the hills, had been broken here and there
maliciously by some one who had traversed its length and with a heavy
pick driven holes into it that inflicted thousands of dollars of
expense.

The Pelton wheels in the power house, neglected, were rusted in their
bearings, and without them and the pipe line there could be no
electric power on which the mill depended. The mill had been stripped
of all smaller stuff, and its dynamos had been chipped with an ax
until the copper windings showed frayed and useless. The shoes of the
huge stamps were worn down to a thin, uneven rim, battering on broken
surfaces. The Venners rattled on their foundations, and the plates
had been scarred as if by a chisel in the hands of a maniac.

The blacksmith's tunnel--the tunnel leading off from the level--was
blocked by fallen timbers where a belt of lime formation cut across;
and fragments of wood, splintered into toothpick size, had been thrown
out when the mountain settled to its place. But a short distance from
the main shaft, which was a double compartment, carrying two cages up
and down, in every level the air was foul down to the five-hundred
foot, and below that the mine was filled with water.

Patiently Dick and the veteran explored these windings as far as they
might until the guttering of their candles warned them that the air
was loaded with poison, and often they retreated none too soon to
scale the slippery, yielding rungs of the ladder with dizzy heads.
Expert and experienced, they were puzzled by what was disclosed.
Either the mine had yielded exceedingly rich streaks and had been, in
mining parlance, "gophered," or else the management had been as
foolish as ever handled a property.

In the assay-house, where the furnaces were dust-covered, the scale
case black with grime, and the floor littered with refuse crucibles,
cupels, mufflers, and worn buckboards, they discovered a bundle of
old tablets. Almost invariably these showed that the assays had been
made from samples that would have paid to work, but this alone gave
them no hope.

But this was not all. A mysterious enmity seemed to pursue all their
efforts. Yet its displays were unaccountable for by natural causes. On
their arrival at the mine they found water, fresh and clear, piped
into every cabin, the mess-house, and the superintendent's quarters.
They traced it back and discovered a small lake formed and fed by a
large spring on what was evidently land of the mine. It