can stand it longer than he can, even if he did eat half a pig last
+night. And there's one thing certain, Phil: if we don't get home
+to-night, somebody will come to look for us in the morning."
+
+"Yes," I assented. "But they'll get a pretty bad scare at home if we
+don't turn up. Is there no way of sending that beast off? If we could
+only get hold of one of the guns----"
+
+By standing upright we could see my rifle lying on the ground and Joe's
+big gun standing with its muzzle pointed skyward, leaning against a
+boulder. They were only six feet away, but six feet were six feet: we
+could not reach them without climbing up, and that was out of the
+question--the bear could get there much more quickly than we could.
+
+"Phil!" exclaimed my companion, suddenly. "Have you got any twine in
+your pocket?"
+
+"Yes," I replied, pulling out a long, stout piece of string. "Why?"
+
+"Perhaps we can 'rope' my gun. See, its muzzle stands clear. Then we
+could drag it within reach."
+
+I very soon had a noose made, and being the more expert roper of the two
+I swung it round and round my head, keeping the loop wide open, and
+threw it. My very first cast was successful. The noose fell over the
+muzzle of the gun and settled half way down the barrel, where it was
+stopped by the rock.
+
+"Good!" whispered Joe. "Now, tighten it up gently and pull the gun
+over."
+
+I followed these directions, and presently we heard the gun fall with a
+clatter upon the rocks; for, fearing it might go off when it fell, we
+had both ducked below the rim of the wall.
+
+Our actions had made the bear suspicious, and when the gun came
+clattering down he rose upon his hind feet and looked about him. Seeing
+nothing moving, however, he came down again, when I at once began to
+pull the gun gently towards me, keeping my head down all the time lest
+one of the hammers, catching against a rock, should explode the charge.
+
+At length, thinking it should be near enough, I ceased pulling, when Joe
+straightened up, reached out, and, to my great delight, when he withdrew
+his hand the gun was in it.
+
+Ah! What a difference it made in our situation!
+
+Joe, first opening the breach to make sure the gun was loaded, advanced
+as near the bear as he dared, and kneeling down took careful aim at his
+chest. But presently he lowered the gun again, and turning to me, said:
+
+"Phil, can you do anything to make him turn his head so that I can get a
+chance at him behind the ear? I'm afraid a shot in front may only wound
+him."
+
+"All right," said I. "I'll try."
+
+With my knife I pried out of the face of the cliff a piece of stone
+about the size and shape of the palm of my hand, and aiming carefully I
+threw it at the bear. It struck him on the very point of his nose--a
+tender spot--and seemingly hurt him a good deal, for, with an angry
+snarl, he rose upright on his hind feet.
+
+At that instant a terrific report resounded up and down the canyon, the
+whole charge of Joe's ponderous weapon struck the bear full in the
+chest--I could see the hole it made--and without a sound the great beast
+dropped from the ledge, fell a hundred feet upon the rocks below,
+bounded two or three times and then lay still, all doubled up in a heap
+at the bottom.
+
+Big Reuben had killed his last pig!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+CRAWFORD'S BASIN
+
+
+You might think, perhaps, as many people in our neighborhood thought,
+that Joe was my brother. As a matter of fact he was no relation at all;
+he had dropped in upon us, a stranger, two years before, and had stayed
+with us ever since.
+
+It was in the haying season that he came, at a moment when my father and
+I were overwhelmed with work; for it was the summer of 1879, the year of
+"the Leadville excitement," when all the able-bodied men in the district
+were either rushing off to Leadville itself or going off prospecting all
+over the mountains in the hope of unearthing other Leadvilles. Ranch
+work was much too slow for them, and as a consequence it was impossible
+for us to secure any help that was worth having.
+
+What made it all the more provoking was that we had that year an
+extra-fine stand of grass--the weather, too, was magnificent--yet,
+unless we could get help, it was hardly likely that we could take full
+advantage of our splendid hay-crop.
+
+Nevertheless, as what could not be cured must be endured, my father and
+I tackled the job ourselves, working early and late, and we were making
+very good progress, all things considered, when we had the misfortune to
+break a small casting in our mowing-machine; a mishap which would
+probably entail a delay of several days until we could get the piece
+replaced.
+
+It was just before noon that this happened, and we had brought the
+machine up to the wagon-shed and had put up the horses, when, on
+stepping out of the stable, we were accosted by a tall, black haired,
+blue eyed young fellow of about my own age, who asked if he could get a
+job with us.
+
+"Yes, you can," replied my father, promptly; and then, remembering the
+accident to the machine, he added, "at least, you can as soon as I get
+this casting replaced," holding out the broken piece as he spoke.
+
+"May I look at it?" asked the young fellow; and taking it in his hand he
+went on: "I see you have a blacksmith-shop over there; I think I can
+duplicate this for you if you'll let me try: I was a blacksmith's
+apprentice only a month ago."
+
+"Do you think you can? Well, you shall certainly be allowed to try. But
+come in now: dinner will be ready in five minutes; you shall try your
+hand at blacksmithing afterwards. What's your name?"
+
+"Joe Garnier," replied the boy. "I come from Iowa. I was going to
+Leadville, but I met so many men coming back, with tales of what numbers
+of idle men there were up there unable to get work, that, hearing of a
+place called Sulphide as a rising camp, I decided to go there instead.
+This is the right way to get there, isn't it?"
+
+"Yes, this is the way to Sulphide. Did you expect to get work as a
+miner?"
+
+"Well, I intended to take any work I could get, but if you can give me
+employment here, I'd a good deal rather work out in the sun than down in
+a hole in the ground."
+
+"You replace that casting if you can, and I'll give you work for a
+month, at least, and longer if we get on well together."
+
+"Thank you," said the stranger; and with that we went into the house.
+
+The newcomer started well: he won my mother's good opinion at once by
+wiping his boots carefully before entering, and by giving himself a
+sousing good wash at the pump before sitting down to table. It was plain
+he was no ordinary tramp--though, for that matter, the genus "tramp" had
+not yet invaded the three-year-old state of Colorado--for his manners
+were good; while his clear blue eyes, in contrast with his brown face
+and wavy black hair, gave him a remarkably bright and wide-awake look.
+
+As soon as dinner was over, we all repaired to the blacksmith-shop,
+where Joe at once went to work. It was very evident that he knew what he
+was about: every blow seemed to count in the right direction; so that in
+about half an hour he had fashioned his piece of iron into the desired
+shape, when he plunged it into the tub of water, and then, clapping it
+into the vise, went to work on it with a file; every now and then
+comparing it with the broken casting which lay on the bench beside him.
+
+"There!" he exclaimed at last. "I believe that will fit." And, indeed,
+when he laid them side by side, one would have been puzzled to tell
+which was which, had not the old piece been painted red while the other
+was not painted at all.
+
+Joe was right: the piece did fit; and in less than an hour from the time
+we had finished dinner we were at work again in the hay-field.
+
+The month which followed was a strenuous one, but by the end of it we
+had the satisfaction of knowing that we had put up the biggest crop of
+hay ever cut on the ranch.
+
+Our new helper, who was a tall, stout fellow for his age, and an
+untiring worker, proved to be a capital hand, and though at first he was
+somewhat awkward, being unused to farm labor, before we had finished he
+could do a better day's work than I could, in spite of the fact that I
+had been a ranch boy ever since I had been a boy at all.
+
+We all took a great liking for Joe, and we were very pleased, therefore,
+when, the hay being in, it was arranged that he should stay on. For
+there was plenty of work to be done that year--extra work, I mean--such
+as building fences, putting up an ice-house and so forth, in which Joe,
+having a decided mechanical turn, proved a valuable assistant. So, when
+the spring came round again it found Joe still with us; and with us he
+continued to stay, becoming so much one of the family that many people,
+as I said, who did not know his story, supposed that he and I were
+brothers in fact, as we soon learned to become brothers in feeling.
+
+Long before this, of course, Joe had told us all about himself and how
+he had come to leave his old home and make his way westward.
+
+Of French-Canadian descent, the boy, left an orphan at three years of
+age, had been taken in by a neighbor, a kind-hearted blacksmith, and
+with him he had lived for the twelve years following, when the
+blacksmith, now an old man, had decided to go out of business. Just at
+this time "the Leadville excitement" was making a great stir in the
+country; thousands of men were heading for the new Eldorado, and Joe,
+his old friend consenting, determined to join the throng.
+
+It was, perhaps, lucky for the young blacksmith that he started rather
+late, for, on his approach to the mountains, he encountered files of
+disappointed men streaming in the opposite direction, and hearing their
+stories of the overcrowded condition of things in Leadville, he
+determined to try instead the mining camp of Sulphide, when, passing our
+place on the way he was caught by my father, as I have described, and
+turned into a ranchman.
+
+Such was the condition of affairs with us when Big Reuben made his final
+raid upon our pig-pen.
+
+The reward of one hundred dollars which the county paid us for our
+exploit in ridding the community of Big Reuben's presence came in very
+handily for Joe and me. It enabled us to achieve an object for which we
+had long been hoarding our savings--the purchase of a pair of mules.
+
+For the past two years, in the slack season, after the gathering of our
+hay and potato crops, we had hired out during the fine weather remaining
+to a man whose business it was to cut and haul timbers for the mines in
+and around the town of Sulphide, which lay in the mountains seven miles
+southwestward from our ranch. We found it congenial work, and Joe and I,
+who were now seventeen years old, hardened to labor with ax, shovel or
+pitchfork, saw no reason why we should not put in these odd five or six
+weeks cutting timbers on our own account. No reason but one, that is to
+say. My father would readily lend us one of his wagons, but he could not
+spare a team, and so, until we could procure a team of our own, we were
+obliged to forego the honor and glory--to say nothing of the expected
+profits--of setting up as an independent firm.
+
+Now, however, we had suddenly and unexpectedly acquired the necessary
+funds, and with the money in our pockets away we went at once to Ole
+Johnson's, from whom we bought a stout little pair of mouse-colored
+mules upon which we had long had an eye.
+
+But though the firm of Crawford and Garnier might now, if it pleased,
+consider itself established, it could not enter upon the practice of its
+business for some time yet. It was still the middle of summer, and there
+was plenty to do on the ranch: the hay and the oats would be ready to
+cut in two weeks, while after that there were the potatoes to gather--a
+very heavy piece of work.
+
+All these tasks had to be cleared out of the way before we could move up
+to Sulphide to begin on our timber-cutting enterprise. But between the
+harvesting of the oats and the gathering of the potato-crop there
+occurred an incident, which, besides being remarkable in itself, had a
+very notable effect upon my father's fortunes--and, incidentally, upon
+our own.
+
+To make understandable the ins and outs of this matter, I must pause a
+moment to describe the situation of our ranch; for it is upon the
+peculiarity of its situation that much of my story hinges.
+
+Anybody traveling westward from San Remo, the county seat, with the idea
+of getting up into the mountains, would encounter, about a mile from
+town, a rocky ridge, which, running north and south, extended for
+several miles each way. Ascending this bluff and still going westward,
+he would presently encounter a second ridge, the counterpart of the
+first, and climbing that in turn he would find himself upon the
+wide-spreading plateau known as the Second Mesa, which extended, without
+presenting any serious impediment, to the foot of the range--itself one
+of the finest and ruggedest masses of mountains in the whole state of
+Colorado.
+
+In a deep depression of the First Mesa--known as Crawford's Basin--lay
+our ranch. This "Basin" was evidently an ancient lake-bed--as one could
+tell by the "benches" surrounding it--but the water of the lake having
+in the course of ages sawed its way out through the rocky barrier, now
+ran off through a little canyon about a quarter of a mile long.
+
+The natural way for us to get from the ranch down to San Remo was to
+follow the stream down this canyon, but, curiously enough, for more than
+half the year this road was impassable. The lower end of Crawford's
+Basin, for a quarter of a mile back from the entrance of the canyon, was
+so soft and water-logged that not even an empty wagon could pass over
+it. In fact, so soft was it that we could not get upon it to cut hay and
+were obliged to leave the splendid stand of grass that grew there as a
+winter pasture. In the cold weather, when the ground froze up, it was
+all right, but at the first breath of spring it began to soften, and
+from then until winter again we could do nothing with it. It was, in
+fact, little better than a source of annoyance to us, for, until we
+fenced it off, our milk cows, tempted by the luxuriant grass, were
+always getting themselves mired there.
+
+This wet patch was known to every teamster in the county as "the
+bottomless forty rods," and was shunned by them like a pestilence. Its
+existence was a great drawback to us, for, between San Remo, where the
+smelters were, and the town of Sulphide, where the mines were, there
+was a constant stream of wagons passing up and down, carrying ore to the
+smelters and bringing back provisions, tools and all the other
+multitudinous necessaries required by the population of a busy mining
+town. Had it not been for the presence of "the bottomless forty rods,"
+all these wagons would have come through our place and we should have
+done a great trade in oats and hay with the teamsters. But as it was,
+they all took the mesa road, which, though three miles longer and
+necessitating the descent of a long, steep hill where the road came down
+from the First Mesa to the plains, had the advantage of being hard and
+sound at all seasons of the year.
+
+My father had spent much time and labor in the attempt to make a
+permanent road through this morass, cutting trenches and throwing in
+load after load of stones and brush and earth, but all in vain, and at
+length he gave it up--though with great reluctance. For, not only did
+the teamsters avoid us, but we, ourselves, when we wished to go with a
+load to San Remo, were obliged to ascend to the mesa and go down by the
+hill road.
+
+The cause of this wet spot was apparently an underground stream which
+came to the surface at that point. The creek which supplied us with
+water for irrigation had its sources on Mount Lincoln and falling from
+the Second Mesa into our Basin in a little waterfall some twelve feet
+high, it had scooped out a circular hole in the rock about a hundred
+feet across and then, running down the length of the valley, found its
+way out through the canyon. Now this creek received no accession from any
+other stream in its course across the Basin, but for all that the amount
+of water in the canyon was twice as great as that which came over the
+fall; showing conclusively that the marsh whence the increase came must
+be supplied by a very strong underground stream.
+
+The greater part of Crawford's Basin was owned by my father, Philip
+Crawford, the elder, but a portion of it, about thirty acres at the
+upper end, including the pool, the waterfall and the best part of the
+potato land, was owned by Simon Yetmore, of Sulphide.
+
+My father was very desirous of purchasing this piece of ground, for it
+would round out the ranch to perfection, but Yetmore, knowing how much
+he desired it, asked such an unreasonable price that their bargaining
+always fell through. Being unable to buy it, my father therefore leased
+it, paying the rent in the form of potatoes delivered at Yetmore's store
+in Sulphide--for Simon, besides being mayor of Sulphide and otherwise a
+person of importance, was proprietor of Yetmore's Emporium, by far the
+largest general store in town.
+
+He was an enterprising citizen, Simon was, always having many irons in
+the fire; a clever fellow, too, in his way; though his way was not
+exactly to the taste of some people: he drove too hard a bargain. In
+fact, the opinion was pretty general that his name fitted him to a
+nicety, for, however much he might get, he always wanted yet more.
+
+My father distrusted him; yet, strange to say, in spite of that fact,
+and of the added fact that he had always fought shy of all mining
+schemes, he and Yetmore were partners in a prospecting venture. It was,
+in a measure, an accident, and it came about in this way:
+
+The smelter-men down at San Remo were always crying out for more
+lead-ores to mix with the "refractory" ores produced by most of the
+mines in our district, publishing a standing offer of an extra-good
+price for all ores containing more than a stated percentage of lead. In
+spite of the stimulus this offer gave to the prospecting of the
+mountains, north, south and west of us, there had been found but one
+mine, the Samson, of which the chief product was lead, and this did not
+furnish nearly enough to satisfy the wants of the smelter-men.
+
+Its discovery, however, proved the existence of veins of galena--the ore
+from which lead chiefly comes--in one part of the district, and the
+prospectors became more active than ever; though without result. That
+section of country where the Samson had been discovered was deeply
+overlaid with "wash," and as the veins were "blanket" veins--lying flat,
+that is--and did not crop out above the surface, their discovery was
+pretty much a matter of chance.
+
+Among the prospectors was one, Tom Connor, who, having had experience in
+the lead-mines of Missouri, proposed to adopt one of the methods of
+prospecting in use in that country, to wit, the core-drill. But to
+procure and operate a core-drill required money, and this Tom Connor had
+not. He therefore applied to Simon Yetmore, who agreed to supply part
+of the necessary funds--making good terms for himself, you may be
+sure--if Tom would provide the rest. The rest, however, was rather more
+than the sum-total of Tom's scanty capital, and so he came to my father,
+who was an old friend of his, and asked him to make up the difference.
+
+My father declined to take any share in the enterprise, for, though most
+of the ranchmen round about were more or less interested in mining, he
+himself looked upon it as being too near akin to gambling; but feeling
+well disposed towards Tom, and the sum required being very moderate, he
+lent his friend the money, quite prepared, knowing Tom's optimistic,
+harum-scarum character, never to see it again.
+
+In this expectation, however, he was happily deceived. It is true he did
+not get back his money, but he received his money's worth, and that in a
+very curious way.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+YETMORE'S MISTAKE
+
+
+Three months had elapsed when Tom Connor turned up one day with a very
+long face. All his drilling had brought no result; he was at the end of
+his tether; he could see no possible chance of ever repaying the
+borrowed money, and so, said he, would my father take his interest in
+the drill in settlement of the debt?
+
+Very reluctantly my father consented--for what did he want with a
+one-third share in a core-drill?--whereupon Tom, the load of debt being
+off his mind, brightened up again in an instant--he was a most mercurial
+fellow--and forthwith he fell to begging my father's consent to his
+making one more attempt--just one. He was sure of striking it this time,
+he had studied the formation carefully and he had selected a spot where
+the chances of disappointment were, as he declared, "next-to-nothing."
+
+My father knew Tom well enough to know that he had been just as sure
+twenty times before, but Tom was so eager and so plausible that at last
+he agreed that he should sink one more hole--but no more.
+
+"And mind you, Tom," said he, "I won't spend more than fifty dollars;
+that is the very utmost I can afford, and I believe I am only throwing
+that away. But I'll spend fifty just to satisfy you--but that's all,
+mind you."
+
+"Fifty dollars!" exclaimed Tom. "Fifty! Bless you, that'll be more than
+enough. Twenty ought to do it. I'm going to make your fortune for twenty
+dollars, Mr. Crawford, and glad of the chance. You've treated me
+'white,' and the more I can make for you the better I'll be pleased.
+Inside of a week I'll be coming back here with a lead-mine in my
+pocket--you see if I don't."
+
+"All right, Tom," said my father, laughing, as he shook hands with him.
+"I shall be glad to have it, even if it is only a pocket edition. So,
+good-bye, old man, and good luck to you."
+
+It was two days after this that my father at breakfast time turned to us
+and said:
+
+"Boys, how would you like to take your ponies and go and see Tom Connor
+at work? There is not much to do on the ranch just now, and an outing of
+two or three days will do you good."
+
+Needless to say, we jumped at the chance, and as soon as we could get
+off, away we went, delighted at the prospect of making an expedition
+into the mountains.
+
+The place where Tom was at work was thirty miles beyond Sulphide, a long
+ride, nearly all up hill, and it was not till towards sunset that we
+approached his camp. As we did so, a very surprising sight met our gaze:
+three men, close together, with their backs to us, down on their hands
+and knees, like Mahomedans saying their prayers.
+
+"What are they up to?" asked Joe. "Have they lost something?"
+
+At this moment, my horse's hoof striking a stone caused the three men to
+look up. One was Connor, one was his helper, and the other, to our
+surprise, was Yetmore.
+
+Connor sprang to his feet and ran towards us, crying:
+
+"What did I tell you, boys! What did I tell you! Get off your ponies,
+quick, and come and see!"
+
+He was wild with excitement.
+
+We slid from our horses, and joining the other two, went down on our
+knees beside them. Upon the ground before them lay the object of their
+worship: a "core" from the drill, neatly pieced together, about eight
+feet long and something less than an inch in diameter. Of this core,
+four feet or more at one end and about half a foot at the other was
+composed of some kind of stone, but in between, for a length of three
+feet and an inch or two, it was all smooth, shining lead-ore.
+
+Tom Connor had struck it, and no mistake!
+
+"Tom," said Yetmore, as we all rose to our feet again, "this _looks_
+like a pretty fair strike; but you've got to remember that we know
+nothing about the extent of the vein--one hole doesn't prove much. It is
+three feet thick at this particular point, but it may be only three
+inches five feet away; and as to its length and breadth, why, that's all
+pure speculation. All the same I'm ready to make a deal with you. I'll
+buy your interest or I'll sell you mine. What do you say?"
+
+"What's the use of that kind of talk?" growled Connor. "You know I
+haven't a cent to my name. Besides, I haven't any interest."
+
+"You--what!--you haven't any interest!" cried the other. "What do you
+mean?"
+
+"I've sold it."
+
+"Sold it! Who to?"
+
+"To Mr. Crawford, two days ago."
+
+"Well, you are a----" Yetmore began; but catching sight of Tom's
+glowering face he stopped and substituted, "Well, I'm sorry to hear it."
+
+"Well, I ain't," said Tom, shortly. "If Mr. Crawford makes a fortune out
+of it I'll be mighty well pleased. He's treated me 'white,' _he_ has."
+
+From the tone and manner of this remark it was easy to guess that Tom
+did not love Mr. Yetmore: he had found him a difficult partner to get
+along with, probably.
+
+"I certainly hope he will," said Yetmore, smiling, "for if he does I
+shall. Sold it to Mr. Crawford, eh? So that accounts for you two boys
+being up here. Got here just in time, didn't you? You'll stay over
+to-morrow, of course, and see Tom uncover the vein?"
+
+"Are you proposing to uncover it, Tom?" I asked.
+
+"Yes. It's only four feet down; one shot will do it. You'll stay too, I
+suppose, Mr. Yetmore?"
+
+"Certainly," replied the other. But as he said it, I saw a change come
+over his face--it was a leathery face, with a large, long nose. Some
+idea had occurred to him I was sure, especially when, seeing that I was
+looking at him, he dropped his eyes, as though fearing they might betray
+him.
+
+Whatever the idea might be, however, I ceased to think of it when Tom
+suggested that it was getting late and that we had better adjourn to the
+cabin for supper.
+
+Taking our ponies over to the log stable, therefore, we gave them a good
+feed of oats, and soon afterwards were ourselves seated before a
+steaming hot meal of ham, bread and coffee; after which we spent an hour
+talking over the great strike, and then, crawling into the bunks, we
+very quickly fell asleep.
+
+Early next morning we walked about half a mile up the mountain to the
+scene of the strike, when, having first shoveled away two or three feet
+of loose stuff, Tom and his helper set to work, one holding the drill
+and the other plying the hammer, drilling a hole a little to one side of
+the spot whence the core had come.
+
+They were no more than well started when Yetmore, remarking that he had
+forgotten his tobacco, walked back to the cabin to get it--an action to
+which Joe and I, being interested in the drilling, paid little
+attention. It was only when Connor, turning to select a fresh drill,
+asked where he was, that we remembered how long he had been gone.
+
+"Gone back to the cabin, has he?" remarked Tom. "Well, he's welcome to
+stay there as far as I'm concerned."
+
+The work went on, until presently Tom declared that they had gone deep
+enough, and while we others cleared away the tools, Connor himself
+loaded and tamped the hole.
+
+"Now, get out of the way!" cried he; and while we ran off and hid behind
+convenient trees, Tom struck a match and lighted the fuse. The dull thud
+of an explosion shortly followed; but on walking back to the spot we
+were all greatly surprised to see that the rock had remained intact--it
+was as solid as ever.
+
+"Well, that beats all!" exclaimed Tom. "The thing has shot downward; it
+must be hollow underneath. We'll have to put in some short holes and
+crack it up."
+
+It did not take long to put in three short holes, and these being
+charged and tamped, we once more took refuge behind the trees while Tom
+touched them off. This time there were three sharp explosions, a shower
+of fragments rattled through the branches above our heads, and on going
+to inspect the result we found that the rock had been so shattered that
+it was an easy matter to pry out the pieces with pick and crowbar--a
+task of which Joe and I did our share.
+
+At length, the hole being now about three feet deep, Joe, who was
+working with a crowbar, gave a mighty prod at a loose piece of rock,
+when, to the astonishment of himself and everybody else, the bottom of
+the hole fell through, and rock, crowbar and all, disappeared into the
+cavity beneath.
+
+"Well, what kind of a vein is it, anyhow?" cried Tom, going down upon
+his knees and peering into the darkness. "Blest if there isn't a sort of
+cave down here. Knock out some more, boys, and let me get down. This is
+the queerest thing I've struck in a long time."
+
+We soon had the hole sufficiently enlarged, when, by means of a rope
+attached to a tree, Tom slid down into it, and lighting a candle, peered
+about.
+
+Poor old Tom! The change on his face would have been ludicrous had we
+not felt so sorry for him, when, looking up at us he said in lugubrious
+tones: "Done again, boys! Come down and see for yourselves."
+
+We quickly slid down the rope, when, our eyes having become accustomed
+to the light, Tom pointed out to us the extraordinary accident that had
+caused him to believe he had struck a three-foot vein of galena.
+
+Though there was no sign of such a thing on the surface, it was evident
+that the place in which we stood had at one time been a narrow,
+water-worn gully in the mountain-side. Ages ago there had been a
+landslide, filling the little gully with enormous boulders. That these
+rocks came from the vein of the Samson higher up the mountain was also
+pretty certain, for among them was one pear-shaped boulder of galena
+ore, standing upright, upon the apex of which rested the immense
+four-foot slab of stone through which Tom had bored his drill-hole. By a
+chance that was truly marvelous, the drill, after piercing the great
+slab, had struck the very point of the galena boulder and had gone
+through it from end to end, so that when the core came up it was no
+wonder that even Tom, experienced miner though he was, should have been
+deceived into the belief that he had discovered a three-foot vein of
+lead-ore.
+
+As a matter of fact, there was no vein at all--just one single chunk of
+galena, not worth the trouble of getting it out. Connor's lead-mine
+after all had turned out to be only a "pocket edition."
+
+Tom's disappointment was naturally extreme, but, as usual, his low
+spirits were only momentary. We had hardly climbed up out of the hole
+again when he suddenly burst out laughing.
+
+"Ho, ho, ho!" he went, slapping his leg. "What will Yetmore say? I'm
+sorry, Phil, that I couldn't keep my promise to your father, but I'll
+own up that as far as Yetmore is concerned I'm rather glad. I don't like
+the Honorable Simon, and that's a fact. What's he doing down at the
+cabin all this time, I wonder. Come! Let's gather up the tools and go
+down there: there's nothing more to be done here."
+
+On arriving at the cabin, Yetmore's non-appearance was at once
+explained. Fastened to the table with a fork was a piece of paper, upon
+which was written in pencil, "Gone to look for the horses."
+
+Of course, Joe and I at once ran over to the stable. It was empty; all
+three of the horses were gone.
+
+"Queer," remarked Joe. "I feel sure I tied mine securely, but you see
+halters and all are gone."
+
+"Yes," I replied. "And I should have relied upon our ponies' staying
+even if they had not been tied up; you know what good camp horses they
+are. Let's go out and see which way they went."
+
+We made a cast all round the stable, and presently Joe called out, "Here
+they are, all three of them." I thought he had found the horses, but it
+was only their tracks he had discovered, which with much difficulty we
+followed over the stony ground, until, after half an hour of careful
+trailing, they led us to the dusty road some distance below camp, where
+they were plainly visible.
+
+"Our ponies have followed Yetmore's horse," said Joe, after a brief
+inspection. "Do you see, Phil, they tread in his tracks all the time?"
+
+For the tracks left by our own ponies were easily distinguishable from
+those of Yetmore's big horse, our animals being unshod.
+
+"What puzzles me though, Joe," said I, "is that there are no marks of
+the halter-ropes trailing in the dust; and yet they went off with their
+halters."
+
+"That's true. I don't understand it. And there's another thing, Phil:
+Yetmore hasn't got on their trail yet, apparently; see, the marks of his
+boots don't show anywhere. He must be wandering in the woods still."
+
+"I suppose so. Well, let us go on and see if they haven't stopped to
+feed somewhere."
+
+We went on for half a mile when we came to a spot where the tracks
+puzzled us still more. For the first time a man's footmarks appeared.
+That they were Yetmore's I knew, for I had noticed the pattern of the
+nails in the soles of his boots as he had sat with his feet resting on a
+chair the night before. But where had he dropped from so suddenly? We
+could find no tracks on either side of the road--though certainly the
+ground was stony and would not take an impression easily--yet here they
+were all at once right on top of the horses' hoof-prints.
+
+Moreover, his appearance seemed to have been the signal for a new
+arrangement in the position of the horses, for our ponies had here taken
+the lead, while Yetmore's horse came treading in their tracks.
+Moreover, again, twenty yards farther on, the horses had all broken into
+a gallop. What did it mean?
+
+"Well, this is a puzzler!" exclaimed Joe, taking off his hat and
+rumpling his hair, as his habit was in such circumstances. "How do you
+figure it out, Phil?"
+
+"Why," said I. "I'll tell you what I think. Yetmore has caught sight of
+the horses strolling down the road and has followed them, keeping away
+from the road himself for fear they should see him and take alarm.
+Dodging through the scrub-oak and cutting across corners, he has come
+near enough to them to speak to his own horse; the horse has stopped and
+Yetmore has caught him. That was where his tracks first showed in the
+road. Then he has jumped upon his horse and galloped after our ponies,
+which appear to have bolted."
+
+"That sounds reasonable," Joe assented; "and in that case he'll head
+them and drive them back; so we may as well walk up to the cabin again
+and wait for him."
+
+To this I agreed, and we therefore turned round and retraced our steps.
+
+"There's only one thing about this that I can't understand," remarked
+Joe, as we trudged up the hill, "and that is about the halters--why they
+leave no trail. That does beat me."
+
+"Yes, that is certainly a queer thing; unless they managed to scrape
+them off against the trees before they took to the road. In that case,
+though, we ought to have found them; and anyhow it is hard to believe
+that all three horses should have done the same thing."
+
+We found Tom very busy packing up when we reached the cabin, and on our
+telling him the result of our horse-hunt he merely nodded, saying,
+"Well, they'll be back soon, I suppose, and then I'll ride down with
+you."
+
+"Why, are you going to quit, Tom?" I asked.
+
+"Yes," he replied. "Your father limited me to one more hole, you
+remember, and if I know him he'll stick to it; and as to working any
+longer for Yetmore, no thank you; I've had enough of it."
+
+So saying, Tom, who had already cleaned and put away the tools, began
+tumbling his scanty wardrobe into a gunny-sack, and this being done, he
+turned to us and said:
+
+"I've got a pony out at pasture about a mile up the valley. I'll go and
+bring him down; and while I'm gone you might as well pitch in and get
+dinner ready. You needn't provide for Sandy Yates: he's gone off already
+to see if he can get a job up at the Samson."
+
+Sandy Yates was the helper.
+
+In an hour or less Tom was back and we were seated at dinner, without
+Yetmore, who had not yet turned up, when the conversation naturally fell
+upon the subject of the runaway horses. We related to Tom how we had
+trailed them through the woods down to the road, told him of the sudden
+appearance of Yetmore's tracks, and how the horses had then set off at a
+run, followed by Yetmore.
+
+"But the thing I can_not_ understand," said Joe, harking back to the old
+subject, "is why the halter-ropes don't show in the dust."
+
+"Don't they?" exclaimed Tom, suddenly sitting bolt upright and clapping
+his knife and fork down upon the table. "Don't they? Just you wait a
+minute."
+
+With that he jumped up, strode out of the cabin, and went straight
+across to the stable. In two minutes he was back again, and standing in
+the doorway, with his hands in his pockets, he said:
+
+"Boys, I've got another surprise for you: Yetmore's saddle's gone!"
+
+"His saddle gone!" I exclaimed. "Is that why you went to the stable? Did
+you expect to find it gone?"
+
+"That's just what I did."
+
+"You did! Why?"
+
+Without replying directly, Tom came in, sat down, and leaning his elbows
+on the table, said, with a quiet chuckle, the meaning of which we could
+not understand:
+
+"Should you like to know, boys, what Yetmore did when he came down for
+his tobacco this morning? He went to the stable, saddled his horse,
+untied your two ponies and led them out. Then he mounted his horse and
+taking the halter-ropes in his hand he led your ponies by a roundabout
+way through the woods down to the road. After leading them at a walk
+along the road for half a mile he dismounted--that was where his tracks
+showed--and either took off the halters and threw them away, or what is
+more likely, tied them up around the ponies' necks so that they
+shouldn't step on them. Then he mounted again and went off at a gallop,
+driving your ponies ahead of him."
+
+As Tom concluded, he leaned back in his chair, bubbling with suppressed
+merriment, until the sight of our round-eyed wonder was too much for him
+and he burst into uproarious laughter, which was so infectious that we
+could not help joining in, though the cause of it was a perfect mystery
+to us both.
+
+At length, when he had laughed himself out, he leaned forward again, and
+rubbing the tears out of his eyes with the back of his hand, he said:
+
+"Can't you guess, boys, why Yetmore has gone off with your horses?"
+
+I shook my head. "No," said I, "unless he wants to steal them, and he'd
+hardly do that, I suppose."
+
+"No; anyhow not in such a bare-faced way as that. What he's after is to
+make you boys walk home."
+
+"Make us walk home!" cried Joe. "What should he want to do that for?"
+
+Tom grinned, and in reply, said: "Yetmore thought that as soon as we
+uncovered that fine three-foot vein of galena you would be for getting
+your ponies and galloping off home to tell Mr. Crawford of the great
+strike, and as he wanted to get there first he stole your
+ponies--temporarily--to make sure of doing it."
+
+"But why should he want to get there first?" I asked. "You are talking
+in riddles, Tom, and we haven't the key."
+
+"No, I know you haven't. You don't know Yetmore. I do. He's gone down to
+buy your father's share in the claim for next-to-nothing before he hears
+of the strike!"
+
+The whole thing was plain and clear now; and the hilarity of our friend,
+Connor, was explained. He had no liking for Yetmore, as we have seen,
+and it delighted him immeasurably to think of that too astute gentleman
+rushing off to buy my father's share of a valuable mine, and, if he
+succeeded, finding himself the owner of a worthless boulder instead.
+
+For myself, I was much puzzled how to act. Naturally, I felt pretty
+indignant at Yetmore's action, and it seemed to me that if, in trying to
+cheat my father, he should only succeed in cheating himself, it would be
+no more than just that he should be allowed to do so. But at the same
+time I thought that my father ought to be informed of the state of the
+case as soon as possible--he, not I, was the one to judge--and so,
+turning to Connor, I asked him to lend me his pony so that I might set
+off at once.
+
+"What! And spoil the deal!" cried Connor; and at first he was disposed
+to refuse. But on consideration, he added: "Well, perhaps you're right.
+Your father's an honest man, if ever there was one, and I doubt if he'd
+let even a man like Yetmore cheat himself if he could help it; and so I
+suppose you must go and tell him the particulars as soon as you can. All
+I hope is that he will have made his deal before you get there. Yes, you
+can take the pony."
+
+But it was not necessary to borrow Connor's steed after all, for when we
+stepped outside the cabin, there were our own ponies coming up the road.
+The halters were fastened up round their necks, and they showed evident
+signs of having been run hard some time during the morning. Presumably
+Yetmore had abandoned them somewhere on the road and they had walked
+leisurely back.
+
+"Well, boys," said Connor, "we may as well all start together now; but
+as your ponies have had a good morning's work already, we can't expect
+to make the whole distance this evening. We'll stop over night at
+Thornburg's, twenty miles down, and go on again first thing in the
+morning."
+
+This we did, and by ten o'clock we reached home, where the first person
+we encountered was my father.
+
+"Well, Tom," he cried, as the miner slipped down from his horse. "So you
+made a strike, did you?"
+
+At this Tom opened his eyes pretty widely. "How did you know?" he asked.
+
+"I didn't know," my father replied, smiling, "but I guessed. Does it
+amount to much?"
+
+"Well, no, I can't say it does," Tom replied, as he covered his mouth
+with his hand to hide the grin which would come to the surface.
+"Yetmore's been here, I suppose?" he added, inquiringly.
+
+"Yes, he has," answered my father, surprised in his turn. "Why do you
+ask?"
+
+"Oh, I just thought he might have, that's all."
+
+"Yes, he was here yesterday afternoon. I sold him my one-third share."
+
+"Did you?" asked Tom, eagerly. "I hope you got a good price."
+
+"Yes, I made a very satisfactory bargain. I traded my share for his
+thirty acres here, so that now, at last, I own the whole of Crawford's
+Basin, I'm glad to say."
+
+"Bully!" cried Tom, clapping his hands together with a report which made
+his pony shy. "That's great! Tell us about it, Mr. Crawford."
