The Boy Miners

The Boy Miners; or, The Enchanted Island by Edward S. Ellis (1874) follows brothers George and Edwin Inwood and their companion Jim Tubbs as they search for gold in Yellowstone country. When Mohave Indians discover their mining operation, the men flee to a cave where they are trapped. During negotiations at the cave entrance, the group captures one of the Indians. Besieged by the Mohaves outside, Edwin constructs an improvised explosive device—a stone with dynamite (Dupont's powder) and a fuse—intended to deter or disperse the attackers. The text breaks off mid-sequence as Jim prepares to hurl the charged stone outward, with the outcome of this explosive stratagem left unresolved in the provided excerpt.