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108 "Is there a place around here called Phantom Mountain?" asked Tom, at length, as quietly as he could.

"Never heard of it, stranger," replied a miner who had done most of the talking. "I never heard of it, and what Bill Slatterly don't know ain't worth knowin'. I'm Bill Slatterly," he added, lest there be some doubt on that score.

"Isn't there some sort of a landmark around here shaped like a great stone head?" went on Tom, after some unimportant questions "Seems to me I've heard of that."

"Nary a one," answered Mr. Slatterly. "No stone heads, and no Phantom Mountains—nary a one."

"Who says there ain't no Phantom Mountains?" demanded an elderly miner, who had been dozing in one corner of the room, but who was awakened by Slatterly's loud voice. "Who says so?"

"I do," answered the one who claimed to know everything.

"Then you're wrong!" Tom's heart commenced beating faster than usual.

"Do you mean to say you've seen Phantom Mountain, Jed Nugg?" demanded Slatterly.

"No, I ain't exactly seen it, an' I don't want to, but there is such a place, about sixty mile