+
+"Why, Yetmore rode in yesterday afternoon, as I told you, on his way to
+town--he said. But I rather suspected the truth of his statement. He had
+come in a desperate hurry, for his horse was in a lather, and if he was
+in such haste to get to town, why did he waste time talking to me, as he
+did for twenty minutes? But when, just as he was starting off again, he
+turned back and asked me if I wanted to sell my share in the drill and
+claim, I knew that that was what he had come about, and I had a strong
+suspicion that he had heard of a strike of some sort and was trying to
+get the better of me. So when he asked what I wanted for my share, I
+said I would take his thirty acres, and in spite of his protestations
+that I was asking far too much, I stuck to it. The final result was that
+I rode on with him to town, where we exchanged deeds and the bargain was
+completed."
+
+"That's great!" exclaimed Connor once more, rubbing his hands. "And now
+I'll tell you our part of the story."
+
+When he had finished, my father stood thinking for a minute, and then
+said: "Well, the deal will have to stand. Yetmore believed we had a
+three-foot vein of galena, and it is perfectly evident that he meant to
+get my share out of me at a trifling price before I was aware of its
+value. It was a shabby trick. If he had dealt squarely with me, I would
+have offered to give him back his deed, but, as it is, I shan't. The
+deal will have to stand."
+
+Thus it was that my father became sole owner of Crawford's Basin.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+LOST IN THE CLOUDS
+
+
+The fact that he had lost his little all in the core-boring venture did
+not trouble Tom Connor in the least; the money was gone, and as worrying
+about it would not bring it back, Tom decided not to worry. The same
+thing had happened to him many a time before, for his system of life was
+to work in the mines until he had accumulated a respectable sum, and
+then go off prospecting till such time as the imminence of starvation
+drove him back again to regular work.
+
+It was so in this case; and being known all over the district as a
+skilful miner, his specialty being timber-work, he very soon got a good
+job on the Pelican as boss timberman on a section of that important
+mine.
+
+One effect of Tom's getting work on the Pelican was that he secured for
+Joe and me an order for lagging--small poles used in the mines to hold
+up the ore and waste--and our potato-crop being gathered and marketed,
+my father gave us permission to go off and earn some extra money for
+ourselves by filling the order which Tom's kindly thoughtfulness had
+secured for us.
+
+The place we had chosen as the scene of our operations was on the
+northern slope of Elkhorn Mountain, which lay next south of Mount
+Lincoln, and one bright morning in the late fall Joe and I packed our
+bedding and provisions into a wagon borrowed from my father and set out.
+
+We had chosen this spot, after making a preliminary survey for the
+purpose, partly because the growth of timber was--as it nearly always
+is--much thicker on the northern slopes of Elkhorn than on the south
+side of Lincoln, and also because, being a rather long haul, it had not
+yet been encroached upon by the timber-cutters of Sulphide.
+
+On a little branch creek of the stream which ran through Sulphide we
+selected a favorable spot and went to work. It was rather high up, and
+the country being steep and rocky, we had to make our camp about a mile
+below our working-ground, snaking out the poles as we cut them. This, of
+course, was a rather slow process, but it had its compensation in the
+fact that from the foot of the mountain nearly all the way to Sulphide
+our course lay across the Second Mesa, which was fairly smooth going,
+and as it was down hill for the whole distance we could haul a very big
+load when we did start. In due time we filled our contract and received
+our pay, after which, by advice of Tom Connor, we branched out on
+another line of the same business.
+
+Being unable to get a second contract, and being, in fact, afraid to
+take one if we could get it on account of the lateness of the
+season--for the snow might come at any moment and prevent our carrying
+it out--we consulted Tom, who suggested that we put in the rest of the
+fine weather cutting big timbers, hauling them to town, and storing them
+on a vacant lot, or, what would be better, in somebody's back yard.
+
+"For," said he, "though the Pelican and most of the other mines have
+their supplies for the winter on hand or contracted for, it is always
+likely they may want a few more stulls or other big timbers than they
+think. I'll keep you in mind, and if I hear of any such I'll try and
+make a deal for you, either for the whole stick or cut in lengths to
+order."
+
+As this seemed like good sense to us, we at once went off to find a
+storage place, a quest in which we were successful at the first attempt.
+
+Among my father's customers was the widow Appleby, who conducted a small
+grocery store on a side street in town. She was accustomed to buy her
+potatoes from us, and my father, knowing that she had a hard struggle to
+make both ends meet, had always been very easy with her in the matter of
+payment, giving her all the time she needed.
+
+This act of consideration had its effect, for, when we went to her and
+suggested that she rent us her back yard for storage purposes, she
+readily assented, and not only refused to take any rent, but gave us as
+well the use of an old stable which stood empty on the back of her lot.
+
+This was very convenient for us, for though a twenty-foot pole,
+measuring twelve inches at the butt is not the sort of thing that a
+thief would pick up and run away with, it was less likely that he would
+attempt it from an enclosed back yard than if the poles were stored in
+an open lot. Besides this, a stable rent-free for our mules, and a loft
+above it rent-free for ourselves to sleep in was a great accommodation.
+
+Returning to the Elkhorn, therefore, we went to work in a new place,
+a place where some time previously a fire had swept through a strip
+of the woods, killing the trees, but leaving them standing, stark and
+bare, but still sound as nuts--just the thing we wanted. Our chief
+difficulty this time was in getting the felled timbers out from amidst
+their fellows--for the dead trees were very thick and the mountain-side
+very steep--but by taking great care we accomplished this without
+accident. The loading of these big "sticks" would have been an awkward
+task, too, had we not fortunately found a cut bank alongside of which we
+ran our wagon, and having snaked the logs into place upon the bank we
+kidded them across the gap into the wagon without much difficulty.
+
+We had made three loads, and the fine weather still holding, we had gone
+back for a fourth and last one, when, having got our logs in place on
+the cut bank all ready to load, Joe and I, after due consultation,
+decided that we would take a day off and climb up to the saddle which
+connected the two mountains. We had never been up there before, and we
+were curious to see what the country was like on the other side.
+
+Knowing that it would be a long and hard climb, we started about
+sunrise, taking a rifle with us; not that we expected to use it, but
+because it is not good to be entirely defenseless in those wild,
+out-of-the-way places. Following at first our little creek, we went on
+up and up, taking it slowly, until presently the pines began to thin
+out, the weather-beaten trees, gnarled, twisted and stunted, becoming
+few and far between, and pretty soon we left even these behind and
+emerged upon the bare rocks above timber-line. Here, too, we left behind
+our little creek.
+
+For another thousand feet we scrambled up the rocks, clambering over
+great boulders, picking our way along the edges of little precipices,
+until at last we stood upon the summit of the saddle.
+
+To right and left were the two great peaks, still three thousand feet
+above us, but westward the view was clear. As far as we could see--and
+that, I expect, was near two hundred miles--were ranges and masses of
+mountains, some of them already capped with snow, a magnificent sight.
+
+"That is fine!" cried Joe, enthusiastically. "It's well worth the
+trouble of the climb. I only wish we had a map so that we could tell
+which range is which."
+
+"Yes, it's a great sight," said I. "And the view eastward is about as
+fine, I think. Look! That cloud of smoke, due east about ten miles away,
+comes from the smelters of San Remo, and that other smoke a little to
+the left of it is where the coal-mines are. There's the ranch, too, that
+green spot in the mesa; you wouldn't think it was nearly a mile square,
+would you?"
+
+"That's Sulphide down there, of course," remarked Joe, pointing off
+towards the right. "But what are those other, smaller, clouds of smoke?"
+
+"Those are three other little mining-camps, all tributary to the
+smelters at San Remo, and all producing refractory ores like the mines
+of Sulphide. My! Joe!" I exclaimed, as my thoughts reverted to Tom
+Connor and his late core-boring failure. "What a great thing a good vein
+of lead ore would be! Better than a gold mine!"
+
+"I expect it would. Poor old Tom! He bears his disappointment pretty
+well, doesn't he?"
+
+"He certainly does. He says, now, that he's going to stick to
+straightforward mining and leave prospecting alone; but he's said that
+every year for the past ten years at least, and if there's anything
+certain about Tom it is that when spring comes and he finds himself once
+more with money in his pocket, he'll be off again hunting for his
+lead-mine."
+
+"Sure to. Well, Phil, let's sit down somewhere and eat our lunch. We
+mustn't stay here too long."
+
+"All right. Here's a good place behind this big rock. It will shelter us
+from the east wind, which has a decided edge to it up here."
+
+For half an hour we sat comfortably in the sun eating our lunch, all
+around us space and silence, when Joe, rising to his feet, gave vent to
+a soft whistle.
+
+"Phil," said he, "we must be off. No time to waste. Look eastward."
+
+I jumped up. A wonderful change had taken place. The view of the plains
+was completely cut off by masses of soft cloud, which, coming from the
+east, struck the mountain-side about two thousand feet below us and were
+swiftly and softly drifting up to where we stood.
+
+"Yes, we must be off," said I. "It won't do to be caught up here in the
+clouds: it would be dangerous getting down over the rocks. And besides
+that, it might turn cold and come on to snow. Let us be off at once."
+
+It was fortunate we did so, for, though we traveled as fast as we dared,
+the cloud, coming at first in thin whisps and then in dense masses,
+enveloped us before we reached timber-line, and the difficulty we
+experienced in covering the small intervening space showed us how risky
+it would have been had the cloud caught us while we were still on the
+summit of the ridge.
+
+As it was, we lost our bearings immediately, for the chilly mist filled
+all the spaces between the trees, so that we could not see more than
+twenty yards in any direction. As to our proper course, we could tell
+nothing about it, so that the only thing left for us to do was to keep
+on going down hill. We expected every moment to see or hear our little
+creek, but we must have missed it somehow, for, though we ought to have
+reached it long before, we had been picking our way over loose rocks and
+fallen trees for two hours before we came upon a stream--whether the
+right or the wrong one we could not tell. Right or wrong, however, we
+were glad to see it, for by following it we should sooner or later reach
+the foot of the mountain and get below the cloud.
+
+But to follow it was by no means easy: the country was so unexpectedly
+rough--a fact which convinced us that we had struck the wrong creek. As
+we progressed, we presently found ourselves upon the edge of a little
+canyon which, being too steep to descend, obliged us to diverge to the
+left, and not only so, but compelled us to go up hill to get around it,
+which did not suit us at all.
+
+After a time, however, we began to go down once more, but though we kept
+edging to the right we could not find our creek again. The fog, too, had
+become more dense than ever, and whether our faces were turned north,
+south or east we had no idea.
+
+We were going on side by side, when suddenly we were astonished to hear
+a dog bark, somewhere close by; but though we shouted and whistled there
+was no reply.
+
+"It must be a prospector's dog," said Joe, "and the man himself must be
+underground and can't hear us."
+
+"Perhaps that's it," I replied. "Well, let's take the direction of the
+sound--if we can. It seemed to me to be that way," pointing with my
+hand. "I wish the dog would bark again."
+
+The dog, however, did not bark again, but instead there happened another
+surprising thing. We were walking near together, carefully picking our
+way, when suddenly a big raven, coming from we knew not where, flew
+between us, so close that we felt the flap of his wings and heard their
+soft _fluff-fluff_ in the moisture-laden air, and disappeared again into
+the fog before us with a single croak.
+
+It was rather startling, but beyond that we thought nothing of it, and
+on we went again, until Joe stopped short, exclaiming:
+
+"Phil, I smell smoke!"
+
+I stopped, too, and gave a sniff. "So do I," I said; "and there's
+something queer about it. It isn't plain wood-smoke. What is it?"
+
+"Sulphur," replied Joe.
+
+"Sulphur! So it is. What can any one be burning sulphur up here for?
+Anyhow, sulphur or no sulphur, some one must have lighted the fire, so
+let us follow the smoke."
+
+We had not gone far when we perceived the light of a fire glowing redly
+through the fog, and hurried on, expecting to find some man beside it.
+
+But not only was there nobody about, which was surprising enough, but
+the fire itself was something to arouse our curiosity. Beneath a large,
+flat stone, supported at the corners by four other stones, was a hot bed
+of "coals," while upon the stone itself was spread a thin layer of black
+sand. It was from these grains of sand, apparently, that the smell of
+sulphur came; though what they were or why they should be there we could
+not guess.
+
+We were standing there, wondering, when, suddenly, close behind us, the
+dog barked again. Round we whirled. There was no dog there! Instead,
+perched upon the stump of a dead tree, sat a big black raven, who eyed
+us as though enjoying our bewilderment. Bewildered we certainly were,
+and still more so when the bird, after staring us out of countenance for
+a few seconds, cocked his head on one side and said in a hoarse voice:
+
+"Gim'me a chew of tobacco!"
+
+And then, throwing back his head, he produced such a perfect imitation
+of the howl of a coyote, that a real coyote, somewhere up on the
+mountain, howled in reply.
+
+All this--the talking raven, the mysterious fire, the encompassing
+shroud of fog--made us wonder whether we were awake or asleep, when we
+were still more startled by a voice behind us saying, genially:
+
+"Good-evening, boys."
+
+Round we whirled once more, to find standing beside us a man, a tall,
+bony, bearded man, about fifty years old, carrying in his hand a long,
+old-fashioned muzzle-loading rifle. He was dressed all in buckskin,
+while the moccasins on his feet explained how it was he had been able to
+slip up on us so silently.
+
+Naturally, we were somewhat taken aback by the sudden appearance of this
+wild-looking specimen of humanity, when, thinking that he had alarmed
+us, perhaps, the man asked, pleasantly: "Lost, boys?"
+
+"Yes," I replied, reassured by his kindly manner. "We have been up to
+the saddle and got caught in the clouds. We don't know where we are. We
+are trying to get back to our camp on a branch of Sulphide creek."
+
+"Ah! You are the two boys I've seen cutting timbers down there, are you?
+Well, your troubles are over: I can put you on the road to your camp in
+an hour or so; I know every foot of these mountains."
+
+"But come in," he continued. "I suppose you are hungry, and a little
+something to eat won't be amiss."
+
+When the man said, "Come in," we naturally glanced about us to see where
+his house was, but none being visible we concluded it must be some
+distance off in the mist. In this, however, we were mistaken. The side
+of the mountain just here was covered with enormous rocks--a whole cliff
+must have tumbled down at once--and between two of these our guide led
+the way. In a few steps the passage widened out, when we saw before us,
+neatly fitted in between three of these immense blocks of stone--one on
+either side and one behind--a little log cabin, with chimney, door and
+window all complete; while just to one side was another, a smaller one,
+which was doubtless a storehouse. Past his front door ran a small stream
+of water which evidently fell from a cliff near by, for, though we could
+not see the waterfall we could hear it plainly enough.
+
+"Well!" I exclaimed. "Whoever would have thought there was a house in
+here?"
+
+"No one, I expect," replied the man. "At any rate, with one exception,
+you are the first strangers to cross the threshold; and yet I have
+lived here a good many years, too. Come in and make yourselves at home."
+
+Though we wondered greatly who our host could be and were burning to ask
+him his name, there was something in his manner which warned us to hold
+our tongues. But whatever his name might be, there was little doubt
+about his occupation. He was evidently a mighty hunter, for, covering
+the walls, the floor and his sleeping-place were skins innumerable,
+including foxes, wolves and bears, some of the last-named being of
+remarkable size; while one magnificent elk-head and several heads of
+mountain-sheep adorned the space over his fireplace.
+
+Our host having lighted a fire, was busying himself preparing a simple
+meal for us, when there came a gentle cough from the direction of the
+doorway, and there on the threshold stood the raven as though waiting
+for permission to enter.
+
+The man turned, and seeing the bird standing there with its head on one
+side, said, laughingly: "Ah, Sox, is that you? Come in, old fellow, and
+be introduced. These gentlemen are friends of mine. Say 'Good-morning.'"
+
+[Illustration: "'AH, SOX, IS THAT YOU?'"]
+
+"Good-morning," repeated the raven; and having thus displayed his good
+manners, he half-opened his wings and danced a solemn jig up and down
+the floor, finally throwing back his head and laughing so heartily that
+we could not help joining in.
+
+"Clever fellow, isn't he?" said the man. "His proper name is Socrates,
+though I call him Sox, for short. He is supposed to be getting on for a
+hundred years old, though as far as I can see he is just as young as he
+was when I first got him, twenty years ago. Here,"--handing us each a
+piece of meat--"give him these and he will accept you as friends for
+life."
+
+Whether he accepted us as friends remained to be seen, but he certainly
+accepted our offerings, bolting each piece at a single gulp; after which
+he hopped up on to a peg driven into the wall, evidently his own private
+perch, and announced in a self-satisfied tone: "First in war, first in
+peace," ending up with a modest cough, as though he would have us
+believe that he knew the rest well enough but was not going to trouble
+us with any such threadbare quotation.
+
+This solemn display of learning set us laughing again, upon which
+Socrates, seemingly offended, sank his head between his shoulders and
+pretended to go to sleep; though, that it was only pretense was evident,
+for, do what he would, he could not refrain from occasionally opening
+one eye to see what was going on.
+
+Having presently finished the meal provided for us, we suggested that we
+ought to be moving on, so, bidding adieu to Socrates, and receiving no
+response from that sulky philosopher, we followed our host into the
+open.
+
+That he had not exaggerated when he said he knew every foot of these
+mountains, seemed to be borne out by the facts. He went straight away,
+regardless of the fog, up hill and down, without an instant's
+hesitation, we trotting at his heels, until, in about an hour we found
+ourselves once more below the clouds, and could see not far away our two
+mules quietly feeding.
+
+"Now," said our guide, "I'll leave you. If ever you come my way again I
+shall be glad to see you; though I expect it would puzzle you to find my
+dwelling unless you should come upon it by accident. Good-bye."
+
+"Good-bye," we repeated, "and many thanks for your kindness. If we can
+do anything in return at any time we shall be glad of the chance. We
+live in Crawford's Basin."
+
+"Oh, do you?" said our friend. "You are Mr. Crawford's boys, then, are
+you? Well, many thanks. I'll remember. And now, good-bye to you."
+
+With that, this strange man turned round and walked up into the clouds
+again. In two minutes he had vanished.
+
+"Well, that was a queer adventure," remarked Joe. "I wonder who he is,
+and why he chooses to live all by himself like that."
+
+"Yes. It's a miserable sort of existence for such a man; for he seems
+like a sociable, good-hearted fellow. It isn't every one, for instance,
+who would walk three or four miles over these rough mountains just to
+help a couple of boys, whom he never saw before and may never see again.
+I wish we could make him some return."
+
+"Well, perhaps we may, some day," Joe replied.
+
+Whether we did or not will be seen later.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+WHAT WE FOUND IN THE POOL
+
+
+Though we got back to camp pretty late, we set to work to load our poles
+at once, fearing that there was going to be a fall of snow which might
+prevent our getting them to town. This turned out to be a wise
+precaution, for when we started in the morning the snow was already
+coming down, and though it did not extend as far as Sulphide, the
+mountains were covered a foot deep before night.
+
+This fall of snow proved to be much to our advantage, for one of the
+timber contractors, fearing he might not be able to fill his order,
+bought our "sticks" from us, to be delivered, cut into certain lengths,
+at the Senator mine.
+
+This occupied us several days, when, having delivered our last load, we
+thanked Mrs. Appleby for the use of her back yard--the only payment she
+would accept--and then set off home, where we proudly displayed to my
+father and mother the money we had earned and related how we had earned
+it; including, of course, a description of our meeting with the wild man
+of the woods.
+
+"And didn't he tell you who he was?" asked my father, when we had
+finished.
+
+"No," I replied; "we were afraid to ask him, and he didn't volunteer any
+information."
+
+"And you didn't guess who he was?"
+
+"No. Why should we? Who is he?"
+
+"Why, Peter the Hermit, of course. I should have thought the presence of
+the raven would have enlightened you: he is always described as going
+about in company with a raven."
+
+"So he is. I'd forgotten that. But, on the other hand he is always
+described also as being half crazy, and certainly there was no sign of
+such a thing about him that we could see. Was there, Joe?"
+
+"No. Nobody could have acted more sensibly. Who is he, Mr. Crawford? And
+why does he live all by himself like that?"
+
+"I know nothing about him beyond common report. I suppose his name is
+Peter--though it may not be--and because he chooses to lead a secluded
+life, some genius has dubbed him 'Peter the Hermit'; though who he
+really is, or why he lives all alone, or where he comes from, I can't
+say. Some people say he is crazy, and some people say he is an escaped
+criminal--but then people will say anything, particularly when they know
+nothing about it. Judging from the reports of the two or three men who
+have met him, however, he appears to be quite inoffensive, and evidently
+he is a friendly-disposed fellow from your description of him. If you
+should come across him again you might invite him to come down and see
+us. I don't suppose he will, but you might ask him, anyhow."
+
+"All right," said I. "We will if we get the chance." And so the matter
+ended.
+
+It was just as well that we returned to the ranch when we did, for we
+found plenty of work ready to our hands, the first thing being the
+hauling of fire-wood for the year. To procure this, it was not necessary
+for us to go to the mountains: our supply was much nearer to hand. The
+whole region round about us had been at some remote period the scene of
+vigorous volcanic action. Both the First and Second Mesas were formed by
+a series of lava-flows which had come down from Mount Lincoln, and
+ending abruptly about eight miles from the mountains, had built up the
+cliff which bounded the First Mesa on its eastern side. Then, later, but
+still in a remote age, a great strip of this lava-bed, a mile wide and
+ten or twelve miles long, north and south, had broken away and subsided
+from the general level, forming what the geologists call, I believe, a
+"fault," thus causing the "step-up" to the Second Mesa. The Second Mesa,
+because the lava had been hotter perhaps, was distinguished from the
+lower level by the presence of a number of little hills--"bubbles," they
+were called, locally, and solidified bubbles of hot lava perhaps they
+were. They were all sorts of sizes, from fifty to four hundred feet high
+and from a hundred yards to half a mile in diameter. Viewed from a
+distance, they looked smooth and even, like inverted bowls, though when
+you came near them you found that their sides were rough and broken. I
+had been to the top of a good many of them, and all of those I had
+explored I had found to be depressed in the centre like little craters.
+From some of them tiny streams of water ran down, helping to swell the
+volume of our creek.
+
+Most of these so-called "bubbles," especially the larger ones, were well
+covered with pine-trees, and as there were three or four of them within
+easy reach of the ranch, it was here that we used to get our fire-wood.
+
+There was a good week's work in this, and after it was finished there
+was more or less repairing of fences to be done, as there always is in
+the fall, and the usual mending of sheds, stables and corrals.
+
+The weather by this time had turned cold, and "the bottomless forty
+rods" having been frozen solid enough to bear a load, Joe and I were
+next put to work hauling oats down to the livery stable men in San Remo,
+as well as up to Sulphide.
+
+Before this task was accomplished the winter had set in in earnest. We
+had had one or two falls of snow, though in our sheltered Basin the heat
+of the sun was still sufficient to clear off most of it again, and the
+frost had been sharp enough to freeze up our creek at its sources, so
+that our little waterfall was now converted into a motionless icicle.
+Fortunately, we were not dependent upon the creek for the household
+supply of water: we had one pump which never failed in the back kitchen
+and another one down by the stables.
+
+The creek having ceased to run, the surface of the pool was no longer
+agitated by the water pouring into it, and very soon it was solidly
+frozen over with a sheet of ice twelve inches thick, when, according to
+our yearly custom, we proceeded to cut this ice and stow it away in the
+ice-house; having previously been up to the sawmill near Sulphide and
+brought away, for packing purposes, several wagon-loads of sawdust,
+which the sawmill men readily gave us for nothing, being glad to have it
+hauled out of their way. We had taken the opportunity to do this when we
+took our loads of oats up to Sulphide, thus utilizing the empty wagons
+on the return trip.
+
+The pool, as I have said, measured about a hundred feet each way, though
+on account of its shallowness around the edges we could only cut ice
+over a surface about fifty feet square. Being frozen a foot thick,
+however, this gave us an ample supply for all our needs.
+
+The labor of cutting, hauling and housing the ice fell to Joe and me, my
+father having generally plenty of other work to do. He had taken in a
+number of young cattle for a neighboring cattleman for the winter, and
+having sold him the bulk of our hay crop and at the same time undertaken
+to feed the stock, this daily duty alone took up a large part of his
+time. Besides this, "the forty rods" having become passable, the
+freighters and others now came our way instead of taking the longer
+hill-road, and their frequent demands for a sack, or a load, of oats,
+and now and then for hay or potatoes, added to the work of
+stock-feeding, kept my father pretty well occupied.
+
+Joe and I, therefore, went to work by ourselves, beginning operations on
+that part of the pool nearest the point where the water used to pour in.
+We had taken out ten or a dozen loads of beautiful, clear ice, when, one
+day, Yetmore, who was riding down to San Remo, seeing us at work,
+stopped to watch us.
+
+He was a queer fellow. Though he must have been perfectly well aware
+that we distrusted him; and though, after the late affair of the
+lead-boulder--a miscarriage of his schemes which was doubtless extremely
+galling to him--one would think he would have rather avoided us than
+not, he appeared to feel no embarrassment whatever, but with a greeting
+of well-simulated cordiality he dismounted and walked over to the pool
+to see what we were doing. Perhaps--and this, I think, is probably the
+right explanation--if he did entertain the idea of some day "getting
+even" with us, he had decided to postpone any such attempt until he saw
+an opportunity of doing so at a profit.
+
+"Fine lot of ice," he remarked, after standing for a moment watching Joe
+as he plied the saw. "Does this creek always freeze up like this?"
+
+"Yes," I replied. "It heads in Mount Lincoln, and is made up of a number
+of small streams which always freeze up about the first of November.
+That reduces the flow to about one-third its usual size; and when the
+little streams which come down from three or four of the 'bubbles'
+freeze up too, the creek stops entirely; which makes it mighty
+convenient for us to cut ice, as you see."
+
+"I see. Is the pool the same depth all over?"
+
+"No," I answered. "Just here, under the fall, it is deepest, but round
+the edges it is so shallow that we can't take a stroke with the saw, the
+sand comes so close up to the ice. In fact, in some places, the ice
+rests right upon the sand."
+
+"How deep is it here?"
+
+"Four or five feet, I think. Try it, Joe."
+
+Joe, who had just laid down the saw and had taken up the long ice-hook
+we used for drawing the blocks of ice within reach, lowered the hook,
+point downward, into the water. Then, pulling it out again, he stood it
+up beside him, finding that the wet mark on the staff came up to his
+chin.
+
+"Five feet and three or four inches," said he.
+
+"Is the bottom solid or sandy?" asked Yetmore.
+
+"I didn't notice. I'll try it."
+
+With that Joe lowered the pole once more.
+
+"Seems solid," he remarked, giving two or three hard prods. But he had
+scarcely said so, when, to our surprise, several bits of rough ice about
+as big as my hand bobbed up from the bottom.
+
+"Hallo!" exclaimed Yetmore. "Ground ice!"
+
+"What's ground ice?" I asked.
+
+"Why, ice formed at the bottom of the pool. It is not uncommon, I
+believe, though I don't remember to have seen any before. Pretty dirty
+stuff, isn't it? Must be a sandy bottom."
+
+So saying, he stooped down, and picking up the only bit of ice which
+happened to be within reach, he examined its under side. As he did so, I
+saw him give a little start, as though there were something about it to
+cause him surprise, but just as I reached out my hand to ask him to let
+me see it, he threw it back into the water out of reach--an action which
+struck me as being hardly polite.
+
+"I must be off," said he, in apparent haste, "so, good-bye. Hope you
+will get your crop in before it snows. Looks threatening to me; you'll
+have to hurry, I think."
+
+This prediction seemed to me rather absurd, with the thermometer at zero
+and the sky as clear as crystal; but Yetmore was an indoor man and could
+not be expected to judge as can one whose daily work depends so much
+upon what the weather is doing or is going to do. It did not occur to me
+then--though it did later--that he only wanted us to get to work again
+at once, and so divert our minds from the subject of the ground ice.
+
+As I made no comment on his remark, Yetmore walked away, remounted his
+horse and rode off; while Joe and I went briskly to work again.
+
+We had been at it some time, when Joe stopped sawing, and straightening
+up, said:
+
+"It's queer about those bits of ground ice, Phil. Do you notice how they
+all float clean side up? Wait a bit and I'll show you."
+
+Taking the ice-hook, he turned over one of the bits with its point,
+showing its soiled side, but the moment he released it, the bit of ice
+"turned turtle" again.
+
+"Do you see?" said he. "The sand acts like ballast. It must be heavy
+stuff."
+
+"Yes," said I. "Hook a bit of it out and let's look at it."
+
+This was soon done, when, on examining it, we found the under side to be
+crusted with very black sand, which, whatever might be its nature, was
+evidently heavy enough to upset the balance of a small fragment of ice.
+
+"What is it made of, I wonder?" said Joe.
+
+"I don't know," I replied, "but perhaps it is that black sand which the
+prospectors are always complaining of as getting in their way when they
+are panning for gold."
+
+"That's what it is, Phil, I expect," cried Joe. "And what's more, that's
+what Yetmore thought, too, or else why should he throw that bit of ice
+back into the water so quickly when you held out your hand for it? He
+didn't want you to see it."
+
+"It does look like it," I assented. "Poke up a few more, Joe, and we
+will take them home and show them to my father: perhaps he'll know what
+the stuff is."
+
+Joe took the ice-hook and prodded about on the bottom, every prod
+bringing up one or two bits of ice, each one as it bobbed to the surface
+showing its sandy side for a moment and then turning over, clean side
+up. Drawing these to the edge of the ice, we picked them out, laying
+them on a gunny-sack we had with us, and when, towards sunset, we had
+carried home and housed our last load, and had stabled and fed the
+mules, we took our scraps over to the blacksmith-shop, where the tinkle
+of a hammer proclaimed that my father was at work doing some mending of
+something.
+
+He was much interested in hearing of the ground ice and of the way it
+brought up the black sand with it, and still more so in our description
+of Yetmore's action.
+
+"Let me look at it," said he; and taking one of our specimens, he
+stepped to the door to examine it, the light in the shop being too dim.
+He came back smiling.
+
+"Queer fellow, Yetmore!" said he. "One would think that the lesson of
+the lead-boulder might have taught him that a man may sometimes be too
+crafty. I think this is likely to prove another case of the same kind. I
+believe he has made a genuine discovery here--though what it may lead to
+there is no telling--and if he had had the sense to let you look at that
+piece of dirty ice, instead of throwing it back into the water, thus
+arousing your curiosity, he would probably have kept his discovery to
+himself. As it is, he is likely to have Tom Connor interfering with him
+again--that is to say, if this sand is what I think it is. I don't think
+it is the 'black sand' of the prospectors--it is too shiny, and it has a
+bluish tinge besides--I think it is something of far more value. We'll
+soon find out. Give me that piece of an iron pot, Phil; it will do to
+melt the ice in."
+
+Having broken up some of our ice into small pieces, we placed it in a
+large fragment of a broken iron pot, and this being set upon the forge,
+Joe took the bellows-handle and soon had the fire roaring under it. It
+did not take long to melt the ice, when, pouring off the water, we
+added some more, repeating the process until there was no ice left. The
+last of the water being then poured away, there remained nothing but
+about a spoonful of very fine, black, shiny sand.
+
+The receptacle was once more placed upon the fire, and while my father
+kept the contents stirred up with a stick, Joe seized the bellows-handle
+again and pumped away. Presently he began to cough.
+
+"What's the matter, Joe?" asked my father, laughing.
+
+"Sulphur!" gasped Joe.
+
+"Sulphur!" cried I. "I don't smell any sulphur."
+
+"Come over here, then, and blow the bellows," replied Joe.
+
+I took his place, but no sooner had I done so than I, too, began to
+cough. The smell of sulphur evidently came from our spoonful of sand,
+and as I was standing between the door and the window the draft blew the
+fumes straight into my face. On discovering this, I pulled the
+bellows-handle over to one side, when I was no more troubled.
+
+The iron pot, being set right down on the "duck's nest" and heaped all
+around with glowing coals, had become red-hot, when my father, peering
+into it, held up his hand.
+
+"That'll do, Phil. That's enough," he cried. "Give me the tongs, Joe."
+
+My father removed the melting-pot, and making a hole with his heel in
+the sandy floor of the shop, he poured the contents into it.
+
+"Lead!" we both cried, with one voice.
+
+"Yes, lead," my father replied. "Galena ore, ground fine by the action
+of water."
+
+"Do you mean," I asked, "that there is a lead-mine in the bottom of the
+pool?"
+
+"No, no. But there is a vein of galena, size and value unknown,
+somewhere up on Lincoln Mountain. The fine black sand sticking to the
+ground ice was brought down by our stream, being reduced to powder on
+the way, and deposited in the pool, where its weight has kept it from
+being washed out again."
+
+"I see. And do you suppose Yetmore recognized the sand as galena ore?
+Would he be likely to know it in the form of sand?"
+
+"I expect so. He's a sharp fellow enough. He must have seen pulverized
+samples of galena many a time in the assayers' offices. I've seen them
+myself: that was what gave me my clue."
+
+"And what do you suppose he'll do?"
+
+"He is pretty certain, I think, to try to get hold of some of the stuff,
+so that he may test it and make sure; though how he will go about it
+there's no telling. It will be interesting to see how he manages it."
+
+"And what shall you do, father? Go prospecting?"
+
+My father laughed, knowing that this was a joke on my part; for I was
+well aware that he would not think of such a thing.
+
+"Not for us, Phil," he answered. "We have our mine right here. Raising
+oats and potatoes may be a slow way of getting rich, but it is a good
+bit surer than prospecting. No, we'll tell Tom Connor about it and let
+him go prospecting if he likes. You shall go up to Sulphide the first
+Saturday after the ice-cutting is finished and give him our information.
+There's no hurry about it: he can't go prospecting while the mountains
+are all under snow. Come along in to supper now. You've fed the mules, I
+suppose."
+
+It was a snapping cold night that night, and about half-past eight I
+went into the kitchen to look at the thermometer which hung outside the
+door. As I came back, I happened to glance out of the west window, when,
+to my surprise, I thought I saw a glimmer of light up by the pool.
+Stepping quickly into the house again, I went to the front door and
+looked out. Yes, there was a light up there!
+
+"Father," I called out, "there's somebody up at the pool with a light."
+
+My father sprang out of his chair. "Is there?" he cried. "Then it's
+Yetmore, up to some of his tricks. Get into your coats, boys, and let's
+go and see what he's about."
+
+As we went out I took down the unlighted stable-lantern and carried it
+with me in case we might need it, and shutting the door softly behind
+me, ran after the others. We had not covered half the distance to the
+pool, however, when the light up there suddenly went out, and a minute
+later we heard the sound of galloping hoofs, muffled by the thin carpet
+of snow, going off in the direction of Sulphide. Our visitor, whoever he
+was, had departed.
+
+"Well, come on, anyhow," said my father. "Let us see what he was doing."
+
+As the thermometer was then standing at three degrees below zero, we
+knew that the sheet of clear water we had left in the afternoon should
+have been solidly frozen over again by this time. What was our surprise,
+therefore, to find that such was not the case: there was only a thin
+film of ice; it was but just beginning to form.
+
+"That is easily explained," remarked my father. "The ice did form, but
+some one has chopped it out and thrown it to one side there. See?"
+
+"Yes," replied Joe, "and then he took the ice-hook, which I know I left
+standing upright against the rocks, and poked up the ground ice. See,
+there are several bits floating about, and I remember quite well that we
+cleared out every one of them this afternoon. Didn't we, Phil?"
+
+"Yes," said I, "I'm sure we did, because I remember that those two or
+three bits that had no sand in them we threw into that corner instead of
+pitching them into the water again. I suppose it's Yetmore, father."
+
+"Oh, not a doubt of it. Did he leave any tracks?"
+
+By the light of the lantern we searched about, and though there were no
+tracks to be seen on the smooth ice, there were plenty in the snow below
+the pool. They were the foot-prints of a smallish man, for his tracks,
+in spite of his wearing over-shoes, were not so big as the prints made
+by Joe's boots--though, as Joe himself remarked, that was not much to go
+by, he being a six-footer with feet to match, "and a trifle over," as
+his friends sometimes considerately assured him.
+
+Following these foot-prints, we were led to the south gate, where, it
+was easy to see, a horse had been standing for some time tied to the
+gate-post.
+
+"Well, he's got off with his samples all right," remarked my father.
+"He's a smart fellow, and enterprising, too. He would deserve to win, if
+only he were not so fond of taking the crooked way of doing things. Come
+along. Let's get back to the house. There's nothing more to be done
+about it at present."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+LONG JOHN BUTTERFIELD
+
+
+"Boys," said my father next morning, "I've been thinking over this
+discovery of ours. It won't do to wait till you've finished the
+ice-cutting to notify Tom Connor. He has been a good friend to us, and I
+feel that we owe him some return for enabling me to get this piece of
+land from Yetmore, even though it was, in a manner, accidental; and as
+Tom is sure to go off prospecting in the spring, whether or no, we may
+as well give him the chance--if he wants it--to go hunting for this
+supposed vein of galena."
