s here as won't be pleased to see us."

"We can't, for that way is barred," answered Peveril; "but let us sit
down and try to arrive at some understanding of this mysterious
affair."

So, for nearly an hour, the two talked over the situation; and, though
each frequently interrupted the other with questions or exclamations,
they finally gained a pretty clear comprehension of their position. At
the end of the conference Peveril exclaimed:

"Then, so far as I can see, we are shut up here like two rats in a
trap."

"Yes," cried Connell, "and here comes the rat-catchers after us now!"

As he spoke he pointed to the outer entrance, where the head and
shoulders of a man had just appeared above the rocky ledge.

CHAPTER XXIII

A BATTLE WITH SMUGGLERS

After supper that same evening the violence of Ralph Darrell's rage
had so subsided that his daughter ventured to inquire concerning its
cause. When he had informed her, she said:

"Why should you let a little thing like that worry you, papa? Surely
you can engage plenty more miners if you want them. I don't see why
you should bother with the old mine, though. It don't seem to be worth
anything."

"Not worth anything!" cried the old man, standing up in his
excitement. "Why, child, it is worth millions! It is one of the
richest copper properties in the world, and in one week's time it will
be all my own. Rather, it will be yours, since it is for you alone
that I have lived in this wilderness all these years, thereby saving
it from destruction, and warding off the conspiracy that would reduce
you to beggary. For your sake only have I so guarded the secret of its
wealth that no living soul suspects it. Even the men who delve in its
depths know not the value of the material in which they toil, for I
have not told them. Nor have I allowed an assay to be made of its
smallest fragment; but I know its worth, its fabulous value, that will
make the owner of the Copper Princess one of the richest heiresses in
the world."

"Who is the Copper Princess, papa?" asked the girl, who, though
bewildered by the old man's extravagant statements, could not help but
be interested in them.

"You are, my darling, you are a copper princess; but the name also
applies to your mine, and was given to it before you were born.
'Darrell's Folly' is what men, in their ignorance, call it now, but in
one week's time it may assume its rightful title, and thereafter the
fame of the Copper Prin