Page:Dave Porter in the Gold Fields.djvu/262

246 hung up around the fire and on the rocks in the sun.

"You want to be careful how you climb around this mornin'," warned Tom Dillon. "Some o' the places is mighty slippery. You don't want to slide over no rocks into a hollow an' git killed!"

"No, indeed!" replied Roger, earnestly.

It was not until the middle of the afternoon that they took up the hunt for the lost mine once more. This time the three boys went off together, Abe Blower advising them not to separate while the rocky slopes were so wet.

"You keep together an' me an' Tom will do the same thing," he said. "Then, if anything happens to anybody, the others can help."

For over two hours the boys hunted around, making their way along a ledge of rocks below the point where they had hunted before.

"From the description left by Uncle Maurice, that mine was pretty deep," said Roger. "And if it was, maybe we'll be more apt to find an opening to it from below rather than from above."

"Well, it won't do any harm to look around here, anyway," returned Dave.

They had to proceed with great care, for in spots the water was still running over the rocks and the footing was very slippery. They had a rope with them and all took hold of this, Dave