+
+"He's pretty sure to want to," said I.
+
+"Yes, I think he is. And as Yetmore will certainly find out the nature
+of the black sand, and will be sending out a prospector or two himself
+as soon as the snow clears off, we must at least give Tom an equal
+chance. So, instead of waiting for you to finish cutting the ice, I'll
+write him a letter at once, telling him all about it, and send it up by
+this morning's coach."
+
+One of the advantages to us of the frosty weather was that the mail
+coach between San Remo and Sulphide came our way instead of taking the
+hill-road, so that during the winter months we received our mail daily,
+whereas, through the greater part of the year, while the "forty rods"
+were "bottomless," we had to go ourselves to San Remo to get it. The
+coach, going up, passed our place about ten in the morning, and by it my
+father sent the promised letter.
+
+We quite expected that Tom would come flying down at once, but instead
+we received from him next morning a reply, stating that he could not
+leave his work, and asking my father to allow us boys to do a little
+prospecting for him--which, I may say, we boys were ready enough to do
+if my father did not object.
+
+He did not object; being, indeed, very willing that we should put in a
+day's work for the benefit of our friend. For, as he said, to undertake
+one day's prospecting for a friend was a very different matter from
+taking to prospecting as a business.
+
+It is a fascinating pursuit; men who contract the prospecting disease
+seldom get the fever entirely out of their systems again, and it was
+for this reason my father was so set against it, considering that no
+greater misfortune could befall two farmer-boys like ourselves than to
+be drawn into such a way of life. Now that we were seventeen years old,
+however, and might be supposed to have some discretion, he had little
+fear for Joe and me, knowing, as he did, that we shared his sentiments.
+We had seen enough of the life of the prospector to understand that a
+more precarious way of making a living could hardly be invented.
+
+How many men get rich at it? I have heard it estimated at one man in
+five thousand; and whether this estimate--or, rather, this guess--is
+right or wrong, it shows the trend of opinion.
+
+Suppose a prospector does strike a vein of ore: what is the common
+result? By the time he has sunk a shaft ten feet deep he must have a
+windlass and a man to work it, and being in most cases too poor to hire
+a miner, his only way of getting help is to take in a partner. The two
+go on sinking, until presently the hole is too deep to use a windlass
+any more--a horse-whim is needed and then a hoisting engine. But it is
+seldom that the ore dug out of a shaft will pay the expense of sinking
+it--for powder and drills, ropes, buckets and timbers, are expensive
+things--much less enable the owner to lay by anything, and the
+probability is that to buy a hoisting engine he must sell another
+portion of his claim. And so it goes, until, by the time his claim has
+been turned into a mine--for, as the common and very true saying is,
+"Mines are made, not found"--his share of it will probably have been
+reduced to one-quarter or less; while it is quite within the limits of
+probability that, becoming wearied by long waiting for the slow
+development of his prospect, he will have sold out for what he can get
+and gone back to his old life.
+
+But though I do not advocate the business of prospecting as a way of
+making a living--I had rather pitch hay or dig potatoes myself--I am far
+from wishing to disparage the prospector himself or to belittle the
+results of his work. He is the pioneer of civilization; and personally
+he is generally a fine fellow. At the same time, as in every other
+profession, the ranks of the prospectors include their share of the
+riff-raff. It was so in our district, and we were destined shortly to
+come in contact with one of them.
+
+Tom Connor in his letter instructed us as to what he wished us to do: it
+was very simple. He asked us to walk up the little canyon along which our
+stream flowed, when it did flow, and to examine the bed of each of its
+feeders as we came to them, to determine, if possible, which of the
+branch streams it was that brought down the powdered lead-ore. He also
+suggested that we get out some more of the black sand from the bottom of
+the pool for him to see, and at the same time ascertain, if we could,
+how much of a deposit there was there.
+
+The last request we performed first. Taking down to the pool a long,
+pointed iron rod, we lowered it into the water, marking the depth by
+tying a bit of string round the rod at high-water-mark, and then bored a
+hole down through the frozen sand until we struck bed-rock. By this
+means we discovered that the deposit was five inches thick at the upper
+end of the pool. A few feet further from the waterfall, however, the
+deposit was thicker, but we noticed at the same time that the ground ice
+which came up carried with it more or less yellow sand. The further we
+retreated from the waterfall, too, the larger became the proportion of
+yellow sand, until towards the edge of the pool it had taken the place
+of the black sand altogether.
+
+Having done this, we poked up a lot of the ground ice, which we
+collected and put into a tin bucket, and taking this home we melted the
+ice, poured off the water, and made a little parcel of the sand that
+remained.
+
+A few days later we had finished our ice-cutting and had stowed away the
+crop in the ice-house, when we were at length free to go off and make
+the little prospecting expedition that Tom had asked us to undertake.
+
+First walking up the bed of the canyon, where the water was now
+represented by sheets of crackling white ice, we arrived presently at
+the first branch creek which came in on the right. This we ascended in
+turn, going some distance up it before we found a likely patch of sand,
+into which we chopped a hole with the old hatchet we had brought for the
+purpose, disclosing a little of the black material at the bottom; though
+the amount was so scanty that we could not be sure it was really the
+black sand we were seeking.
+
+Going on up this branch creek, much impeded by the snow which became
+deeper and deeper the higher we ascended, we were nearing one of the
+bends when Joe, who was in advance, suddenly stopped, exclaiming:
+
+"Look there, Phil! Tracks coming down the bank. Somebody is ahead of
+us."
+
+"So there is," said I. "What can he be doing, I wonder?"
+
+Following these tracks a short distance, we very soon discovered the
+reason for their being there. The man was on the same quest as
+ourselves!
+
+In a bend of the stream where the snow lay two feet thick, he had dug a
+hole down to the sand, and then through the sand itself to bed-rock. At
+the bottom of the hole was a little black sand, showing the marks of a
+hatchet or knife-blade where it had been gouged out, but all around the
+hole, between the bed-rock and the yellow sand above, was a black line
+an inch thick, composed of the shiny, powdered galena ore. There could
+be no doubt that the man ahead of us was hunting the same game as we
+were.
+
+"Do you suppose it's Yetmore, Joe?" said I.
+
+"No," Joe answered, emphatically, "I'm sure it isn't. Look at his
+tracks: they are bigger than mine."
+
+"It can't be Tom, himself, can it?"
+
+"No, I'm pretty sure it isn't Tom either. Tom is a big, powerful fellow,
+all right, but he's not more than five feet ten, while this man, I
+think, is extra-tall--see the length of his stride where he came down
+the bank. Whoever he is, though, Phil, he's an experienced prospector.
+He hasn't wasted his time, as we have, trying unlikely places, but has
+chosen this spot and gone slap down through snow and everything, just as
+if he knew that the black sand would be found at the bottom."
+
+"That's true," said I. "I wonder who it is. We must find out if we can,
+Joe, so that we may be able to tell Tom who his competitor is. Let's
+follow his tracks."
+
+Getting out of the creek-bed again, we walked along the bank for nearly
+a mile, until Joe, stopping short, held up his finger.
+
+"Hark!" he whispered. "Somebody chopping."
+
+There was a sound as of metal being struck against stone somewhere ahead
+of us, so on we went again, making as little noise as possible, until
+presently Joe stopped again, and pointing forward, said softly, "There
+he is, look!"
+
+The man was down in the creek-bed again, and all we could see of him
+above the bank was his hat. We therefore went forward once more, timing
+our steps by the blows of the hatchet, until we could see the man's head
+and shoulders; but we did not gain much by that, as he had his back to
+us and was too intent upon his work to turn round. At length, however,
+he ceased chopping, and gathering the chips of frozen sand in his hands,
+he cast them to one side. In doing so, he showed his face for a moment,
+and in that brief glimpse I recognized who it was.
+
+Joe looked at me with raised eyebrows, as much as to say, "Do you know
+him?" to which I replied with a nod, and laying my hand on my
+companion's arm, I drew him back until only the top of the man's hat was
+visible again, when I whispered, "It's Long John Butterfield."
+
+"What! The man they call 'The Yellow Pup'? How do you suppose _he_ came
+to hear of the black sand?"
+
+"From Yetmore. He is a prospector whom Yetmore grub-stakes every
+summer."
+
+"'Grub-stakes,'" repeated Joe, inquiringly.
+
+"Yes. Some prospectors go out on their own account, you know, but some
+of them are 'grub-staked.' This man is employed by Yetmore. He sends
+him out prospecting every spring, providing him with tools and 'grub'
+and paying him some small wages. Whether it is part of the bargain that
+Long John is to get any share of what he may find, I don't know, but
+probably it is--that is the general rule. There is very little doubt
+that Yetmore has sent him out now, just as Tom has sent us out, to see
+which stream the lead-ore in the pool came from."
+
+"Not a doubt of it. Well, shall we go ahead and speak to him?"
+
+Before I could reply, the man himself rose up, looked about him, and at
+once espied us. At seeing us standing there silently watching him, he
+gave a not-unnatural start of alarm, but perceiving that he had only two
+boys to deal with, even if we were pretty big, he climbed up the bank
+and advanced towards us with a threatening air.
+
+Standing six feet five inches in his over-shoes, he was a rather
+formidable-looking object as he came striding down upon us, a shovel in
+one hand and a hatchet in the other; but as we knew him by reputation
+for a blusterer and a coward, we awaited his coming without any alarm
+for our safety.
+
+Long John Butterfield was a well-known character in Sulphide. Though a
+prospector all summer, he was a bar-room loafer all winter, spending his
+time hanging around the saloons, and doing only work enough in the way
+of odd jobs to keep himself from starving until spring came round again,
+when Yetmore would provide for him once more.
+
+It had formerly been his ambition to pass for a "bad man," though he
+found it difficult to maintain that reputation among the unbelieving
+citizens of Sulphide, who knew that he valued his own skin far too
+highly to risk it seriously. He had been wont to call himself "The
+Wolf," desiring to be known by that title as sounding sufficiently
+fierce and "bad," and being of a most unprepossessing appearance, with
+his matted hair, retreating forehead, long, sharp nose and projecting
+ears, he did represent a wolf pretty well--though, still better, a
+coyote.
+
+As the people of Sulphide, however, declined to take him at his own
+valuation, greeting his frequent outbreaks of simulated ferocity with
+derisive jeers--even the small boys used to scoff at him--he was reduced
+to practising his arts upon strangers, which he always hastened to do
+when he thought it was not likely to be dangerous. Unluckily for him,
+though, he once tried one of his tricks upon an inoffensive newcomer,
+with a result so unexpected and unwelcome that his only desire
+thereafter was that people should forget that he had ever called himself
+"The Wolf"--a desire in which his many acquaintances, whether
+working-men or loafers, readily accommodated him. But as they playfully
+substituted the less desirable title of "The Yellow Pup," Long John
+gained little by the move.
+
+It happened in this way: There came out from New York at one time a
+young fellow named Bertie Van Ness, a nephew of Marsden, the cattle man,
+some of whose stock we were feeding that winter. He arrived at Sulphide
+by coach one morning, and before going on to Marsden's he stepped into
+Yetmore's store to buy himself a pair of riding gauntlets. Long John was
+in there, and seeing the well-dressed, dapper little man, with his white
+collar and eastern complexion--not burned red by the Colorado sun, as
+all of ours are--he winked to the assembled company as much as to say,
+"See me take a rise out of the tenderfoot," sidled up to Bertie, who was
+a foot shorter than himself, leaned over him, and putting on his worst
+expression, said, in a harsh, growling voice, "I'm 'The Wolf.'"
+
+It was a trick that had often been successful before: peace-loving
+strangers, not knowing whom they had to deal with, would usually back
+away and sometimes even take to their heels, which was all that Long
+John desired. In the present instance, however, the "bad man"
+miscalculated. The little stranger, seeing the ugly face within a foot
+of his own, withdrew a step, and without waiting for the formality of an
+introduction, struck "The Wolf" a very sharp blow upon the end of his
+nose, at the same time remarking, "Howl, then, you beast."
+
+Long John did howl. Clapping his hands over his face, he retreated,
+roaring, from the store, amid the enthusiastic plaudits of those
+present.
+
+Thus it was that the name of "The Wolf" fell into disuse and the title,
+"Yellow Pup," was substituted; and if at any time thereafter Long John
+became obstreperous or in any way made himself objectionable, it was
+only necessary for some one in company to say "Bow-wow," when the
+offender would forthwith efface himself, with promptness and dispatch.
+
+This was the man who came striding down upon Joe and me, looking as
+though he were going to eat us up at a mouthful and think nothing of it.
+Doubtless he supposed that, being country boys, we had not heard the
+story of Bertie Van Ness, for, advancing close to us he said fiercely:
+
+"What you doing here? Be off home! Do you know who _I_ am? I'm 'The
+Wolf'!"
+
+"So I've heard," said I, calmly; a remark which took all the wind out of
+the gentleman's sails at once. He collapsed with ridiculous suddenness,
+and with a sheepish grin, said, "I was only just a-trying you, boys, to
+see if you was easy scart."
+
+"Well, you see we're not," remarked Joe. "What are _you_ doing up here?
+Pretty early for prospecting, isn't it?"
+
+"Not any earlier for me than it is for you," replied Long John, with a
+glance at the hatchet in Joe's hand. He was sharp enough.
+
+Joe laughed. "That's true," said he. "I suppose we're both hunting the
+same thing. Did you find any of it in that hole up there?"
+
+Long John hesitated. He would have preferred to lie about it, probably,
+but knowing that we could go and see for ourselves in a couple of
+minutes, he made a virtue of necessity and replied:
+
+"Yes, there's some of it there; but it don't amount to much. I guess the
+vein ain't worth looking for. Come and see."
+
+We walked forward and looked into the hole Long John had chopped, when
+we saw that his prospector's instinct had hit upon the right place
+again. Here also was a black streak an inch thick below the yellow sand.
+
+It was evident that the vein of galena was somewhere up-stream, though
+we ourselves were unable to judge from the amount of the deposit whether
+it was likely to be big or little. Long John might be telling the truth
+when he "guessed" that it was not worth looking for, though, from what
+we knew of him, we, in turn, "guessed" that what he said was most likely
+to be the opposite of what he thought.
+
+We could not tell, either, whether our new acquaintance was speaking
+the truth when he declared that he was satisfied with his day's work and
+had already decided to go home again; I think it rather likely that,
+being unable to devise any scheme for shaking us off, and not caring to
+act as prospector for us as well as for Yetmore, he preferred to go back
+at once and report progress. He was right, at any rate, in saying that
+the drifts ahead were too deep to admit of further prospecting; for the
+mountains began to close in just here, and the snow was becoming pretty
+heavy.
+
+Nevertheless, Joe and I thought we would try a little further, if only
+for the reason that Long John would not, and we were about to part
+company, when we were startled to hear a voice above our heads say,
+"Good-morning," and, looking quickly up, we saw, seated on a dead
+branch, a raven, to all appearance asleep, with his feathers fluffed out
+and his head sunk between his shoulders.
+
+That it was our friend, Socrates, we could not doubt, and we looked all
+around for the hermit, but as there was no one to be seen, Joe,
+addressing the raven, said:
+
+"Hallo, Sox! Where's your master?"
+
+"Chew o' tobacco," replied the raven.
+
+At this Long John burst out laughing. "Well, you're a cute one," said
+he; and thrusting his hand into his pocket he brought out a piece of
+tobacco which he invited Socrates to come and get. Sox flew down to a
+convenient rock and reached for the morsel, but the moment he perceived
+that it was not anything he could eat, he drew back in disdain, and
+eying Long John with severity, remarked, "Bow-wow."
+
+Now, as I have intimated, nothing was so exasperating to Long John as to
+have any one say "bow-wow" to him, and not considering that the offender
+was only a bird, he raised his hatchet and would have ended Sox's career
+then and there had not Joe stayed his arm.
+
+At being thus thwarted, Long John turned upon my companion, and for a
+moment I felt a little uneasy lest his temper should for once get the
+better of his discretion; but I need not have alarmed myself, for Long
+John's outbreaks of rage were always carefully calculated when directed
+against any one or anything capable of retaliation in kind, and very
+probably he had already concluded that two well-grown boys like
+ourselves, used to all kinds of hard work, might prove an awkward
+handful for one whose muscles had been rendered flabby by lack of
+exercise.
+
+At any rate, he quickly calmed down again, pretending to laugh at the
+incident; but though he made some remark about "a real smart bird," I
+guessed from the gleam in his little ferrety eyes that if he could lay
+hands on Socrates, that aged scholar's chances of ever celebrating his
+one hundredth anniversary would be slim indeed.
+
+"Who's the thing belong to, anyhow?" asked John. "There's no one living
+around here that I know of."
+
+"He belongs to a man who lives somewhere up on this mountain," I
+replied. "You've probably heard of him: Peter the Hermit."
+
+"Him!" exclaimed Long John, looking quickly all around, as though he
+feared the owner might make his appearance. "Well, I'm off. I've got to
+get back to Sulphide to-night, so I'll dig out at once."
+
+So saying, he picked up his long-handled shovel, and using it
+upside-down as a walking-staff, away he went, striding over the snow at
+a great pace; while Socrates, seeing him depart, very appropriately
+called after him, "Good-bye, John."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE HERMIT'S WARNING
+
+
+As it was now after midday, we concluded to eat our lunch before going
+any further, so, sitting down on the rocks, we produced the bread and
+cold bacon we had brought with us and prepared to refresh ourselves.
+Observing this, Socrates, who had flown up into a tree when Long John
+threatened him with the hatchet, now flipped down again and took up his
+station beside us, having plainly no apprehension that we would do him
+any harm, and doubtless thinking that if there was any food going he
+might come in for a share.
+
+I was just about to offer him a scrap of bacon, when the bird suddenly
+gave a croak and flew off up the mountain. Naturally, we both looked up
+to ascertain the reason for this sudden departure, when we were startled
+to see a tall, bearded man with a long staff in his hands, skimming down
+the snow-covered slope of the mountain towards us. One glance showed us
+that it was our friend, the hermit, though how he could skim over the
+snow like that without moving his feet was a puzzle to us, until, on
+approaching to within twenty yards of where we sat, he stuck his staff
+into the snow and checked his speed, when we perceived that he was
+traveling on skis.
+
+"How are you, boys?" he cried, shaking hands with us very heartily. "I'm
+glad to see you again. Much obliged to you, Joe, for interfering on
+behalf of old Sox. I would not have the bird hurt for a good deal. I saw
+the whole transaction from where I was standing up there in that grove
+of aspens. Why did your companion go off so suddenly?"
+
+"I don't know," I replied. "I only just mentioned to him that Sox
+belonged to you, when he picked up his shovel and skipped."
+
+Peter laughed. "I understand," said he. "The gentleman and I have met
+before, and have no wish to meet again. Our first and only interview was
+not conducive to a desire for further acquaintance. He is not a friend
+of yours, I hope."
+
+"Not at all," I replied. "We never met him before."
+
+"Well, I'm glad of that, because he is not one to be intimate with: he
+is a thief."
+
+"Why do you say that?" asked Joe, rather startled.
+
+"Because I happen to know it's so. I'll tell you how. I had set a
+bear-trap once up on the mountain back of my house, and going up next
+day to see if I had caught anything, I found this fellow busy skinning
+my bear. He had come upon it by accident, I suppose, and the bear being
+caught by both front feet, and being therefore perfectly helpless, he
+had bravely shot it, and was preparing to walk off with the skin when I
+appeared."
+
+"And what did you say to him?" I asked.
+
+"Nothing," replied Peter. "I just sat down on a rock near by, with my
+rifle across my knees, and watched him; and he grew so embarrassed and
+nervous and fidgety that he couldn't stand it any longer, and at last he
+sneaked off without completing his job and without either of us having
+said a word."
+
+"That certainly was a queer interview," remarked Joe, laughing, "and a
+most effective way, I should think, of dealing with a blustering rogue
+like Long John."
+
+"Long John?" repeated the hermit, inquiringly.
+
+"Yes, Long John Butterfield; known also as 'The Yellow Pup.'"
+
+"Oh, that's who it is, is it? I've heard of him from my friend, Tom
+Connor."
+
+"Tom Connor!" we both exclaimed. "Do you know Tom Connor, then?"
+
+"Yes, we have met two or three times in the mountains, and he once spent
+the night with me in my cabin--he is the 'one exception' I told you
+about, you remember. He seems like a good, honest fellow, and he has
+certainly been most obliging to me."
+
+As we looked inquiringly at him, wondering how Tom could have found an
+opportunity to be of service to one living such a secluded life as the
+hermit did, our friend went on:
+
+"I happened to mention to him that I had great need of an iron pot, and
+three days afterwards, on returning home one evening, what should I find
+standing outside my door but a big iron pot, and in it a chip, upon
+which was written in pencil, 'Compliments of T. Connor.'"
+
+"Just like Tom," said I, laughing. "He has more friends than any other
+man in the district, and he deserves it, for when he makes a friend he
+can't rest easy until he has found some way of doing him a service."
+
+"And he's as honest as they make 'em," Joe continued. "If he's a friend,
+he's a friend, and if he's an enemy, he's an enemy--he doesn't leave you
+in doubt."
+
+"Just what I should think," said the hermit. "Very different from Long
+John, if I'm not mistaken. That gentleman, I suspect, is of the kind
+that would shake hands with you in the morning and then come in the
+night and burn your house down. What were you and he doing, by the way?
+I've been watching you for an hour. First one and then the other would
+kneel down in the snow and chop a hole in the bed of the creek, then get
+up, walk a mile, and do it again. If I may be allowed to say so," he
+went on, laughing, "it appeared to an outsider like a crazy sort of
+amusement."
+
+"I should think it might," said I, laughing too; and I then proceeded to
+tell our friend the object of these seemingly senseless actions.
+
+"And do you expect to go prospecting for this vein of galena in the
+spring?" he inquired, when I had concluded.
+
+"Not we!" I exclaimed. "My father wouldn't let us if we wanted to. We
+are doing this work for Tom Connor, whom my father is anxious to serve,
+he having done us, among others, a very good turn."
+
+"I see," said the hermit. "And this man, Yetmore, or, rather, his
+henchman, Long John, will be coming as soon as the snow is off to hunt
+for the vein in competition with our friend, Connor."
+
+"That is what we expect."
+
+"Well, then, I can help you a little. We will, at least, secure for
+Connor a start over the enemy."
+
+"How?" I asked.
+
+"You remember, of course," said the hermit, "that sulphurous stuff that
+was cooking on the flat stone outside my door the day you came down to
+my house through the clouds? That was galena ore."
+
+"Why, of course!" I exclaimed, slapping my leg. "What pudding-heads we
+must have been, Joe, not to have thought of it before. I had forgotten
+all about it. Have you found the vein, then?"
+
+"No, I have not; nor have I ever taken the trouble to look for it,
+having found a place where I can get a sufficient supply for my purposes
+to last for years."
+
+"And what do you use it for?" I asked.
+
+"To make bullets from. I get the powdered ore, roast out the sulphur on
+that flat stone, and then melt down the residue."
+
+"And where do you get it?"
+
+"That is what I am going to tell you. You know that deep, rocky gorge
+where Big Reuben had his den? Well, near the head of that gorge is a
+basin in the rock in which is a large quantity of this powdered galena,
+all in very fine grains, showing that they have traveled a considerable
+distance. That stream is one of the four little rills which make up this
+creek, and if you tell Connor of this deposit it will save him the
+trouble of prospecting the other three creeks, as he would otherwise
+naturally do; and as Long John will pretty certainly do, for the creek
+coming out of Big Reuben's gorge is the last of the four he would come
+to if he took up his search where he left off to-day--which would be the
+plan he would surely follow. It should save Connor a day's work at
+least--perhaps two or three."
+
+"That's true," I responded. "It is an important piece of information. I
+wonder, though, that nobody else has ever found the deposit you speak
+of."
+
+"Do you? I don't. Considering that Big Reuben was standing guard over
+it, I think it would have been rather remarkable if any one had
+discovered it."
+
+"That's true enough," remarked Joe. "But that being the case, how did
+you come to discover it yourself? Big Reuben was no respecter of
+persons, that I'm aware of."
+
+"Ah, but that's just it. He was. He was afraid of me; or, to speak more
+correctly, he was afraid of Sox--the one single thing on earth of which
+he was afraid. Before I knew of his existence, I was going up the gorge
+one day when Big Reuben bounced out on me, and almost before I knew what
+had happened I found myself hanging by my finger-tips to a ledge of rock
+fifteen feet up the cliff, with the bear standing erect below me trying
+his best to claw me down. My hold was so precarious that I could not
+have retained it long, and my case would have been pretty serious had it
+not been for Socrates. That sagacious bird, seeming to recognize that I
+was in desperate straits, flew up, perched upon the face of the cliff
+just out of reach of the bear's claws, and in a tone of authority
+ordered him to lie down. The astonishment of the bear at being thus
+addressed by a bird was ludicrous, and at any other time would have made
+me laugh heartily. He at once dropped upon all fours, and when Socrates
+flipped down to the ground and walked towards him, using language fit to
+make your hair stand on end, the bear backed away. And he kept on
+backing away as Sox advanced upon him, pouring out as he came every word
+and every fragment of a quotation he had learned in the course of a long
+and studious career. One of the reasons I have for thinking that he is
+getting on for a hundred years old is that Sox on that occasion raked up
+old slang phrases in use in the first years of the century--phrases I
+had never heard him use before, and which I am sure he cannot have heard
+since he has been in my possession.
+
+"This stream of vituperation was too much for Big Reuben. He feared no
+man living, as you know, but a common black raven with a man's voice in
+his stomach was 'one too many for him,' as the saying is. He turned and
+bolted; while Socrates, flying just above his head, pursued him with
+jeers and laughter, until at last he found inglorious safety in the
+inmost recesses of his den, whither Sox was much too wise to follow
+him."
+
+"I don't wonder you set a high value on old Sox, then," said I. "He
+probably saved your life that time."
+
+"He certainly did: I could not have held on five minutes longer."
+
+"And did you ever run across Big Reuben again?" asked Joe.
+
+"Yes. Or, rather, I suppose I should say 'no.' I saw him a good many
+times, but he never would allow me to come near him. Whether he thought
+I was in league with the Evil One, I can't say, but, at any rate, one
+glimpse of me was enough to send him flying; and as I was sure I need
+have no fear of him, I had no hesitation in walking up the gorge if it
+happened to be convenient; and thus it was that I discovered the deposit
+of lead-ore up near its head."
+
+As this piece of information precluded the necessity of our prospecting
+any further, and as we had by this time finished our meal--which was
+shared by Peter and his attendant sprite--we informed our friend that it
+was time for us to be starting back; upon which he remarked that he
+would go part of the way with us, as, by taking one of the gulches
+farther on he would find an easier ascent to his house than by returning
+the way he had come. Hanging his skis over his shoulder, therefore, he
+trudged along beside us at a pace which made us hustle to keep up with
+him.
+
+"Do you think you would be able to find my house again?" asked the
+hermit as we walked along.
+
+"No," I replied, "I'm sure we couldn't. When we came down the mountain
+in the clouds that day we were so mixed up that we did not even know
+whether we were on Lincoln or Elkhorn, though we had kept away so much
+to the left coming down that we rather thought we must have got on to
+one of the spurs of Lincoln."
+
+"Well, you had. I'll show you directly what line you took."
+
+Half a mile farther on, at the point where the stream we were following
+joined our own creek, our friend stopped, and pointing up the mountain,
+said:
+
+"If you ever have occasion to come and look me up, all you have to do is
+to follow your own creek up to its head, when you will come to a high,
+unscalable cliff, and right at the foot of that cliff you will see the
+great pile of fallen rocks in which my house is hidden. You can see the
+cliff from here. When you came down that day you missed the head of the
+creek you had followed in going up, and by unconsciously bearing to your
+left all the time you passed the heads of several others as well, and so
+at length you got into the valley which would have brought you out here
+if you had continued to follow it."
+
+"I see. How far up is it to your house?"
+
+"About five miles from where we stand."
+
+"It must be all under snow up there," remarked Joe. "I wonder you are
+not afraid of being buried alive."
+
+The hermit smiled. "I'm not afraid of that," said he. "It is true the
+gulch below me gets drifted pretty full--there is probably forty feet of
+snow in it at this moment--but the point where my house stands always
+seems to escape; a fact which is due, I think, to the shape of the cliff
+behind it. It is in the form of a horseshoe, and whichever way the wind
+blows, the cliff seems to give it a twist which sends the snow off in
+one direction or another, so that, while the drifts are piled up all
+around me, the head of the gulch is always fairly free."
+
+"That's convenient," said Joe. "But for all that, I think I should be
+afraid to live there myself, especially in the spring."
+
+"Why?" asked the hermit. "Why in the spring particularly?"
+
+"I should be afraid of snowslides. The mountain above the cliff is very
+steep--at least it looks so from here."
+
+"It is very steep, extremely steep, and the snow up there is very heavy
+this winter--I went up to examine it two days ago. But at the same time
+I saw no traces of there ever having been a slide. There are a good many
+trees growing on the slope, some of them of large size, which is pretty
+fair evidence that there has been no slide for a long time--not for a
+hundred years probably. For as you see, there and there"--pointing to
+two long, bare tracks on the mountain-side--"when the slides do come
+down they clean off every tree in their course. No, I have no fear of
+snowslides.
+
+"By the way," he continued, "there is one thing you might tell Tom
+Connor when you see him, and that is that Big Reuben's creek heads in a
+shallow draw on the mountain above my house. If you follow with your eye
+from the summit of the cliff upward, you will notice a stretch of bare
+rock, and above it a strip of trees extending downward from left to
+right. It is among those trees that the creek heads.
+
+"You might mention that to Connor," he went on, "in case he should
+prefer to begin his prospecting downward from the head of the creek
+instead of upward from Big Reuben's gorge. And tell him, too, that if he
+will come to me, I shall be glad to take him up there at any time."
+
+"Very well," said I, "we'll do so."
+
+"Yes, we'll certainly tell him," said Joe. "It might very well happen
+that Tom would prefer to begin at the top, especially if he should find
+that Long John had got ahead of him and was already working up from
+below."
+
+"Exactly. That is what I was thinking of. Well, I must be off. I have a
+longish tramp before me, and the sunset comes pretty early under my
+cliff."
+
+"Won't you come home with us to-night?" I asked. "We have only two miles
+to go. My father told me to ask you the next time we met, and this is
+such a fine opportunity. I wish you would."
+
+"Yes; do," Joe chimed in.
+
+But the hermit shook his head. "You are very kind to suggest it," said
+he, "and I am really greatly obliged to you, and to Mr. Crawford also,
+but I think not. Thank you, all the same; but I'll go back home. So,
+good-bye."
+
+"Some other time, perhaps," suggested Joe.
+
+"Perhaps--we'll see. By the way, there was one other thing I intended to
+say, and that is:--look out for Long John! He is a dangerous man if he
+is a coward; in fact, all the more dangerous _because_ he is a coward.
+So now, good-bye; and remember"--holding up a warning finger--"look out
+for Long John!"
+
+With that, he slipped his feet into his skis and away he went; while Joe
+and I turned our own faces homeward.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE WILD CAT'S TRAIL
+
+
+"He is quite right," said my father, when, on reaching home again, we
+related to him the results of our day's work and told him how the hermit
+had warned us against Long John. "He is quite right. Your hermit is a
+man of sense in spite of his reputation to the contrary. Yetmore, of
+course, will do anything he can to forestall Tom Connor, but, if I am
+not mistaken, he will not venture beyond the law; whereas Long John, I
+feel sure, would not be restrained by any such consideration. He would
+be quite ready to resort to violence, provided always that he could do
+it without risk to his own precious person. The hermit is right, too, in
+saying that Long John is all the more dangerous for being the cowardly
+creature that he is: whatever he may do to head off Tom will be done in
+the dark--you may be sure of that. We must warn Tom, so that he may be
+on his guard."
+
+"I'm afraid it won't be much use warning Tom," said I. "He is such a
+heedless fellow and so chuck full of courage that he won't trouble to
+take any precautions."
+
+"I don't suppose he will, but we will warn him, all the same, so that he
+may at least go about with his eyes open. I'll write to him again
+to-morrow. And now to our own business. Come into the back room. I want
+your opinion."
+
+It had been my father's custom for some time back--and a very good
+custom, too, I think--whenever there arose a question of management
+about the affairs of the ranch, to take Joe and me into consultation
+with him. It is probable enough that our opinion, when he got it, was
+not worth much, but the mere fact that we were asked for it gave us a
+feeling of responsibility and grown-up-ness which had a good effect.
+Whenever, therefore, any question of importance turned up, the whole
+male population of Crawford's Basin voted upon it, and though it is true
+that nine times out of ten any proposition advanced by my father would
+receive a unanimous vote, it did happen every now and then that one of
+us would make a suggestion which would be adopted, much to our
+satisfaction, thus adding a zest to the work, whatever it might be. For
+whether the plan originated with my father or with one of us, as we all
+voted on it we thereby made it our own, and having made it our own; we
+took infinitely more interest in its accomplishment than does the
+ordinary hired man, who is told to do this or do that without reason or
+explanation.
+
+It will be readily understood, too, how flattering it was to a couple of
+young fellows like ourselves to be asked for our opinion by a man like
+my father, for whose good sense and practical knowledge we had the
+greatest respect, and of course we were all attention at once, when,
+seating himself in his desk chair, he began:
+
+"You remember that when Marsden's cattle first came they broke a couple
+of the posts around the hay-corral, and that when we re-set them we
+found that the butt-ends of the posts were beginning to get pretty
+rotten?"
+
+He happened to catch Joe's eye, who replied:
+
+"I remember; and you said at the time that we should have to renew the
+fence entirely in two years or less."
+
+"Exactly. Well, now, this is what I've been thinking: instead of
+renewing with posts and poles, why not build a rough stone wall all
+round the present fence, which, when once done, would last forever?
+Within a half-mile of the corral there is material in plenty fallen from
+the face of the Second Mesa; and everything on the ranch being in good
+working order, you two boys would be free to put in several weeks
+hauling stones and dumping them outside the fence--the actual building I
+would leave till next fall. It will mean a long spell of pretty hard
+work, for you will hardly gather material enough if you keep at it all
+the rest of the winter. Now, what do you think?"
+
+"It seems to me like a good plan," Joe answered. "We can take two teams
+and wagons, help each other to load, drive down together, and help each
+other to unload; for I suppose you would use stones as big as we can
+handle by preference."
+
+"Yes, the bigger the better; especially for the lower courses and for
+the corners. What's your opinion, Phil?"
+
+"I agree with Joe," I replied. "And with such a short haul--for it will
+average nearer a quarter than half a mile--I should think we might even
+collect stones enough for the purpose this winter, provided there
+doesn't come a big fall of snow and stop us."
+
+"Then you shall begin to-morrow," said my father.
+
+"But here's another question," he continued. "Should we build the wall
+close around the present fence, or should we increase the size of the
+corral while we are about it?"
+
+"I should keep to the present dimensions," said I. "There is no chance
+that I see of our ever increasing the size of our hay-crop to any great
+extent, and the corral we have now has always held it all, even that
+very big crop we had the summer Joe came. If----"
+
+"Yes, 'if,'" my father interrupted, knowing very well what I had in
+mind. "_If_ we could drain 'the bottomless forty rods' we should need a
+corral half as big again; but I'm afraid that is beyond us, so we may as
+well confine ourselves to providing for present needs."
+
+"My wig!" exclaimed Joe--his favorite exclamation--at the same time
+rumpling his hair, as though that were the wig he referred to. "What a
+great thing it would be if we could but drain those forty rods!"
+
+"It undoubtedly would," replied my father. "It would about double the
+value of the ranch, I think; for, besides diverting the present county
+road between San Remo and Sulphide--for everybody would then leave the
+old hill-road and come past our door instead--it would give us a large
+piece of new land for growing oats and hay. And, do you know, I begin to
+think it is very possible that within a couple of years we shall have a
+market for more oats and hay than we can grow, even including the 'forty
+rods.'"
+
+"Why?" I asked, in surprise; for, at present, though we disposed of our
+produce readily enough, it could not be said that there was a booming
+market.
+
+"It is just guess-work," my father replied, "pure guess-work on my part,
+with a number of good big 'ifs' about it; but if Tom Connor or Long
+John, or, indeed, any one else, should discover a big vein of lead-ore
+up on Mount Lincoln--and the chances, I think, begin to look
+favorable--what would be the result?"
+
+"I don't know," said I. "What?"
