The Argosy, Vol. 84 No. 1 — page 114: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

104 which had already faithful Patrick Moran as a victim, and now was sure to make every effort to remove Derby in order to rob Nancy of her last protection. In vain Gerard racked his brain to.dis- cover a means of escape for Miss Gale. There was no telegraph within a hundred - miles. The nearest place from which a letter could be sent was Independence, and Symmonds was not a man to scruple at tampering with the mails. Finally the problems of the future grew so oppressive that Derby turned away from them with a shrug of his shoulders, and devoted his attention to the details of the present and the immediate outlook for the I. O. U. mine. He spent the morning examining the damage caused by the explosion. With- out powder there was very little work that could be done. He repaired the shack as best he could with the scanty materials at hand and took stock of their supplies. At best, there was only enough to last them for a week, and the fact that Derby did not dare leave Nancy to go in search of more, complicated the problem. While he was walking about the edge of the new-formed crater, he paused and leaned against a huge boulder, which be- fore the explosion had been wedged tight with smaller rocks. He and Moran had commented on it, as the wedging rocks seemed to lie in almost mathematical regu- larity. To his surprise the boulder rocked when his weight rested against it. More from idle curiosity than for any real purpose, he got his crowbar and inserting it under the upper edge, using a rock as a fulcrum, began to sway the boulder up and down. At his fourth heave the great rock seemed to hesitate, then slowly topple, and with leaping bounds went crashing down the hill into the canon, sweeping before it with irresistible force anything that stood in its way. When his eyes ceased to follow the boulder and dropped to the place where it had stood, Derby gave an exclamation of surprise. Before him was the open mouth THE ARGOSY. of a triangular-shaped shaft, some four feet across at its base. He crawled to the edge, hardly daring to believe his sight, and peered down. But he could see no bottom, only abyssmal blackness. His hand rested upon a stone whose sharpness bothered him, and he looked down at it suddenly. ‘The stone was highly polished and ground down to a fine edge. The upper part was deep-notched. It was evidently an old Indian stone hatchet. On it were carved small symbols, crude sketches of animals. Gerard raked his memory, striving to remember where he had seen similar marks. He recalled at last that he had seen an Aztec collection in the museum, and that some of the specimens had been similarly carved. He again looked down into the shaft. The smooth-cut sides, devoid of any trace of timbering, told of labor done at an age when years of toiling labor with bronze tools had done the work that modern science, with electric drill and giant power, made light of. As he examined the shaft more care- fully, he saw in one of the angles a series of notches some two feet apart and not very deep. : ‘“T wonder how far down those notches go,” he said to himself. “ It is a primitive sort of ladder, but it looks safe enough. If there is a real shaft sunk here, the I. O. U. ought to be able to claim sufficient assessment work to complete its title for good and all!” He thought of returning to tell Nancy of his discovery. ‘* After all,” he thought, “ if it only goes down a little way, it. will only be another disappointment for her to bear. Here goes to find out.” Cautiously he swung himself over the edge, and lowering himself to his elbows, dropped his feet until they fitted into the second notch. His feet, clad in heavy boots, got but little grip, and he drew himself to the surface again. ‘Whoever used that ladder must have CORNICGLOOOKS (©)