"Do you suppose they've got lost in the mine?" asked Will.

"It may be worse than that!" cried George. "They may have butted into
some of the people the caretaker indirectly referred to last night."

"He did speak of strange noises and mysterious lights, didn't he?"

"He certainly did, and I've got a hunch that Sandy and Tommy have butted
into some hostile interests.

"It does seem as if they would be back by this time unless they were in
trouble!"

The boys prepared an elaborate breakfast in the hope that Tommy and
Sandy, who would be sure to be hungry, would return in time to partake
of it. A dozen times during the meal they walked back to the shaft
opening and looked anxiously down into the dark bowels of the mine.

"Those fellows are always getting into trouble," Will said, rather
crossly, as he stood looking down. "They have a way of running into most
of their dangers at night, too. It was the same up on Lake Superior; the
same in the snake-haunted Everglades of Florida; the same on the Rocky
Mountains, and the same in the Hudson Bay country."

"They sure do keep things moving," grinned George.

"I think," Will suggested after a time, "that we'd better find Canfield
and get his advice before we do anything in the way of setting up a
search. I hate to admit that two members of our party got into a scrape
on the same night we struck the mine, but I guess there's no way out of
it."

While the boys talked together, the door opened softly and the caretaker
entered, accompanied by a short, paunchy man with a very red face and
eyes which were black, small and suspicious. He was a man well past
middle age, but he seemed to be making a bluff at thirty-five. His hair,
which had turned white at the temples, and his moustache were both dyed
black.

Canfield introduced the new-comer as the detective, Joe Ventner, of New
York, and the boys greeted him courteously.

He accepted their proffered hands with an air of condescension which was
most exasperating. He puffed out his chest, and at once began talking of
some of his alleged exploits in the secret service of the government.

"How did you pass the night, boys?" asked the caretaker.

"Slept like pigs!" replied Will with a laugh.

"Where are the others?" asked Canfield.

"They're out getting a breath of fresh air, I reckon," answered George.

The boys did not take to the detective at all. There was an air of
insincerity about the man which at once put them o