+
+"Why, this whole district would take a big leap forward--that is what
+would happen. You see, as things stand now, the smelters, not being able
+to procure in the district lead-ores enough for fluxing purposes, are
+obliged to bring them in by railroad from other camps. This is very
+expensive, and the consequence is that they are obliged to make such
+high charges for smelting that any ore of less value than thirty dollars
+to the ton is at present worthless to the miner: the cost of hauling it
+to the smelter and the smelter-charges when it gets there eat up all the
+proceeds."
+
+"I see," said Joe. "And the discovery of a mine which would provide the
+smelters with all the lead-ore they wanted would bring down the charges
+of smelting and enable the producers of thirty dollar ore to work their
+claims at a profit."
+
+"Precisely. And as nine-tenths of the claims in the district produce
+mainly low-grade ore, which is now left lying on the dumps as worthless,
+and as even the big mines take out, and throw aside, probably ten tons
+of low-grade in getting out one ton of high-grade, you can see what a
+'boost' the district would receive if all this unavailable material were
+suddenly to become a valuable and marketable commodity."
+
+"I should think it would!" exclaimed Joe, enthusiastically. "The
+prospectors would be getting out by hundreds; the population of Sulphide
+would double; San Remo would take a great jump forward; while we--why,
+we shouldn't _begin_ to be able to grow oats and hay enough to meet the
+demand."
+
+My father nodded. "That's what I think," said he.
+
+"And there's another thing," cried I, taking up Joe's line of prophecy.
+"If a big vein of lead-ore should be discovered anywhere about the head
+of our creek, the natural way for the freighters to get down to San Remo
+would be through here, if----"
+
+"That's it," interrupted my father. "That's the whole thing. I-F, IF."
+
+Dear me! What a big, big little word that was. To represent it of the
+size it looked to us, it would be necessary to paint it on the sky with
+the tail of a comet dipped in an ocean of ink!
+
+After a pause of a minute or two, during which we all sat silent,
+considering over again what we had considered many and many a time
+before: whether there were not some possible way of draining off the
+"forty rods," Joe suddenly straightened himself in his seat, rumpled his
+hair once more--by which sign I knew he had some idea in his head--and
+said:
+
+"I suppose you have thought of it before, Mr. Crawford, but would it be
+possible to run a tunnel up from the lower edge of the First Mesa, and
+so draw off the water?"
+
+"I have thought of it before, Joe," replied my father, "and while I
+think it might work, I have concluded that it is out of the question.
+How long a tunnel would it take, do you calculate?"
+
+"Well, a little more than a quarter of a mile, I suppose."
+
+"Yes. Say twelve hundred feet, at least. Well, to run a tunnel of that
+length would be cheap at ten dollars a foot."
+
+"Phew!" Joe whistled, opening his eyes widely. "That is a staggerer,
+sure enough. It does look as if there was no way out of it."
+
+"No, I'm afraid not," said my father. "And as to making a permanent road
+across the marsh, I have tried everything I can think of including
+corduroying with long poles covered with brush and earth. But it was no
+use. We had a very wet season that summer, and the road, poles and all,
+was covered with water. That settled it to my mind; we could not expect
+the freighters and others to come our way when, at any time, they might
+find the road under water."
+
+"No; that did seem to be a clincher. Well, as there appears to be no
+more to be said, let's get to bed, Phil. If we are going to haul rocks
+to-morrow, we shall need a good night's sleep as a starter."
+
+The cliff which bounded the eastern edge of the Second Mesa--at the same
+time bounding the ranch on its western side--was made up of layers of
+rock of an average thickness of about a foot, having been evidently
+built up by successive small flows of lava. The stones piled at the foot
+of the bluff being flat on both sides were therefore very convenient for
+wall-building, and so plentiful that we made rapid progress at first in
+hauling them down to the corral. At the end of three weeks, however, we
+had picked up all those fragments that were most accessible, and were
+now obliged to loosen up the great heaps of larger slabs and crack the
+stones with a sledgehammer. Some of these heaps were so large, and the
+stones composing them of such great size, that when we came to dislodge
+them we found that an ordinary crowbar made no impression; but we
+overcame that difficulty, at Joe's suggestion, by using a big pine pole
+as a lever. Inserting the butt-end of the pole between two big rocks,
+we would tie a rope to the other end and hitch the mules to it. The
+leverage thus obtained was tremendous, and unless the pole broke,
+something had to come. In this way we could sometimes bring down at one
+pull rock enough to keep us busy for a week.
+
+Day after day, without a break, we continued this work, and though it
+was certainly hard labor we enjoyed it, especially when, by constant
+practice we found ourselves handling all the time bigger and bigger
+stones with less and less exertion.
+
+It would seem that there could not be much art in so simple a matter as
+putting a stone into a wagon, and as far as stones of moderate size are
+concerned there is not. But when you come to deal with slabs of rock
+weighing a thousand pounds or more, you will find that the "know how"
+counts for very much more than mere strength.
+
+Of course, to handle pieces of this size it was necessary to use skids
+and crowbars, with which, aided by little rollers made of bits of
+gas-pipe, we did not hesitate to tackle stones which, when we first
+began, we should have cracked into two or three pieces.
+
+We had been at it, as I have said, for more than three weeks, when it
+happened one day that while driving down with our last load, we were met
+face to face by a wildcat, with one of our chickens in its mouth. There
+were a good many of these animals having their lairs among the fallen
+rocks at the foot of the mesa, and they caused us some trouble, but this
+was the first time I had known one to make a raid on the chicken-yard in
+broad daylight. I suppose rabbits were scarce, and the poor beast was
+driven to this unusual course by hunger.
+
+I was driving the mules at the moment, but Joe, who was walking beside
+the wagon, picked up a stone and hurled it at the cat. The animal, of
+course, bolted--taking his chicken with him, though--and disappeared
+among the rocks close to where we had just been at work.
+
+"Joe," said I, "we'll bring up the shotgun to-morrow. We may stir that
+fellow out and get a shot at him."
+
+Accordingly, next day, we took the gun with us, and leaning it against a
+tree near the wagon, set about our usual work. The first stone we loaded
+that morning was an extra-large one, and Joe on one side of the wagon
+and I on the other were prying it into position with our pinch-bars,
+when my companion, who was facing the bluff, gently laid down his bar
+and whispered:
+
+"Keep quiet, Phil! Don't move! I see that wildcat! Get hold of the lines
+in case the mules should scare, while I see if I can reach the gun."
+
+Stooping behind the wagon, he slipped away to where the gun stood, came
+stooping back, and then, straightening up, he raised the gun to his
+shoulder. Up to that moment the cat had stood so still that I had been
+unable to distinguish it, but just as Joe raised the gun it bolted. My
+partner fired a snap-shot, and down came the cat, tumbling over and
+over.
+
+"Good shot!" I cried. But hardly had I done so when the animal jumped up
+again and popped into a hole between two rocks before Joe could get a
+second shot.
+
+"Let's dig him out, Joe," I cried. And seizing a crowbar, I led the way
+to the foot of the cliff.
+
+Working away with the bar, while Joe stood ready with the gun, I soon
+enlarged the hole enough to let me look in, but it was so dark inside,
+and I got into my own light so much that I could see nothing.
+
+I happened to have a letter in my pocket, and taking the envelope I
+dropped a little stone into it, screwed up the corner, and lighting the
+other end, threw the bit of paper into the hole. My little fire-brand
+flickered for a moment, and then burned up brightly, when I saw the
+wildcat lying flat upon its side, evidently quite dead.
+
+Thereupon we both set to work and enlarged the hole so that Joe could
+crawl in, which he immediately did. I expected him to come out again in
+a moment, but it was a full minute before he reappeared, and when he did
+so he only poked out his head and said, in an excited tone:
+
+"Come in here, Phil! Here's the queerest thing--just come in here for a
+minute!"
+
+Of course I at once crept through the hole, to find myself in a little
+chamber about ten feet long, six feet wide and four feet high, built up
+of great flat slabs of stone, which, falling from above, had
+accidentally so arranged themselves as to form this little room.
+
+At first I thought it was the little room itself to which Joe had
+referred as "queer," but Joe, scouting such an idea, exclaimed:
+
+"No, no, bless you! I didn't mean that. That's nothing. Look here!"
+
+So saying, he struck a match and showed me, along one side of the
+chamber, a great crack in the ground, three feet wide, extending to the
+left an unknown distance--for in that direction it was covered by loose
+rocks of large size--while to the right it pinched out entirely.
+
+It was evident to me that this crevice had existed ever since the great
+break had occurred which had separated the First from the Second Mesa,
+but that, being covered by the fragments which had fallen from the
+cliff--itself formed by the subsidence of the First Mesa from what had
+once been the general level--it had hitherto remained concealed.
+
+"Well, that certainly is 'queer,'" said I. "How deep is it, I wonder?"
+
+"Don't know. Pitch a stone into it."
+
+I did so; judging from the sound that the crevice was probably thirty or
+forty feet deep.
+
+"That's what I should guess," said Joe. "But there's another thing,
+Phil, a good deal queerer than a mere crack in the ground. Lie down and
+put your ear over the hole and listen."
+
+I did as directed, and then at length I understood where the "queerness"
+came in. I could distinctly hear the rush of water down below!
+
+Rising to my knees, I stared at Joe, who, kneeling also, stared back at
+me, both keeping silence for a few seconds. At length:
+
+"Where does it come from, Joe?" I asked.
+
+"I don't know," Joe replied. "Mount Lincoln, perhaps. But I do know
+where it goes to."
+
+"You do? Where?"
+
+"Down to 'the forty rods,' of course."
+
+"That's it!" I cried, thumping my fist into the palm of the other hand.
+"That's certainly it! Look here, Joe. I'll tell you what we'll do. We'll
+quit hauling rock for this morning, go and get a long rope, climb down
+into this crack, see how much water there is, and find out if we can
+where it goes to."
+
+"All right," said Joe. "Your father won't object, I'm sure."
+
+"No, he won't object. Though he relies on our doing a good day's work
+without supervision, he relies, too, on our using our common sense, and
+I'm sure he'll agree that this is a matter that ought to be investigated
+without delay. It may be of the greatest importance."
+
+"All right!" cried Joe. "Then let us get about it at once!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE UNDERGROUND STREAM
+
+
+It was on a Saturday morning that we made this discovery, and as my
+father and mother had both driven down to San Remo and would not be back
+till sunset, we could not ask permission to abandon our regular work and
+go exploring. But, as I had said to Joe, though he trusted us to work
+faithfully at any task we might undertake, my father also expected us to
+use our own discretion in any matter which might turn up when he was not
+at hand to advise with us.
+
+I had, therefore, no hesitation in driving back to the ranch, when,
+having unloaded our one stone and stabled the mules, Joe and I, taking
+with us a long, stout rope and the stable-lantern, retraced our steps to
+the wildcat's house.
+
+The first thing to be done was to enlarge the entrance so that we might
+have daylight to work by, and this being accomplished, we lighted the
+lantern and lowered it by a cord into the hole. We found, however, that
+a bulge in the rock prevented our seeing to the bottom, and all we
+gained by this move was to ascertain that the crevice was about forty
+feet deep, as we had guessed. The next thing, therefore, was for one of
+us to go down, and the only way to do this was to slide down a rope.
+
+This, doubtless, would be easy enough, but the climbing up again might
+be another matter. We were not afraid to venture on this score, however,
+for, as it happened, we had both often amused ourselves by climbing a
+rope hung from one of the rafters in the hay-barn, and though that was a
+climb of only twenty feet, we had done it so often and so easily that we
+did not question our ability to ascend a rope of double the length.
+
+"Who's to go down, Joe, you or I?" I asked.
+
+"Whichever you like, Phil," replied my companion. "I suppose you'd like
+to be the first, wouldn't you?"
+
+"Oh, yes, that's a matter of course," I answered, "but as you are the
+discoverer you ought to have first chance, so down you go, old chap!"
+
+"Very well, then," said Joe, "if you say so, I'll go."
+
+"Well, I do--so that settles it."
+
+I knew Joe well enough to be sure he would be eager to be the first, and
+though I should have liked very much to take the lead myself, it seemed
+to me only just that Joe, as the original discoverer, should, as I had
+said, be given the choice.
+
+This question being decided, we tied one end of the rope around a big
+stone, heavy enough to hold an elephant, and dropped the other end into
+the hole. The descent at first was very easy, for the walls being only
+three feet apart, and there being many rough projections on either side,
+it was not much more difficult than going down a ladder, especially as
+I, standing a little to one side, lowered the lantern bit by bit, that
+Joe might have a light all the time to see where to set his feet.
+
+Arrived at the bulge, Joe stopped, and standing with one foot on either
+wall, looked up and said:
+
+"It opens out below here, Phil; I shall have to slide the rest of the
+way. You might lower the lantern down to the bottom now, if you please."
+
+I did so at once, and then asked:
+
+"Can you see the bottom, Joe?"
+
+"Yes," he replied. "The crevice is much wider down there, and the floor
+seems to be smooth and dry. I can't see any sign of water anywhere, but
+I can hear it plainly enough. Good-bye for the present; I'm going down
+now."
+
+With that he disappeared under the bulge in the wall, while I, placing
+my hand upon the rope, presently felt the strain slacken, whereupon I
+called out:
+
+"All right, Joe?"
+
+"All right," came the answer.
+
+"How's the air down there?"
+
+"Seems to be perfectly fresh."
+
+"Can you see the water?"
+
+"No, I can't; but I can hear it. There's a heap of big rocks in the
+passage to the south and the splashing comes from the other side of it.
+I'm going to untie the lantern, Phil, and go and explore a bit. Just
+wait a minute."
+
+Very soon I heard his voice again calling up to me.
+
+"It's all right, Phil. I've found the water. You may as well come down."
+
+"Look here, Joe," I replied. "Before I come down, it might be as well
+to make sure that you can come up."
+
+"There's something in that," said Joe, with a laugh. "Well, then, I'll
+come up first."
+
+I felt the rope tauten again, and pretty soon my companion's head
+appeared, when, scrambling over the bulge, he once more stood astride of
+the crevice, and looking up said:
+
+"It's perfectly safe, Phil. The only troublesome bit is in getting over
+the bulge, and that doesn't amount to anything. It's safe enough for you
+to come down."
+
+"Very well, then, I'll come; so go on down again."
+
+Taking a candle we had brought with us, I set it on a projection where
+it would cast a light into the fissure, and seizing the rope, down I
+went. The descent was perfectly easy, and in a few seconds I found
+myself standing beside Joe at the bottom.
+
+The crevice down here was much wider than above--ten or twelve feet--the
+floor, composed of sandstone, having a decided downward tilt towards the
+south. In this direction Joe, lantern in hand, led the way.
+
+Piled up in the passage was a large heap of lava-blocks which had
+fallen, presumably, through the opening above, and climbing over these,
+we saw before us a very curious sight.
+
+[Illustration: "WE SAW BEFORE US A VERY CURIOUS SIGHT"]
+
+On the right hand side of the crevice--that is to say, on the western or
+Second Mesa side--between the sandstone floor and the lowest ledge of
+lava, there issued a thin sheet of water, coming out with such force
+that it swept right across, and striking the opposite wall, turned and
+ran off southward--away from us, that is. Only for a short distance,
+however, it ran in that direction, for we could see that the stream
+presently took another turn, this time to the eastward, presumably
+finding its way through a crack in the lava of the First Mesa.
+
+"I'm going to see where it goes to," cried Joe; and pulling off his
+boots and rolling up his trousers, he waded in. He expected to find the
+water as cold as the iced water of any other mountain stream, but to his
+surprise it was quite pleasantly warm.
+
+"I'll tell you what it is, Phil," said he, stepping back again for a
+moment. "This water must run under ground for a long distance to be as
+warm as it is. And what's more, there must be a good-sized reservoir
+somewhere between the lava and the sandstone to furnish pressure enough
+to make the water squirt out so viciously as it does."
+
+Entering the stream again, which, though hardly an inch deep, came out
+of the rock with such "vim" that when it struck his feet it flew up
+nearly to his knees, Joe waded through, and then turning, shouted to me:
+
+"It goes down this way, Phil, through a big crack in the lava. It just
+goes flying. Don't trouble to come"--observing that I was about to pull
+off my own boots--"you can't see any distance down the crack."
+
+But whatever there was to be seen, I wanted to see too, and disregarding
+his admonition, I pretty soon found myself standing beside my companion.
+
+The great cleft into which we were peering was about six feet wide at
+the bottom, coming together some twenty feet above our heads, having
+been apparently widened at the base by the action of the water, which,
+being here ankle-deep, rushed foaming over and around the many blocks of
+lava with which the channel was encumbered. As far as we could see, the
+fissure led straight away without a bend; and Joe was for trying to
+walk down it at once. I suggested, however, that we leave that for the
+present and try another plan.
+
+"Look here, Joe," said I. "If we try to do that we shall probably get
+pretty wet, and stand a good chance besides of hurting our feet among
+the rocks. Now, I propose that we go down to the ranch again, get our
+rubber boots, and at the same time bring back with us my father's
+compass and the tape-measure and try to survey this water-course. By
+doing that, and then by following the same line on the surface, we may
+be able to decide whether it is really this stream which keeps 'the
+forty rods' so wet."
+
+"I don't think there can be any doubt about that," Joe replied; "but I
+think your plan is a good one, all the same, so let us do it."
+
+We did not waste much time in getting down to the ranch and back again,
+when, pulling on our rubber boots, we proceeded to make our survey. It
+was not an easy task.
+
+With the ring at the end of the tape-measure hooked over my little
+finger, I took a candle in that hand and the compass in the other, and
+having ascertained that the course of the stream was due southeast, I
+told Joe to go ahead. My partner, therefore, with his arm slipped
+through the handle of the lantern and with a pole in his hand with which
+to test the depth of the stream, thereupon started down the passage,
+stepping from rock to rock when possible, and taking to the water when
+the rocks were too far apart, until, having reached the limit of the
+tape-measure, he made a mark upon the wall with a piece of white chalk.
+
+This being done, I noted on a bit of paper the direction and the
+distance, when Joe advanced once more, I following as far as to the
+chalk-mark, when the operation was repeated.
+
+In this manner we worked our way, slowly and carefully, down the
+passage, the direction of which varied only two or three degrees to one
+side or the other of southeast, until, having advanced a little more
+than a thousand feet, we found our further progress barred.
+
+For some time it had appeared to us that the sound of splashing water
+was increasing in distinctness, though the stream itself made so much
+noise in that hollow passage that we could not be sure whether we were
+right or not. At length, however, having made his twentieth chalk-mark,
+indicating one thousand feet, Joe, waving his lantern for me to come
+on, advanced once more; but before I had come to his last mark, he
+stopped and shouted back to me that he could go no farther.
+
+Wondering why not, I slowly waded forward, Joe himself winding up the
+tape-measure as I approached, until I found myself standing beside my
+companion, when I saw at once "why not."
+
+The stream here took a sudden dive down hill, falling about three feet
+into a large pool, the limits of which we could not discern--for we
+could see neither sides nor end--its surface unbroken, except in a few
+places where we could detect the ragged points of big lava-blocks
+projecting above the water, while here and there a rounded boulder
+showed its smooth and shining head.
+
+Joe, very carefully descending to the edge of the pool, measured the
+depth with his rod, when, finding it to be about four feet deep, we
+concluded that we would let well enough alone and end our survey at this
+point.
+
+"Come on up, Joe," I called out. "No use trying to go any farther: it's
+too dangerous; we might get in over our heads."
+
+"Just a minute," Joe replied. "Let's see if we can't find out which way
+the current sets in the pool."
+
+With that he took from his pocket a newspaper he had brought with him in
+case for any purpose we should need to make a "flare," and crumpling
+this into a loose ball he set it afloat in the pool. Away it sailed,
+quickly at first, and then more slowly; and taking a sight on it as far
+as it was distinguishable, I found that the set of the current continued
+as before--due southeast.
+
+"All right, Joe," I cried. "Come on, now." And Joe, giving me the end of
+his stick to take hold of, quickly rejoined me, when together we made
+our way carefully up the stream again, and climbing the rope, once more
+found ourselves out in the daylight.
+
+"Now, Joe," said I, "let us run our line and find out where it takes
+us."
+
+Having previously measured the distance from the point where the
+underground stream turned southeast to where the rope hung down, we now
+measured the same distance back again along the foot of the bluff, and
+thence, ourselves turning southeastward, we measured off a thousand
+feet. This brought us down to the lowest of the old lake-benches, about
+a hundred yards back of the house, when, sighting along the same line
+with the compass, we found that that faithful little servant pointed us
+straight to the entrance of the lower canyon.
+
+"Then that does settle it!" cried Joe. "We've found the stream that
+keeps 'the forty rods' wet; there can be no doubt of it."
+
+It did, indeed seem certain that we had at last discovered the stream
+which supplied "the forty rods" with water; but allowing that we _had_
+discovered it:--what then? How much better off were we?
+
+Beneath our feet, as we had now every reason to believe, ran the
+long-sought water-course, but between us and it was a solid bed of lava
+about forty feet thick; and how to get the water to the surface, and
+thus prevent it from continuing to render useless the meadow below, was
+a problem beyond our powers.
+
+"It beats me," said Joe, taking off his hat and tousling his hair
+according to custom. "I can see no possible way of doing it. We shall
+have to leave it to your father. Perhaps he may be able to think of a
+plan. Do you suppose he'll venture to go down the rope, Phil?"
+
+"No, I don't," I replied. "It is all very well for you and me, with our
+one hundred and seventy pounds, or thereabouts, but as my father weighs
+forty pounds more than either of us, and has not been in the habit of
+climbing ropes for amusement as long as I can remember, I think the
+chances are that he won't try it."
+
+"I suppose not. It's a pity, though, for I'm sure he would be
+tremendously interested to see the stream down there in the crevice.
+Couldn't we----Look here, Phil: couldn't we set up a ladder to reach
+from the bottom up to the bulge?"
+
+I shook my head.
+
+"I don't think so," I answered. "It would take a ladder twenty feet
+long, and the bulge in the wall would prevent its going down."
+
+"That's true. Well, then, I'll tell you what we can do. We'll make two
+ladders of ten feet each--a ten-foot pole will go down easily
+enough--set one on the floor of the crevice and the other on that wide
+ledge about half way up to the bulge. What do you think of that?"
+
+"Yes, I think we could do that," I replied. "We'll try it anyhow. But we
+must go in and get some dinner now: it's close to noon."
+
+We did not take long over our dinner--we were too anxious to get to
+work again--and as soon as we had finished we selected from our supply
+of fire-wood four straight poles, each about ten feet long, and with
+these, a number of short pieces of six-inch plank, a hammer, a saw and a
+bag of nails, we drove back to the scene of action.
+
+Even a ten-foot pole, we found, was an awkward thing to get down to the
+bottom of the fissure, but after a good deal of coaxing we succeeded in
+lowering them all, when we at once set to work building our ladders.
+
+The first one, standing on the floor of the crevice, reached as high as
+the ledge Joe had mentioned, while the second, planted upon the ledge
+itself, leaned across the chasm, its upper end resting against the rock
+just below the bulge, so that, with the rope to hold on by, it ought to
+be easy enough to get up and down. It is true that the second ladder
+being almost perpendicular, looked a little precarious, but we had taken
+great care to set it up solidly and were certain it could not slip. As
+to the strength of the ladders, there was nothing to fear on that score,
+for the smallest of the poles was five inches in diameter at the little
+end.
+
+This work took us so long, for we were very careful to make things
+strong and firm, that it was within half an hour of sunset ere we had
+finished, and as it was then too late to begin hauling rocks, we drove
+down to the ranch again at once.
+
+As we came within sight of the house, we had the pleasure of seeing the
+buggy with my father and mother in it draw up at the door. Observing us
+coming, they waited for us, when, the moment we jumped out of the wagon,
+before we could say a word ourselves, my father exclaimed:
+
+"Hallo, boys! What are you wearing your rubber boots for?"
+
+My mother, however, looking at our faces instead of at our feet, with
+that quickness of vision most mothers of boys seem to possess, saw at
+once that something unusual had occurred.
+
+"What's happened, Phil?" she asked.
+
+"We've made a discovery," I replied, "and we want father to come and see
+it."
+
+"Can't I come, too?" she inquired, smiling at my eagerness.
+
+"I'm afraid not," I answered. "I wish you could, but I'm afraid your
+petticoats would get in the way."
+
+To this, perceiving easily enough that we had some surprise in store for
+my father, and not wishing to spoil the fun, my mother merely replied:
+
+"Oh, would they? Well, I'm afraid I couldn't come anyhow: I must go in
+and prepare supper. So, be off with you at once, and don't be late. You
+can tell me all about it this evening."
+
+"One minute, father!" I cried; and thereupon I ran to the house,
+reappearing in a few seconds with his rubber boots, which I thrust into
+the back of the buggy, and then, climbing in on one side while Joe
+scrambled in on the other, I called out:
+
+"Now, father, go ahead!"
+
+"Where to?" he asked, laughing.
+
+"Oh, I forgot," said I. "Up to our stone-quarry."
+
+If we had expected my father to be surprised, we were not disappointed.
+At first he rather demurred at going down our carefully prepared
+ladders, not seeing sufficient reason, as he declared, to risk his neck;
+but the moment we called his attention to the sound of water down below,
+and he began to understand what the presence of the rubber boots meant,
+he became as eager as either Joe or I had been.
+
+In short, he went with us over the whole ground, even down to the pool;
+and so interested was he in the matter that he quite forgot the flight
+of time, until, having reascended the ladders and followed with us our
+line on the surface down to the heap of stones with which we had marked
+the thousand-foot point, he--and we, too--were recalled to our duties by
+my mother, who, seeing us standing there talking, came to the back-door
+of the kitchen and called to us to come in at once if we wanted any
+supper.
+
+Long was the discussion that ensued that evening as we sat around the
+fire in the big stone fireplace; but long as it was, it ended as it had
+begun with a remark made by my father.
+
+"Well," said he, as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his
+slippered feet before the fire, "it appears to come to this: instead of
+discovering a way to drain 'the forty rods,' you have only provided us
+with another insoluble problem to puzzle our heads over. There seems to
+be no way that we can figure out--at present, anyhow--by which the water
+can be brought to the surface, and consequently our only resource is,
+apparently, to discover, if possible, where it first runs in under the
+lava-bed, to come squirting out again down in that fissure--an almost
+hopeless task, I fear."
+
+"It does look pretty hopeless," Joe assented; "though we have found out
+one thing, at least, which may be of service in our search, and that is
+that the water runs between the lava and the sandstone. That fact should
+be of some help to us, for it removes from the list of streams to be
+examined all those whose beds lie below the sandstone."
+
+"That's true enough," I agreed. "But, then again, the source may not be
+some mountain stream running off under the lava, as we have been
+supposing. It is quite possible that it is a spring which comes up
+through the sandstone, and not being able to get up to daylight because
+of the lava-cap, goes worming its way through innumerable crevices to
+the underground reservoir we suppose to exist somewhere beneath the
+surface of the Second Mesa."
+
+"That is certainly a possibility," replied my father. "Nevertheless, it
+is my opinion that it will be well worth while making an examination of
+the creeks on Mount Lincoln. The streams to search would be those
+running on a sandstone bed and coming against the upper face of the
+lava-flow. It is worth the attempt, at least, and when the snow clears
+off you boys shall employ any off-days you may have in that way."
+
+"It would be well, wouldn't it, to tell Tom Connor about it?" suggested
+Joe. "He would keep his eyes open for us. I suppose prospectors as a
+rule don't take much note of such things, but Tom would do so, I'm sure,
+if we asked him."
+
+"Yes," replied my father. "That is a good idea; and if either of you
+should come across your friend, the hermit, again, be sure to ask him.
+He knows Mount Lincoln as nobody else does, and if he had ever noticed
+anything of the sort he would tell us. Don't forget that. And now to
+bed."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+HOW TOM CONNOR WENT BORING FOR OIL
+
+
+One thing was plain at any rate: we could do nothing towards finding the
+source of the underground stream until the snow cleared off the
+mountain, and that was likely to be later than usual this year, for the
+fall had been exceedingly heavy in the higher parts. We could see from
+the ranch that many of the familiar hollows were obliterated--leveled
+off by the great masses of snow which had drifted into them and filled
+them up.
+
+We therefore went about our work of hauling stone, and so continued
+while the cold weather lasted, interrupted only once by a heavy storm
+about the end of January, which, while it added another two feet to the
+thick blanket of snow already covering the mountains, quickly melted off
+down in the snug hollow where the ranch lay, so that our work was not
+delayed more than two or three days.
+
+One advantage to us of this storm was that it enabled us to learn
+something--not much, certainly, but still something--regarding the
+source of the stream in the fissure. It did not show us where that
+source was, but it proved to us pretty clearly where it was _not_.
+
+On the morning of the storm, Joe, at breakfast-time, turning to my
+father, said:
+
+"Wouldn't it be a good plan to go and measure the flow of the water down
+in the crevice, Mr. Crawford? We might be able to find out, by watching
+its rise and fall, whether the melting of the snow on the Second Mesa,
+or on the foot-hills beyond, or on the mountain itself affects it most."
+
+"That's a very good idea, Joe," my father replied. "Yes; as soon as we
+have fed the stock you can make a measuring-stick and go up there; and
+what's more, you had better make a practice of measuring it every day.
+The increase or decrease of the flow might be an important guide as to
+where it comes from."
+
+This we did, and thereby ascertained pretty conclusively that the source
+was nowhere on the Second Mesa, for in the course of a couple of weeks
+the heavy fall of new snow covering that wide stretch of country melted
+off without making any perceptible difference in the volume of the
+stream.
+
+Though there were several other falls of snow up in the mountains later
+in the season, this was the last one of any consequence down on the
+mesas. The winter was about over as far as we were concerned, and by the
+middle of the next month, the surface of "the bottomless forty rods"
+beginning to soften again, the freighters, who had been coming our way
+ever since the early part of November, deserted us and once more went
+back to the hill road--to our mutual regret. For a few days longer the
+stage-coach kept to our road, but very soon it, too, abandoned us, after
+which, except for an occasional horseback-rider, we had scarcely a
+passer-by.
+
+As was natural, we greatly missed this constant coming and going, though
+we should have missed it a good deal more but for the fact that with the
+softening of the ground our spring work began, when, Marsden's cattle
+having been removed by their owner, Joe and I started plowing for oats.
+With the prospect of a steady season's work before us, we entered upon
+our labors with enthusiasm. We had never felt so "fit" before, for our
+long spell of stone-hauling had put us into such good trim that we were
+in condition to tackle anything.
+
+At the same time, we did not forget our underground stream, keeping
+strict watch upon it as the snow-line retreated up the foot-hills of
+Mount Lincoln. But though one of us visited the stream every day, taking
+careful measurement of the flow, we could not see that it had increased
+at all. The intake must be either high on the mountain, or, as I had
+suggested, the spring must come up through the sandstone underlying the
+Second Mesa and was therefore not affected by the running off of the
+snow-water on the surface.
+
+As the town of Sulphide was so situated that its inhabitants could not
+see Mount Lincoln on account of a big spur of Elkhorn Mountain which cut
+off their view, any one in that town wishing to find out how the snow
+was going off on the former mountain was obliged to ride down in our
+direction about three miles in order to get a sight of it.
+
+Tom Connor, having neither the time to spare nor the money to spend on
+horse-hire, could not do this for himself, but, knowing that the
+mountain was visible to us any day and all day, he had requested us to
+notify him when the foot-hills began to get bare. This time had now
+arrived--it was then towards the end of March--and my father
+consequently wrote to Tom, telling him so; at the same time inviting him
+to come down to us and make his start from the ranch whenever he was
+ready.
+
+To our great surprise, we received a reply from him next afternoon,
+brought down by young Seth Appleby, the widow Appleby's ten-year-old
+boy, in which he stated that he could not start just yet as he was out
+of funds, but that he was hoping to raise one hundred and fifty dollars
+by a mortgage on his little house, which would be all he would need, and
+more, to keep him going for the summer.
+
+"Why, what's the meaning of this!" exclaimed my father, when he had read
+the letter. "How does Tom come to be out of funds at this time of year?
+He's been at work all winter at high wages and he ought to have saved up
+quite a tidy sum--in fact, he was counting on doing so. What's the
+matter, I wonder? Did he tell you anything about it, Seth?"
+
+"No," replied the youngster, "he didn't tell me, but he did tell mother,
+and then mother, she asked all the miners who come to our store, and
+they told her all about it. It was mother that sent me down with the
+letter, and she told me I was to be sure and 'splain all about it to
+you."
+
+"That was kind of Mrs. Appleby," said my father. "But come in, Seth, and
+have something to eat, and then you can give us your mother's message."
+
+Seated at the table, with a big loaf, a plate of honey and a pitcher of
+milk before him, young Seth, after he had taken off the fine edge of a
+remarkably healthy appetite, related to us between bites the story he
+had been sent down to tell. It was a long and complicated story as he
+told it, and even when it was finished we could not be quite sure that
+we had it right; but supposing that we had, it came to this:
+
+Tom had worked faithfully on the Pelican, never having missed a day, and
+had earned a very considerable sum of money, of which he had, with
+commendable--and, for him, unusual--discretion, invested the greater
+part in a little house, putting by one hundred and fifty dollars for his
+own use during the coming summer. The fund reserved would have been
+sufficient to see him through the prospecting season had he stuck to
+it; but this was just what he had not done.
+
+Two years before, a friend of his had been killed in one of the mines by
+that most frequent of accidents: picking out a missed shot; since which
+time the widow, a bustling, hearty Irishwoman, had supported herself and
+her five children. But during the changeable weather of early spring,
+Mrs. Murphy had been taken down with a severe attack of pneumonia--a
+disease particularly dangerous at high altitudes--and distress reigned
+in the family. As a matter of course, Tom, ever on the lookout to do
+somebody a good turn, at once hopped in and took charge of everything;
+providing a doctor and a nurse for his old friend's widow, and seeing
+that the children wanted for nothing; and all with such success that he
+brought his patient triumphantly out of her sickness; while as for
+himself, when he modestly retired from the fray, he found that he was
+just as poor as he had been at the beginning of winter.
+
+It is not to be supposed, however, that this worried Tom. Not a bit of
+it. It was unlucky, of course, but as it could not be helped there was
+no more to be said; and so long as he owned that house of his he could
+always raise one hundred and fifty dollars on it--it was worth three or
+four times as much, at least.
+
+As the prospecting season was now approaching, he therefore let it be
+known that he desired to raise this money, and then quietly went on with
+his work again, feeling confident that some one would presently make his
+appearance, cash in hand, anxious to secure so good a loan. Up to that
+morning, Seth believed, the expected capitalist had not turned up.
+
+As the boy finished his story, and--with a sigh at having reached his
+capacity--his meal as well, my father rose from his chair, exclaiming:
+
+"What a good fellow that is! When it comes to practical charity, Tom
+Connor leads us all. In fact, he is in a class by himself:--There is no
+Tom but Tom, and"--smiling at the little messenger--"Seth Appleby is his
+prophet--on this occasion."
+
+At which Seth opened his eyes, wondering what on earth my father was
+talking about.
+
+"Now, I'll tell you what we'll do," the latter continued. "Seth says his
+mother wants another thousand pounds of potatoes; so you shall take
+them up this afternoon, Phil; have a good talk with her; find out the
+rights of this matter; and then, if there is anything we can do to help,
+we can do it understandingly."
+
+I was very glad to do this, and with Seth on the seat beside me and his
+pony tied behind the wagon, away I went.
+
+As I had permission to stay in town over night if I liked, and as Mrs.
+Appleby urged me to do so, saying that I could share Seth's room, I
+decided to accept her offer, and after supper we were seated in the
+store talking over Tom Connor's affairs--which I found to be just about
+as Seth had described them--when who should burst in upon us but Tom
+himself. Evidently my presence was a surprise to him, for on seeing me
+he exclaimed:
+
+"Hallo, Phil! You here! Got my message, did you?"
+
+"Yes," I replied, "we got it all right; and very much astonished we
+were."
+
+Forthwith I tackled him on the subject, and though at first Tom was
+disposed to be evasive in his answers, finding that I had all the facts,
+he at length admitted the truth of the story.
+
+"But, bless you!" cried he. "That's nothing. I can raise a hundred and
+fifty easy enough on my house and pay it off again next winter, so
+there's nothing to fuss about. And now, ma'am," turning to Mrs. Appleby,
+and abruptly cutting off any further discussion of the topic, "now,
+ma'am, I'll give you a little order for groceries, if you please--which
+was what I came in for."
+
+So saying, he took a scrap of paper out of his pocket and proceeded to
+read out item after item: flour and bacon, molasses and dried apples, a
+little tea and a great deal of coffee, and so on, and so on, until at
+last he crumpled up his list between his two big hands, saying:
+
+"There! And we'll top off with a gallon of coal oil, if you please."
+
+"Ah," said the widow, laying down her pencil--she was a slight, nervous
+little woman--"I was afraid you'd come to coal oil presently. I haven't
+a pint of it in the house."
