his mustache. Then he turned
to Fairchild.

"Well," he asked, "what do we do? Go up to the mine--just like nothing
'ad ever 'appened?"

"Exactly. Wait until I change my clothes. Then we 'll be ready to
start. I 'm not even going to dignify this letter by replying to it.
And for one principal reason--" he added--"that I think the Rodaines
have something to do with it."

'"Ow so?"

"I don't know. It's only a conjecture; I guess the connection comes
from the fact that Squint put a good valuation on the mine this morning
in court. And if it is any of his doings--then the best thing in the
world is to forget it. I 'll be ready in a moment."

An hour later they entered the mouth of the Blue Poppy tunnel, once
more to start the engines and to resume the pumping, meanwhile
struggling back and forth with timbers from the mountain side, as they
began the task of rehabilitating the tunnel where it had caved in just
beyond the shaft. It was the beginning of a long task; well enough
they knew that far below there would be much more of this to do, many
days of back-breaking labor in which they must be the main
participants, before they ever could hope to begin their real efforts
in search of ore.

And so, while the iron-colored water gushed from the pump tubes. Harry
and Fairchild made their trips, scrambling ones as they went outward,
struggling ones as they came back, dragging the "stulls" or heavy
timbers which would form the main supports, the mill-stakes, or lighter
props, the laggs and spreaders, all found in the broken, well-seasoned
timber of the mountain side, all necessary for the work which was
before them. The timbering of a mine is not an easy task. One by one
the heavy props must be put into place, each to its station, every one
in a position which will furnish the greatest resistance against the
tremendous weight from above, the constant inclination of the earth to
sink and fill the man-made excavations. For the earth is a jealous
thing; its own caverns it makes and preserves judiciously. Those made
by the hand of humanity call forth the resistance of gravity and of
disintegration, and it takes measures of strength and power to combat
them. That day, Harry and Fairchild worked with all their strength at
the beginning of a stint that would last--they did not, could not know
how long. And they worked together. Their plan of a day and night
shift had been abandoned; the trouble engendered by their