Show It IL The TheBy Black Box of f Silence By Dy Frauds Lynde nl 1 liy by O. O Irwin Myers lea by Willis Willi lm Guard Curd CHAPTER XII XII Continued Continued 1 sIts s- s Its an all abandoned nil mine ne abandoned a long lone time ago alo At lit that As AR Ai to where It belongs on the map I dont don't know You wont won't be afraid to stay alone fori fora for a i few Tew minutes will you Im I'm going to climb up UI and end Fee ace whore where bucket leads to Just stay where you are until you hear boar me lift the bucket l nn and l drop It Then In and the rope when you are lire ready for me ale to haul you OU up Will VIII you ilo do that Yes YN she lI agreed nn and with that he laid hold bold of ot the ro rope rOIe o find and began lIn to t climb up hen he lie bud wriggled out at th the e top lop of ot the tho shaft haft and fOil found II by hy groping round that It Wll was cn capped with a wooden windlass he be was wal willing t trent to rent for a few tew seconds alu and catch cutch hi y breath before giving Hetty the agreed agreed- upon 81 At once It wa was answered and h he e began to wind In a n few minutes h ho Ite o had bad drawn the tho bucket and Its Itt precious I freight out upon the windlass plat pint form fonn When the candle was WU f It t apparent that they had bud as ascended ascended to what seemed scented to be hI nothing g more than an upper layer of the rabbit rabbi t warren of ot bewildering passage a I and and ond I drifts you any I Idea la where w we weare weare e are arc Hetty asked Walt a bit hit said I find then Ive got Rot It III Itt I Hasn't Hert Canby told you rou about his mine the mine the Yes Well Veil there here are two th the P new nelV one that Is being worked now and anda 1 a ft much older one and he repeated 1 for tor her Starbuck's account of ot the ancient an dent workings That Is about whey where o we WI are orl he hI concluded hurled burled somewhere somewhere some where In those old workings Well We'll 1 keep on going while the candle lasts There must ho he sonic some connection between be be- tween these old workings and the new r Youre You're not too tired to tramp are ar 0 you rou Im not tired at nil all now And w we e must get out It If we can call We haven haven't t been and shut up In hero for tor fo r nothing That was wall the beginning of ot a ion long g period of ot fruitless wanderings In amaze aunte a amaze maze that seemed endless It was waa not until their candle had hail dwindled to a half Inch half that lint the really desperate character of ot their situation gripped Landis With the light lIht gone they would be utterly helpless We are nearly at the end Ind of ot things Hetty he said You soberly see SI how much there thre Is left of the candle canlle After Arter it ft Is la gone well we'll be Just hurled burled alive I know but Im I'm not afraid Owen It R It-It It will Ill be starvation stor wont won't It I dont don't want to die but hilt Im I'm not afraid Its et's sit lilt here on this pile of ot rock and ands and's s 's face It the best we can rail For a little while they sat flat In si si- si I lence II le When he spoke It was to say Tin Inv to blame blume for tor whatever lr happens to you OU Hetty If It I hadn't brought ht you alone the along the devils whoever they IY Orl nn who you wouldn't hll have ve left you to starve stane at the bottom of that tint shaft abaft ha n Maybe Maybo not Rut Hut you OU mustn't think of that now You did what you thought was best we e both did Do Po you think they've O got Wally too too Im ml afraid druid they IhlY have I It If he lie Is la gone there here ls is nobody t to miss us not very soon a anyhow The will think I was vas Invited to stay overnight with Ih the Smiths and the time people at the hotel wont won't miss you will they No I suppose not A As he spoke the remaining bit of ot candle audle wick fell tell over to burn tucker flicker In III b y for a few ft seconds s before It went out After a moment In the Stygian dark dark- new neis that followed ollo the extinguishing of the candle Betty Hetty said Mid wearily Im awfully lIr tired arent aren't you Owen No not very rry tired Hut But I know you ou mw must t be hI Iut your our head hlad on my lilY shoulder and go to sleep 1111 If It you can can She did It and after a u little while lie he kill knew from her regular breathing that she had lied really fallen