+
+"Well, that's a pity," said her customer. "Then I suppose I'll have to
+go down to Yetmore's for coal oil after all."
+
+"Yes, Yetmore can let you have it, I know," replied the widow, in a
+tone of voice which caused us both to look at her inquiringly.
+
+"He's got a barrel of it," she continued. "A whole barrel of
+it--belonging to me."
+
+"Eh! What's that?" cried Tom. "Belonging to you?"
+
+"Yes. And he won't give it up. You see, it was this way. I ordered a
+barrel from the wholesale people in San Remo, and they sent it up two
+days ago. Here's the bill of lading. 'One barrel coal oil, No. 668, by
+Slaughter's freight line.' The freighters made a mistake and delivered
+it at Yetmore's, and now he won't give it up."
+
+"Won't, eh!" cried Tom, with sudden heat. "We'll just look into that."
+
+"It's no use," interposed Mrs. Appleby, holding up her hand
+deprecatingly. "You can't take it by force; and I've tried persuasion.
+He's got my barrel; there's no mistake about that, because Seth went
+down and identified the number; but he says he ordered a barrel himself
+from the same firm and it isn't his fault if they didn't put the right
+number on."
+
+"Well, that's coming it pretty strong," said Tom, indignantly.
+
+"Yes, and it's hard on me," replied the widow, "because people come in
+here for coal oil, and when they find I haven't any they go off to
+Yetmore's, and of course he gets the rest of their order. I might go to
+law," she added, "but I can't afford that; and by the time my case was
+settled Yetmore's barrel will have arrived and he'll send it over here
+and pretend to be sorry for the mistake."
+
+"I see. Well, ma'am, you put me down for a gallon of coal oil just the
+same, and get my order together as soon as you like. I'm going out now
+to take a bit of a stroll around town."
+
+Though he spoke calmly, the big miner was, in fact, swelling with wrath
+at the widow's tale of petty tyranny. Without saying a word more to her,
+and forgetting my existence, apparently, he marched off down the street
+with the determination of going into Yetmore's and denouncing the
+storekeeper before his customers. But, no sooner had he come within
+sight of the store than he suddenly changed his mind.
+
+"Ho, ho!" he laughed, stopping short and shoving his hands deep into his
+pockets. "Ho, ho! Here's a game! He keeps it in the back end of the
+store, I know. I'll just meander in and prospect a bit."
+
+The store was a long, plainly-constructed building, such as may be seen
+in plenty in any Colorado mining camp, standing on the hillside with its
+back to the creek. In front its foundation was level with the street,
+but in the rear it was supported upon posts four feet high, leaving a
+large vacant space beneath--a favorite "roosting" place for pigs. It was
+the sight of these four-foot posts which caused the widow's champion so
+suddenly to change his mind.
+
+To tell the truth, Tom Connor, in spite of his forty years, was no more
+than an overgrown boy, in whose simple character the love of justice and
+the love of fun jostled each other for first place. He believed he had
+discovered an opportunity to "take a rise" out of Yetmore and at the
+same time to compel the misappropriator of other people's goods to
+restore the widow's property. That the contemplated act might savor of
+illegality did not trouble him--did not occur to him, in fact. He was
+sure that he had justice on his side, and that was enough for him.
+
+Full of his idea, Tom walked into the store, where he found Yetmore
+very busy serving customers, for it was near closing time, and to an
+inquiry as to what he wanted, he replied:
+
+"Nothing just now, thank ye. I'll just mosey around and take a look at
+things."
+
+To this Yetmore nodded assent; for though he and the miner had no
+affection for each other, they were outwardly on good terms, and it was
+no unusual thing for Tom to come into the store.
+
+Connor "moseyed" accordingly, and kept on "moseying" until he reached
+the back of the building, and there, standing upright against the rear
+wall, was the barrel, and beside it, mounted on a chair, a putty-faced
+boy, a stranger to Tom, who was busy boring a hole in the top of it.
+
+"Trade pretty brisk?" inquired Connor, sauntering up.
+
+"You bet," replied the youth, laconically.
+
+"What does '668' stand for?" asked the miner, tapping the top of the
+barrel with his finger.
+
+"That's the number of the barrel," was the reply. "The wholesalers down
+in San Remo always cut a number in their barrels when they send 'em
+out."
+
+"Your boss must be a right smart business man to run a 'stablishment
+like this," remarked Tom, after a pause, glancing about the store.
+
+"That's what," replied the boy, admiringly. "You'll have to get up early
+to get around the boss. Why, this barrel here----" He stopped short, as
+though suddenly remembering the value of silence, and screwing up one
+eye as if to indicate that he could tell things if he liked, he added,
+"Well, when the boss gets his hands on a thing he don't let go easy, I
+tell you that."
+
+"Ah! Smart fellow, the boss."
+
+"You bet," remarked the youth once more.
+
+All this time Tom had been taking notes. The thin, unplastered wall of
+the store was constructed of upright planks with battens over the
+joints. It was pierced with one window; and Tom noted that between the
+edge of the window and the centre of the barrel were four boards. He
+noted also that the barrel stood firm and square upon the floor and that
+the floor itself was water-tight.
+
+While he was making these observations, the boy finished his boring
+operation and having inserted a vent-peg in the hole, walked off. As
+soon as he was out of sight, Tom stepped up to the barrel, pulled out
+the vent-peg, dropped it into his pocket, and having done so, sauntered
+leisurely up the store again and went out.
+
+For a little while he hung around on the other side of the street and
+presently he had the satisfaction of seeing the lights in the store
+extinguished, soon after which Yetmore came out and locking the door
+behind him, walked away to his house.
+
+"Ah! So the putty-faced boy sleeps in the store, does he?" remarked Tom
+to himself; a conclusion in which he was confirmed when he saw a candle
+lighted and the boy making up his bed under the counter. A few minutes
+later the candle was blown out, when Tom set off briskly up the street
+for the widow's store.
+
+He found Mrs. Appleby and Seth tidying up preparatory to closing the
+store, and stepping in, he said, "You don't take in lodgers, I suppose,
+ma'am? I'm intending to stay down town to-night."
+
+"No, we don't," replied the widow. "The house is not large enough. But
+if you've nowhere to sleep, you're welcome to make up a bed on the
+floor--I can let you have some blankets."
+
+"Thank ye, ma'am, I'll be glad to do it, if you please."
+
+Accordingly, after the widow had retired up-stairs to her room and Seth
+and I to ours, Tom spread his blankets on the floor and went to bed
+himself.
+
+All was dark and silent when, at one o'clock in the morning, Tom sat up
+in bed, and after fumbling about for a minute, found a match and lighted
+a candle.
+
+"Have to get up early to get around the boss, eh?" said he to himself,
+with a chuckle. "Wonder if this is early enough."
+
+In his stocking-feet he walked to the back door and opened it wide.
+After pausing for an instant to listen, he came back, and lifting the
+empty oil barrel from its stand he carried it outside. Next he selected
+two buckets, and having reached down from a high shelf a large funnel,
+an auger and a faucet, he carried them and his boots into the back yard,
+and having locked the door behind him, walked off into the darkness.
+
+In a short time he reappeared, leading a horse, to which was harnessed a
+low wood-sled. Upon this sled he firmly lashed the barrel, and gathering
+up the other implements he took the horse by the bridle and led him
+away down the silent street; for the town of Sulphide as yet boasted
+neither a lighting system nor a police force--or, rather, the police
+force was accustomed to betake himself to bed with the rest of the
+community--so Tom had the dark and empty street entirely to himself.
+
+In a few minutes he drew up at the rear of Yetmore's store, where,
+leaving the horse standing, he proceeded to count four planks from the
+edge of the window. Having marked the right plank, he took the auger,
+and crawling beneath the store, set to work boring a hole up through the
+floor. Presently the auger broke through, coming with a thump against
+the bottom of the barrel above, when Tom withdrew the instrument, and
+taking out his knife enlarged the hole considerably.
+
+So far, so good. Next he set a bucket beneath the hole, took the faucet
+between his teeth in order to have it handy, and inserting the auger, he
+set to, boring a hole in the bottom of the barrel. Soon the tool popped
+through, when Tom hastily substituted the faucet, which he drove firmly
+in with a blow of his horny palm.
+
+The putty-faced boy inside the store stirred in his blankets, muttered
+something about "them pigs," and went to sleep again.
+
+Tom waited a moment to listen, and then drew off a bucket of oil. As
+soon as this was full he replaced it with the other bucket and emptied
+the first one into the barrel on the sled. This process he repeated
+until the oil began to dribble, when he carefully knocked out the
+faucet, and having collected his tools and emptied the last bucket into
+the barrel, he again took the horse by the bridle and silently led him
+away.
+
+Arrived once more in the widow's back yard, Tom unshipped the barrel and
+went off to restore the horse to its stable. He soon returned, and
+having unlocked the back door and re-lighted his candle, he proceeded to
+get the barrel into the house and back upon its stand; a work of immense
+labor, rendered all the harder by the necessity of keeping silence. Tom
+was a man of great strength, however, and at last he had the
+satisfaction of seeing the barrel once more in its place without having
+heard a sound from the sleepers overhead. Having washed the buckets and
+tools, he put them back where they came from, locked the door, and for
+the second time that night went to bed.
+
+It was about half-past six in the morning that Tom, happening to look
+out of the front window, saw Yetmore coming hurriedly up the street,
+like a hound following the trail of the sled. Stepping to the little
+window at the rear, Tom peeped out and saw the storekeeper enter the
+back yard, walk to the spot where the sled had stopped, and stand for a
+minute examining the marks in the soil. Having apparently satisfied
+himself, he turned about and went off down the street again.
+
+"What's he going to do about it, I wonder?" said Tom to himself. "Reckon
+I'll just mosey down to the store and see."
+
+As he heard Seth coming down the stairs, he unlocked the front door and
+stepping outside, walked down to Yetmore's.
+
+"Morning," said he, cheerfully. "It's a bit early for customers, I
+suppose, but I'm in a hurry this morning and I'd like to know whether
+you can let me have a gallon of coal oil."
+
+"Sorry to say I can't," replied the storekeeper. "Our only barrel sprang
+a leak last night and every drop ran out."
+
+"You don't say!" exclaimed Tom, with an air of concern. "Then I suppose
+I'll have to go up to the widow Appleby's. She's got plenty, I know."
+
+As he said this he looked hard at Yetmore, who in turn looked hard at
+him.
+
+"Maybe," said the storekeeper presently, "maybe you know something about
+that leak?"
+
+Tom nodded. "I do," said he. "I know _all_ about it; and I'm the only
+one that does. I know the whole story, too, from one end to the other.
+The widow has got her barrel of oil; and you and I can make a sort of a
+guess as to how she got it. As to your barrel, it unfortunately sprung a
+leak. Is that the story?"
+
+Yetmore stood for a minute glowering at the big miner, and then said,
+shortly, "That's the story."
+
+"All right," replied Tom; and turning on his heel, he went out.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+TOM'S SECOND WINDOW
+
+
+Mrs. Appleby never did quite understand how her barrel of oil had been
+recovered for her. All she knew for certain was that her good friend,
+Mr. Connor, had somehow procured it from Yetmore, and that Yetmore was,
+as Mr. Connor said, "agreeable."
+
+As for myself, when Tom that morning, taking me aside, related with many
+chuckles how he had occupied himself during the night, I must own that
+my only feeling was one of satisfaction at the thought that Yetmore had
+been made to restore the widow's property, and that the fear of ridicule
+would probably keep him silent on the subject. Sharing with most boys
+the love of fair play and the hatred of oppression, Tom's cleverness and
+promptness of action seemed to me altogether commendable.
+
+Nevertheless, I foresaw one consequence of the transaction which, I
+thought, was pretty sure to follow, namely, that it would arouse in
+Yetmore an angry resolve to "get even" with Tom by hook or by crook.
+That he would resort to active reprisals if the opportunity presented
+itself I felt certain, and so I warned our friend. But Tom, careless as
+usual, refused to take any precautions, believing that Yetmore would not
+venture as long as he--Tom--had, as he expressed it, two such damaging
+shots in his magazine as the story of the lead boulder and the story of
+the oil barrel; on both of which subjects he had, with rare discretion,
+determined to keep silence unless circumstances should warrant their
+disclosure.
+
+It was not till I had reached home again and had jubilantly retailed the
+story to my father, that I began to understand how there might be yet
+another aspect to the matter. Instead of receiving it with a hearty
+laugh and a "Good for Tom," as I had anticipated, he shook his head and
+said:
+
+"I'm sorry to hear it. Tom made a mistake that time. That Yetmore should
+be made to give up the barrel of oil is proper enough; but what right
+has Tom to appropriate to himself the duties of judge, jury and
+executive officer? It is just such cases as this that earn for the
+American people the reputation of a nation without respect for law. No.
+Tom meant well, I know, but in my opinion he made a mistake all the
+same."
+
+"I never thought of it in that light," said I; "so it is just as well,
+probably, that Tom didn't let me into the secret beforehand, because I'm
+afraid I should have been only too ready to help if he had asked me."
+
+"Yes, it is just as well you were not given the choice, I expect,"
+replied my father, smiling. "I'm glad Tom had the sense to take the
+whole responsibility on his own shoulders. Does he expect that Yetmore
+will be content to let the matter rest where it is?"
+
+"He seems to think so; though he is such a heedless fellow that it
+wouldn't bother him much if he thought otherwise."
+
+"Well, in my opinion he will do well to keep his eyes open. As I told
+you before, I think Yetmore's natural caution would prompt him to keep
+within the law, but it is not impossible now, Tom having set him the
+example--for one such transgression of the law is apt to breed
+another--that he will think himself justified in resorting to lawless
+measures in his turn; especially as he will have that fellow, Long John,
+jogging his elbow and whispering evil counsels in his ear all the
+time."
+
+How correct my father was in his presumption; how Long John did devise a
+scheme of retaliation; and how Joe and I inadvertently got our fingers
+into the pie, I shall have to relate in due course.
+
+But though my father disapproved of Tom's action, that fact did not
+lessen his desire to help his friend when I had related to him how Tom
+had indeed spent all his savings on Mrs. Murphy and her family.
+
+"What a good-hearted, harum-scarum fellow he is!" exclaimed my father.
+"He knows--in fact, no one knows better--that there is a possible
+fortune waiting for him somewhere up here on Lincoln; he saves up all
+winter so that he may be free to go and hunt for it in the spring; yet
+at the first note of distress, away he runs and tumbles all his savings
+into Mrs. Murphy's lap, who, when all is said and done, has no real
+claim upon him, thus taking the risk of being stranded in town while
+Long John goes off and cuts him out. What are we going to do about it,
+boys? What can you suggest?"
+
+"It would certainly be a shame," said Joe, "if Tom, by his act of
+charity, should put himself out of the running in the search for that
+vein of galena. Yet he will surely do so if he can't raise that money.
+And even if he should raise it, he might be late in getting it, in which
+case Long John would get the start of him."
+
+"That's the case in a nutshell," my father assented; "and, as I said
+before: What are we going to do about it?"
+
+"Why----" Joe began; and then he suddenly jumped up and coming across
+the room he whispered something in my ear. I replied with a nod;
+whereupon Joe returned to his chair, and addressing my father once more,
+said:
+
+"I'll tell you what we'll do, Mr. Crawford. Phil and I made forty
+dollars last fall cutting timbers--it was Tom who got us our order,
+too--and we have it still. We'll put that in--eh, Phil?--if it will be
+any use."
+
+"Yes," said I. "Gladly."
+
+"Good!" exclaimed my father. "Then that settles it. Now, _I'll_ tell you
+what we'll do. I'll add sixty dollars to it--that is all I can afford
+just now--and you two shall ride back to Sulphide this afternoon, give
+Tom the money, and tell him he shall have fifty more in a couple of
+months if he needs it. And tell him at the same time that he needn't go
+mortgaging his little house. We don't want security from Tom Connor: we
+know him too well. I'd rather have his word than some men's bond. You
+shall ride up to see him this afternoon, and you needn't hurry back
+to-day; for that rain of last night has made the ground too wet to
+continue plowing; and, if I'm not mistaken, we're in for another storm
+to-night, in which case the soil won't be in condition again for two or
+three days."
+
+I need hardly say that Joe and I were delighted to undertake this
+mission, and about four o'clock we reached Mrs. Appleby's, where we put
+up our ponies in her stable. Then, as Tom would not be quitting work for
+another hour, instead of going direct to his house, we climbed up to the
+Pelican, intending to catch him there and walk home with him.
+
+Presently arriving at the great white dump of bleached porphyry to which
+the citizens of Sulphide were accustomed to point with pride as an
+indication of the immense amount of work it had taken to make the
+Pelican the important mine it was, we scrambled up to the engine-house,
+where for some minutes we stood watching the busy engine as it whirled
+to the surface the buckets of waste. Then, stepping over to the mouth of
+the shaft, we paused again to watch the top-men as they emptied the big
+buckets into the car and trundled the car itself to the edge of the
+dump, upset it, and trundled it back again for more.
+
+As we stood there, a miner came up, and stepping out of the cage, nodded
+to us in passing.
+
+"Want anybody, boys?" he asked.
+
+"We're waiting for Tom Connor," I replied. "He's down below, isn't he?"
+
+"Yes, he's down in the fifth. I'll take you down there if you like. I'm
+going back in a minute."
+
+"What do you think, Joe?" I asked.
+
+"Yes, let's go," my companion replied. "I've never been inside a mine,
+and I should like to see one."
+
+"All right," said the miner. "Come over here to the dressing-room and
+I'll give you a lamp and a couple of slickers. It's a bit wet down
+there."
+
+Joe and I were soon provided with water-proof coats, and in company with
+our new friend we stepped into the cage, when the miner, shutting the
+door behind us, called out to the engineer, "Fifth level, McPherson,"
+and instantly the floor of the cage seemed to drop from under us. After
+a fall of several miles, as it appeared to us, the cage stopped, when,
+peering through the wire lattice-work, we saw before us a dark passage,
+upon one side of which hung a white board with a big "5" painted upon
+it.
+
+"Here you are," said the miner, stepping out of the cage and handing us
+a lighted lamp. "Just walk straight along this drift about three hundred
+feet--it's all plain sailing--and you'll find Tom Connor at work there.
+I'm going on down to the seventh myself."
+
+With that he stepped back into the cage, rang the bell, and vanished,
+leaving us standing there eyeing each other a little dubiously at
+finding ourselves left to our own guidance, four hundred feet below the
+surface of the earth.
+
+"I hadn't reckoned on that," said I. "I thought he was coming with us."
+
+"So did I," replied Joe. "But it doesn't really matter. All we have to
+do is to walk along this passage; so let's go ahead."
+
+That our obliging friend had been right when he stated that it was "a
+bit wet" down here was evident, for the drops of water from the roof of
+the drift kept pattering upon our slickers, and presently, when we had
+advanced something over half the distance, one of them fell plump upon
+the flame of our lamp and put it out!
+
+We stopped short, not knowing what pitfalls there might be ahead of us,
+and each felt in all his pockets for a match. We had none! Never
+anticipating any such contingency as this, we had ventured into this
+black hole without a match in our possession.
+
+I admit that we were scared--the darkness was so very dark and the
+silence so very silent--but fortunately it was only for a moment.
+Standing stock still, for, indeed, we dared not move, we shouted for
+Tom, when, to our infinite relief, we heard his familiar voice call out:
+
+"Hallo, there! That you, Patsy? I'm coming. Does the boss want me?"
+
+The next moment a light appeared moving towards us, and as soon as we
+could safely do so we advanced to meet it.
+
+"How are you, Tom?" we both cried, simultaneously, assuming an off-hand
+manner, as though we had not been scared a bit.
+
+Tom stopped, not recognizing us for a moment, and then exclaimed:
+
+"Hallo, boys! What are you doing down here? Who brought you down?"
+
+We told him how we came to be there, and how our lamp had gone out; at
+which Tom shook his head.
+
+"Well, it was certainly a smart trick to send you down into this wet
+hole and not even see that you had a match in your pocket. What would
+you have done if I'd happened to have left the drift?"
+
+The very idea gave me cold chills all down my back.
+
+"We should have been badly scared, Tom, and that's a fact," I replied;
+"but I hope we should have kept our heads. I believe we should have sat
+down where we were and shouted till somebody came."
+
+"Well, that would have been the best thing you could do, though you
+might have had to shout a pretty long time, for there is nobody working
+in this level just now but me, and, as a matter of fact, I should have
+left it myself in another five minutes. But it's all right as it
+happens; so now you can come along with me. I'm going out the other way
+through Yetmore's ground."
+
+"Yetmore's ground?" exclaimed Joe, inquiringly.
+
+"Yes, Yetmore is working the old stopes of the Pelican on a lease--it is
+one of his many ventures. In the early days of the camp mining was
+conducted much more carelessly than it is now; freight and smelter
+charges were a good bit higher, too, so that a considerable amount of
+ore of too low grade to ship then was left standing in the stopes.
+Yetmore is taking it out on shares. His ground lies this way. Come on."
+
+So saying, Tom led the way to the end of the drift, where, going down
+upon his hands and knees, he crawled through a man-hole, coming out into
+a little shaft which he called a "winze." Ascending this by a short
+ladder, we found ourselves in the old, abandoned workings, and still
+following our guide, we presently walked out into the daylight--greatly
+to our surprise.
+
+"Why, where have we got to, Tom?" cried Joe, as we stared about us, not
+recognizing our surroundings.
+
+Tom laughed. "This is called Stony Gulch," he replied. "The mine used
+to be worked through this tunnel where we just came out, but the tunnel
+isn't used now except temporarily by Yetmore's men. He only runs a day
+shift and at night he closes the place with that big door and locks it
+up. The Pelican buildings are just over the hill here, and we may as
+well go up at once: it will be quitting-time by the time we get there."
+
+We climbed over the hill, therefore, and having restored our slickers,
+went on with Tom down to his little cottage, which was only about a
+quarter of a mile from the mine.
+
+It was not until we were inside his house that we explained to Tom the
+object of our visit, at the same time handing over to him my father's
+check for one hundred dollars. The good fellow was quite touched by this
+very simple token of good-will on our part; for, though he was ever
+ready to help others, it seemed never to have occurred to him that
+others might like sometimes to help him.
+
+This little bit of business being settled, we all pitched in to assist
+in getting supper ready, and presently we were seated round Tom's table
+testing the result of our cookery. As we sat there, Joe, pointing to a
+window-sash and some planed and fitted lumber which stood leaning
+against the wall, asked:
+
+"What are you going to do with that, Tom? Put in a second window?"
+
+"Yes," replied our host. "And I was intending to do it this evening. You
+can help me now you're here. The stuff is all ready; all we have to do
+is to cut the hole in the wall and slap it in. It's just one sash, not
+intended to open and shut, so it's a simple job enough."
+
+"Where does it go?" asked Joe.
+
+"There, on the right-hand side of the door. Old man Snyder, in the next
+house west, put one in some time ago, and it's such an improvement that
+I decided to do the same. We'll step out presently and look at Snyder's,
+and then you'll see. Hallo! Come in!"
+
+This shout was occasioned by a tapping at the door, and in response to
+Tom's call there stepped in a tall miner, whom I recognized as George
+Simpson, one of the Pelican men.
+
+"Come in, George," cried our host. "Come in and have some supper. What's
+new?"
+
+"No, I won't take any supper, thank ye," replied the miner. "I must get
+along home. I just dropped in to speak to you. You know Arty
+Burns?--works on the night shift? Well, Arty's sick. When he came up to
+the mine to-night he was too sick to stand, so I packed him off home
+again and told him to go to bed where he belonged and I'd see to it that
+somebody went on in his place, so that he shouldn't lose his job. I'm
+proposing to work half his shift for him myself, and I want to find
+somebody----"
+
+"All right, George," Connor cut in. "I'll take the other half. Which do
+you want? First or second?"
+
+"Second, if it's all the same to you, Tom. If I don't get home first my
+old woman will think there's something the matter. So, if you don't
+mind, you can go on first and I'll relieve you at half-time."
+
+"All right, George, then I'll get out at once. You boys can wash up, if
+you will; and you'll find a mattress and plenty of blankets in the back
+room. I'll be back soon after eleven."
+
+With that, carrying a lantern in his hand, for it was getting dark, away
+he went; while the miner hurried off across lots for town; neither of
+them, apparently, thinking it anything out of the way to do a full day's
+work and then, instead of taking his well-earned rest, to go off and do
+another half-day's work in order to "hold the job" for a third man, to
+whom neither of them was under any obligation.
+
+Nor _was_ it anything out of the way; for the silver-miners of Colorado,
+whatever their faults, did in those days, and probably do still,
+exercise towards their fellows a practical charity which might well be
+counted to cover a multitude of sins.
+
+"Look here, Phil!" exclaimed my companion, after we had washed and put
+away the dishes. "I'll tell you what we'll do. Let's pitch in and put in
+Tom's second window for him!"
+
+"Good idea!" I cried. "We'll do it! Let's go out first, though, Joe, and
+take a look at old Snyder's house, so that we may see what effect Tom
+expects to get."
+
+"Come on, then!"
+
+The row of six little houses, of which Tom's was the third, counting
+from the west, had been one of Yetmore's speculations. They were
+situated on the southern outskirts of town, and were mostly occupied by
+miners working on the Pelican. Each house was an exact counterpart of
+every other, they having been built by contract all on one pattern.
+Each had a room in front and a room behind; one little brick chimney; a
+front door with two steps; and a window on the right-hand side of the
+door as you faced the house. All were painted the same color.
+
+Yetmore having secured the land, had laid it out as "Yetmore's Addition"
+to the town of Sulphide; had marked out streets and alleys, and had
+built the six houses as a starter, hoping thereby to draw people out
+there. But as yet his building-lots were a drug in the market: they were
+too far out; there being a vacant space of a quarter of a mile or
+thereabouts between them and the next nearest houses in town. The
+streets themselves were undistinguishable from the rest of the country,
+being merely marked out with stakes and having had no work whatever
+expended upon them.
+
+The six houses, built about three hundred feet apart, all faced
+north--towards the town--and being so far apart and all so precisely
+alike, it was absolutely impossible for any one coming from town on a
+dark night to tell which house was which. Not even the tenants
+themselves, coming across the vacant lots after nightfall, could tell
+their own houses from those of their neighbors; and consequently it was
+a common event for one of the sleepy inmates, stirred out of bed by a
+knock at the door, to find a belated citizen outside inquiring whether
+this was his house or somebody else's. Not infrequently they neglected
+to knock first, and walking straight in, found themselves, to their
+great embarrassment, in the wrong house.
+
+Old man Snyder, a somewhat irritable old gentleman, having been thus
+disturbed two nights in succession, determined that he would no longer
+subject himself to the nuisance. He bought a single sash and inserted a
+second window on the other side of his door; a device which not only
+saved him from intrusion, but served as a guide to his neighbors in
+finding their own houses. It was also a very obvious improvement, and we
+did not wonder that Tom Connor had determined to follow his neighbor's
+example.
+
+Old Snyder's house was the second from the western end of the street,
+Tom Connor's, three hundred feet distant, came next, while next to
+Tom's, another three hundred feet away, was a house which still
+belonged to Yetmore and was at that moment standing empty.
+
+You will wonder, very likely, why I should go into all these details,
+but you will cease to wonder, I think, when you see presently of what
+transcendent importance to Joe and me was the situation of these three
+houses.
+
+Joe and I, laying hands on our host's kit of tools, at once went to work
+on the window. As Tom had said, it was a simple job, and though it was
+something of a handicap to work by lamplight, we went at it so
+vigorously that by nine o'clock we had completed our task--very much to
+our satisfaction.
+
+Stepping outside to observe the effect, we saw that old Snyder's windows
+were lighted up also; but we had hardly noted that fact when his light
+went out.
+
+"The old fellow goes to bed early, Joe," said I.
+
+"Yes," Joe replied; and then, with a sudden laugh, added: "My wig, Phil!
+I hope there won't be anybody coming out from town to-night. If they do,
+there'll be complications. They will surely be taking our two windows
+for old Snyder's, for, now that his light is out, you can't see his
+house at all."
+
+"That's a fact," said I. "If Snyder's right-hand neighbor should come
+out across the flats to-night he would see our two windows, and,
+supposing them to be Snyder's windows, he would be almost sure to go
+blundering into the old fellow's house. My! How mad he would be!"
+
+"Wouldn't he! And any one coming out to visit Tom would pretty certainly
+go and pound on the door of the empty house to the left."
+
+"Well, let us hope that nobody does come out," said I. "Come on, now,
+Joe. Let's get back. It's going to rain pretty soon."
+
+"Yes; your father was right when he predicted more rain. It's going to
+be a biggish one, I should think. How dark it is! I don't wonder people
+find a difficulty in telling which house is which when all the lights
+are out. Here it comes now. Step out, Phil."
+
+As he spoke, a blast of wind from the mountains struck us, and a few
+needles of cold rain beat against our right cheeks.
+
+We were soon inside again, when, having shut our door, we sat down to a
+game of checkers, in which we became so absorbed that we failed to note
+the lapse of time until Tom's dollar clock, hanging on the wall, banged
+out the hour of ten.
+
+"To bed, Joe!" I cried, springing out of my chair. "Why, we haven't been
+up so late for weeks."
+
+Stepping into the back room, we soon had mattress and blankets spread
+upon the floor, when, quickly undressing, I crept into bed, while Joe,
+returning to the front room, blew out the light.
+
+Five minutes later we were both asleep, with a comfortable consciousness
+that we had done a good evening's work; though we little suspected how
+good an evening's work it really was. For it is hardly too much to say
+that had we _not_ put in Tom's second window that night we might both
+have been dead before morning.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+TOM CONNOR'S SCARE
+
+
+When Long John Butterfield (it was Yetmore himself who told us all this
+long afterwards) when Long John, returning from his day's prospecting up
+among the foot-hills of Mount Lincoln, had related to his employer the
+result of his labors, two conclusions instantly presented themselves to
+the worthy mayor of Sulphide. A man less acute than Yetmore would have
+understood at once that we had discovered the nature of the black sand
+in the pool, and that just as he had sent out Long John, so my father
+had sent out us boys to determine, if possible, which stream it was that
+had brought down the powdered galena.
+
+Moreover, knowing my father as he did--whose opinions on prospecting as
+a business were no secret in the community--Yetmore was sure that it was
+in the interest of Tom Connor we had been sent out; and it was equally
+plain to him that, such being the case, Tom's information on the
+subject would be just as good as his own. He was, of course, unaware
+that our information was in reality a good deal better than his own,
+thanks to the hint given us by our friend, Peter, as to the deposit at
+the head of Big Reuben's gorge.
+
+Knowing all this, Yetmore had no doubt that Tom would be starting out
+the moment the foot-hills were bare, and as Long John could do no
+more--for it was obviously useless to start before the ground was
+clear--it would result in a race between the two as to who should get
+out first and keep ahead of the other; in which case Tom's chances would
+be at least equal to his competitor's.
+
+But was there no way by which Tom Connor might be delayed in starting,
+if only for a day or two? That was the question; and very earnestly it
+was discussed between the pair.
+
+Vain, however, were their discussions; they could think of no way of
+keeping Tom in town. For, though Long John threw out occasional hints as
+to how _he_ would manage it, if his employer would only give him leave,
+his schemes always suggested the use of unlawful means of one sort or
+another, and Yetmore would have none of them; for he had at least
+sufficient respect for the law to be afraid of it.
+
+A gleam of hope appeared when it was rumored about town that Tom Connor
+was trying to raise money on his house; a rumor which Yetmore very
+quickly took pains to verify. In this he had no trouble whatever, for
+everybody knew the circumstances, and everybody, Yetmore found, was loud
+in his praises of Tom's self-sacrifice in spending his hard-earned
+savings for the benefit of Mrs. Murphy and her distressed family.
+
+The fact that his rival was out of funds caused Yetmore to rub his hands
+with glee. Here, indeed, was a possible chance to keep him tied up in
+town. It all depended upon his being able to prevent Tom from securing
+the loan he sought, and diligently did the storekeeper canvass one plan
+after another in his own mind--but still in vain. The sum desired was so
+moderate that some one would almost surely be found to advance it.
+
+While his schemes were still fermenting in his head, there came late one
+night a knock at his door--it was the very night that Tom Connor went
+boring for oil--and Long John Butterfield slipped into the house.
+Long John, too, had heard of Tom's necessities; he, too, had perceived
+the value of the opportunity; and being untrammeled by any respect for
+law as long as there was little likelihood that the law would find him
+out, he had devised in his own mind a plan which would promptly and
+effectually prevent Tom from raising any money on his house.
+
+[Illustration: "'CAN FOLKS SEE IN FROM OUTSIDE?'"]
+
+This plan he had now come to suggest to his employer.
+
+"Any one in the house with you, Mr. Yetmore?" he inquired.
+
+"No, John, I'm all alone. Come in. Why do you ask?"
+
+"Oh, I just wanted to talk to you, and I didn't want anybody listening,
+that's all. Can folks see in from outside?"
+
+"No, not while the curtains are drawn. Come on in. What's all this
+mystery about?"
+
+Long John entered, and sitting down close to his friend, he began,
+speaking in a low tone:
+
+"You've heard about Tom Connor trying to raise money on his house, o'
+course? Well, I can stop him, if you say so. Any one can see what Tom
+wants the money for. He'll get that hundred and fifty, sure, and then
+off he'll go. He's a thorough good prospector, better'n me, and with
+equal chances the betting will be in his favor. If there's a big vein,
+there's a big fortune for the finder, and it's for you to say whether
+Tom Connor is to get a shot at it or not."
+
+Long John paused a moment, and then, emphasizing each point with an
+extended finger, he continued: "Without money Tom can't move--that's
+sure; he's strapped just now--that's sure; and his only way of getting
+the cash is by raising it on that house of his--and that's sure. Now,
+Mr. Yetmore, you say the word and he shan't get it. No personal violence
+that you're always objecting to. Just the simplest little move; nobody
+hurt and nobody the wiser."
+
+Yetmore gazed at him earnestly for a few moments, and then said: "It's
+against the law, I suppose."
+
+"Oh, yes," replied Long John, with a careless shrug of his shoulders.
+"It's against the law all right; but what does that matter to you? I'm
+the one to do the job, and I'm the only one the law can touch, if it
+can touch any one; and I don't mean that it shall touch me. It's safe
+and it's sure."
+
+"Well, John, what is it?"
+
+Long John rose from his chair, leaned forward, and whispered in the
+other's ear a little sentence of five words.
+
+For a moment Yetmore gazed open-eyed at his henchman, then suddenly
+turned pale, then shook his head.
+
+"I daren't, John," said he. "It's a simple plan and it looks safe; and
+even if it were found out it would be about impossible for the law to
+prove anything against me, whatever it might do to you. But it isn't the
+law I'm afraid of--it's the people. Tom Connor has always been a
+favorite, and just now he is more of a favorite than ever, and if it
+should be found out, or even suspected, that I had any part in such a
+deed my business would be ruined: the whole population would turn their
+backs upon me. I daren't do it, John."
+
+"Well, boss," said Long John, with an air of resignation, shoving his
+hands deep into his pockets and thrusting out his long legs to the
+fire, "if you won't, you won't, I suppose; but it seems to me you're a
+bit over-timorous. Who's to suspect, anyhow?"
+
+"Who's to suspect!" exclaimed Yetmore, sharply. "Why, Tom Connor,
+himself, and old Crawford and those two meddling boys of his. They'd not
+only suspect--they'd know that you had done the job and that I'd paid
+you for it. And if they should go around telling their version of the
+story, everybody would believe them and nothing I could say would count
+against them; for they've all of them, worse luck, got the reputation of
+being as truthful as daylight, while, as for me----"
+
+Long John laughed. "As for you, you haven't, eh? Well, Mr. Yetmore, it's
+for you to say, of course, but it seems to me you're missing the chance
+of a lifetime. Anyhow, my offer stands good, and if you change your mind
+you've only got to wink at me and I'll trump Tom Connor's ace for him so
+sudden he'll be dizzy for a week."
+
+With that, Long John arose, slipped out of the house and sneaked off
+home by a back alley, leaving Yetmore pacing up and down his room with
+his hands behind him, thinking over and over again what would be the
+result if he should authorize Long John to go ahead.
+
+"No," said he at last, as he took up the lamp to go to bed, "I daren't.
+It's a good idea, simple, sure and probably safe, but I daren't risk it.
+No. Law or no law, the public would be down on me for certain. I must
+think up some other scheme."
+
+Though he thus dismissed the subject from his mind, as he believed, the
+idea still lurked in the corners of his brain in spite of himself, and
+when at six in the morning he awoke, there was the little black imp
+sitting on the pillow, as it were, waiting to go on with the discussion.
