ould prove to be one of his familiar escapades. But, somehow,
Tompkins did not believe that this could be the explanation. Court had
been too keenly enthusiastic about the search to delay it by senseless
horse-play. Though he, no more than Ranny, could think of any accident
which would render the boy unconscious without his making a sound of
any sort, Dale took his place in the line with a feeling of distinct
uneasiness.

So close together that they could almost touch each other's outstretched
hands, the scouts started down the slope. There was little conversation,
for by this time all were more or less worried. Just where they expected
to find the missing boy would have been hard to tell, but a rabbit could
scarcely have escaped their close scrutiny of bush and rock and thorny
tangle.

It was fifteen minutes or so before they came to a giant rock that thrust
its lichened bulk up from the forest mold. At least that was what it
seemed at first--a single, flat-topped mass of stone, ten or twelve feet
through and about as high. But passing close to one side, Tompkins and
Sanson discovered that it was split in two pieces, one of which had
fallen away from the other just enough to leave a jagged crack, not
more than three feet wide, between them. A spreading mass of laurel
screened the opening from any but the closest inspection, and as he
pushed this to one side Dale gave a sudden start and stared intently at
the ground beneath it.

"Look at that!" he exclaimed, turning to Frank, who was close behind.

The latter pressed forward and glanced over his shoulder. "What? Oh! You
mean-- Gee! Didn't you break it off?"

"No!"

Dale's heart was beating unevenly as he bent to pick up the tiny broken
twig. There were three leaves on it, as fresh and green as those on the
parent bush; the broken end showed white and living. He met Sanson's
glance and, dropping the twig, stepped into the jagged crevice. A moment
later he gave a smothered cry. At his feet lay a scout hat of brown
felt. A few inches beyond yawned a black hole, the leaves and mold and
rotten branches about its edges scuffed and torn and freshly broken.

CHAPTER XXV

LOST MINE FOUND

For a long moment the two boys stood motionless, staring wide-eyed and
dismayed at the gaping hole before them. Then Dale came to himself with a
sudden stiffening of the muscles.

"Get Ranny!" he snapped over his shoulder. And even as the words passed
his lips he was consci