Lopez, and how frightened he
looked when we spoke about keeping him company?"

Bob uttered a cry that might stand for either astonishment or delight,
perhaps both.

"Frank, it just takes you to see through the mill stone, even if it
hasn't got any hole in it," he declared. "I understand what you mean
now. Little Lopez has been coming here for a year or more, always
bringing supplies. Perhaps he carries away the gold dust the miner has
gathered in that time, and no one the wiser. It has all been a dead
secret. And the terror of the Indians for this haunted mountain, as
well as the way the cowboys leave it alone, has helped this bold miner.
Frank, your shot hit the bull's eye, and who knows but what we may be
on the way to find out the truth right now?"

CHAPTER XIX

THE WORKING OF THE GOLD LODE

"Now you know what I think, Bob; but after all I may be on the wrong
track," said Frank, after his companion had expressed himself so freely.

"Of course," Bob went on saying; "but all the same I don't think you
are. After you've shown me, it's just like that egg Columbus stood up
on end, after cracking the shell a bit--as easy as jumping off a log,
once you know how. But now we're in here, I hope we find out the truth
soon, don't you, Frank?"

"Honest now, Bob, I don't care how quick it comes," replied his chum,
frankly.

"This is a terrible place, with panthers hanging around, and that
thunder banging to beat the band every minute or so. I'm only
wondering, Frank, what would become of us if that old geyser should
take a notion to explode suddenly, and flush every avenue out of the
heart of the mountain."

"Don't mention it, please," Frank answered, with a shrug of his
shoulders. "If such a thing happened we wouldn't know what hurt us,
I'm afraid."

"Huh! some consolation in that, anyhow," grunted Bob. "If a fellow has
to go up against the buzz-saw, the sooner it's over the better."

"But nothing of the kind is going to happen," Frank insisted; "and you
want to get the idea clean out of your head. We're making fine
progress, and any minute, now, I expect we'll run across the party who
occupies this cave."

"But every time the blowout comes, away goes our light; and another
spouting is about due now, I reckon," ventured Bob.

"I've got an idea I may be able to save the torch," Frank remarked. "I
don't know just how it's going to work; but anyhow the thing's worth
trying."

"Then here comes yo