+
+Yetmore, however, brushed aside the tempter, jumped into his clothes and
+walked off to the store, where he found the putty-faced boy anxiously
+awaiting his appearance in order that he himself might be off to his
+breakfast.
+
+"Pht!" exclaimed the proprietor, the moment he set foot inside the
+store. "What's this smell of coal oil?"
+
+"I don't smell it," replied the boy.
+
+"You don't! Hm! I suppose you've got used to it. Well, get along to your
+breakfast."
+
+As the boy ran off, Yetmore walked to the back of the building. Here
+the scent was so strong that he was convinced the barrel must be
+leaking, so, seizing hold of it, he gave a mighty heave, when the empty
+barrel came away in his hands, as the saying is. He almost fell over.
+
+To ascertain the nature of the leak was the work of a moment; to trail
+the sled to Mrs. Appleby's back yard was the work of five minutes; but
+having done this, Yetmore was at fault, for, knowing well enough that
+neither the widow nor her son were capable of such an undertaking, he
+was at a loss to imagine who the culprit might be.
+
+It was only when Tom Connor a minute later stepped into the store and
+arranged that story of the leaky oil-barrel which he had described as
+being "agreeable" to Yetmore, that the storekeeper arrived at a true
+understanding of the whole matter. To say that he was enraged would be
+to put it too mildly, and, as always seems to be the case, the fact that
+he, himself, had been in the wrong to begin with, only exasperated him
+the more.
+
+The result was what any one might have expected.
+
+Hardly had Connor turned the corner out of sight, than there appeared,
+"snooping" up the street, that sheep in wolfs clothing, Long John
+Butterfield. Instantly Yetmore's resolution was taken. Seizing a broom,
+he stepped outside and made pretense to sweep the sidewalk, and as Long
+John, with a casual nod, sauntered past, the angry storekeeper caught
+his eye and whispered:
+
+"I've reconsidered. Go ahead."
+
+"Bully for you," replied the other in a low tone; and passed on.
+
+No one would have guessed that in that brief instant a criminal act had
+been arranged. Nor did Tom Connor, as he went chuckling up the street,
+guess that by his lawless recovery of the widow's property he had given
+Yetmore the excuse he longed for to defy the law himself. Least of all
+did any of them--not even Long John--guess that between them they were
+to come within an ace of snuffing out the lives of two innocent
+outsiders, namely, Joe Garnier and myself. Yet such was the case. It was
+only the accidental putting in of Tom's second window that saved us.
+
+Long John, being authorized to proceed, at once made his preparations,
+which were simple enough, and all he wanted now was an opportunity. By
+an unlooked-for chance, which, with his perverted sense of right and
+wrong, seemed to him to be providential, his opportunity turned up that
+very night.
+
+The miner, George Simpson, hastening homeward from Connor's house,
+happened to overtake Long John in the street, and as he passed gave him
+a friendly "Good-night."
+
+"Good-night," said John. "You're late to-night, aren't you?"
+
+"Yes, a bit late. One of our men's sick, and I've been fixing things
+so's he won't lose his job. Tom Connor and I are going to work his shift
+for him."
+
+"So!" cried Long John, with sudden interest. "Which half do you take?"
+
+"The second. Tom's gone off already, and I'm going to relieve him at
+eleven. So I must be getting along: I want my supper and two or three
+hours' sleep."
+
+So Tom would be out of his house till eleven o'clock! Such a chance
+might never occur again. Long John hastened home at once and got
+everything ready.
+
+As it would not do to start too early, because people might be about,
+John waited till nearly ten o'clock, and then sallied out. As he
+rounded the corner of his shack a furious blast of wind, driving the
+rain before it, almost knocked him over.
+
+"Good!" he exclaimed. "There won't be a soul out o' doors to-night."
+
+With his head bent to the storm and his hat pulled down over his ears,
+John made his way through alleys and bye-streets to the edge of town,
+and then set off across the intervening empty space towards the house
+where Joe and I were at that moment playing our last game of checkers.
+As he approached, he saw dimly through the blur of rain the light of two
+windows.
+
+"Good!" he exclaimed a second time. "Old Snyder not gone to bed yet.
+Mighty kind of the old gent to leave his light burning for me to steer
+by. If it hadn't been for him I'd 'a' had a job to tell which was the
+right house. As it is, I've borne more to the right than I thought."
+
+At this moment the town clock struck ten, and almost immediately
+afterwards the light in the windows went out.
+
+"Never mind," remarked John to himself. "I know where I am now."
+
+Advancing a little further, he caught sight of the dim outline of the
+house through the rain, and turning short to his left, he measured off
+one hundred steps along the empty street, a distance which brought him
+opposite the next house to the east.
+
+All was dark and silent, as he had expected, but to make sure he
+approached the house and thumped upon the door. There was no reply.
+Again he thumped and struck the door sharply with the handle of his
+knife. Silence!
+
+"He's out all right," muttered John. "Was there ever such a lucky
+chance? Howling wind, driving rain, dark as the ace of spades, and Tom
+Connor not coming back for an hour!"
+
+Dark it surely was. The night was black. Not a glimmer of light in any
+direction. Even the town itself, only a quarter-mile away, seemed to
+have been blotted from the face of the earth.
+
+As he had noticed in coming across the flats that there were lights
+still burning in two of the other houses, the patient plotter, in order
+to give the inmates a chance to get to bed and to sleep, sat waiting on
+the leeward side of the building for a full half hour. At the end of
+that time, however, he arose, moved along a few steps, and then, going
+down on his hands and knees, crept under the house. Ten minutes later he
+came crawling out again, feet foremost. Once outside, he struck a match,
+and sheltering it in his cupped hands he applied the flame to the end of
+something which looked like a long, stiff cord about as thick as a lead
+pencil. Presently there was a sharp "spit" from the ignited "cord,"
+blowing out the match and causing John to shake his hand with a gesture
+of pain, as though it had been scorched.
+
+Next moment Long John sprang to his feet and fled away into the
+darkness; not straight across lots as he had come, but by a roundabout
+way which would bring him into town from the eastern side.
+
+Then, for two minutes, except for the roaring of the wind, all was
+silence.
+
+Joe and I were sound asleep on the floor of Tom's back room, when by a
+single impulse we both sprang out of bed with an irrepressible cry of
+alarm, and stood for a moment trembling and clinging to each other in
+the darkness. The sound of a frightful explosion was ringing in our
+ears!
+
+"What was it, Joe?" I cried. "Which direction?"
+
+"I don't know," my companion replied. "I hope it isn't an accident up at
+the Pelican. Let's get into our clothes, Phil."
+
+Lighting the lamp, we quickly dressed, and putting on our hats and
+overcoats we went out into the storm. All was dark, except that in the
+windows of each of the occupied houses in the row we could see a light
+shining. The whole street had been roused up.
+
+"It must have been a powder-magazine," Joe shouted in my ear. "Or else
+the boiler in the engine-house of the Pelican. What do you say, Phil?
+Shall we go up there? We might be able to help."
+
+"Yes, come on!" I cried. "Let's go and see first, though, if Tom hasn't
+a second lantern. We shall save time by it if he has."
+
+Our hurried search for a lantern was vain, however, so we determined to
+set off without one. As we closed the door behind us, our clock struck
+eleven, and a moment later we heard faintly the eleven o'clock whistle
+up at the Pelican.
+
+"Good!" cried Joe. "It isn't the boiler blown up, anyhow, so Tom's
+safe; for he is working underground and the explosion, whatever it was,
+was on the surface."
+
+With bent heads we pushed our way against the wind, until, looking up
+presently, I saw the light of a lantern coming quickly towards us.
+
+"Here's Tom, Joe," I shouted. "Pull up!"
+
+We stopped, and as the light swiftly approached we detected the beating
+footsteps of a man running furiously.
+
+"Then there is an accident!" cried Joe. "Ho, Tom! That you?" he shouted.
+
+It was Tom, who, suddenly stopping, held the lantern high, looking first
+at one and then at the other of us. He was still in his miner's cap and
+slicker, his face was as white as a ghost's, and he was so out of breath
+that for a moment he could not speak.
+
+"Hurt, Tom?" I cried, in alarm.
+
+"No,"--with a gasp.
+
+"Anybody hurt?"
+
+"No."
+
+"What is it, then?"
+
+"Scared!" And then, still panting violently: "Come to the house," said
+he.
+
+Once inside, I brought Tom a dipper of water, which quickly restored
+him, when, turning his still blanched face towards us, he said:
+
+"Boys, I've had the worst scare of my life!"
+
+"How, Tom?" I asked. "That explosion? Was it up at the Pelican?"
+
+"No, it wasn't; and I didn't know anything about it until I came up at
+eleven, when George, who was waiting to go on, told me there had been a
+heavy explosion down in the direction of my house. When he told me that,
+there rushed into my head all of a sudden an idea which nearly knocked
+me over--it was like a blow from a hammer. I grabbed the lantern, which
+I had just lighted, and ran for it. Can you guess what I expected to
+find?"
+
+We shook our heads.
+
+"I expected to find my house blown to pieces, and you two boys lying
+dead out in the rain!"
+
+We stared at him in amazement.
+
+"What do you mean?" I asked.
+
+"Look here, boys," Tom went on. "When George Simpson told me there had
+been an explosion down this way, it came into my head all at once that
+Yetmore or Long John--probably Long John--had heard that I was out at
+work to-night, and not knowing that you were staying the night with me,
+had come and wrecked my house."
+
+"But why should they?" Joe asked.
+
+"So as to prevent my raising money on it, and so keep me tied up in town
+while they skipped out to look for that vein of galena. I'm glad to find
+I was wrong. I did 'em an in----"
+
+He stopped short, and following his gaze, we saw that he was staring at
+the second window.
+
+"When did you put that in?" he cried.
+
+"Just after you left. We finished by nine o'clock."
+
+"How soon did you go to bed?"
+
+"Just after ten."
+
+"Come with me!" cried Tom, springing from his chair and seizing the
+lantern. "I know what's happened now!"
+
+With us two close at his heels, he led the way to the spot where
+Yetmore's empty house had stood. Not a vestige of it remained, except
+the upper part of the chimney, which lay prone in the great hole dug out
+by the violence of the explosion.
+
+"Boys," said Tom, in a tone of unusual gravity, "if you live a hundred
+years you'll never have a narrower squeak than you've had to-night. If
+Long John did this--and I'm pretty sure he did--he meant to blow up my
+house, but being misled by those two windows, he has blown up Yetmore's
+house instead. You never did, and I doubt if you ever will do, a better
+stroke of work in your lives than when you put in my second window!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE ORE-THEFT
+
+
+At half past five next morning Joe and I slipped out of bed, leaving Tom
+Connor, who had to go to work again at seven, still fast asleep. While
+Joe quietly prepared breakfast, I went out to examine by daylight the
+scene of last night's explosion.
+
+The first discovery I made was the imprint in the mud of footsteps, half
+obliterated by the rain. The tracks were very large and very far apart,
+proving that the owner of the boots that made them was a big man, and
+that he had gone off at a great pace; a discovery which tended to
+confirm in my mind Tom's guess that it was indeed Long John who had done
+the mischief.
+
+At this moment the tenant of the house next to the east came out--Hughy
+Hughes was his name; a Welshman--and as he walked towards me I saw him
+stoop to pick up something.
+
+"That was a rascally piece of work, wasn't it?" said he, as he joined
+me. "Scared us 'most to death, it did. See, here's the fuse he used. I
+just picked it up; fifteen feet of it. Wonder who the fellow was. Pretty
+state of things when folks take to blowing up each other's houses. Like
+enough Yetmore has his enemies, but it's a pretty mean enemy as 'd try
+to get even by any such scalawag trick as this."
+
+This speech enlightened me as to what would be the general theory
+regarding the outrage. It would be set down as an act of revenge on the
+part of some enemy of Yetmore's; and so Tom and Joe thought, too, when I
+went back to the house and told them about it.
+
+"That'll be the theory, all right," said Tom. "And as far as I see, we
+may as well let it go at that. We have no evidence to present, and it
+would look rather like malice on our part if we were to charge Long John
+with blowing his best friend's house to pieces just because we happen to
+suspect him of it. And so, I guess, boys, we may as well lay low for the
+present: we shan't do any good by putting forward our own theories.
+
+"I dare say," he went on, after a moment's reflection, "I dare say, if
+we were to go around telling what we thought and why we thought it, we
+might influence public opinion; but, when you come to think of it, we
+have no real proof; so we'll just hold our tongues. Are you in a hurry
+to get home?"
+
+"No," I replied. "We shan't be able to plow for two days at the very
+least, so there is nothing to hurry home for."
+
+"Well, then," said Tom, "I'll tell you what I wish you'd do. I must go
+back to work in a few minutes, but I wish you two would go down town and
+hear what folks have to say about this business, and then come back here
+and have dinner with me at twelve. Will you?"
+
+"All right," said I. "We'll do that."
+
+We found the town in a great state of excitement. Everybody was talking
+about the explosion, which, as the newspaper said, "would cast a blight
+upon the fair fame of Sulphide." Yetmore's store was crowded with
+people, shaking hands with him and expressing their indignation at the
+outrage; the universal opinion being, as we had anticipated, that some
+miscreant had done it out of revenge.
+
+Joe and I, squeezing in with the rest, presently found ourselves near
+the counter, when Yetmore, catching my eye, nodded to me and said:
+
+"How are you, Phil? I didn't know you were in town."
+
+"Yes," said I, "we came in last evening and spent the night in Tom
+Connor's house."
+
+Yetmore started and turned pale.
+
+"In Tom Connor's house?" he repeated, huskily.
+
+"Yes," I replied. "We were asleep in his back room when that explosion
+woke us up."
+
+At this Yetmore stared at me for a moment, and then, as he realized how
+narrowly he had missed being party to a murder, he turned a dreadful
+white color, staggered, and I believe might have fallen had he not sat
+himself down quickly upon a sack of potatoes.
+
+A draft of water soon brought back his color, when, addressing the
+sympathizing crowd, Yetmore said:
+
+"It made me feel a bit sick to think what chances these boys ran last
+night. Every one knows how hard it is to tell those houses apart; and
+that fellow might easily have made a mistake and blown up Tom Connor's
+house on one side or Hughy Hughes' on the other."
+
+"Yes," said I; "and all the more so as Joe and I last evening put a
+second window into Tom's house, so that any one coming across lots
+after dark might just as well have taken Tom's house for old Snyder's."
+
+"Phew!" whistled one of the men in the crowd. "Then it's Hughy Hughes
+that's to be congratulated. If that rascal _had_ made such a mistake,
+and had chosen the second house from Tom's instead of the second house
+from Snyder's we'd have been making arrangements for six funerals about
+now. Hughy has four children, hasn't he?"
+
+I could not help feeling sorry for Yetmore. Convinced as I was that he
+had at least connived in a plot to destroy Tom's house, I felt sure that
+he had been far from intending personal injury to any one; and I felt
+sure, too, that he was thoroughly sincere, when, rising from his seat
+and addressing the assemblage, he said:
+
+"Men, I'm sorry to lose my house, of course--that goes without
+saying--but when I think of what might have happened it doesn't trouble
+me that much"--snapping his finger and thumb. "I tell you, men, I'm
+downright thankful it was _my_ house that was blown up and nobody
+else's."
+
+As he said this he looked at Joe and me, and I felt convinced that it
+was to us and not to the assembled throng that he addressed his remark.
+The people, however, not knowing what we did, loudly applauded the
+magnanimity of the sentiment, and many of them pressed forward to shake
+hands again.
+
+Yetmore had never been so popular as he was at that moment. Everybody
+sympathized with him over his loss; everybody admired the dignified way
+in which he accepted it; and everybody would have been delighted to hear
+that some compensating piece of good fortune had befallen him.
+
+Strange to say, at that very moment that very thing happened.
+
+Suddenly we were all attracted by a distant shouting up the street.
+Looking through the front window, we saw that all the people outside had
+turned and were gazing in that direction. By one impulse everybody in
+the store surged out through the doorways, when we saw, still some
+distance away, a man running down the middle of the street, waving his
+cap and shouting some words we could not distinguish. We were all on
+tiptoe with expectation.
+
+At length the man approached, broke through the group, ran up to
+Yetmore, who was standing on his door-step, shook hands with him, and
+then turning round, he shouted out:
+
+"Great strike in the Pelican, boys! In the old workings above the
+fifth--Yetmore's lease. One of those pockets of tellurium that's never
+been known to run less than twenty thousand to the ton. Hooray for
+Yetmore!"
+
+The shout that went up was genuinely hearty. Once more the mayor was
+mobbed by his enthusiastic fellow citizens and once more he shook hands
+till his arm ached--during which proceeding Joe and I slipped away.
+
+We had not gone far when I heard my name called, and turning round I saw
+a man on horseback who handed me a letter.
+
+"I've just come up through your place," said he, "and your father asked
+me to give you this if I should see you."
+
+The note was to the effect that the rain had been heavy on the ranch, no
+plowing was possible, and so we were to stay in town that day and come
+down on the morrow after the mail from the south came in, as he was
+expecting an important letter, and it would thus save another trip up
+and down.
+
+We were glad enough to do this, so, making our way up the street past
+the knots of people, all talking over and over again the two exciting
+topics of the day, we retraced our steps to Tom's house, where we got
+ready the dinner against Tom's return. Shortly after twelve he came in,
+when we related to him what we had learned in town; demanding in our
+turn particulars of the great strike.
+
+"It's a rich strike, all right," said Tom, "but there isn't much of
+it--about five hundred pounds--just a pocket, and not a very large one.
+But it is very rich stuff, carrying over three thousand ounces of silver
+and a thousand of gold to the ton. The five hundred pounds should be
+worth ten or twelve dollars a pound. They've found the same stuff
+several times before in the Pelican, always unexpectedly and always in
+pockets."
+
+"Then," remarked Joe, "Yetmore will have made, perhaps, six thousand
+dollars this morning."
+
+"No, no," said Tom; "he won't have done anything of the sort; though I
+don't wonder you should think so after the way the people have been
+carrying on down town. They've just been led away by their enthusiasm.
+Most of 'em know the terms of Yetmore's lease well enough, but they have
+forgotten them for the moment. Yetmore pays the company a certain
+percentage of all the ore he gets out, and it is specially provided in
+the lease that should he come upon any of the well-known tellurium ore,
+the company is to have three-fifths of the proceeds and Yetmore only
+two-fifths. He'll make a good thing out of it though, anyway."
+
+"You say there's about five hundred pounds of the ore: have they taken
+it all out already?" asked Joe.
+
+"Yes, taken it out, sorted it, sacked it in little fifty-pound sacks,
+sewed up the sacks and piled them in one of the drifts, all ready to
+ship down to San Remo to-morrow by express."
+
+"Why do they leave it in the mine?" I asked. "Is it safer than taking it
+down to the express office?"
+
+"Yes: it would be pretty difficult to steal it out of the mine, with all
+the lights going and all the miners about, whereas, if it was just
+stacked in the express office, somebody might----"
+
+"Somebody might cut a hole in the floor and drop it through," remarked
+Joe, laughing.
+
+"That's so," said Tom, adding, "I tell you what it is, boys: I begin to
+think I wasn't quite so smart as I thought I was when I got back that
+coal oil for the widow. I wouldn't wonder a particle if it wasn't just
+that that decided Yetmore to come and blow my house to smithereens."
+
+"I shouldn't either," said Joe.
+
+Tom having departed to his work again, Joe and I once more went into
+town, where we spent the time going about, listening to the talk of the
+people, who were still standing in groups on the street corners,
+discussing the great events of the day.
+
+But if the people were excited, as they certainly were, their excitement
+was a mere flutter in comparison with the storm which swept over the
+community next morning.
+
+The ten sacks of high-grade ore had been stolen during the night!
+
+The news came down about eight o'clock in the morning, when, at once,
+and with one accord, all the men in the place who could get away swarmed
+up to the Pelican--we among them.
+
+The thief, whoever he was, was evidently familiar with the workings of
+the mine, for, going round into Stony Gulch, he had forced the door at
+the exit of the old tunnel, cutting out the staple with auger and saw,
+and then, clambering through the disused, waste-encumbered drifts, he
+had carried out the little sacks one by one and made away with them
+somehow.
+
+Wrapping his feet in old rags in order to disguise his foot-prints, he
+had taken the sacks of ore across the gulch to the stony ground beyond,
+where his boots would leave no impression, and there all trace of him
+was lost. Whether he had buried the sacks somewhere near by, or, if not,
+how he had managed to spirit them away, were matters of general
+speculation; though to most minds the question was settled when one of
+Yetmore's clerks came hastily up to the mine and called out that the
+roan pony and the two-wheeled delivery cart, used to carry packages up
+to the mines, were missing. The thief, seemingly, had not only stolen
+Yetmore's ore, but had borrowed Yetmore's horse and cart to convey it
+away.
+
+If this were true, it proved that the thief must have an intimate
+knowledge of the country, for, in spite of the heavy rain of the night
+before, not a sign of a wheel-mark was there to be found: the cart had
+been conducted over the rocks with such skill as to leave no trace
+whatever. Cart, pony, ore and thief had vanished as completely as though
+the earth had opened and swallowed them.
+
+At first everybody sympathized with Yetmore over his loss, but presently
+an ugly rumor began to get about when people bethought them of the terms
+of the lease. Those who did not like the storekeeper, and they were not
+a few, began to pull long faces, nudge each other with their elbows, and
+whisper together that perhaps Yetmore knew more of this matter than he
+pretended.
+
+Joe and I were at a loss to understand what they were driving at, until
+one man, more malicious or less discreet than the others, spoke up.
+
+"How are we to know," said he, "that Yetmore didn't steal this ore
+himself? Three-fifths of it belongs to the company--he'd make a mighty
+good thing by it. I'm not saying he did do it, but----"
+
+He ended with a closing of one eye and a sideways jerk of his head more
+expressive than words.
+
+"Oh, that's ridiculous!" Joe blurted out. "Yetmore isn't
+over-scrupulous, I dare say, but he's a long way from being a fool, and
+he'd never make such a blunder as to steal the ore and then use his own
+horse and cart to carry it off."
+
+"Well, I don't know," said the man. "It might be just a trick of his to
+put folks off the scent."
+
+And though Joe and I, for our part, felt sure that Yetmore had had
+nothing to do with it, we found that many people shared this man's
+suspicions; the consequence being that the mayor's popularity of the day
+before waned again as suddenly as it had arisen.
+
+In the midst of this excitement the mail-coach from the south came in,
+when Joe and I, carrying with us the expected letter for my father, set
+off home again; little suspecting--as how should we suspect--that the
+ore-thief, whoever he might be, was about to render us a service of
+greater value by far than the ore and the cart and the pony combined.
+
+We were jogging along on the homeward road, and were just rounding the
+spur of Elkhorn Mountain which divided our valley from Sulphide, when
+Joe suddenly laid his hand on my arm and cried: "Pull up, Phil. Stop a
+minute."
+
+"What's the matter?" I asked.
+
+"Get down and come back a few steps," Joe answered; and on my joining
+him, he pointed out to me in a sandy patch at the mouth of a steep draw
+coming in from the left, some deeply-indented wheel-marks.
+
+"Well, what of that, Joe?" said I, laughing. "Are you thinking you've
+found the trail of the ore-thief?"
+
+"No," Joe replied, "I'm not jumping at any such conclusion; but, at the
+same time, it's possible. If the ore-thief started northward from the
+Pelican, and the chances are he did, for we know he carried the sacks
+across to the north side of Stony Gulch, this would be the natural place
+for him to come down into the road; for it is plain to any one that he
+could never get a loaded cart--or an empty one either, for that
+matter--over the rocky ridge which crowns this spur. If he was making
+his way north, he had to get into the road sooner or later, and this
+gully was his last chance to come down."
+
+"That's true," I assented; "and this cart--it's a two-wheeler, you
+see--was heavily loaded. Look how it cuts into the sand."
+
+"Yes," said Joe; "and it was drawn by one smallish horse, led by a man;
+a big man, too: look at his tracks."
+
+"But the ore-thief, Joe, had his feet wrapped up in rags, and these are
+the marks of a number twelve boot."
+
+"Well, you don't suppose the thief would walk over this rough mountain
+with his feet wrapped up in rags, do you? In the dark, too. They'd be
+catching against everything. No; he would take off the rags as soon as
+he reached hard ground and throw them into the cart; for it is not to be
+expected either that he would leave them lying on his trail to show
+people which way he had gone."
+
+"No, of course not. But which way did he go, Joe; across the road or
+down it?"
+
+"Down it. See. The wheel-tracks bear to the left. And if you want
+evidence that he came down in the dark, here you are. Look how one wheel
+skidded over this half-buried, water-worn boulder and slid off and
+scraped the spokes against this projecting rock. Look at the blue paint
+it left on the rock."
+
+"Blue paint!" I cried. "Joe, Yetmore's cart was painted blue! I remember
+it very well. A very strongly-built cart, as it had to be to scramble up
+those rough roads that lead to the mines, painted blue with black
+trimmings. Joe, I begin to believe this is the ore-thief, after all."
+
+"It does look like it. But where was he going? Not down to the smelter
+at San Remo, surely."
+
+"Not he," I replied. "He would know better than that. The smelter has
+undoubtedly been notified of the robbery by this time, and the character
+of the Pelican tellurium is so well known that any one offering any of
+it for sale would have to give a very clear story as to how he came by
+it. No; this fellow will have to hide or bury the ore and leave it lying
+till he thinks the robbery is forgotten; and even then he will probably
+have to dispose of it at a distance in small lots or broken up very fine
+and mixed with other ore."
+
+"In that case," said Joe, "we shall find his trail leaving the road
+again on one side or the other."
+
+"I expect so. We'll keep a lookout. But come on, now, Joe: we mustn't
+delay any longer."
+
+The road had been traveled over by several vehicles since last night,
+and the trail of the cart was undistinguishable with any certainty until
+we had passed the point where the highway branched off to the right to
+go down to San Remo; after which it appeared again, apparently headed
+straight for the ranch.
+
+"Do you suppose he can have crossed our valley, Phil?" asked my
+companion.
+
+"No, I expect not," I replied. "Keep your eyes open; we shall find the
+tracks going off to one side or the other pretty soon--to the left most
+likely, for the best hiding-places would be up in the mountains."
+
+Sure enough, after traversing a bare, rocky stretch of road, we found
+that the tracks no longer showed ahead of us. The man had taken
+advantage of the hard ground to turn off. Pulling up our ponies, we both
+jumped to the ground once more, and going back a short distance, we made
+a cast on the western side of the road. In a few minutes Joe called out:
+
+"Here we are, Phil! See! The wheel touched the edge of this little sandy
+spot, and if you look ahead about forty yards you'll see where it ran
+over an ant-hill. It seems as though he were heading for our canyon. Do
+you think that's likely?"
+
+"Yes," I replied. "I think it is very likely. There is one place where
+he can get down, you remember, and then, by following up the bed of the
+stream for a short distance he will come to a draw which will lead him
+to the top of the Second Mesa--just the place he would make for. For, to
+any one knowing the country, as he evidently does, there would be a
+thousand good hiding-places in which to stow away ten small sacks of
+ore--you might search for years and not find them."
+
+"Yes," said Joe. "But there's the horse and cart, Phil. How will he
+dispose of them?"
+
+"Oh, that will be easy enough. He would tumble the cart into some canyon,
+perhaps, turn loose the horse, and be back in Sulphide before morning.
+But come on, Joe. We really mustn't waste any more time; it's getting on
+for six now."
+
+It was fortunate we did not delay any longer, for we found my father
+anxiously pacing up and down the room, wondering what was keeping us.
+Without heeding our explanation at the moment, he hastily tore open the
+letter we had brought, read it through, and then stepping to the foot of
+the stairs, called out:
+
+"Get your things on, mother. We must start at once. The train leaves at
+seven forty-five. There's no time to lose."
+
+Turning to us, he went on: "Boys, I have to go to Denver. I may be gone
+five or six days--can't tell how long. I leave you in charge. If you can
+get at the plowing, go ahead; but I'm afraid you won't have the chance.
+If I'm not mistaken, there's another rain coming--wettest season I
+remember. Joe, run out and hitch up the big bay to the buckboard. Phil,
+you will have to drive down to San Remo with us and bring back the rig.
+Go in and get some supper now; it's all ready on the table."
+
+In ten minutes we were off, I sitting on a little trunk at the back of
+the carriage, explaining to my father over his shoulder as we drove
+along the events of the last two days, and how it was we had taken so
+much time coming down from Sulphide.
+
+"It certainly does look as though the thief had come down this way,"
+said he; "and though we are not personally concerned in the matter, I
+think one of you ought to ride up to Sulphide again on Monday and give
+your information. Hunt up Tom Connor and tell him. And I believe"--he
+paused to consider--"yes, I believe I would tell Yetmore, too. I'm sure
+he is not concerned in this robbery; and I'm even more sure that if he
+was a party to the blowing up of that house, he never intended any harm
+to you. Yes, I think I'd tell Yetmore. It will prove to him that we bear
+him no ill-will, and may have a good effect."
+
+Having seen them off on the train, I turned homeward again, going
+slowly, for the clouds were low and it was very dark. The consequence
+was that it was nearly ten by the time I reached the ranch, and before I
+did so the rain was coming down hard once more.
+
+"Wet night, Joe," said I, as I pulled off my overcoat. "No plowing for a
+week, I'm afraid."
+
+"I expect not," replied my companion. "It isn't often we have to
+complain of too much rain in Colorado, but we are certainly getting an
+over supply just now. There's one man, though, who'll be glad of it."
+
+"Who's that?"
+
+"That ore-thief. It will wash out his tracks completely."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE SNOW-SLIDE
+
+
+The rain, which continued pretty steadily all day, Sunday, had ceased
+before the following morning, when, looking through the rifts in the
+clouds to the west we could see that a quantity of new snow had fallen
+on the mountains.
+
+"There'll be no trouble about water for irrigating this year, Joe," said
+I, as I returned from the stable after feeding the horses. "There's more
+snow up there, I believe, than I've ever seen before. It ought to last
+well into the summer, especially as the winds have drifted the gulches
+full and it has settled into solid masses."
+
+"Yes, there ought to be a good supply," answered Joe, who was busy
+cooking the breakfast. "Which of the ponies do you think I had better
+take this morning, Phil? The pinto?"
+
+"I thought so. I've given him a good feed of oats. He'll enjoy the
+outing, I expect, for he's feeling pretty chipper this morning. He
+tried to nip me in the ribs while I was rubbing him down. He needs a
+little exercise."
+
+We had arranged between us that Joe should ride to Sulphide that morning
+to see Tom Connor and Yetmore, as my father had directed; and
+accordingly, as soon as he could get off, away he went; the pinto pony,
+very fresh and lively, going off as though he intended to gallop the
+whole distance.
+
+Left to myself, I first went up to measure the flow of the underground
+stream, according to custom, and then, taking a shovel, I went to work
+clearing the headgates of our ditches, which had become more or less
+encumbered with refuse during the winter. There were two of them, set in
+niches of the rock on either side of the pool; for, to irrigate the land
+on both sides of the creek, we necessarily had to have two ditches. I
+had been at it only a few minutes when I noticed a curious booming noise
+in the direction of the mountains, which, continuing for a minute or
+two, presently died out again. From my position close under the wall of
+the Second Mesa, I could see nothing, and though it seemed to me to be a
+peculiar and unusual sound, I concluded that it was only a storm
+getting up; for, even at a distance of seven miles, we could often hear
+the roaring of the wind in the pine-trees.
+
+A quarter of an hour later, happening to look up the Sulphide road, I
+was rather surprised to see a horseman coming down, riding very fast. He
+was about a mile away when I first caught sight of him, and I could not
+make out who he was, but presently, as I stood watching, a slight bend
+in the road allowed the sunlight to fall upon the horse's side, when I
+recognized the pinto. It was Joe coming home again.
+
+I knew very well, of course, that he could not have been all the way to
+Sulphide and back in so short a time, and my first thought was that the
+spirited pony was running away with him; but as he approached I saw that
+Joe was leaning forward in the saddle, rather urging forward his steed
+than restraining him.
+
+"What's up?" I thought to myself, as I stood leaning on my shovel. "Has
+he forgotten something? He seems to be in a desperate hurry if he has:
+Joe doesn't often push his horse like that. Something the matter, I'm
+afraid."
+
+There was a rather steep pitch where the road came down into our valley,
+and it was a regular practice with us to descend this hill with some
+caution. Here, at any rate, I expected Joe to slacken his pace; but when
+I saw him come flying down at full gallop, where a false step by the
+pony would endanger both their necks, I knew there was something the
+matter, and flinging down my shovel, I ran to meet him.
+
+"What is it, Joe?" I cried, as soon as he came within hearing.
+
+Pulling in his pony, which, poor beast, stood trembling, with hanging
+head and legs astraddle, the breath coming in blasts from its scarlet
+nostrils, Joe leaped to the ground, crying:
+
+"A snow-slide! A fearful great snow-slide! Right down on Peter's house!"
+
+For a moment we stood gazing at each other in silence, when Joe,
+speaking very rapidly, went on:
+
+"We must get up there at once, Phil: we may be able to help Peter.
+Though if he was in his house when the slide came down, I'm afraid we
+can do nothing. His cabin must be buried five hundred feet deep, and the
+heavy snow will pack like ice with its own weight."
+
+"We'll take a couple of shovels, anyhow," I cried. "I'll get 'em. Pull
+your saddle off the pinto, Joe, he's used up, poor fellow, and slap it
+on to the little gray. Saddle my pony, too, will you? I'll clap some
+provisions into a bag and bring 'em along: there's no knowing how long
+we'll be gone!"
+
+"All right," replied Joe. And without more words, he turned to unsaddle
+the still panting pony, while I ran to the house.
+
+In five minutes, or less, we were under way.
+
+"Not too fast!" cried Joe. "We mustn't blow the ponies at the start.
+It's a good eight miles up to Peter's house."
+
+As we ascended the hill and came up on top of the Second Mesa, I was
+able to see for the first time the great scar on the mountain where the
+slide had come down.
+
+"Phew!" I whistled. "It was a big one, and no mistake. Did you see it
+start, Joe?"
+
+"Yes, I saw it start. I happened to be looking up there, thinking it
+looked pretty dangerous, when a great mass of snow which was overhanging
+that little cliff up there near the saddle, fell and started the whole
+thing. It seemed to begin slowly. I could see three or four big patches
+of snow fall from the precipice above Peter's cabin as though pushed
+over, and then the whole great mass, fifteen feet thick, I should
+think, three hundred yards wide and four or five times as long, came
+down with a rush, pouring over the cliff with a roar like thunder. I
+wonder you didn't hear it."
+
+"I did," I replied, remembering the noise I had taken for a wind-storm,
+"but being under the bluff, and the waterfall making so much noise, I
+couldn't hear distinctly, and so thought nothing of it. Why!" I cried,
+as I looked again. "There used to be a belt of trees running diagonally
+across the slope. They're all gone!"
+
+"Yes, every one of them. There were some biggish ones, too, you
+remember; but the slide snapped them off like so many carrots. It cut a
+clean swath right through them, as you see."
+
+"Where were you, Joe, when you saw it come down?" I asked.
+
+"More than half way to Sulphide. I came back in fifteen minutes--four
+miles."
+
+"Poor little Pinto! No wonder he was used up!"
+
+We had been riding at a smart lope, side by side, while this
+conversation was going on, and in due time we reached the foot-hills.
+Here our pace was necessarily much reduced, but we continued on up
+Peter's creek as rapidly as possible until the gulch became so narrow
+and rocky, and so encumbered with great patches of snow, that we thought
+we could make better time on foot.
+
+Leaving our ponies, therefore, we went scrambling forward, until, about
+half a mile from our destination, Joe suddenly stopped, and holding up
+his hand, cried eagerly:
+
+"Hark! Keep quiet! Listen!"
+
+"Bow, wow, wow! Bow, wow, wow, wow, wow!" came faintly to our ears from
+far up the mountain.
+
+"It's old Sox!" cried Joe. "There are no dogs up here!" And clapping his
+hands on either side of his mouth, he gave a yell which made the echoes
+ring. Almost immediately the sharp report of a rifle came down to us,
+and with a spontaneous cheer we plunged forward once more.
+
+It was hard work, for we were about nine thousand feet above sea level;
+the further we advanced, too, the more snow we encountered, until
+presently we found the narrow valley so blocked with it that we had to
+ascend the mountain-spur on one side to get around it. In doing so, we
+came in sight of the cliff behind Peter's house, and then, for the
+first time, we understood what a snow-slide really meant.
+
+Reaching half way up the thousand-foot precipice was a great slope of
+snow, completely filling the end of the valley; and projecting from it
+at all sorts of angles were trees, big and little, some whole, some
+broken off short, some standing erect as though growing there, some
+showing nothing but their roots. At the same time, from the edge of the
+precipice upward to the summit of the ridge, we had a clear view of the
+long, bare track left by the slide, with the snow-banks, fifteen or
+twenty feet thick, still standing on either side of it, held back by the
+trees.
