Every old
farmer will know then when to look out for storms."

"Well, we may be in for one now," observed Frank, dryly.

"Look here, you mean something by that remark," Bob cried. "Do you
expect we're going to have a peck of trouble with these miners?"

"I don't know. It all depends on what sort of men they are," Frank
replied.

"But we wont let 'em drive us out of here until we know all about that
geyser, if there is such a thing; will we, Frank?"

"Well, I reckon it won't take a great deal of driving to get both of us
out; but of course I do hope we'll learn something about the real cause
of all this awful racket. Are you ready to turn the bend, Bob?"

"Sure," and the Kentucky boy ranged alongside his chum, by this
movement plainly indicating that he did not mean to let Frank take any
more risk than he himself was ready and willing to assume.

No sooner had the two saddle boys turned the bend in the passage than
they saw a singular spectacle.

A couple of lanterns were hung from wooden pins driven in the wall.
These lights, being protected by glass, could safely resist the
tremendous suction that accompanied each successive convulsion, as the
rocks trembled, and the air swept through toward the outer exit.

Only two figures were in sight--a man and a boy. In the latter they
recognized little Lopez, the hero of the adventure with the grizzly;
and if their suspicions proved true also, the little girl whom Bob had
rescued from the anger of the bully, Peg Grant.

The man was a rugged specimen, with long, iron-gray hair. Frank
recognized him as Lemuel Smith, whom he remembered to have met several
years ago when in a border town with his father.

Smith had always been a rolling stone, a prospector who spent his time
in hunting new strikes, and who lived year in and year out in the wild
hope of sometime or other hitting it rich. Frank suddenly remembered
that Smith had had one daughter, who, he believed, had married a
Mexican. And that would make the little girl his grand-daughter.

"They're packing up," remarked Frank, whose quick eye had noticed the
fact.

"Perhaps he's done his work here, and means to vamoose the ranch," Bob
suggested. "Then again," he added, as another thought raced through
his brain, "maybe he doesn't altogether like the looks of things, and
wants to get out of this rat-hole before it all goes to smash. He must
have been here a long time, and ought to know something about that