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330 of ore-bearing rock which' he had brought from the mine to careful analysis hut aiao appealed to sev- eral of the greatest living chemists and mineral- ogists to aid him; bot they were all equally mysti- fied. The green substance ctm-ta-irieft in- the 1 oVe, al- though differing slightly f-roiri ordinary chrysolite, answered all the known' tests of that miner al. It was remembered; however, that Dr.- Syx Had said that they would be likely to mistake the substance for chrysolite,' and the result of their experiments justified his prediction'. Evidently the doe'tbr had gone a stones' east beyond the 1 chemistry of the' day, and, just as evidently,- he' did 7 fl&fc mean: to reveal his discovery for the benefit of science, nor for the benefit of any pockets except his own. The Extraction of the' Metal is an- tJttsorvable Mystery NOTWITHSTANDING the failure 6f.,tKe chemists to extract anything fr-ottr Dr. Syx's ore,- the public at large' never doubted 1 that the secret would be' discovered- in' good time, and thousands of prospectors flocked- to the' Teton- Mouh- tains in search of the ore. And' without milch dif- ficulty they found it. Evidently the 7 doctor had been mistaken in thinking that his mine might be' the only one. The new miners hurried speei'ineirs of : the green-speckled rock- to the chemical 1 laboratories' for experimentation' 1 ,- and 1 meanwhile began' to lay up stores of the' ore in- anticipation' 6f the time whett the proper way to extract the metal should be dia^ covered. But, alas I- that' time did- not come.- The 7 fresh ore ; proved to be as refractory as that which had been obtained' from' Dr.- Syx'. But- in' trie midst- of the universal disappointment- there came a 1 new sensation'. One morning the newspapers glared with a 1 des- patch from Grand Tetori 3-tation 7 anntfimcing that the metal- itself had been discovered by prospectors on the eastern slope 1 of- the main peakv "It outcrops in many places," ran the despatch,- "and many small nuggets have been picked out of crevices in the rocks/' The excitement produced' by this news- was even 1 greater than when 1 gold was discovered 1 at the 1 south pole. Again a mad rush was made for the Tetons. The heights around Jackson's Bole 1 and the 7 shores of Jackson's and Jenny's' lakes- were' quickly d'otted with Camps, and the military force had to' be- doubled to keep off- the curious-, and occasionally menacing, crowds which gathered- in 1 the vicinity and seemed' bent on unearthing the great secret- lOcked' behind the windowle3s walls' of the 1 mihV where the column of black smoke and the roar of- the engine served as reminders' of thff incredible' wealth which the sole' possessor of- that secret was" rolling iip!- T-his' time no' mistake had 1 been' marie. It' was a> fact- that the- motah in virgin 1 purity,' had been dis- covered scattered in various places on the ledges' Of- the Grand Tetoiu- Br a little 7 while- thousands 7 had obtained specimens with' their own' hands 7 ; The- quantity was distressingly small, considering- tlrff number and- flie eagerness of- the seekers; but that it- was genuine 1 arteniisiuni not even 1 DrV Syx* could- have denied^ He,- however-,' made no attempt to- deny it. "Yes;" he- said, when' questioned/ "I find that" I have been deceived. At first I thought the ihetal existed only in the form of the green ore, but 6f late I- have come upon veins of pure artemisium in my mine. I am glad for your sakes, bnt sorry for my own. Still,- it may turn out that there is no great amount of free artemisium after all." The Mountain is Covered with Prospectors WHILE the doctor talked in this maimer close observers detected a lurking sneer which his ac^iia'intanceS had net notified since arte- misidm was first adopted as the money basis of trie world. The crowd that swarmed upon the mountain quickly exhausted all of the visible supply of the metal. Sometimes they found it in a thin stratum at the" bottom of crevices, where it could be de- tached in opalescent plates and leaves of the thick- ness of. paper. These superficial deposits evidently might have been formed from Water holding the metal in solution'. Occasionally, deep cracks Con- tained nuggets and wiry masses which' looked Si if- they had run together when molten. The most promising spots were soon staked Out in miners' claims, m noli hi cry was procured, stock companies were formed, and borings were' begun. The enthusiasm arising from the earlier finds' and the flattering surface indications caused everybody tct work with feverish haste and energy, and within two months one hundred tunnels were piercing trie -mountain'/ For' a long' time nobody was willing to admit the" truth which gradually forced itself upon the atten- tion- of the miners. The deeper" they went the scarc- er became the indications of artemisium! In fact, such deposits as wore found were confined to 1 fis- sures near' the : surface: But Dr.- Syx Continued to" report a surprising increase in the amount of freV metal in his' mine, and this encouraged all who had" not exhausted- their capital to push on' their tunnels" in' the hope of finally striking a vein. At length", however, the smaller operators gave up in despair, until only one heavily capitalized company remained' at work. CHAPTER V) A Strange Discovery « TF T isr my belief that Di ; . Max Syx is a deceiver."' H The person who uttered this opinion was a; -fir young engineer,- Andrew Hall, who had charge of the operations of one of the' mining com- panies which' were--' driving tunnels" into the' Grand' Tetonv "What do' you mean by that?" asked President- Boon 7, who was the principal' backer of thfe enter-' prise-. "I mean;" replied 1 Hall',' "that there 7 is no fr£8 metal- in- this 1 Mountain;- and' Dr. Syx; knows there' is 3 none:'' "But he is getting it himself from his mine," re^ tbrted President Booh. "So he says, but who has seen' it? No" one is air-' mitted- into the' Syx mine, his' foremen' are" forbid- den 1 to ; talk, and' his' workmen are specially import- ed' negroes who do not understand the English- lan- guage:" "But," persisted Mr. Boon, "how, then, db you' account rbr the nuggets scattered over the' mburi-