+
+"What a tremendous mass of snow!" I exclaimed, "There must be ten
+million tons of it! And what an irresistible power! Peter's house must
+have been crushed like an eggshell!"
+
+"Yes," replied Joe. "But meanwhile where's Peter?"
+
+Once more he shouted; and this time, somewhere straight ahead of us,
+there was an answering shout which set us hurrying forward again with
+eager expectancy.
+
+At the same moment, up from the ground flew old Sox, perched upon the
+root of an inverted tree, where, showing big and black against the snow
+bank behind him, he set to work to bark a continuous welcome as we
+struggled forward to the spot, one behind the other.
+
+Beneath a tree, stretched on a mat of fallen pine-needles, just on the
+very outer edge of the slide, lay our old friend, the hermit, who, when
+he saw us approaching, raised himself on his elbow, and waving his other
+hand to us, called out cheerily:
+
+"How are you, boys? Glad to see you! You're welcome--more than welcome!"
+
+"Hurt, Peter?" cried Joe, running forward and throwing himself upon his
+knees beside the injured man.
+
+"A trifle. No bones broken, I believe, but pretty badly bruised and
+strained, especially the right leg above the knee. I find I can't
+walk--at least not just yet."
+
+"How did you escape the slide?" I asked.
+
+"Why, I had warning of it, luckily. I was up pretty early this morning
+and was just about to leave the house, when a dab of snow--a couple of
+tons, maybe--came down and knocked off my chimney. I knew what that
+meant, and I didn't waste much time, you may be sure, in getting out. I
+grabbed my rifle and ran for it. I was hardly out of my door when the
+roar began, and you may guess how I ran then. I had reached almost this
+spot when down it came. The edge of it caught me and tumbled me about;
+sometimes on the surface, sometimes on the ground; now on my face and
+now feet uppermost, I was pitched this way and that like a cork in a
+torrent, till a big tree--the one Sox is sitting on, I think--slapped me
+on the back with its branches and hurled me twenty feet away among the
+rocks. It was then I got hurt; but on the other hand, being flung out of
+the snow like that saved me from being buried, so I can't complain. It
+was as narrow a shave as one could well have."
+
+"It certainly was," said I. "And did you hold on to the rifle all the
+time?"
+
+"Yes; though why, I can't say. The natural instinct to hold on to
+something, I suppose. But how is it you are on hand so promptly? It did
+occur to me as I lay here that one of you might notice that there had
+been a slide and remember me, but I never expected to see you here so
+soon."
+
+"Well, that was another piece of good fortune," I replied. "Joe saw the
+slide come down and rode a four-mile race to come and tell me. We did
+not lose a minute in getting under way, and we haven't wasted any time
+in getting here either. But now we are here, the question is: How are we
+going to get you out?"
+
+"Where do you propose to take me?" asked Peter.
+
+"Down to our house."
+
+For a brief instant the hermit looked as though he were going to demur;
+but if he had entertained such an idea, he thought better of it, and
+thanked me instead.
+
+"It's very good of you," said he; "though it gives me an odd sensation.
+I haven't been inside another man's house for years."
+
+"Well, don't you think it's high time you changed your habits?" ask Joe,
+laughing. "And you couldn't have a better opportunity--your own house
+smashed flat; yourself helpless; and we two all prepared to lug you off
+whether you like it or not."
+
+"Well," said Peter, smiling at Joe's threat, "then I suppose I may as
+well give in. You're very kind, though, boys," he added, seriously, "and
+I'm very glad indeed to accept your offer."
+
+"Then let us pitch in at once and start downward," said Joe. "Do you
+think you could walk with help?"
+
+"I doubt it; but I'll have a try."
+
+It was no use, though. With one arm over Joe's shoulder and the other
+over mine he essayed to walk, but the attempt was a failure. His right
+leg dragged helplessly behind; he could not take a step.
+
+"We've got to think of some other way," said Joe, as Peter once more
+stretched himself at full length upon the ground. "Can we----"
+
+But here he was interrupted.
+
+All this time, Sox, with rare backwardness, had remained perched upon
+his tree-root, looking on and listening, but at this moment down he
+flew, alighted upon the ground near Peter's head, made a complete
+circuit of his master's prostrate form, then hopped up on his shoulder,
+and having promenaded the whole length of his body from his neck to his
+toes, he shook out his feathers and settled himself comfortably upon the
+hermit's left foot.
+
+We all supposed he intended to take a nap, but in another two seconds he
+straightened up again, eyed each of us in turn, and, with an air of
+having thought it all out and at last decided the matter beyond dispute,
+he remarked in a tone of gentle resignation:
+
+"John Brown's body."
+
+Having delivered this well-considered opinion with becoming solemnity,
+he threw back his head and laughed a rollicking laugh, as though he had
+made the very best joke that ever was heard.
+
+"You black heathen, Sox!" cried his master. "I believe you would laugh
+at a funeral."
+
+"Lies," said Sox, opening one eye and shutting it again; a remark which,
+though it sounded very much as though intended as an insult to Peter,
+was presumably but the continuation of his previous quotation.
+
+"Get out, you old rascal!" cried the hermit, "shooing" away the bird
+with his hat. "Your conversation is not desired just now." And as Sox
+flew back to his perch, Peter continued: "How far down did you leave
+your ponies, boys?"
+
+"About a mile," I replied.
+
+"Then I believe the best way will be for one of you to go down and bring
+up one of the ponies. I can probably get upon his back with your help,
+and then, by going carefully, I believe we can get down."
+
+"All right," said Joe, springing to his feet. "We'll try it. I'll go
+down. The little gray is the one, Phil, don't you think?"
+
+"Yes," I answered. "The little gray's the one; he's more sober-minded
+than my pony and very sure-footed. Bring the gray."
+
+Without further parley, away went Joe, and in about three-quarters of an
+hour he appeared again, leading the pony by the bridle.
+
+"It's pretty rough going," said he, "but I think we can make it if we
+take it slowly. The pony came up very well. Now, Peter let's see if we
+can hoist you into the saddle."
+
+It was a difficult piece of work, for Peter, though he had not an ounce
+of fat on his body, was a pretty heavy man, and being almost helpless
+himself, the feat was not accomplished without one or two involuntary
+groans on the part of the patient. At last, however, we had him settled
+into the saddle, when Joe, carrying the rifle, took the lead, while I,
+with the two shovels over my shoulder, brought up the rear. In this
+order the procession started, but it had no more than started when Peter
+called to us to stop.
+
+In order to avoid going up the hill more than was necessary, we were
+skirting along the edge of the great snow-bank, when, as we passed just
+beneath the big tree upon one of whose roots Socrates was perched,
+Peter, looking up to call to the bird, espied something which at once
+attracted his attention.
+
+"Wait a moment, boys, will you?" he requested, checking the pony; and
+then, turning to me, he continued: "Look up there, Phil. Do you see that
+black stone stuck among the roots? Poke it out with the shovel, will
+you? I should like to look at it."
+
+Wondering rather at his taking any interest in stones at such a time, I
+nevertheless obeyed his behest, and with two or three vigorous prods I
+dislodged the black fragment, catching it in my hand as it fell; though
+it was so unexpectedly heavy that I nearly let it drop.
+
+"Ah!" exclaimed Peter, when I had handed it up to him. "Just what I
+thought! This will interest Tom Connor."
+
+"Why?" we both asked. "What is it?"
+
+"A chunk of galena. Look! Do you see how it is made up of shining cubes
+of some black mineral? Lead--lead and sulphur. There's a vein up there
+somewhere."
+
+"And the big tree, pushing its roots down into the vein, has brought
+away a piece of it, eh?" asked Joe.
+
+"Yes, that is what I suppose. There are some bits of light-colored rock
+up there, too, Phil. Pry out one or two of those, will you?"
+
+I did as requested, and on my passing them to Peter, he said:
+
+"These are porphyry rocks. The general formation up there is limestone,
+I know--I've noticed it frequently--but I expect it is crossed
+somewhere--probably on the line of the belt of trees--by a porphyry
+dike. Put the specimens into your pocket, Joe; we must keep them to show
+to Connor. It's a very important find. And now let us get along."
+
+The journey down the gulch was very slow and very difficult--we made
+hardly a mile an hour--though, when we left the mountain and started
+across the mesa we got along better. When about half way, I left the
+others and galloped home, where I lighted a fire and heated a lot of
+water, so that, when at length Peter arrived, I had a steaming hot
+tubful all ready for him in the spare room on the ground floor.
+
+Though our friend protested against being treated like an invalid,
+declaring his belief that he would be about right again by morning, he
+nevertheless consented to take his hot bath and go to bed; though I
+think he was persuaded to do so more because he was unwilling to
+disappoint us after all our preparations, than because he really
+expected to derive any benefit.
+
+Be that as it may--and for my part I shall always hold that it was the
+hot bath that did it--when we went into Peter's room next morning, what
+was our surprise to find our cripple up and dressed. Though his right
+leg was still so stiff as to be of little use to him, he declined our
+help, and with the aid of a couple of broomsticks propelled himself out
+of his bedroom and into the kitchen, where Joe was busy getting the
+breakfast ready. His rapid recovery was astonishing to both of us;
+though, as Joe remarked later, we need not be so very much surprised,
+for, with his hardy life and abstemious habits he was as healthy as any
+wild animal.
+
+As we sat at our morning meal, we talked over our find of yesterday,
+and discussed what was the proper course for us to pursue.
+
+"First, and most important," said Peter, "Tom Connor must be notified.
+We must waste no time. The prospectors are beginning to get out, and any
+one of them, noticing the new scar on the mountain, might go exploring
+up there. When does Tom quit work on the Pelican?"
+
+"This evening," replied Joe. "It was this evening, wasn't it, Phil?"
+
+"Yes," I replied. "He was to quit at five this evening, and his
+intention then was to come down here next day and make this place his
+base of operations."
+
+"Then the thing to do," said Joe, "is for me to ride up there this
+morning--I started to go yesterday, you know, Peter--and catch Tom up at
+the mine at noon. When he hears of our discovery, I've not a doubt but
+that he will pack up and come back with me this evening, so as to get a
+start first thing to-morrow."
+
+"I expect he will," said I. "And while you are up there, Joe, you can
+see Yetmore and give him your information about those cart-tracks."
+
+"What do you mean?" asked Peter. "Information about what cart-tracks?"
+
+"Oh, you haven't heard of it, of course," said I; and forthwith I
+explained to him all about the ore-theft, and how we suspected that the
+thief was in hiding somewhere in the foot-hills. Peter listened
+attentively, and then asked:
+
+"Are you sure there was only one of them?"
+
+"Well, that's the general supposition," I replied. "Why?"
+
+"I thought there might be a pair of them, that's all. I'll tell you an
+odd thing that happened only the day before yesterday, which may or may
+not have a bearing on the case. When I got home about dusk that evening,
+I found that some one had broken into my house and had stolen a
+hind-quarter of elk, a box of matches, a frying-pan, and--of all queer
+things to select--a bear-trap. What on earth any one can want with a
+bear-trap at this season of the year, I can't think, when there is
+hardly a bear out of his winter-quarters yet; and if he was he'd be as
+thin as a rail. I found the fellow's tracks easily enough--tall man--big
+feet--long stride--and trailed them down the gulch to a point where
+another man had been sitting on a rock waiting for him. This other man's
+track was peculiar: he was lame--stepped short with his right foot, and
+the foot itself was out of shape. Their trail went on down the hill
+towards the mesa, but it was then too dark to follow it, and I was going
+off to take it up again next morning when that slide came down and
+changed my programme."
+
+"Well," said Joe, who had sat with his elbows on the table and his chin
+on his hands, listening closely, "where the lame man springs from I
+don't know, but if they should be the ore-thieves their stealing the
+meat and the frying-pan was a natural thing to do; for if they are going
+into hiding they will need provisions."
+
+"Yes," replied Peter; "and whether they knew of my place before or came
+upon it by accident, they would probably think it safer to steal from me
+than to raid one of the ranches and thus risk bringing all the ranchmen
+about their ears like a swarm of hornets."
+
+"That's true," said Joe. "Yes, I must certainly tell Tom and Yetmore
+about them: it may be important. And I'll start at once," he added,
+rising from the table as he spoke. "I'll take the buckboard, Phil, and
+then I can bring back Tom's camp-kit and tools for him; otherwise he
+would have to pack them on his pony and walk himself. I expect you will
+see us back somewhere about seven this evening."
+
+With that he went out, and soon afterwards we heard the rattle of wheels
+as he drove away.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+THE BIG REUBEN VEIN
+
+
+But it seemed as though Joe were destined never to get to Sulphide. I
+was still in the kitchen, when, not more than twenty minutes later, I
+heard the rattle of wheels again, and looking out of the window, there I
+saw my partner by the stable tying up his horse.
+
+"Hallo, Joe!" I cried, throwing open the door. "What's up?"
+
+Without replying at the moment, Joe came striding in, shut the door, and
+throwing his hat down upon the table, said:
+
+"I came back to tell you something. I've a notion, Phil, that we've got
+to go hunting for that vein ourselves, and not lose time by going up to
+tell Tom."
+
+"Why? What makes you think that, Joe?" I asked, in surprise.
+
+"That's what I came back to tell you. You know that little treeless
+'bubble' that stands on the edge of the canyon only about half a mile
+up-stream from here? Well, when I drove up the hill out of our valley
+just now I turned, naturally, to look at the scar on the mountain, when
+the first thing to catch my eye was the figure of a man standing on top
+of the 'bubble.'"
+
+"Is that so? What was he doing?"
+
+"He was looking at the scar, too."
+
+"How do you know that, Joe?" I asked, incredulously. "You couldn't tell
+at that distance whether he had his back to you or his face."
+
+"Ah, but I could, though," Joe replied; "and I'll tell you how. After a
+minute or so the man turned--I could see that motion distinctly
+enough--caught sight of me, and instantly jumped down behind the rocks."
+
+"Didn't want to be seen, eh?" remarked Peter. "And what did you do
+next?"
+
+"I felt sure he was watching me, though I couldn't see him," Joe went
+on, "and so, to make him suppose I hadn't observed him, I stayed where I
+was for a minute, and then drove leisurely on again. There's a dip in
+the road, you know, Phil, a little further on, and as soon as I had
+driven down into it, out of sight, I pulled up, jumped out of the
+buckboard, and running up the hill again I crawled to the top of the
+rise and looked back. There was the man, going across the mesa at a run,
+headed straight for Big Reuben's gorge!"
+
+Joe paused, and for a moment we all sat looking at each other in
+silence.
+
+"Any idea who he was?" I asked presently.
+
+"Yes," replied Joe, without hesitation. "It was Long John Butterfield."
+
+"You seem very sure," remarked Peter; "but do you think you could
+recognize him so far off?"
+
+"I feel sure it was Long John," Joe answered. "I have very long sight;
+and as the man stood there on top of the 'bubble,' with the sun shining
+full upon him, he looked as tall as a telegraph pole. Yes, I feel
+certain it was Long John."
+
+"Then Yetmore has started him out to prospect for that vein!" I cried.
+"He is probably camped in the neighborhood of Big Reuben's gorge,
+following up the stream, and I suppose he heard the roar of the slide
+yesterday and came down this way the first thing this morning to get a
+look at the scar."
+
+"That's it, I expect," Joe answered.
+
+"And you suppose," said Peter, "that he went running back to his camp
+to get his tools and go prospecting up on the scar."
+
+Joe nodded.
+
+"Then, what do you propose to do?" asked the hermit.
+
+"I've been thinking about it as I drove back," replied Joe, "and my
+opinion is that Phil and I ought to go up at once, see if we can't find
+the spot where that big tree was rooted out, and stake the claim for Tom
+Connor. If we lose a whole day by going up to Sulphide to notify Tom, it
+would give Long John a chance to get in ahead of us and perhaps beat us
+after all."
+
+The bare idea of such a catastrophe was too much for me. I sprang out of
+my chair, crying, "We'll go, Joe! And we'll start at once! How are we to
+get up there, Peter? There must be any amount of snow; and we are
+neither of us any good on skis, even if we had them."
+
+"Yes, there's plenty of snow," replied Peter promptly, entering with
+heartiness into the spirit of the enterprise, "lots of snow, but you can
+avoid most of it by taking the ridge on the right of the creek and
+following along its summit to where it connects with the saddle. You'll
+find a little cliff up there, barring your way, but by turning to your
+left and keeping along the foot of the precipice you will come presently
+to the upper end of the slide, and then, by coming down the slide, you
+will be able to reach the place where the line of trees used to stand,
+which is the place you want to reach."
+
+"Is it at all dangerous?" asked Joe.
+
+"Why, yes," replied Peter, "it is a bit dangerous, especially on the
+slide itself now that the trees are gone; though if you are ordinarily
+careful you ought to be able to make it all right, there being two of
+you. For a man by himself it would be risky--a very small accident might
+strand him high and dry on the mountain--but where there are two
+together it is reasonably safe."
+
+"Come on, then, Joe," said I. "Let's be off."
+
+"Wait a bit!" cried our guest, holding up his hand. "You talk of staking
+a claim for Tom Connor; well, suppose you _should_ find the spot where
+the big tree was rooted out, and _should_ find a vein there--do you know
+how to write a location-notice?"
+
+"No," said I, blankly. "We don't."
+
+"Well, I'll write you out the form," said Peter. "I've read hundreds of
+them and I remember it well enough, and you can just copy the wording
+when you set up your stake--if you have occasion to set one up at all."
+
+He sat down and quickly wrote out the form for us, when, pocketing the
+paper, we went over to the stable, saddled up, and leaving Peter in
+charge, away we rode, armed with a pick, a shovel, an ax and a coil of
+rope.
+
+According to the hermit's directions, instead of following up the bed of
+the creek which led to his house, we took to the spur on the right, the
+top of which being treeless, had been swept bare of snow by the winds
+and presented no serious obstacle to our sure-footed ponies. We were
+able, therefore, to ride up the mountain so far that we presently found
+ourselves looking down upon Peter's house, or, rather, upon the mountain
+of snow which covered it. But here the character of the spur changed,
+or, to speak more accurately, here the spur ended and another one began.
+Between the two, half-filled with well-packed snow, lay a deep crevice,
+which, bearing away down hill to our right, was presently lost among the
+trees.
+
+"From the lay of the land," said Joe, "I should judge that this is the
+head of the creek which runs through Big Reuben's gorge--Peter told us
+it started up here, you remember. And from the look of it," he
+continued, "I should suppose that the shortest way of getting over to
+the slide would be to cut right across here to the left through the
+trees. But that is out of the question: the snow would be ten feet over
+our heads; so our only way is to cross this gulch and go on up as far as
+we can along the top of the next ridge, as Peter said."
+
+"Then we shall have to leave the ponies here," I remarked, "and do the
+rest on foot: there's no getting them across this place."
+
+Accordingly, we abandoned our ponies at this point, and having with some
+difficulty scrambled across the gulch ourselves, we ascended to the
+ridge of the next spur and continued our way upward. This spur was
+crowned by an outcrop of rock, which being much broken up and the cracks
+being filled with snow, made the walking not only difficult but
+dangerous. By taking care, however, we avoided any accident, and, after
+a pretty stiff climb arrived at the foot of a perpendicular ledge of
+rocks which cut across our course at right angles--the little cliff
+Peter had told us we should find barring our way.
+
+Here, turning to the left, as directed, we skirted along the base of the
+cliff, sometimes on the rocks and sometimes on the edge of the snow
+which rested against them, until at last we reached a point whence we
+could look right down the steep slope of the slide.
+
+Covered with loose shale, the slope for its whole length appeared to be
+smooth and of uniform pitch, except that about three-quarters of the way
+down we could see a line of snow hummocks stretching all across its
+course, indicating pretty surely that here had grown a strip of trees,
+which being most of them broken off short had caught and held a little
+snow against the stumps.
+
+"There's where we want to get, Joe!" I cried, eagerly. "Down there to
+that row of stumps! This is a limestone country--all this shale, you
+see, is composed of limestone chips--but that tree-root in which we
+found the chunk of galena held two or three bits of porphyry as well,
+you remember, and if it did come from down there, there's a good chance
+that that line of stumps indicates the course of a porphyry outcrop, as
+Peter guessed, cutting across the limestone formation."
+
+"Well, what of that?" asked Joe. "Is a porphyry outcrop a desirable
+thing to find? Is it an 'indication'?"
+
+"It's plain you're no prospector, Joe," said I, laughing; "and though I
+don't set up to know much about it myself, I've learned enough from
+hearing Tom Connor talk of 'contact veins' to know that if there's a
+vein in the neighborhood the most promising place to look for it is
+where the limestone and the porphyry come in contact."
+
+"Is that so?" cried Joe, beginning to get excited. "Then let us get down
+there at once; for, ten to one, that's where our big tree came from."
+
+"That's all very well," said I. "The row of stumps is our goal, all
+right, but how are we going to get down there? I don't feel at all
+inclined to trust myself on this loose shale. The pitch is so steep that
+I should be afraid of its starting to slide and carrying us with it,
+when I don't see anything to stop us from going down to the bottom and
+over the precipice at the lower end."
+
+"That's true," Joe assented. "No, it won't do to trust ourselves on this
+treacherous shale; it's too dangerous. What we must do, Phil, is to get
+across to that long spur of rocks over there and climb down that. It
+will bring us close down to the line of stumps."
+
+The spur to which Joe referred, connecting at its upper end with the
+cliff at the foot of which we were then standing, reached downward like
+a great claw to within a short distance of the chain of snow hummocks,
+and undoubtedly our safest course would be to follow it to its lowest
+extremity and begin our descent from there. It was near the further edge
+of the slide, however, and to get over to it we had to take a course
+close under the cliff, holding on to the rocks with our right hands as
+we skirted along the upper edge of the shaly slope. It was rather slow
+work, for we had to be careful, but at length we reached our
+destination, when, turning once more to our left, we scrambled down the
+spur to its lowest point.
+
+"Now, Phil," cried Joe, "you stay where you are while I go down. No use
+to take unnecessary risks by both going down together. You sit here, if
+you don't mind, and wait for me; I won't be any longer than I can help."
+
+"All right," said I; "but take the end of the rope in your hand, Joe.
+No use for _you_ to take unnecessary risks, either."
+
+[Illustration: "HE SHOT DOWNWARD LIKE AN ARROW"]
+
+"That's a fact," replied my companion. "Yes, I'll take the rope."
+
+With a shovel in one hand and the end of the rope in the other, Joe
+started downward, but presently, having advanced as far as the rope
+extended, he dropped it and went cautiously on, using the shovel-handle
+as a staff. Down to this point he had had little difficulty, but a few
+steps further on, reaching presumably the change of formation we had
+expected to find, where the smooth, icy rock beneath the shale was
+covered only by an inch or so of the loose material, the moment he
+stepped upon it Joe's feet slipped from under him and falling on his
+back he shot downward like an arrow.
+
+I held my breath as I watched him, horribly scared lest he should go
+flying down the whole remaining length of the slope and over the
+precipice; but my suspense lasted only a few seconds, for presently a
+great jet of snow flew into the air, in the midst of which Joe vanished.
+The next moment, however, he appeared again, hooking the snow out of his
+neck with his finger, and called out to me:
+
+"All right, Phil! I fell into a hole where a tree came out. I'm going to
+shovel out the snow now. Don't let go of that rope whatever you do."
+
+So saying he set to work with the shovel, making the snow fly, while I
+sat on the rocks a hundred feet above, watching him. In about a quarter
+of an hour he looked up and called out to me:
+
+"I've found it, Phil. Right in this hole. It's the hole our big tree
+came out of, I believe. Can't tell how much of a vein, though, the
+ground is frozen too hard. Bring down the pick, will you? Come down to
+the end of the rope and throw it to me."
+
+In response to this request, having first tied a knot in the end of the
+rope and fixed it firmly in a crack in the rocks, I went carefully down
+as far as it reached, when, with a back-handed fling, I sent the pick
+sliding down to my partner.
+
+"Don't you think I might venture down and help you, Joe?" I called out.
+
+"No!" replied Joe with much emphasis. "You stay where you are, Phil. It
+would be too risky. I can do the work by myself all right."
+
+Still keeping my hold on the rope, therefore, I sat myself down on the
+shale, while Joe, pick in hand, went to work again. Pretty soon he
+straightened up and said:
+
+"I've found the vein all right, Phil; I don't think there can be a doubt
+of it. Good strong vein, too, I should say."
+
+"How wide is it?" I asked.
+
+"Can't tell how wide it is. I've found what I suppose to be the porphyry
+hanging-wall, right here"--tapping the rock with his pick--"and I've
+been trying to trench across the vein to find the foot-wall, but the
+shale runs in on me faster than I can dig it out."
+
+"What do you propose to do, then, Joe?"
+
+"Try one of those other holes further along and see if I can't find the
+vein again and get its direction. You sit still there, Phil. I shall
+want you to give me a hand out of here soon."
+
+With extreme caution he made his way along the line of stumps, helping
+himself with the pick in one hand and the shovel in the other, until,
+about a hundred yards distant, he arrived at another hole where a tree
+had been rooted out, and here he went to work again. This time he kept
+at it for a good half hour, but at length he laid down his tools, and
+for a few minutes occupied himself by building with loose pieces of rock
+a little pillar about eighteen inches high.
+
+"Can you see that, Phil?" he shouted.
+
+"Yes, I can see it," I called back.
+
+This seemed to be all Joe wanted, for he at once picked up his tools
+again, and with the same caution made his way back to the first hole.
+
+"What's your pile of stones for, Joe?" I asked.
+
+"Why, I found the vein again, hanging-wall and all, and I set up that
+little monument so as to get the line of the vein from here."
+
+Taking out of his pocket a little compass we had brought for the
+purpose, he laid it on the rock, and sighting back over his "monument,"
+he found that the vein ran northeast and southwest.
+
+"Phil," said he, "do you see that dead pine, broken off at the top, with
+a hawk's nest in it, away back there on the upper side of the gulch
+where we left the ponies?"
+
+"Yes," I replied, "I see it. What of it?"
+
+"The line of the vein runs right to that tree, and I propose we get
+back and hunt for it there. I don't want to set up the location-stake
+here: this place is too difficult to get at and too dangerous to work
+in. So I vote we get back to the dead tree and try again there. What do
+you say?"
+
+"All right," I replied. "We'll do so."
+
+"Very well, then I'll come up now."
+
+But this was more easily said than done. Do what he would, Joe could not
+get up to where I sat, holding out to him first a hand and then a foot.
+He tried walking and he tried crawling, but in vain; the rock beneath
+the shale was too steep and too smooth and too slippery. At length, at
+my suggestion, Joe threw the shovel up to me, when, on my lying flat and
+reaching downward as far as I could stretch, he succeeded in hooking the
+pick over the shoulder of the shovel-blade, after which he had no more
+difficulty.
+
+"Well, Joe," said I, when we had safely reached the rocks again, "it's
+just as well we didn't both go down together after all, isn't it?"
+
+"That's what it is," replied my partner, heartily. "If you had tried to
+come down with me we should both probably have tumbled into that hole
+together, and there we should have had to stay till somebody came up to
+look for us; and there'd have been precious little fun in that. Did it
+scare you when I went scooting down the slide on my back?"
+
+"It certainly did," I replied. "I expected to have to go down to Peter's
+house and lug _you_ home next--if there was any of you left."
+
+"Well, to tell you the truth, I was a bit scared myself. It was a great
+piece of luck my falling into that hole. It's a dangerous place, this,
+and the sooner we get out of it the better; so, let us start back, at
+once."
+
+Making our way up the spur, we again skirted along between the upper
+edge of the slide and the foot of the cliff, and ascending once more to
+the ridge, we retraced our steps down it until we presently arrived at
+the dead tree with the hawk's nest in it.
+
+Here, after a careful inspection of the ground, we went to work, Joe
+with the pick, and I, following behind him, throwing out the loose stuff
+with the shovel and searching through each shovelful for bits of galena.
+In this way we worked, cutting a narrow trench across the line where we
+supposed the vein ought to run, until presently Joe himself gave a
+great shout which brought me to his side in an instant.
+
+With the point of his pick he had hooked out a lump of galena as big as
+his head!
+
+My! How excited we were! And how we did work! We just flew at it, tooth
+and nail--or, rather, pick and shovel. If our lives had depended on it
+we could not have worked any harder, I firmly believe. The consequence
+was that at the end of an hour we had uncovered a vein fifteen feet
+wide, disclosing a porphyry wall on one side and a limestone wall on the
+other.
+
+The vein was not, of course, a solid body of ore. Very far from it.
+Though there were bits of galena scattered pretty thickly all across it,
+the bulk of the vein-matter was composed of scraps of quartz mixed with
+yellow earth--the latter, as we afterwards learned, being itself
+decomposed lead-ore--to say nothing of grass-roots, tree-roots and other
+rubbish which helped to make up the mass.
+
+But that we had found a real, genuine vein, even we, novices as we were
+at the business, could not doubt, and very heartily we shook hands with
+each other when our trenching at length brought us up against the
+limestone foot-wall. With the discovery of this foot-wall, Joe called a
+halt.
+
+"Enough!" he cried. "Enough, Phil! Let's stop now. We've got the vein,
+all right, and a staving good vein it is, and all we have to do for the
+present is to set up our location-stake. To-morrow Tom will come up
+here, when he can make his camp and get to work at it regularly, sinking
+his ten-foot prospect-hole. What are we going to name it? The 'Hermit'?
+The 'Raven'? The 'Socrates'?"
+
+"Call it the 'Big Reuben,'" I suggested.
+
+"Good!" exclaimed Joe. "That's it! The 'Big Reuben' it shall be."
+
+This, therefore, was the title we wrote upon our location-notice, by
+which we claimed for Tom Connor a strip of ground fifteen hundred feet
+in length along the course of the vein and one hundred and fifty feet
+wide on either side of it; and thus did our old enemy, Big Reuben, lend
+his name to a "prospect" which was destined later to take its place
+among the foremost mines of our district.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+THE WOLF WITH WET FEET
+
+
+We had been so expeditious, thanks largely to Joe's good judgment in
+tumbling into the right hole at the start when he slid down the shale,
+that we reached home well before sunset, when, according to the
+arrangement we had made as we rode down, Joe started again that same
+evening for Sulphide. This time he made the trip without interruption,
+and when at eight o'clock next morning he drove up to our house, Tom
+Connor was with him.
+
+"How are you, old man?" cried the latter, springing to the ground and
+shaking hands very heartily with our guest. "That was a pretty narrow
+squeak you had."
+
+"It certainly was," replied Peter. "And if it hadn't been for these
+boys, I'd have been up there yet. What's the news, Connor? Any clue to
+your ore-thieves?"
+
+"Not much but what you and the boys have furnished. But ask Joe, he'll
+tell you."
+
+"Well," said Joe, "in the first place, Long John has disappeared. He has
+not been seen since the evening before the robbery. No one knows what's
+become of him."
+
+"Is that so?" I cried. "Then I suppose the robbery is laid to him."
+
+"Yes, to him and another man. I'll tell you all about it. After I had
+been to the mine and given Tom our news, I went down town to Yetmore's
+and had a long talk with him. That was a good idea of your father's,
+Phil, that we should go and tell Yetmore: he took it very kindly, and
+repeated several times how much obliged he felt. He seems most anxious
+to be friendly."
+
+"It's my opinion," Tom Connor cut in, "that he got such a thorough scare
+that night of the explosion, and is so desperate thankful he didn't blow
+you two sky-high, that he can't do enough to make amends."
+
+"That's it, I think," said Joe. "And I believe it is a great relief to
+him also to find that we are not trying to lay the blame on him. Anyhow,
+he couldn't have been more friendly than he was; and he told me things
+which seem to throw some light on the matter of the ore-theft. There
+_was_ seemingly a second man concerned in it; a man with a club-foot,
+Peter."
+
+"Ah, ha!" said Peter. "Is that so?"
+
+"Yes. There used to be a man about town known as 'Clubfoot,' a crony of
+Long John's," Joe continued. "He was convicted of ore-stealing about
+three years ago, and was sent to the penitentiary. A few days ago he
+escaped, and it is Yetmore's opinion that he ran straight to Long John
+for shelter. On the night after the explosion he--Yetmore, I mean, you
+know--went to John's house 'to give the blundering numskull a piece of
+his mind,' as he said--we can guess what about--and John wouldn't let
+him in; so they held their interview outside in the dark. I gathered
+that there was a pretty lively quarrel, which ended in Yetmore telling
+Long John that he had done with him, and that he needn't expect him to
+grub-stake him this spring.
+
+"It is Yetmore's belief that the reason John wouldn't let him into his
+house--it's only a one-roomed shanty, you know--was that Clubfoot was
+then inside; and he further believes that John, finding himself deprived
+of his expected summer's work, and no doubt incensed besides at
+Yetmore's going back on him, as he would consider it, then and there
+planned with Clubfoot the robbery of the ore; both of them being
+familiar with the workings of the Pelican."
+
+"That sounds reasonable," remarked Peter; "though, when all is said and
+done, it amounts to no more than a guess on Yetmore's part. But, look
+here!" he went on, as the thought suddenly occurred to him. "If Long
+John is not prospecting for Yetmore or himself either, being supposedly
+in hiding, what was he doing on the 'bubble' yesterday?"
+
+"But perhaps he is prospecting for himself," Tom Connor broke in. "Here
+we are, theorizing away like a house afire on the idea that he is the
+thief, when maybe he had nothing to do with it. And if he is prospecting
+for himself, the sooner I get up to that claim the better if I don't
+want to be interfered with. I reckon I'll dig out right away. If you
+boys," turning to us, "can spare the time and the buckboard you can help
+me a good bit by carrying up my things for me."
+
+"All right, Tom," said I. "We can do so."
+
+Starting at once, therefore, with a load of provisions, tools and
+bedding, we carried them up the mountain as far as we could on wheels,
+and then packed them the rest of the way on horseback, when, having seen
+Tom comfortably established in camp near the Big Reuben--with the look
+of which he expressed himself as immensely pleased--Joe and I turned
+homeward again about four in the afternoon.
+
+We were driving along, skirting the rim of our canyon, and were passing
+between the stream and the little treeless "bubble" upon which Joe had,
+as he believed, seen Long John standing the day before, when my
+companion remarked:
+
+"I should very much like to know, Phil, what Long John was doing up
+there. Do you suppose----Whoa! Whoa, there, Josephus! What's the matter
+with you?"
+
+This exclamation was addressed to the horse; for at this moment the
+ordinarily well-behaved Josephus shied, snorted, and standing up on his
+hind feet struck out with his fore hoofs at a big timber-wolf, which,
+springing out from the shelter of some boulders on the margin of the
+canyon and passing almost under his nose, ran off and disappeared among
+the rocks.
+
+"He must have been down to the stream to get a drink," suggested Joe.
+
+"He couldn't," said I; "the canyon-wall is too steep; no wolf could
+scramble up."
+
+"Well, if he didn't," remarked my companion, "how did he get his feet
+wet? Look here at his tracks."
+
+As he said this, Joe pointed to the bare stone before us, where the
+wolf's wet tracks were plainly visible.
+
+"Well," said I, "then I suppose there must be a way up after all. Wait a
+moment, Joe, while I take a look."
+
+Jumping from the buckboard, I stepped over to the boulders whence the
+wolf had appeared, where, to my surprise, I found a pool, or, rather, a
+big puddle of water, which, overflowing, dripped into the canyon.
+
+Where the water came from I could not at first detect, but on a more
+careful inspection I found that it ran, a tiny thread, along a crack in
+the lava not more than a couple of inches wide, which, on tracing it
+back, I found we had driven over without noticing. Apparently the water
+came down from the "bubble" through a rift in the crater-wall.
+
+As I have stated before, several of the little craters contributed small
+streams of water to our creek, but this was not one of them, so,
+turning to my companion, I said:
+
+"Joe, this is the first time I have ever seen any water come down from
+that 'bubble.' Let us climb up to the top and take a look inside."
+
+Away we went, therefore, scrambling up the rocky slope, when, having
+reached the rim, we looked down into the little crater. The area of its
+floor was only about an acre in extent, but instead of being grown over
+with grass and sagebrush, as was the case with most of them, this one
+was covered with blocks of stone of all sizes, some of them weighing
+several tons. It was evident that the walls, which were only about
+thirty feet in height, had at one time been much higher, but that in the
+course of ages they had broken down and thus littered the little
+bowl-shaped depression with the fragments.
+
+The thread of water which had drawn us up there came trickling out from
+among these blocks of stone, and we set out at once to trace it up to
+its source while we still had daylight. But this, we found, was by no
+means easy, for, though the stream did not dodge about much, but ran
+pretty directly down to the crack in the wall, its course was so much
+impeded by rocks, under and around which it had to make its way--while
+over and around them we had to make _our_ way--that it was ten or
+fifteen minutes before we discovered where it came from.
