breaking suddenly
upon the mountain-land, but Wheeler, who had crossed the divide in
bright sunshine, was sensible of a certain shrinking as he glanced
down into the depths of the canyon. A chilly mist streamed up out of
it, and the great rift looked black and grim and forbidding.

Wheeler noticed a dusky figure beneath the firs, and, moving towards
it, came upon a man with a pipe in his hand, sitting upon a fallen
tree. In view of the strenuous activity that was the rule in the
canyon, such leisure was unusual.

"Well," he remarked, "you don't seem busy, any way."

The man grinned. "I'm looking out," he replied. "Guess I've had my eye
on you for the last few minutes, and a stranger wouldn't have got
quite so far. You haven't got any papers from the courts on you?"

"No," said Wheeler, who noticed that there was a rifle lying near the
man, "I haven't. Still, if I'd looked like a lawyer or a court
officer----"

"Then," asserted the man, "it's a sure thing you wouldn't have got in.
The boys have enough giant-powder rammed into the heading to lift the
bottom right out of the canyon two minutes after any suspicious
stranger comes along."

Wheeler laughed, for it was evident to him that Nasmyth had been
taking precautions, and, turning away, he led his horse down the
gully. It grew colder as he proceeded, and a chilly breeze swept the
white mist about him. The trees, that shook big drops of moisture down
on him, were wailing, but he could hear them only faintly through the
clamour of the fall. He left the horse with a man he came upon lower
down, and, reaching the shingle at the water's edge, saw the great
derrick swing black athwart the glare of a big fire. The smoke whirled
about the dark rock wall, and here and there dusky figures were
toiling knee-deep amid the white froth of the rapid. The figures
emerged from the blackness and vanished into it again, as the
flickering radiance rose and fell. Scrambling to the ledge above the
fall, Wheeler found two men standing near the mouth of the heading,
which was just level with the pool.

"Where's Nasmyth, boys?" he inquired.

"Inside," answered one of the men. "Guess he's wedging up the heading.
If you want him, you'd better crawl right in."

Wheeler glanced down at the black mouth of the tunnel, on which the
streaming radiance fell. He fancied that the river flowed into it, and
the man's suggestion did not appeal to him.

"Won't you tell him that I'd like a talk w