asleep lit lie fore fore- long he felt that be hI too was succumbing sue suc and after a few efforts to fight off ort the lethargy of ot fatigue his hlA eyes clos closed In spite of ot his resolve I and be 11 slept When he awoke Betty Hetty was still sleep sleep- I lag Ing with her head hlad on his shoulder and sharp as asnIS was nIS hi his desire to mo move anc and stretch and get the stiffness out of ot his muscles he be was unwilling to disturb her hr It was while he tae was sitting Kitting with wide-open wide eyes staring Into Inlo the darkness darkness dark dark- ness that he saw or thought he tae saw a faint thinning of ot the darkness at a point directly opposite lie Me stared starell tf again and sa saw w nothing Then In to a flash the taint thinning of the blackness black ness DS came again and his start at lit this repetition of ot the phenomenon awoke r Uett What la II it IU she asked I dont don't know Look Louk straight ahead do 0 you ton see sec anything r Why why wh why ye yea It Ita light I Is someone coming for us He ne rose stiffly and lifted her to her hr feet Well sec he said but he did not say It hopefully What they saw when they crossed to o the mouth of ot one of the passages leading out of ot the space where they had slept was a thing that was wa not remotely expecting to see nee The passage mouth was II the entrance to a s lon long ong gently Inclined tunnel at time the hl lower ower extremity of ot which was a faint faint- ly Iy y glowing electric light What doc does that mean Hetty asked whispering as ns If Rhe She were wIre afraid the miraculous light might Ills appear It If she spoKe above e her breath It means lII that my guess was wa right Weve We've been lost In the 01 old 1 workings of ot the tho lUa and that hut light Is III In one of ot the new workings I INow INow Now that we know where we are we ran can get out cant can't we WI We e can try mighty hard horI anyway Well We'll go 10 down dawn and see what's at the bottom bottum of ot this rill ratio hole Approaching time the lower end Ind of ot the passage lu they could coul t see nee Ie that tint the he light bulb was wot suspended from the roof root of a much larger drift through which ran ron a II railroad track Landis asked Hetty to stay behind In concealment while he went on to In in- She he consented merely log ng him to be careful Dont hont worry about me Ill I'll hurry hock after I find out whereabouts we weare weare weare are and the way out Reaching the larger Ir tunnel he found It t empty Though tho llie working tunnel was lighted It was wal driven on a n curve which limited limite the view In either three three- thou tion Since there V ws S nothing to determine determine deter deter- mine a choice rhoel Landis turned to the left lert Before he had gone very Iry far he heard the rumble of ot n a car on the time rolls rails behind him blur and anti hastily crowded himself himself him him- self Into Inlo a niche In the tunnel wall When the car came cams In to sight eight he saw sate that It was II I posh by hy a single le man mall A slight u upgrade upgrade- l In the drift made the time theman e man mun put his hili head down and brace hrace t to o his lils work so o he saw lIaw nothing O as li he e passed Ila Landis' Landis hiding place Watching the car eor Landis had lead a curious curl curi OilS ous shock hoek when Just before It disappeared the squeaky rumbling of ot th the e wheels wheel stopped abruptly The ca car r moved as silently as If It the wheels nn the rolls rails upon which they were run run- running running ning were shod with velvet Convinced Instantly that there could coin d be bo but one reason for the sudden si sl silence sl fence lence Landis crept lt forward The tunnel tun nIl net straightened Itself and the seen scene e he ho was more than halt hall expecting t to o see was revealed In the tunnel heading bending a s number n of ot t men were at ut work two of them manipulating manip Mating two big air drills which were visibly churning away at the rock ruck face e of ot the heading Rut Hut Instead of ot th the e raucous mucous clamor which this should have raised there was waa a silence a as s profound as that of ot the gro e gravel I Fully aware now of the limo use to which wild L his its stolen Invention was being put Landis made a quick search for th the e hiding place of the black box He lie h had