to where we
met the Frostola man this morning, and that he wonders if we spotted it
from the plane."

Scotty shook his head. "No betting on sure things. This explains the
interest in the plane, all right. Stand by, old son. I'm going to make a
quick recon and be sure the coast is clear."

"Okay. Eyes adjusted?"

"Enough." Scotty went through the entrance on hands and knees. Rick saw
his legs as he stood up and surveyed the scene.

"Come on out," Scotty called. "We're alone."

Rick joined him. The fallen tree trunk came above their knees. As Scotty
had said, it made an effective shield for the mine entrance.

Rick studied the entrance itself. Probably it had once been a regular
timbered entrance, like the one on the other side of the hill, but it
had fallen in, the rocks wedging to form a low passage into the tunnel
inside. The whole hillside was overgrown with brambles, down to the
two-rut road below them, almost at the place where they had met the
peddler.

"We were within fifty feet of this entrance," Rick said, "and never
suspected it."

"The Frostola man knew it. Do you think he thought we knew it?"

"Possible, I suppose. I'm not so interested in what he thinks as I am in
what he was doing here. Where would we have ended if we had taken the
left-hand turn, do you suppose?"

"Why suppose? Unless you've had enough of mines for one day, we can go
back in and find out."

"I've had enough, but not enough to miss a chance like this. My
flashlight is still strong and it shouldn't take more than a few
minutes."

"Then let's go. No telling when a spook may visit the mine from this
end. Of course there's no telling about Uncle Frostola, either. He may
be inside."

That hadn't occurred to Rick. He thought it over, then shrugged. "We
might as well take the chance. If he is inside, that proves something,
and we're two to his one. Besides, it's late, and any sensible man is
eating his supper. Come on."

He led the way back into the cave, but because of the peddler's possible
presence, he wasn't as headlong in his traversing of the tunnel as he
might otherwise have been.

They passed the side tunnel from which they had emerged a short time
before and entered entirely new territory. It wasn't unlike the rest of
the mine, consisting of a main bore with some alcoves indicating either
deviations of the ore vein or niches cut to allow ore carts to pass.

Walking rapidly, but alert for either sound or light, they