situated in a gold bearing region like that of
the Pacific mountains, the Transvaal, or Australia.

It was not until the fifteenth of June that Mr. Ward returned to
duty. Despite my lack of success he received me warmly. "Here is our
poor Strock!" cried he, at my entrance. "Our poor Strock, who has
failed!"

"No more, Mr. Ward, than if you had charged me to investigate the
surface of the moon," answered I. "We found ourselves face to face
with purely natural obstacles insurmountable with the forces then at
our command."

"I do not doubt that, Strock, I do not doubt that in the least.
Nevertheless, the fact remains that you have discovered nothing of
what is going on within the Great Eyrie."

"Nothing, Mr. Ward."

"You saw no sign of fire?"

"None."

"And you heard no suspicious noises whatever?"

"None."

"Then it is still uncertain if there is really a volcano there?"

"Still uncertain, Mr. Ward. But if it is there, we have good reason
to believe that it has sunk into a profound sleep."

"Still," returned Mr. Ward, "there is nothing to show that it will
not wake up again any day, Strock. It is not enough that a volcano
should sleep, it must be absolutely extinguished unless indeed all
these threatening rumors have been born solely in the Carolinian
imagination."

"That is not possible, sir," I said. "Both Mr. Smith, the mayor of
Morganton and his friend the mayor of Pleasant Garden, are reliable
men. And they speak from their own knowledge in this matter. Flames
have certainly risen above the Great Eyrie. Strange noises have
issued from it. There can be no doubt whatever of the reality of
these phenomena."

"Granted," declared Mr. Ward. "I admit that the evidence is
unassailable. So the deduction to be drawn is that the Great Eyrie
has not yet given up its secret."

"If we are determined to know it, Mr. Ward, the solution is only a
solution of expense. Pickaxes and dynamite would soon conquer those
walls."

"No doubt," responded the chief, "but such an undertaking hardly
seems justified, since the mountain is now quiet. We will wait awhile
and perhaps nature herself will disclose her mystery."

"Mr. Ward, believe me that I regret deeply that I have been unable to
solve the problem you entrusted to me," I said.

"Nonsense! Do not upset yourself, Strock. Take your defeat
philosophically. We cannot always be successful, even in the police.
How many criminals escape us! I believe we should never ca