es."

"It was in the mine, sir, wasn't it?" asked one man, hurrying
to Reade's side.

"It must have been, Hunter. Come along, all of you. We'll go
over to the shaft and take a look."

Several of the men were carrying lighted lanterns. At the shaft
one of the first evidences they discovered was the wires running
back to the magneto.

"Trickery, here!" muttered one of the men. "Mr. Reade, shall
we try to pick up a trail and follow it?"

"No," answered Tom, after a moment's thought. "It would be wasted
time. Even if you pick up a trail on this frozen crust, which
is hardly likely, you couldn't follow it except by lantern light.
That would be slow work. Besides, it would show the rascals
where you were and how fast you were moving. They could fire
at you easily. No; let's have a look at the damage."

Looking down the shaft, with their rim light, from the top, all
looked as usual about the shaft.

"Hand me one of the lanterns," called Tom. "Hunter, you take
another and come with me."

"Careful, sir," warned another man. "The blasts may not be all
over as yet."

Tom Reade smiled.

"The blasts were fired by magneto," he explained. "There can't
be any more blasts, unless some enemy should sneak back and adjust
the magneto to some other 'mine.' You won't let any one down the
shaft for that purpose, I know."

There was a laugh, amid which Tom and Hunter descended. Near
the bottom of the third ladder Reade found that the rest of the
way down the shaft had been blocked by the smashing of the ladders.

"Go up, Hunter," the young engineer directed, "and start the men
to knotting ropes and splicing 'em. We want at least a hundred
feet of knotted rope."

Tom waited on the last solid rung while this order was being carried
out. By and by Hunter reached him with one end of a long, knotted
line.

"Don't pass down any more," Tom called, "until I have made this
end fast."

This was soon done, and the rest of the rope was lowered.

"Hunter," Tom asked, "are you good for going down a hundred feet
or so on a knotted rope?"

"I don't believe I am, sir."

"Then don't try it. Go up and send down two or three men who
feel sure they can do it. But urge every man against taking the
risk foolishly. For a man who can't handle himself on a knotted
rope it's a fine and easy way to break his neck."

"Are you going down now, sir?"

"At once."

"Then I'll stay here and hold a lantern for you," replied Hunte