Page:Amazing Stories Volume 01 Number 04.djvu/43

Rh tain? And, besides what object could Dr. Syx have in pretending that there is free metal to be had for the digging?" "He may have Halted the mountain, for all I know," said Hall. "As for his object, I confess I am entirely in the dark, but, for alt that, I an* convinced that we shall find no more metal if we dig ten miles for it." "Nonsense," said the president;: "if we keep (tii we 3hall strike it. Did not Dr. Syx himself admit that he found no free artemisium until his tunnel had reached the core of the peak? We" must go as deep as he has gone before we give up." "I fear the depths he attains are beyond most people's reach," was Hall's answer, while a thought- ful look crossed hia clear-cut brow, "but since you desire it, of course the work shall go on, I should like, however, to change the direction of the tun- nel." "Certainly," replied Mr. Boon; "bore in what- ever direction you think proper, only don't des- pair." About a- month after this conversation Andrew Hall, with whom a community of tastes' in many things had made' me intimately acquainted, asked me one morning to accompany him 1 into' Ms tufi' nel. "I want to have s trusty friend at my elbow," he said, "for, unless I am- a dreamer, something re- markable will happen within the next hour, and two witnesses are better than one." A Friendly Investigator — Andrew Hatf Proposes to Solve the Mystery I KNEW Hall was not the person to' make such a remark carelessly, and my curiosity was in- tensely excited, but, knowing his peculiarities, I did not press him for an explanation. When we arrived at the head of the tunnel I was surprised at finding no workmen there. "I stopped blasting some time ago," said Ha0, in explanation, "for a reason which, I hope, will be- come evident to you Very soon. Lately I have been boring very slowly, and yesterday I paid off the men- and dismissed them with the announcement, which I am confident, President Boon will sanction after' he hears by reports of this morning's' work, that the tunnel is abandoned. You see,- 1 am now using a drill which I can manage without assis- tance, I believe the work is almost completed, and I want you: to witness the end of it." He' then carefully applied the drill, which noise- lessly screwed its nose into the rock. When: it had sunk, to a depth of & few inches he withdrew it, and, taking a hand-drill capable of making A hole not more than an eighth of am inch in diameter, cautiously began boring in; the centre of the larger cavitf. He had made hardly a hundred tur-n.3' of the 1 bandle 1 when the: drill shot through the root! A gratified smile illuminated his features, and he said- in a suppressed voice: "Don't be alarmed;- I'm: going to put out the lighfc" Instantly we were in complete darkness,, but be- ing- dose at Hall's side I could detect his move- ments. He pulled out the drill,- and for half- a min- ute' remained, motionless as if listening. There-' was no sound. "I must enlarge the opening," he whispered, and immediately the faint grating of a sharp tool cut- ting through the rock informed, me of his pro- gress. "There," at last he said, "I think that will do ; now for a look." I Conld tell that he had placed his eye at the hole and Was gazing with breathless attention. Presently he pulled my sleeve. "Put your eye here," he whispered, pushing me into the proper position for looking through the hole. Looking Through a Peep-Hole AT first I could discern nothing except a smoky blue glow. But soon my vision cleared a little, and then I perceived that I was gazing into a narrow tunnel which met ours directly end to end. Glancing along the axis of thi3 gallery I saw, some two hundred yards away, a faint light Which evi- dently indicated the mouth of the tunnel.- At the end where we had met it the mysterious tunnel was considerably widened at one side, as if the excavators had started to change direction and then abandoned the work, and in this elbow I could just see the outlines of two or three fiat cars loaded with broken stone r while' a heap of the same ma- terial lay near them. Through the centre of the tunnel ran a railway track. "Do* you know what- you are looking at?" asked Hall in my ear. "I begin to suspect," I- repliedy "that you have ac- cidentally run into Dr. Syx"s mine." "If Dr. Syx had been on his guard this accident wouldn't have happened," replied Hall, with an al- mOBt inaudible chuckle. "I heard you remark a month- ago," I said, "that yoU were changing the direction of your tunnel. Has this 1 been the aims of- your labors ever' since?" Discoveries Under Hall's Auspices '"OU have' hit it/' he replied. "Long ago* I I became convinced that my company was throwing- away its money in a vain attempt to strike a lode of pure artemisium. But President Boon has great faith in Dr. Syx, and would not give up the work. So I adopted what I regarded a's the only practical method of proving the' truth of my opinion and saving the company's fundsi An electric indicater, of my invention, enabled me to locate the Syx tunnel when I got near it, and I have met it end- on,- and opened this peep-hole in order to observe the doctor's operations. I feet fihat such spying is entirely justified in the circumstances. Although I cannot yet explain' just how or why I feel sure that Dr. Syx Was the cause of- the sudden discovery of- the surface nuggets, and that he has encouraged the'miners for- his own ends,- until he has brought ruin to thousands' who have spent their last ' cent in driving useless tunnels into this mountaini It is a- righteous thing to expose him." "But," I interposed, "I do not see that you- have exposed anything yet except the interior o'f a- tuS- nel." "You 1 will' see' more' clearly after" a while;* #£<# the reply.- Hall now placed his eye again at the aperture, and wa3 unable entirely to repress the cxchrru: J ,;on i t