up into the crater the
drills, hammers and other munitions of war we had brought with us.

"I thought you said there was a driblet of water running out at the
crevice," remarked Tom. "I don't see it."

"There was yesterday," I replied, "but it seems to have stopped. I
wonder why."

"That's easily accounted for," said Joe. "It was those sacks lying in
the channel which backed up the water and made it overflow, and when
Long John cleared the course by pulling out the sacks it didn't overflow
any more."

"Then it's to Long John you owe this discovery!" cried Tom. "If 'The
Wolf' hadn't blocked that channel the water would not have run down to
the canyon, and the other wolf would not have got his feet wet; and if
the other wolf had not got his feet wet, you would never have thought of
coming up here."

"That's all true," I assented. "In fact, you may go further than that
and say that if John had not stolen the ore he would not have blocked
the channel with it, and we should not have found the spring; if Yetmore
had not given John leave to blow up your house, John would not have
stolen the ore; if you had not bored a hole in Yetmore's oil-barrel,
Yetmore would not have given John leave--it's like the story of 'The
House that Jack Built.' And so, after all, it is to you we owe this
discovery, Tom."

"Well, that's one way of getting at it," said Tom, laughing. "But, come
on! Let's pick out our line and get to work."

"This won't be so much of a job," he remarked, when we had gone over the
ground. "You ought to make quick work of it. We'll follow the wet mark
left by the overflow, throw all these rocks out of the way, and then
pitch in and cut our trench. Come on, now; let's begin at once. Phil,
you throw aside all the rocks you can lift; Joe, take the sledge and
crack all those too heavy to handle; I'll take the single-hand drill and
hammer and put some shots into the big ones. Now, boys, blaze away, and
let's see how much of a mark we can make before sunset."

Blaze away we did! Never before had Joe and I worked so hard for so long
a stretch; not a minute did we lose, except on those four or five
occasions when Tom, having put down a hole into one of the large
pieces, called out to us to get to cover, when, running for shelter, we
crouched behind some friendly rock until a sharp, cracking explosion
told us that another of the big obstructions was out of the way.

So hard did we work, in fact, and so systematically,