oked at each other understandingly; for thrown carelessly into a
clump of laurel was a long, freshly cut sapling, that had been used as
a lever. They recovered it from its resting place and inspected it.
There was no doubt whatever that it had been the instrument of motion.
Its scarred end, its length, and all, told that the man who had used
it had carried it this far to discard it, believing his murderous work
done.

"I noticed that rock, as I said before," declared Bill. "You noticed
how round it was on one side? Well, a man could take this lever, and
by teetering on it until he got it in motion, finally upset it. The
chances were a hundred to one it would land in the mouth of the shaft.
And it's a cinch, it seems to me, he wouldn't do that for fun."

Dick shook his head gravely.

"But who could it be?" he insisted. "Who is there that could want us
out of the way badly enough to murder us? No one here knows or cares a
continental about us! It seems incredible. It must have been sheer
carelessness of some restless loafer who wanted to see the rock
roll."

Yet they knew that the theory was scarcely tenable. They walked
farther along the path and found that it was one used by workmen,
evidently, leading at last down the steep mountain side and across to
the Rattler. They surmised that it must be one made by the timber
cutters for the mine, and learned, in later months, that the surmise
was correct.

"It makes one thing certain," Bill declared that evening when,
candidly discouraged, they sat on the little porch in front of the
office they had made their home and discussed the day's findings. "And
that is that until we get a force to work here, if we ever do, it
ain't a right healthy place for us. Of course with a gang of men
around there wouldn't be a ghost of a chance for any enemy to get us;
but until then we'd better watch out all the time. I begin to believe
that about everything that's happened to us here has been the work of
somebody who ain't right fond of us. Wish we could catch him at it
once!"

There was a grim undercurrent in his wish that left nothing to words.
They remembered that in all the time since their arrival they had seen
no other human being, the Rattler men having left them as severely
alone as if they had been under quarantine.

In the stillness of twilight they heard the slow, soft padding of a
man's feet laboriously climbing the hill, and listened intently at the
unusual sound.

"Won