e. To his unpractised eye there was no
sign of silver on walls, floor or ceiling. At the extreme end was piled
up a quantity of what appeared to be huge cartridges.

Before entering the cavern he had noticed three or four of the miners
standing in front of the bunk house, evidently watching him, but he paid
no attention to them, and while he was inside, the roar of the cataract
prevented him from hearing approaching footsteps. As he came out to the
lip of the mine, he found Jim and three others waiting for him. Each had
a rifle on his shoulder.

"Inspecting the property?" said Jim, casually.

"Yes," replied Stranleigh.

"What do you think of it?"

"My opinion would be of very little value. I know nothing of mining."

"The deuce you don't!" said Jim. "What are you doing with that lump of
rock in your hand?"

"Oh, that," said Stranleigh, "I happened to pick up. I wanted to examine
it in clear daylight. Is there silver in it?"

"How should I know?" replied Jim, gruffly. "I'm not a mining engineer. I
only take a hand at the drill or the pick, as the case may be. But when
you throw that back where you got it, throw it carefully, and not too
far."

"I don't intend to throw it," said Stranleigh. "I'm going to take it
down to the house."

"Oh, you think you're not going to throw it, but you are. We've just
come up to explain that to you."

"I see. If it is compulsory, why shouldn't I throw it as far as I can?"

"Because," explained Jim, politely, "there's a lot of dynamite stored
in the end of that hole, and dynamite isn't a thing to fool with, you
know."

Stranleigh laughed.

"I rather fancy you're right, though I know as little about dynamite as
I do about mines. But to be sure of being on the right side, I will
leave the tossing of the stone to you. Here it is," whereupon he handed
the lump of rock to Jim, who flung it carelessly into the mine again,
but did not join in his visitor's hilarity.

"You seem to regard me as a dangerous person?"

"Oh, not at all, but we do love a man that attends to his own business.
We understood that you came here for shooting and fishing."

"So I did, but other people were out shooting before I got a chance. A
man who's had a bullet through his shoulder neither hunts nor fishes."

"That's so," admitted Jim, with the suavity of one who recognises a
reasonable statement, "but now that you are better, what do you come
nosing round the mine for? Why don't you go on with your