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Page 12
"Something exciting?" smiled the caretaker, noting the boy's caution.
Will answered, "There's something exciting. Tommy and Sandy
disappeared during the night."
"Disappeared?" echoed the caretaker.
"Yes," George cut in, "there was some talk of their visiting the mine
just before we went to bed, and we are of the opinion that they went
down the shaft shortly after we fell asleep, and failed to find their
way to the surface again. We are considerably alarmed."
"I should think you would be!" replied the caretaker. "In the first
place, the Labyrinth mine bears the right name. There are old
workings below which a stranger might follow for days without finding
the way out."
"Then we'll have to organize a search for the boys," George suggested.
"Besides,"' continued Canfield, "there are things going on in the mine
which no one understands. I have long believed that there are people
living there who have no right to take up such a residence."
"I'm sorry you said anything to this detective about our being here,"
Will said after this phase of the case had been discussed.
"As a matter of fact," the caretaker replied, "I didn't intend to say
anything to Ventner about your being here, but in some way he received
an intimation that you were about to take up the case and so pumped
the whole story out of me."
"Perhaps he received his information from the New York attorney,"
suggested Will.
"I'm sure that he did not," answered the caretaker. "If the attorney
had written to him in regard to the matter at all, he would have
posted him so fully that when he cross-examined me such a proceeding
would have been unnecessary."
"Has this man Ventner visited the mine often?" asked George.
"Yes, quite frequently."
"Does he always go alone?"
"Yes, he always goes alone," was the answer. "Once I accompanied him
to the bottom of the shaft but there he suggested that we go in
different directions, and did not seem to want me anywhere near him."
"I don't like the looks of the fellow, and that's a fact!" exclaimed
Will. "He doesn't look good to me."
After some discussion it was decided that the caretaker would
accompany the two boys to the bottom of the shaft and direct them down
gangways, which they could follow without fear of losing their way,
and the illumination of which would be likely to be observed by anyone
wandering about the blind chambers and passages of the mine.
When they reached the bottom of the shaft, climbing down the ladders,
as Tommy and Sandy had done some hours before, they gathered in a
little group at the bottom while the caretaker gave them a few general
instructions regarding the general outlines of the Labyrinth of
tunnels, chambers and cross passages which lay before them.
"Did any one come down after us?" asked Will directly.
"No one," was the reply. "Why do you ask?"
"Because," Will answered, "there's some one skulking off down that
passage, and it looks to me like that bum detective!"
CHAPTER V
THE FLOODED MINE
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