machine for cutting out the pay dirt
in blocks. They've looted Mine No. 1 while we slept. That was the
earth-tremble. C'mon, can't you? Bring rifles! Anything. We'll get them
yet!"

Catching a glimmer of his meaning, the men dashed to the bunkroom and
clubroom, to appear a moment later armed with such weapons as they could
find.

Arriving at the entrance of Mine No. 1, Pant held up a finger for
silence.

"Arms ready," he whispered, "your left hand on the shoulder of the man
ahead of you. I'll lead."

Without a light, he entered the mine and beckoned the men to come on. With
soft and shuffling tread they followed, like a chain gang entering a
dungeon. They took fifty paces, then they halted. A light flashed.
Instantly every man gripped his weapon.

It was only Pant. What they saw before them caused involuntary
ejaculations. A hole some eighteen inches square had been cut in the
frozen wall.

For a second they listened. The silence was so complete that the ticking
of a watch sounded like the beat of an alarm clock.

"They've gone," whispered Pant. "C'mon."

His light blinked out. There followed the sound of garments rubbing
against the walls. The man behind Pant felt him one instant, the next he
was gone. He had crawled through the hole. There was nothing to do but
follow. One by one, thrusting their rifles before them, they crawled
through this narrow door from the mine. To what? They could not even
guess.

"'Tis fair spooky," whispered Jarvis to Dave. "'Ow does 'e know 'ow 'e
should go? Can 'e see in the dark? 'Ow'd 'e come by the name Pant
anyway?"

"Langlois give it to him," Dave whispered back, "the fellow that was
killed here, you know. He claimed Pant could see in the dark and began
calling him 'Panther Eye.' The men cut it down to 'Panther,' then to
'Pant.' That's all I know about it."

"'E's rightly named," growled Jarvis, as he fumbled his way through the
hole in the dark.

"This way," came the low whisper of Pant. "As you were, hand to
shoulder."

Only the soft pat-pat of their footfalls on the floor of what appeared to
be a narrow runway broke the tomb-like silence of the place. Now and
again, as they moved forward, Dave Tower felt his shoulder brush some
unseen object. Each time he shivered and shrank back. He expected at any
moment to hear the roar of rifles, to find himself engaged in deadly
combat with the mysterious robbers who had looted the mine of its treasure
while they worked wit