only I ain't got that hat any more. But
that was Phantom Mountain, strangers, an' my advice to you is to keep
away from it. I was on it but I didn't exactly see it, 'cause it was
dark at the time."

"Was it near a peak that looked like a stone head?" asked Tom.

"It were, stranger, but I didn't take much notice of it. Me and my
partner got out of them diggin's next day, and I never went back. I
ain't never said much about this place, but it's called Phantom Mountain
all right, and I ain't the only one that's seen a ghost there. Other
grub-stakers has had the same experience."

"Why ain't I never heard about it?" demanded Bill, suspiciously.

"'Cause as why you're allers so busy talkin' that you don't never listen
to nothin' I reckon," was Jed's answer, amid laughter.

"Can you tell us what trail to take to get there?" asked Tom, of the
miner.

"Yes, it's called the old silver trail, and you strike it by goin' to a
place called Black Gulch, about forty mile from here. Then it's twenty
mile farther on. But take my advice and don't go."

"Can it be reached by way of Indian Ridge?" asked Mr. Jenks, wondering
how he had been taken to the cave of the diamond makers. He did not
remember Black Gulch.

"Yes, you can git there by Indian Ridge way, but it's more dangerous.
You're likely to lose your way, for that's a trail that's seldom
traveled." Mr. Jenks thought that, perhaps, was the reason the gang had
taken him that way. "It's easier to get to the stone head and Phantom
Mountain by Black Gulch, but it ain't healthy to go there, strangers,
take my advice on that," concluded the miner, as he prepared to go to
sleep again.

Tom could scarcely contain the exultation he felt. At last, it seemed,
they were on the trail. He motioned to Mr. Jenks, and they slipped
quietly from the place, just as another dance was beginning.

"Now for Black Gulch!" cried Tom. "We must hurry back to the airship,
and tell the good news.

"It's too late to-night," decided Mr. Jenks, and so they waited until
morning, when they made an early start.

They found Mr. Damon and Mr. Parker anxiously awaiting their return. Mr.
Damon blessed so many things that he was nearly out of breath, and Mr.
Parker related something of the observations he had made.

"I think I have discovered traces of a dormant volcano," he said. "I am
in hopes that it will have an eruption while we are here."

"I'm not," spoke Tom, decidedly. "We'll start for Black Gulc