"Now, you four can keep going, digging straight down and to the eastward," said Tom. "I"m going up to get some more men at work, putting in temporary walling. I don"t want any of you men hurt by saving dirt from the sides of the shaft."

All four men stopped work at once.

"What"s the matter!" asked Reade.

"Coming down"s easy, sir; we"re waiting to see you go _up_ that rope."

"Then I"ll endeavor not to keep you long away from your tasks,"

smiled the young engineer athlete.

Grasping the rope just above a knot over his head, Tom gave a slight heave, then went rapidly up, hand over hand. He was soon lost from the little circle of light thrown by the lanterns at the shaft"s bottom.

"Not many men like him," remarked one of the miners named Tibbets, admiringly.

"I"ve been told that"s what young fellers learn at college," said another miner, as he spat on his hands and raised his pick.

For two hours Reade attended to the mending of the walling, as the system of laying walls in shafts is termed. Ladders had to be rebuilt even in order to put temporary walling in place.

Then the young chief engineer deemed it time to run over to the partners" shack. He opened the door softly, peeping in. Feeling the draught Tim Walsh turned and came to the door.

"Mr. Hazelton is doing all right, sir."

"Has he asked for me?"

"No, sir."

"If he does, tell him that I"m putting in all night at the mine.

If he gets worse run over and get me."

Then Tom went back to his labors.

Dolph Gage and his fellow rascals, owing to their haste, and also to the fact that they did not know as much as they thought they did about laying and tamping blasts, had not done as much harm as they had planned.

By the time that the miners had dug down some four feet, sending up the dirt in the hoist-tub, they came to the opening of the tunnel. Thus encouraged, they worked faster than ever, until a new shift was sent down the repaired ladders to relieve them.

By daylight the men, changing every two hours for fresher details, were well into the tunnel.

Here, for some yards, the tunnel was somewhat choked. After this semi-obstruction had been cleared away, Tom Reade was able to lead his men for some distance down the tunnel. Then they came upon the scene of the late big blast.

Here the rock had been hurled about in ma.s.ses. A scene of apparent wreck met the eyes of the miners and their leader, though even here the damage was not as great as had been expected by Gage and his rascals.

To the north of the tunnel lay a great, gaping, jagged tear in the wall of rock. This tear, or hole, extended some ten feet to the north of the tunnel proper.

As Tom entered, a glint caught his eye. Something in the aspect of that dull illumination, reflected back to him, made his pulses leap.

He pa.s.sed his left hand over his eyes, wondering if he were dreaming.

"I---I can"t believe it!" he stammered. "Look, boys, and tell me what you see!"

CHAPTER XXIV

CONCLUSION

"It"s the gleam of the real metal in the rock, sir---what"s what it is," gasped one of the miners, as he held up a lantern to aid him in his quest.

It lay there, in streaks and rifts, a dull gleaming here and there.

To be sure, it was nothing at all like a solid golden wall, but Tom Reade could be contented with less than Golconda.

In spots the precious metal showed in darkish streaks, instead of yellow. But these dark streaks showed admixtures of silver.

"Run and get me a hammer, one of you," cried Tom, breathing fast.

When the miner returned with the chisel-nosed hammer he found the young engineer eagerly exploring the whole length of the new wall thus laid bare.

"I knew that a real vein lay here," Tom went on, as he took the hammer. "The only trouble with us, men, was that we were working eight or ten feet south of where the true vein lay. Now, by the great Custer, we"ve hit it---thanks to the enemy!"

Eagerly Tom chipped off specimens of the rich gold and silver bearing rock. He loaded down two men and carried more himself.

Every piece of rock was a specimen of rich ore.

Up the shaft they went, emerging into the sunlight.

"I"d like to know who the scamps were that fired the blasts in the mine," Tom muttered joyously. "I"d like to reward them."

"Party coming, sir," reported a miner, pointing to the southward.

Over the snow came a cutter, drawn by two horses, slipping fast over the snow. From one side of the cutter a pair of skis hung outward.

"That"s Jim Ferrers and the doctor from Dugout," Tom breathed.

"But who can the other lot of people be."

A pung, drawn also by a pair of horses, contained five men.

Jim was quickly on hand to explain matters.

"I"ve brought Dr. Scott. He"ll have to see Hazelton quickly, and then get back to Dugout," Jim declared. "The doctor is afraid the crust may melt, and then he"ll be stalled here with his outfit.

"Those men over there?" inquired Reade, as the pung stopped, and the five men got out "Two of them look familiar to me."

"I reckon," nodded Jim Ferrers. "They"re officers---all of "em.

They"ve come over here to hunt the rocks to the south of here.

Up at the jail the keepers worried out of Eb some information about a cave where Dolph Gage hangs out. It seems that Gage and his pals have been stealing supplies at the Bright Hope Mine."

Jim introduced Dr. Scott, who said:

"I must see my patient and be away in an hour. I don"t want to get stalled here by a thaw."