ant to go on with the work,
we hate to see you all stand to lose so much."

"You're no fool, Mr. Reade. Neither is Mr. Hazelton," returned
Walsh bluntly. "You're both engineers, and not green ones, either.
You've been studying mines and mining, and it isn't just guess-work
with you when you say that you feel sure of striking rich ore."

"Only one of us is sure," smiled Tom Reade wistfully. "I'm the
sure one. As for my partners, I'm certain that they're sticking
to me just because they're too loyal to desert a partner. For
myself, I wouldn't blame them if they left me any day. As for
you men, I shall be glad to have you stay and stand by us, now
that you know the state of affairs, but I won't blame you if you
decide to take your money and the path back to Dugout City."

"It's no use, Mr. Reade," laughed Walsh, shaking his shaggy head.
"You couldn't persuade one of us to leave you now."

"And I'd thrash any man who tried to," declared another miner.

"Men, I thank you," Tom declared, his eyes shining, "and I hope
that we shall all win out together."

"Now, what do you want us to do?" asked Walsh.

"We have timbers and boards here," Tom replied. "If the big snows
are likely to be upon us within a week, then we can't lose any time
in getting our shaft protected. At the same time we must use other
timber for putting up two or three more shacks. The tents will
have to come down until spring."

Harry immediately took eight of the men and started the erection
of three wooden shacks not far from the mine shaft. Ferrers took
the rest of the men and speedily had timbers going up in place
over the mouth of the shaft.

For three hours the snow continued to float lightly down. Then
the skies cleared, but the wind came colder and more biting.

Jim Ferrers and one of the men started for Dugout City with a
two-horse wagon, that the camp might be kept well-supplied with
food.

By night of the day following all of the carpenter work had been
finished, though not an hour too soon, for now the weather was
becoming colder.

"Never put in a winter on the Indian Smoke Range, did you, Mr.
Reade?" Walsh inquired.

"Never."

"Then you'll find out what cold weather is like. A winter on
this Range isn't much worse, though, than what I've heard about
cold weather in Alaska."

"It'll be a relief to see six feet of snow, after living on the
hot desert of Arizona," Harry muttered.

By evening of the following day, whe