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Page 41
"The provisions," laughed Jimmie, "were hidden in the chamber where
the rats were, and you're welcome to all you can get your hands on
now!"
"Oh, well," Sandy groaned, "I suppose we'll have to buy more."
"One difficulty about passing in and out of the mine so frequently,"
Tommy stated, "is that this man Ventner is likely to catch us at it.
There's no knowing what he'll do next if he finds that we're searching
the place. According to Elmer, you know," he continued, "we didn't
finish our job when we landed on you boys. He says the real game is
now about to begin."
"He's right there!" declared Jimmie.
"Strange thing Mr. Horton didn't tell us all above it!" complained
Tommy. "Where was the use of his sending us down here and making
monkeys of us? He ought to be ashamed of himself!"
"He wanted to see whether you could find out what you were here for!"
laughed Elmer. "Perhaps he understood that after you caught us, we'd
tell you all about it. He's a pretty foxy guy, that man Horton, from
all I hear about him. I'm going to Chicago some day to meet him!"
"Well, what is it we've got to look for now?" demanded Sandy.
"You just wait till we get to headquarters!" replied Jimmie.
"We ought to do that just as quickly as possible," Tommy ventured,
"because there's no knowing when that bum detective may return. I'd
give a whole lot of money right now to know what he is looking for!"
The three strangers regarded each other laughingly, evidently well
pleased at the puzzled look showing on the faces of their friends.
"Wait till we get to headquarters and get a square meal under belts,"
Jimmie promised, "and we'll tell you what this bum detective's looking
for. It won't take long to do it, either."
"You know, then, do you?" asked Tommy.
"Of course, we know!"
"Then why don't you tell?"
"Couldn't think of telling on an empty stomach!" laughed Jimmie
provokingly.
As the boys walked along the passage, only a short distance from the
old tool house, they heard a rattling and bumping on the shaft ladders
and instantly extinguished their lights.
Presently they heard footsteps on the hard floor of the gangway, and
then a light such as those being used by the boys flashed out.
"Now we're in for it!" exclaimed Tommy.
"For the love of Mike, don't let him see us!" whispered Jimmie.
"It'll spoil everything if he does," Dick submitted.
The boys crowded close against the wall of the gangway and waited
impatiently for Ventner to pass along.
He was muttering to himself as he moved down the gangway, and his
round, protruding belly and his little shapeless shoulders reminded
the watching lads of the gnomes they had read about, living in
underground cells and preying at night upon the fairies.
Only for a trifling accident the boys would certainly have been
discovered. Just as the detective same to a position ten or fifteen
feet from where they were standing, when he was in a position to see
their faces by the rays cast on ahead by the flashlight, he partly
turned his ankle in a stumble on the rails, and for a moment the rays
of the light were directed downward. He hobbled along, raving and
cursing, for a few steps and then walked briskly on again.
But the ever-watchful eye of the searchlight no longer struck upon the
wall where the boys stood, and they realized that for the present they
were safe from discovery. Ventner moved on down the gangway and soon
disappeared in a cross cutting which ran to the right.
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