on on his shoulders, and then reconnoitered a moment before
he gave the signal to proceed. Within the tunnel they went, to follow
along its regular, rising course to the stope where, on that garish day
when Taylor Bill and Blindeye Bozeman had led the enthusiastic parade
through the streets, the vein had shown. It was dark there--no one was
at work. Harry unhooked his carbide from his belt, lit it and looked
around. The stope was deeper now than on the first day, but not enough
to make up for the vast amount of ore which had been taken out of the
mine in the meanwhile. On the floor were tons of the metal, ready for
tramming. Harry looked at them, then at the stope again.

"It ain't coming from 'ere!" he announced. "It's--" then his voice
dropped to a whisper--"what's that?"

Again a rumbling had come from the distance, as of an ore car traveling
over the tram tracks. Harry extinguished his light, and drawing Anita
and Fairchild far to the end of the stope, flattened them and himself
on the ground. A long wait, while the rumbling came closer, still
closer; then, in the distance, a light appeared, shining from a side of
the tunnel. A clanging noise, followed by clattering sounds, as though
of steel rails hitting against each other. Finally the tramming once
more,--and the light approached.

Into view came an ore car, and behind it loomed the great form of
Taylor Bill as he pushed it along. Straight to the pile of ore he
came, unhooked the front of the tram, tripped it and piled the contents
of the car on top of the dump which already rested there. With that,
carbide pointing the way, he turned back, pushing the tram before him.
Harry crept to his feet.

"We 've got to follow!" he whispered. "It's a blind entrance to the
tunnel som'eres."

They rose and trailed the light along the tracks, flattening themselves
against the timbers of the tunnel as the form of Taylor Bill, faintly
outlined in the distance, turned from the regular track, opened a great
door in the side of the tunnel, which, to all appearances, was nothing
more than the ordinary heavy timbering of a weak spot in the rocks,
pulled it far back, then swerved the tram within. Then, he stopped and
raised a portable switch, throwing it into the opening. A second later
the door closed behind him, and the sound of the tram began to fade in
the distance. Harry went forward, creeping along the side of the
tunnel, feeling his way, stopping to listen