p 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