bucket came to go up
just when we needed it most?"

He learned a minute later. As the conveyor reached the surface and
stopped, Dick and his friends stepped out. They saw that the fire under
the boiler was burning brightly, and that a man, who had not been there
when they arrived, was attending to the hoisting engine. As he caught
sight of them he exclaimed:

"Who are you? Where's Smith?"

"Down there," replied Dick, not caring to go into details. "Come on,
boys."

"But something's wrong," went on Nash, the engineer. "I was told to come
here about one o'clock, get up steam and be ready to hoist the bucket
when I heard a revolver shot. I heard it and I hoisted away. But where's
Smith and his men? He told me he'd fire a shot when he was ready to come
up. I heard it plain enough, but who are you?"

"Smith will explain," replied Dick. "We came up first, that's all," he
added, coolly. "Come on, boys."

Leaving behind them a much-puzzled engineer, the three boys hurried away
from the mine. They were soon on the road leading back to Yazoo City.

"Do you think they'll chase us?" asked Frank.

"I don't believe so," replied Dick. "I guess Smith is worried enough as
it is. He may suspect who we were, but I don't believe he knows for
certain. However, we'll keep in the shadows for a way."

This they did, but there was no need of apprehension, for none of the
miners pursued them.

"Well, youse had your money's worth of excitement, anyway," commented
Tim. "Say, I t'ought it was all up wid me dere, one spell. But youse had
your nerve wid you, Mr. Dick."

"Well, we had some luck with us, too," replied the millionaire's son.
"Those fellows played right into our hands. They must have gone down the
mine early in the evening, and arranged with the engineer to come back,
when they were finished with their 'salting' process, to hoist up their
tools and things so as to leave nothing suspicious around. When Smith
fired at us the engineer, who arrived after we had gone down the mine,
thought it was the signal agreed upon and he hoisted away. I guess he
was surprised when he saw us get out of the bucket."

"And I guess Smith will be surprised when he finds out you know how he
and his gang fixed up the fake mine," remarked Frank.

"I guess the best plan will be to say nothing to him about it," said
Dick. "I don't see anything for me to do but go back home and report to
dad. We've been swindled, and I'm out two thousand dollars. I