+
+We had expected to find a pool of rain-water, more or less extensive,
+seeping through the sand and slowly draining away. What we actually did
+find was something very different: something which filled us with wonder
+and excitement!
+
+About the middle of the little crater there came boiling out of the
+ground a strong spring, which, running along a deep, narrow channel it
+had in the course of many centuries worn in the solid stone floor of the
+crater, disappeared in turn beneath the litter of rocks. A short
+distance below the spring the channel was half filled for some distance
+with fragments of stone of no great size, which, checking the rush of
+the water, caused it to lap over the edge. It was this slight overflow
+which supplied the driblet we had followed up from the canyon below.
+
+"Joe!" I exclaimed, greatly excited. "Do you know what I think?"
+
+"Yes, I do," my companion answered like a flash. "I think so, too. Come
+on! Let's find out at once!"
+
+Following the channel, we went clambering over the rocks, which just
+here were not quite so plentiful, until, at a distance from the spring
+of about fifty yards, we came upon a large circular pool in which the
+water flowed continuously round and round as though stirred with a
+gigantic spoon, while in the centre it spun round violently, a perfect
+little whirlpool, and sank with a gurgle into the earth.
+
+For a moment we stood gazing spellbound at this natural phenomenon,
+hardly realizing what it meant, and then, with one impulse, we both
+threw our hats into the air with a shout, seized each other's hands, and
+danced a wild and unconventional dance, with no witness but a solitary
+eagle, which, passing high overhead, paused for an instant in his flight
+to wonder, probably, what those crazy, unaccountable human beings were
+up to now.
+
+At length, out of breath, we stopped, when Joe, clapping his hands
+together to emphasize his words, cried:
+
+"At last we've found it, Phil! This, _surely_, is the water-supply that
+keeps the 'forty rods' wet!"
+
+"It must be," I replied, no less excited than my partner. "It must be;
+it can't be anything else. But how are we going to prove it, Joe?"
+
+"The only way I see is to divert the flow here; then, if our underground
+stream stops, we shall know this is it."
+
+"Yes, but how are we to divert it?"
+
+"Why, look here," Joe answered. "The spring, I suppose, is a little
+extra-strong just now, causing that slight overflow up above here. Well,
+what we must do is to take the line marked out for us by the overflow,
+and following it from the channel down to the crack in the crater-wall,
+break up and throw aside all the rocks that get in the way; then cut a
+new channel and send the whole stream off through the crack, when it
+will pour into the canyon, run across the ranch on the surface, and the
+'forty rods' will dry up!"
+
+He gazed at me eagerly, with his fists shut tight, as though he were all
+ready to spring upon the impeding rocks and fling them out of the way at
+once.
+
+"That's all right, Joe," I replied. "It's a good programme. But it's a
+tremendous piece of work, all the same. There are scores of rocks to be
+broken up and moved; and when that is done, there is still the new
+channel to be cut in the solid stone bed of the crater. The present
+channel is about eighteen inches deep; we shall have to make the new one
+six inches deeper, and something like a hundred feet long: a big job by
+itself, Joe."
+
+"I know that," Joe answered. "It's a big job, sure enough, and will take
+time and lots of hard work. Still, we can do it----"
+
+"And what's more we will do it!" I cried. "What's the best way of
+setting about it?"
+
+"We shall have to blast out the channel and blow to pieces all the
+bigger rocks," Joe replied. "It would take forever to do it with pick
+and sledge--in fact, it couldn't be done. We shall have to use powder
+and drill."
+
+"Well, then," said I, "I'll tell you what we'll do. We'll borrow the
+tools from Tom Connor. He left a number of drills, you know, stored in
+our blacksmith-shop, and he'll lend 'em to us I'm sure. One of us had
+better drive back to the Big Reuben to-morrow morning and ask him."
+
+"All right, Phil, we'll do so. My! I wish--it doesn't sound very
+complimentary--but I wish your father would stay away another week. I
+believe we can do this work in a week, and wouldn't it be grand if we
+could have the stream headed off before he got home! But how about the
+plowing, Phil? I was forgetting that."
+
+"Why, the only plowing left," I replied, "is the potato land, and that,
+fortunately, is not urgent; whereas the turning of this stream is
+urgent--extremely urgent--and my opinion is that we ought to get at it.
+Anyhow, we'll begin on it, and if my father thinks proper to set us to
+plowing instead when he gets home--all right."
+
+"Well, then, we'll begin on this work as soon as we can. And now, Phil,
+let us get along home."
+
+We had been seated on a big stone while this discussion was going on,
+and were just about to rise, when Joe, suddenly laying his hand on my
+arm, held up a warning finger. "Sh!" he whispered. "Don't speak. Don't
+stir. I hear some one moving about!"
+
+Squatting behind the rocks, I held my breath and listened, and
+presently I heard distinctly, somewhere close by, the tinkle of two or
+three chips of stone as they rolled down into the crater. Some one was
+softly approaching the place where we sat.
+
+Though to move was to risk detection, our anxiety to see who was there
+was too strong to resist, so Joe, taking off his hat, slowly arose until
+he was able to peep through a chink between two of the big fragments
+which sheltered us. For a moment he stood there motionless, and then,
+tapping me on the shoulder, he signed to me to stand up too.
+
+Peeping between the stones, I saw, not fifty yards away, a man coming
+carefully down the crater-wall on the side opposite from that by which
+we ourselves had entered. In spite of his care, however, he every now
+and then dislodged a little fragment of stone, which came clattering
+down the steep slope. It was one of these that had given us notice of
+his approach.
+
+There was no mistaking the tall, gaunt figure, even though the light of
+the sunset sky behind him made him look a veritable giant. It was Long
+John Butterfield.
+
+He was headed straight for our hiding-place, and it was with some
+uneasiness that I observed he had a revolver strapped about his waist.
+In appearance he looked wilder and more unkempt than ever, while the
+sharp, suspicious manner in which he would every now and then stop short
+and glance quickly all around, showed him to be nervous and ill at ease.
+
+While Joe and I stood there silent and rigid as statues, Long John came
+on down the slope, until presently he stopped scarce ten steps from us
+beside a big, flat stone. There, for a moment, he stood, his hand on his
+revolver, his body bent and his head thrust forward, his ears cocked and
+his little eyes roving all about the crater--the picture of a watchful
+wild animal--when, satisfied apparently that he was alone and
+unobserved, he went down upon his knees, threw aside several pieces of
+rock, and thrusting his arm under the flat stone, he pulled out--a sack!
+
+So close to us was he, that even in that uncertain light we could
+distinguish the word, "Pelican," stenciled upon it in big black letters.
+
+Laying this sack upon the flat stone, John reached into the hole again,
+and, one after another, brought out four others. Apparently there were
+no more in there, for, having done this, he rose to his feet again,
+looked all about him once more, and then walked off a short distance
+up-stream. At the point where the channel overflowed he stopped again,
+when, to our wonderment he pulled off his coat, rolled up one sleeve,
+and going down upon his knees, began scratching around in the water. In
+a few seconds he fished out one at a time five dripping sacks, all of
+which he carried over and set down beside the first five.
+
+Evidently he was working with some set purpose; though to us watchers it
+was all a perfectly mysterious proceeding.
+
+A few steps from where the sacks were piled was a little ledge of rock
+less than a foot high, above which was a steep slope covered with loose
+fragments of stone. Taking up the sacks, two at a time, John carried
+them over to this spot, laid them all, end to end, close under the
+little ledge, and then, climbing up above them, he sat down, and with
+his big, flat feet sent the loose shale running down until the row of
+sacks was completely buried.
+
+This seemed to be all he wanted, for, having examined the result of his
+work and satisfied himself apparently that the sacks were perfectly
+concealed, he turned and went straight off up the crater-wall again,
+pausing at the crest for a minute to inspect the country ahead of him,
+and then, stepping over the rim, in another moment he had vanished.
+
+"Come on, Phil!" whispered my companion, eagerly. "Let us see which
+direction he takes."
+
+"Wait a bit," I replied. "Give him five minutes: he might come back."
+
+We waited a short time, therefore, when, feeling pretty sure that John
+had gone for good, we scrambled to the summit of the ridge and looked
+out over the mesa. There we could see Long John striding away at a great
+pace, apparently making straight for Big Reuben's gorge.
+
+"Then Yetmore was right," said Joe. "Those fellows were the ore-thieves
+after all. I wonder if they haven't taken up their quarters in Big
+Reuben's old cave. It would be a pretty good place for their purpose."
+
+"Quite likely," I assented. "But what do you suppose, Joe, can have been
+Long John's object in coming down here and moving those ore-sacks?--for,
+of course, they are the Pelican ore-sacks. They were well enough
+concealed before."
+
+"It does look mysterious at first sight," replied Joe, "but I expect the
+explanation is simple enough. I think it is probable that when they
+brought the ore up here the two men divided the spoils on the spot, each
+hiding his own share in a place of his own choosing; and our respected
+friend, John, thinking to get ahead of the other thief, has just come
+and stolen his partner's share."
+
+"That would be a pretty shabby trick, but I expect it is just what he
+has done. He'll be a bit surprised when he finds that some one has
+played a similar trick on him. For, of course, we can't leave the sacks
+there, to be moved again if Long John should take the notion that the
+hiding place is not safe enough. How shall we manage it, Joe? If we are
+going to do anything this evening we must do it quickly: there won't be
+daylight much longer."
+
+After a moment's consideration, Joe replied: "Let us go down and carry
+those sacks outside the crater. Then get along home, and come back here
+with the wagon and team by daylight to-morrow and haul them off. It is
+too much of a load for the buckboard, even if we walked ourselves, so it
+won't do to take them with us now."
+
+"All right," said I. "Then we'll do that; and afterwards you can ride up
+to see Tom Connor about those tools, while I drive to Sulphide with the
+ore. Won't Yetmore be glad to see me!"
+
+There was no time to lose, and even as it was, the waning light made it
+pretty difficult to pick our way across the rock-strewn bottom of the
+crater with a fifty-pound sack under each arm, but at length we had them
+all safely laid away in a crack in the rocks just outside the crater,
+whence it would be handy to remove them in the morning.
+
+By the time we had finished it was dark, and we hurriedly drove off
+home, contemplating with some reluctance the chores which were still to
+be done. From this duty, however, we had a happy relief, for our good
+friend, Peter, anxious to make himself of some use, and taking his time
+about it, had managed to feed the horses and pigs, milk the cows, shut
+up the chickens and start the fire for supper--a service on his part
+which we very thoroughly appreciated.
+
+We had just sat down to our evening meal, and were telling Peter all
+about our two great finds of the afternoon, when our guest, whose long
+and solitary life as a hunter had made his hearing preternaturally
+sharp, straightened himself in his chair, and holding up one finger,
+said:
+
+"Hark! I hear a horse coming up the valley at a gallop!"
+
+At first Joe and I could hear nothing, but presently we detected the
+rhythmical beat of the hoofs of a horse approaching at a smart canter.
+Somebody was coming up from San Remo--for though a wheeled vehicle could
+not pass over the "forty rods," a horseman could pick his way--and
+knowing that nobody ever came that way in the "soft" season unless our
+house was his destination, I stepped to the door, wondering who our
+visitor could be. Great was my surprise when the horseman, riding into
+the streak of light thrown through the open doorway, proved to be
+Yetmore!
+
+"Why, Mr. Yetmore!" I cried. "Is it you? Come in! You're just in time
+for supper."
+
+"Thank you, Phil," replied the storekeeper, "but I won't stop. I was
+down at San Remo this afternoon, and it occurred to me to ride home this
+way and inquire of you if you'd seen or heard anything more of those
+ore-thieves. By the way, before I forget it: I brought your mail for
+you;" at the same time handing me one letter and two or three
+newspapers.
+
+"Thank you," said I, thrusting the letter into my pocket. "And as to the
+ore-thieves, Mr. Yetmore, we've seen one of them; but we've done
+something a good deal better than that--we've found the ore."
+
+"What!" shouted Yetmore, so loudly that Joe came running out, thinking
+there must be something the matter. "What! You've found the ore!"
+
+So saying, he leaped from his horse and seizing me by the arm, cried:
+"You're not joking, are you, Phil? For goodness' sake, don't fool me,
+boys. It's a matter of life and death to me, almost!"
+
+His anxiety was plainly expressed in his eager eyes and trembling hand,
+and I was glad to note the look of relief which came over his face when
+I replied:
+
+"I'm not fooling, Mr. Yetmore. We've found it all right--this evening.
+Come in and have some supper, and we'll tell you all about it."
+
+Yetmore did not decline a second time, but forgetting even to tie up his
+horse, which Joe did for him, he followed me at once into the kitchen,
+where, hardly noticing Peter, to whom I introduced him, and neglecting
+entirely the food placed before him, he sat down and instantly
+exclaimed:
+
+"Now, Phil! Quick! Go ahead! Go ahead! Don't keep me waiting, there's a
+good fellow! How did you find the ore? Where is it? What have you done
+with it?"
+
+Not to prolong his suspense, I at once related to him as briefly as
+possible the whole incident, winding up with the statement that we
+proposed to go and bring in the sacks by daylight on the morrow.
+
+At this conclusion Yetmore sprang to his feet.
+
+"Boys," said he, in a tremulous voice, "you've done me an immense
+service; now do me one more favor: lend me your big gun. I'll ride right
+up to the 'bubble' and stand guard over the ore till morning. If I
+should lose it a second time I believe it would turn my head."
+
+That he was desperately in earnest was plain to be seen: his voice was
+shaky, and his hand, I noticed, was shaky, too, when he held it out
+entreating us to lend him our big gun.
+
+I was about to say he might take it, and welcome, when Joe pulled me by
+the sleeve and whispered in my ear; I nodded my acquiescence; upon which
+my companion, turning to Yetmore, said:
+
+"We can do better than that, Mr. Yetmore. We'll hitch up the little
+mules and go and bring away the ore to-night."
+
+I have no doubt that to our anxious visitor the time seemed interminable
+while Joe and I were finishing our supper, but at length we rose from
+the table, and within a few minutes thereafter we were off; Yetmore
+himself sitting in the bed of the wagon with the big shotgun across his
+knees.
+
+As it was then quite dark, and as we did not wish to attract any
+possible notice by carrying a light, we were obliged to take it very
+slowly, one or other of us now and then descending from the wagon and
+walking ahead as a pilot. In due time, however, we reached the foot of
+the "bubble," when, leaving Yetmore to take care of the mules, Joe and I
+climbed up to the crevice, and having presently, by feeling around with
+our hands, found the hiding-place of the sacks, we pulled them out and
+carried them, one at a time down to the wagon. All this, being done in
+the dark, took a long time, and it was pretty late when we drew up again
+at our own door.
+
+Here, for the first time, Yetmore, striking a match, examined the ten
+little sacks.
+
+"It's all right, boys," said he, with a great sigh of relief. "These are
+the sacks; and none of them has been opened, either." He paused for a
+moment, and then, with much earnestness of manner, went on: "How am I to
+thank you, boys? You've done me a service of infinite importance. The
+loss of that ore almost distracted me: I needed the money so badly. But
+now, thanks to you, I shall be all right again. You don't know how great
+a service you have done me. I shan't forget it. We've not always been on
+the best of terms, I'm sorry to say--my fault, though, my fault
+entirely--but I should be very glad, if it suits you, to start fresh
+to-night and begin again as friends."
+
+He was so evidently in earnest, that Joe and I by one impulse shook
+hands with him and declared that nothing would suit us better.
+
+"And how about the ore, Mr. Yetmore?" I asked. "What will you do now?"
+
+"If you don't mind," he replied, "I should like to drive straight up to
+Sulphide at once. If you will lend me the mules and wagon, I'll set
+right off. I'll return them to-morrow."
+
+"Very well," said I. "And you can leave your own horse in the stable, so
+that whoever brings down the team will have a horse to ride home on."
+
+Yetmore, accordingly, climbed up to the seat and drove off at once,
+calling back over his shoulder: "Good-night, boys; and thank you again.
+I feel ten years younger than I did this morning!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE DRAINING OF THE "FORTY RODS"
+
+
+As soon as Yetmore was out of sight, Joe and I turned into the house,
+where we found that Peter, wise man, had gone to bed; an example we
+speedily followed. But, tired though we were, we could neither of us go
+to sleep. For a long time we lay talking over the exciting events of the
+day, and going over the probable consequences, if, as now seemed
+certain, we had indeed discovered the source of our underground stream.
+First and foremost, by diverting it we should dry up the "forty rods"
+and render productive a large piece of land which at present was more
+bane than benefit; we should bring the county road past our door; we
+should more than double our supply of water for irrigation purposes--a
+fact which, by itself, would be of immense advantage to us.
+
+At present we had no more than enough water--sometimes hardly enough--to
+irrigate our crops, but by doubling the supply we could bring into use
+another hundred acres or more. On either side of our present cultivated
+area, and only three feet above it, spread the first of the old
+lake-benches, a fine, level tract of land, capable of growing any crop,
+but which, for lack of water, we had hitherto utilized only as a dry
+pasture for our stock. By a test we had once made of a little patch of
+it, we had found that it was well adapted to the cultivation of wheat;
+and as I lay there thinking--Joe having by this time departed to the
+land of dreams--I pictured in my mind the whole area converted into one
+flourishing wheat-field; I built a castle in the air in the shape of a
+flour-mill which I ran by power derived from our waterfall; and with a
+two-ton load of flour I was in imagination driving down to San Remo over
+the splendid road which traversed the now solid "forty rods," when a
+light shining in my face disturbed me.
+
+It was the sun pouring in at our east window!
+
+Half-past seven! And we still in bed! Such a thing had not happened to
+me since that time when, a rebellious infant, I had been kept in bed
+perforce with a light attack of the measles.
+
+Needless to say, we were up and dressed in next to no time, when, on
+descending to the kitchen, we found another surprise in store for us.
+Peter was gone! He must have been gone some hours, too, for the fire in
+the range had burned out. He had not deserted us, however, for on the
+table was a bit of paper upon which he had written, "Back pretty soon.
+Wait for me"--a behest we duly obeyed, not knowing what else to do.
+
+About an hour later I heard the trampling of horses outside the front
+door, and going out, there I saw Peter stiffly descending from the back
+of our gray pony; while beside him, with a broad grin on his jolly face,
+stood Tom Connor.
+
+"Why, Tom!" I cried. "What brings you here?"
+
+Tom laughed. "Didn't expect to see me, eh, Phil," said he. "It's Peter's
+doing. While you two lazy young rascals were snoring away in bed, he
+started out at four-thirty this morning and rode all the way up to my
+camp to borrow my tools for you. And when he told me what you wanted 'em
+for, I decided to come down, too. You did me a good turn in finding the
+Big Reuben for me--and 'big' is the word for it, Phil, I can tell
+you--and so I thought I couldn't do less than come down here for a day
+or two and give you a hand. It's probable I can help you a good bit
+with your trench-cutting."
+
+"There's no doubt about that, Tom," I replied. "We shall be mighty glad
+of your help. You can give us a starter, anyhow. But you, Peter, we
+couldn't think what had become of you. Don't you think it was a bit
+risky to go galloping about the country with that game leg of yours?"
+
+"I couldn't very well go without it," replied our guest, laughing. "No,
+I don't think so," he added, more seriously. "It was easy enough, all
+except the mounting and dismounting. In fact, Phil, I'm so nearly all
+right again that I should have no excuse to be hanging around here any
+longer if it were not that I can be of use to you by taking all the
+chores off your hands, thus leaving you and Joe free to get about your
+work in the crater."
+
+"That will be a great help," I replied. "Though as to letting you go,
+Peter, we don't intend to do that, at least till my father and mother
+get home."
+
+"When _do_ they get home?" asked Tom. "Have you heard from them since
+they left?"
+
+"Why!" I cried, suddenly remembering the letter Yetmore had brought up
+from San Remo the previous evening. "I have a letter from my father in
+my pocket now. I'd forgotten all about it."
+
+Quickly tearing it open, I read it through. It was very short, being
+written mainly with the object of informing me that he was delayed and
+would not be home until the afternoon of the following Wednesday. This
+was Friday.
+
+"Joe!" I shouted; and Joe, who was in the stable, came running at the
+call. "Joe," I cried, "we have till Wednesday afternoon to turn that
+stream. Four full days. Tom is going to help us. Peter will take the
+chores. Can we make it?"
+
+"Good!" cried Joe. "Great! Make it? I should think so. We'll do it if we
+have to work night and day. My! But this is fine!"
+
+He rubbed his hands in anticipation of the task ahead of him. I never
+did know a fellow who took such delight in tackling a job which had
+every appearance of being just a little too big for him.
+
+We did not waste any time, you may be sure. Having picked out the
+necessary tools, we went off at once, taking our dinners with us, and
+arriving at the foot of the "bubble," we carried up into the crater the
+drills, hammers and other munitions of war we had brought with us.
+
+"I thought you said there was a driblet of water running out at the
+crevice," remarked Tom. "I don't see it."
+
+"There was yesterday," I replied, "but it seems to have stopped. I
+wonder why."
+
+"That's easily accounted for," said Joe. "It was those sacks lying in
+the channel which backed up the water and made it overflow, and when
+Long John cleared the course by pulling out the sacks it didn't overflow
+any more."
+
+"Then it's to Long John you owe this discovery!" cried Tom. "If 'The
+Wolf' hadn't blocked that channel the water would not have run down to
+the canyon, and the other wolf would not have got his feet wet; and if
+the other wolf had not got his feet wet, you would never have thought of
+coming up here."
+
+"That's all true," I assented. "In fact, you may go further than that
+and say that if John had not stolen the ore he would not have blocked
+the channel with it, and we should not have found the spring; if Yetmore
+had not given John leave to blow up your house, John would not have
+stolen the ore; if you had not bored a hole in Yetmore's oil-barrel,
+Yetmore would not have given John leave--it's like the story of 'The
+House that Jack Built.' And so, after all, it is to you we owe this
+discovery, Tom."
+
+"Well, that's one way of getting at it," said Tom, laughing. "But, come
+on! Let's pick out our line and get to work."
+
+"This won't be so much of a job," he remarked, when we had gone over the
+ground. "You ought to make quick work of it. We'll follow the wet mark
+left by the overflow, throw all these rocks out of the way, and then
+pitch in and cut our trench. Come on, now; let's begin at once. Phil,
+you throw aside all the rocks you can lift; Joe, take the sledge and
+crack all those too heavy to handle; I'll take the single-hand drill and
+hammer and put some shots into the big ones. Now, boys, blaze away, and
+let's see how much of a mark we can make before sunset."
+
+Blaze away we did! Never before had Joe and I worked so hard for so long
+a stretch; not a minute did we lose, except on those four or five
+occasions when Tom, having put down a hole into one of the large
+pieces, called out to us to get to cover, when, running for shelter, we
+crouched behind some friendly rock until a sharp, cracking explosion
+told us that another of the big obstructions was out of the way.
+
+So hard did we work, in fact, and so systematically, that by sunset we
+had cleared a path six feet wide. There remained only one more of the
+big rocks to break up, and into this Tom put a three-foot hole, which he
+charged and tamped, when, sending us ahead to hitch up the horse, he
+touched off the fuse, the explosion following just as we started
+homeward.
+
+"A great day's work, boys!" cried Tom. "If it wasn't for the training
+you've had all winter handling rocks, you never could have done it.
+There is a good chance now, I think, of getting the trench cut before
+Wednesday evening. I'll work with you all day to-morrow--I must get back
+to my camp then--and that will leave you two days and a half to finish
+up the job. You ought to do it if you keep hard at it."
+
+By sunrise next morning we were at it again, working under Tom's
+direction, in the same systematic manner.
+
+"Take the sledge, Joe," said he, "and crack up the fragments of that
+big rock we shot to pieces last night. Phil, you and I will put down our
+first hole, beginning here at the crevice and working upward. Now! Let's
+get to work!"
+
+Tom and I, therefore, went to work with drill and hammer, Tom taking the
+larger share of the striking; for though the swinging of the seven-pound
+hammer is the harder part of the work, the turning of the drill is the
+more particular, and as our instructor justly remarked, it was as well I
+should have all the practice I could get while he was on hand to
+superintend.
+
+The hole being deep enough, Tom made me load and tamp it with my own
+hands, using black powder, which, though perhaps less effective for this
+particular kind of work than giant powder would have been, he regarded
+as safer for novices like ourselves to handle.
+
+Our first shot broke out the rock in very good style, and then, while I
+busied myself cracking up the big pieces and throwing them aside, Joe
+took my place.
+
+The second hole was loaded and tamped by Joe, under Tom's supervision;
+after which my partner once more took the sledge, while I turned drill
+again.
+
+In this order we worked all day, making, before quitting time, such
+encouraging progress that we felt very hopeful of getting the task
+completed before my father's return.
+
+Tom having fairly started us, went back to his camp on Lincoln, leaving
+Joe and me to continue the work by ourselves; and sorely did we miss our
+expert miner when, on the Monday morning, we returned to the crater.
+Though we kept steadily at it all day, our progress was noticeably
+slower than it had been the first day, for, besides the fact that there
+were only two of us, and those the least skilful, as we ascended towards
+the stream each hole was a little deeper than the last, each charge a
+little stronger, and each shot blew out a greater amount of rock to be
+broken up and cast aside.
+
+Nevertheless, we made very satisfactory headway, and continuing our work
+the next two days with unabated energy and some increase of skill with
+every hole we put down, we made such progress that by two o'clock on the
+Wednesday afternoon there remained but three feet of rock to be shot out
+to make connection with the channel.
+
+I was for blasting this out forthwith, but Joe on the other hand
+suggested that we trim up our trench a little before turning in the
+water; for, hitherto, we had merely thrown out the loose pieces, and
+there were in consequence many projections and jagged corners both in
+the sides and bottom of our proposed water-course. These we attacked
+with sledge and crowbar, and in two hours or so had them pretty well
+cleared out of the way, when we went to work putting down our last hole.
+
+As we wanted to make a sure thing of it, we sank this hole rather
+deeper than any of the others, charging it with an extra allowance
+of powder. Then, the tools having been removed, I touched off the fuse
+and ran for shelter behind the big rock where Joe was already crouching,
+making himself as small as possible. Presently there was a tremendous
+bang! Rocks of every size and shape were flung broadcast all over
+the crater--some of them coming down uncomfortably close to our
+hiding-place--but as soon as the clatter ceased, up we both jumped and
+ran to see the result.
+
+Nothing could have been better. Our last shot had torn a great hole,
+extending across almost the whole width of the old channel, and our
+trench being six inches or more below the original level, the whole
+stream at once rushed into it, leaving its former bed high and dry.
+
+"Hooray, for us!" shouted Joe. "Come on, Phil! Let us run down and see
+it go into the canyon."
+
+Away we went; but as the crater-side was pretty steep we had to descend
+with some caution; whereas the water, having no neck to break, went down
+headlong. The consequence was that the stream beat us to the canyon by a
+hundred yards, and by the time we arrived it was pouring over the edge
+in a sixty-foot cascade.
+
+We were in time, however, to see a wall of foam flying down the canyon; a
+sight which, while it delighted us, at the same time gave us something
+of a start.
+
+"Joe!" I cried. "How about our bridge?"
+
+"Pht!" Joe whistled. "I never thought of it. It will go out, I'm afraid.
+Let us get down there at once."
+
+Off we ran to where our horse was standing, eating hay out of the back
+of the buckboard, threw on the harness, hitched him up, and scrambling
+in, one on either side, away we went as fast as we dared over the
+uneven, rocky stretch of the mesa which lay between us and home.
+
+The course of the stream being more circuitous than the one we took
+across country, we beat the water down to the ranch; but only by a few
+seconds. We had hardly reached the bridge when the swollen stream leaped
+into the pool in such volume that I felt convinced it would sweep it
+clear of all the sand in it whether black or yellow; rushed under the
+bridge, and went tearing down the valley--a sight to see! Luckily the
+creek-bed was fairly wide and straight, so that the banks did not suffer
+much.
+
+As to the bridge, the stringers being very long and well set, and the
+floor being composed of stout poles roughly squared and firmly spiked
+down, it did not go out, though the water came squirting up between the
+poles in a way which made us fear it might tear them loose at any
+moment.
+
+To prevent this, we ran quickly to the stable, harnessed up the mules to
+the wood-sled, loaded the sled with some of our big flat lava-rocks, and
+driving back to the bridge, we laid these rocks upon the ends of the
+poles, leaving a causeway between them wide enough for the passage of a
+wagon.
+
+We had just finished this piece of work, when we heard a rattle of
+wheels, and looking up the road we saw coming down the hill an
+express-wagon, driven by Sam Tobin, a San Remo liveryman, and in the
+wagon sat my father and mother.
+
+"Why, what's all this?" cried the former, as the driver pulled up on the
+far side of the bridge. "Where does all this water come from?"
+
+Then did the pent-up excitement of the past week burst forth. The flood
+of water going under the bridge was a trifle compared with the flood of
+words we poured out upon my bewildered parents; both of us talking at
+the same time, interrupting each other at every turn, explaining each
+other's explanations, and tumbling over each other, as it were, in our
+eagerness. All the details of the strenuous days since the snow-slide
+came down--the discovery of the Big Reuben, the recovery of the stolen
+ore, and above all the heading-off of the underground stream--were set
+forth with breathless volubility; so that if the hearers were a little
+dazed by the recital and a trifle confused as to the particulars, it
+was not to be wondered at. One thing, at least, was clear to them: we
+had found and turned the underground stream; and when he understood
+that, my father leaped from the wagon, and shaking hands with both of us
+at once, he cried:
+
+"Boys, you certainly _have_ done a stroke of work! If it had taken you a
+year instead of a week it would have been more than worth the labor. As
+to its actual money value, it is hard to judge yet; but whether that
+shall turn out to be much or little, there is one thing sure:--we have
+our work cut out for us for years to come--a grand thing by itself for
+all of us. And now, let us go on up to the house: Sam Tobin wants to get
+back home as soon as possible."
+
+This the driver was able to do at once, for the livery horses,
+frightened by the water which came spurting up through the floor of the
+bridge, declined to cross, so Joe and I, taking out the trunk, placed it
+on the wood-sled and thus drew it up to the house.
+
+As we walked along, my mother said:
+
+"So the hermit has been staying with you, has he? And what sort of a man
+_is_ your wild man now you've caught him?"
+
+"He isn't a wild man at all," cried Joe, somewhat indignantly. "He's a
+fine fellow--isn't he, Phil? He has been of great help to us these last
+few days. We could never have finished our trench in time if he hadn't
+taken the chores off our hands. He is in the kitchen now, getting the
+supper ready. I'll run and bring him out."
+
+So saying, Joe ran forward--we others walking on more leisurely--and as
+we approached the house the pair came out of the front door side by
+side.
+
+In spite of Joe's assurance to the contrary, my parents still had in
+their minds the idea that any one going by the name of "Peter, the
+Hermit" must be a rough, hirsute, unkempt specimen of humanity. Great
+was their surprise, therefore, when Peter, always clean and tidy, his
+hair and beard neatly trimmed in honor of their return, issued from the
+doorway, looking, with his clear gray eyes, his ruddy complexion and his
+spare, erect figure, remarkably young and alert.
+
+There was an added heartiness in their welcome, therefore, when Joe
+proudly introduced him; and though Peter threw out hints about sleeping
+in the hay-loft that night and taking himself off the first thing in the
+morning, my mother scouted the idea, telling him how she had long
+desired to make his acquaintance, and intimating that she should take it
+as a very poor compliment to herself if he should run off the moment she
+got home.
+
+So Peter, set quite at his ease, said no more about it, but went back
+into the kitchen, whence he presently issued again to announce that
+supper was ready.
+
+A very hearty and a very merry supper it was, too, and long and animated
+was the talk which followed, as we sat before the open fire that
+evening.
+
+"I feel almost bewildered," said my father, "when I think of the amount
+and the variety of the work we have before us; it is astonishing that
+the turning of that stream should carry with it so many consequences, as
+I foresee it will--that and Tom Connor's strike."
+
+"There's no end to it!" cried Joe, jumping out of his chair, striding up
+and down the room, and, for the last time in this history, rumpling his
+hair in his excitement. "There's no end to it! There's the hay-corral to
+enlarge--rock hauling all winter for you and me, Phil! We shall need a
+new ice-pond; for this new water-supply won't freeze up in winter like
+the old one did! Then, when the 'forty rods' dries up, there will be the
+extension of our ditches down there; besides making a first-class road
+to bring all the travel our way--plenty of work in that, too! Then, when
+we bring the old lake-benches under cultivation, there will be new
+headgates needed and two new ditches to lay out, besides breaking the
+ground! Then----Oh, what's the use? There's no end to it--just no end to
+it!"
+
+Joe was quite right. There was, and there still seems to be, no end to
+it.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The effect of Tom Connor's strike on Mount Lincoln was just what my
+father had predicted: our whole district took a great stride forward;
+the mountains swarmed with prospectors; the town of Sulphide hummed with
+business; our new friend, Yetmore, doing a thriving trade, while our old
+friend, Mrs. Appleby, followed close behind, a good second.
+
+As for Tom, himself, he is one of our local capitalists now, but he is
+the same old Tom for all that. Just as he used to do when he was poor,
+so he continues to do now he is rich: any tale of distress will empty
+his pocket on the spot. Though my father remonstrates with him
+sometimes, Tom only laughs and remarks that it is no use trying to teach
+old dogs new tricks; and moreover he does not see why he should not
+spend his money to suit himself. And so he goes his own way, more than
+satisfied with the knowledge that every man, woman and child in the
+district counts Tom Connor as a friend.
+
+The fate of those two poor ore-thieves was so horrible that I hesitate
+to mention it. It was six months later that a prospector on one of the
+northern spurs of Lincoln came upon two dead bodies. One, a club-footed
+man, had been shot through the head; the other, unmistakably Long John,
+was lying on his back, an empty revolver beside him, and one foot caught
+in a bear-trap. Though the truth will never be known, the presumption is
+that, setting the stolen trap in a deer run in the hope of catching a
+deer, they had got into a quarrel; Clubfoot, striking at his companion,
+had caused him to step backward into the trap, when, in his pain and
+rage, Long John had whipped out his revolver and shot the other. What
+his own fate must have been is too dreadful to contemplate.
+
+And the Crawford ranch? Well, the Crawford ranch is the busiest place in
+the county.
+
+Peter, for whom my parents, like ourselves, took a great liking, quickly
+thawed out under my mother's influence, and related to us briefly the
+reason for his having taken to his solitary life. He had been a
+school-teacher in Denver, but losing his wife and two children in an
+accident, he had fled from the place and had hidden himself up in our
+mountains, where for several years he had spent a lonely existence with
+no company but old Socrates. Now, however, his house destroyed and his
+mountain overrun with prospectors, he needed little inducement to
+abandon his old hermit-life; and accepting gladly my father's suggestion
+that he stay and work on the ranch, he built for himself a good log
+cabin up near the waterfall, and there he and Socrates took up their
+residence.
+
+There was plenty of work for him and for all of us--indeed, for the
+first two years there was almost more than we could do. It took that
+length of time for the "forty rods" to drain off thoroughly, but by the
+middle of the third summer we were cutting hay upon it; the ore wagons
+from Sulphide and from the Big Reuben were passing through in a
+continuous stream; the stage-coach was coming our way; the old hill road
+was abandoned.
+
+In fact, everybody is busy, and more than busy--with one single
+exception.
+
+The only loafer on the place is old Sox--tolerated on account of his
+advanced age. That veteran, whose love of mischief and whose unfailing
+impudence would lead any stranger to suppose he had but just come out of
+the egg, spends most of his time strutting about the ranch, stealing the
+food of the dogs and chickens; awing them into submission by his
+supernatural gift of speech. And as though that were not enough, his
+crop distended with his pilferings to the point of bursting, he comes
+unabashed to the kitchen door and blandly requests my mother, of all
+people, to give him a chew of tobacco!
+
+But the mail-coach has just gone through, and I hear Joe shouting for
+me; I must run.
+
+"Yetmore wants fifty-hundred of oats, Phil," he calls out. "You and I
+are to take it up. We must dig out at once if we are to get back
+to-night. To-morrow we break ground on our new ditches. A month or more
+of good stiff work for us, old chap!"
+
+He rubs his hands in anticipation; for the bigger he grows--and he has
+grown into a tremendous fellow now--the more work he wants. There is no
+satisfying him.
+
+We have been very fortunate, wonderfully fortunate; but I am inclined to
+set apart as pre-eminently our lucky day that one in the summer of '79,
+when young Joe Garnier, the blacksmith's apprentice, stopped at our
+stable-door to ask for work!
+
+                                   THE END
+
+
+
+
+_By Amy E. Blanchard_
+
+
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+
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+every effort has been made to remain true to the author's words and
+intent.
+
+
+
+
+
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