The Argosy, Vol. 84 No. 1 — page 115: what you’re looking at

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

DARING THE DANGER ZONE. gone barefoot,” he reflected, and taking off his boots and heavy socks, he again lowered himself carefully over the edge of the shaft. The purchase that he now obtained was much more firm. Slowly, bracing himself against the sharp angle of the side wall, he climbed down and down until the patch of sky above him grew to a small speck. His fingers ached; but he kept on, dog- gedly resolved to solve the mystery. He had counted his steps, and as he lowered himself for the three hundred and forty- ninth time, his feet struck hard on rough bottom, instead of on the expected notch. He rested, breathing hard from his ex- ertion. “That must be almost seven hundred feet,” he said to himself. ‘“‘ And to think that if I am right in my guess that this shaft was sunk by aborigines, they must have hoisted the excavated rock in baskets all the way to the surface! That may account for those strange rock-heaps that almost dam the gulch.” Carefully he pivoted himself and, lean- ing back against the wall, took his candle- spike from his pocket and, lighting the stub of candle in the holder, looked about to discover whether he stood upon a ledge or upon the bottom of the shaft. A ghastly sight met his eyes. The place was piled high with heaps of bones and skel- etons. Some of the skeletons lay stretched at full length, others were propped in sit- ting postures against the walls. Scattered about were splintered and crushed skulls, and bones jammed through skeletons to which they did not belong. Evidently some of the bodies had fallen the length of the shaft and crushed down upon others. The shaft was larger at the bottom than at the top by perhaps seven feet, yet was not more than, roughly, ten feet by five in circumference. Into this narrow space were jammed the twisted bones of be- tween twenty-five and thirty skeletons. Into Derby’s awed mind there flashed the horrible explanation; the sudden flight of the tribe before a Spanish or earlier 105 enemy; the concealment of the treasure- — shaft by the huge boulder, and the for- getting or wilful desertion of those beneath the ground at the crisis. Was it three hundred, was it a thou- sand years ago that the desperate fight for life had taken place? He imagined the frantic ascent of the difficult ladder; the desperate efforts to move the boulder that sealed them in; the despair when the weaker must have hurled themselves down to die; the agonies of the stronger, wait- ing, hoping against hope, and gradually dying of hunger and thirst. Gerard felt a wild impulse to ascend and leave the awful place; but he con- quered his nerves, and, holding his candle close down, continued his examination. In a corner, so covered with bones that he had not at first noticed it, was an aper- ture some three feet in height. Overcom- ing his repugnance, he pushed aside the bones and crawled inside. Within five feet the passageway grew in height. The character of the rock changed from diorite to limestone. Evidently the softer rock had encouraged the crude workers, for the tunnel grew in size, and he could walk erect. He felt his way cautiously along, wary of unseen pitfalls, one hand clasping his candle and the other sliding along the smooth wall. In a hundred yards that beneath his right hand slanted sharply back, and he realized that he must ‘have reached the “ stope.”’ His candle showed but dimly the be- ginning of a chamber as to whose vastness he could only guess. Scattered about the floor the flickering light of the candle showed him many more skeletons. The air of the place was reek- ing with humidity, and he found it hard to breathe. Holding his candle close to the wall, he moved along, trying to form some guess as to the richness of the ore. After pro- gressing a few feet, he came upon huge deposits of what seemed almost pure copper. Gerard had heard of the rich finds in VOOKS COMMUC (E@)