ma d 11 h v It v It was half halt concealed In a shelf like niche of the tunnel wall close dose at hand the electric current for It Its operation being taken from the time wires light over over- head hud saw that his time for action was short In a II few v minutes or perhaps per haps seconds second the car would be coming earn com ing lag out up u quickly he opened a slide In the black box and did that which was needful to paralyze Its lis delicate anti Intricate mechanism Then as liS the deafening splitting ear clamor of the chattering drills burst out In the heading he leaped Ila for a branching side AIde drift The Time effect of ot the Ihl suddenly released din dill upon Ulon the men In the heading was astonishing They had evidently e become become be be- come rome so well used to the abnormal conditions that the sudden resumption of ot the natural order of ot things thing precipitated pre pre- precipitated a wild panic panto While hile two of ot th the men hastened to shut hul off otT the air pressure from front the drills drill the remainder came cause stumbling out some solute with their fingers In their ears and ami so on out of the picture A moment later the two who ho had run ruu to stop the till drills came a me a along I illig hu but t they were werl not hurrying When hen they came clune under the nearest light bulb Landis rt recognized them at once onee as liS two of ot the three thrle he tie lint and hind had seen slen In the lobby hobby at lit the Ihl loh CO hotel two of lh the trio who had hal driven westward westward west west- ward from oah Dinh to disappear so unaccountably un unaccountably accountably and mysteriously What hat the h h I I do you suppose lose went wrong with the machine one was sayIng say say- III In lug Ing as RI they lIIS passed linseed It U got me for H R second S said the other I 1 wasn't looking for It Think It t gave gInI the time snap away If It It did therell there'll be rr m merry h h I I to tn pay poy Time The captain II want to kill some Borne bod body Today Is the day when the big deal Is to be bl pulled otT oIT This was all that I heard an and when he look looked Ill I'll out he saw that they had hud taken the black box from from it Its s niche and were trying to tn make It fune tion Presently Ir one said laid Its n na good she's gone out blink burnt herself herself her her- self up Inside somehow I guess 1 guess Then I Landis saw him open time the slide lIde In th the e side of ot th the box hox and direct the bean beam v of ot a pocket hash flash h Into the Interior saw him do this and aDd heart heard his low whistle punctuated h by the single word I II JI II I 1 It t What hot for Y i queried his hits companion n Smashed all 1111 to the devil said the time I Investigator replacing the ho bos on Its s shelf Say r Didn't th the ny captain give gave hl or ders that one of u us I was wars to keep n n R strict watch alch on OI that box hox every minute of ot the day or night It ll was In here t And that Isn't tle tie worst of it It Do P you YOI know who smashed 1 If It you 1111 dunt dont I 1 do dl d d d-d d well I t It Ii wits the fellow who wb made It the It-the the fellow we locked op tip orIn In to the old Indian mine last night 1 I r- Youre crazy That chute I Is a rood good two mlle mite from the time place where we locked that fellow up and allowing that he be had a lI light which light ht which he didn't didn't- didn't hed he'd get Iet lust lost a million times throes before he hp could find the way over here I 1 dont don't care lies lie's the only only There were two empty dynamite boxes lying beside belde UP the railroad track rind and I Landis looking on and listening In to his covert frt saw flOW one olle of ot the men suddenly push the speaker to a seat on one of I Ithem them planting himself quickly on th the theother theother other end ond saying as ns he did so 80 Cut Cutout Cutout out the chin music 1 I Here lIere comes the captain with hi his goldfishes I We want to let him hirn find us Ut keeping watch on that box I Landis craned his neck to enable him to see ste farther down the tunnel A group of ot four men was approaching the one In the lead Iad carrying a flashlight flash flash- light As A the four passed he stew saw that the light carrier was Canby Canny but the three men who ho were picking their way WilY In Canby's wake wilke were strangers A As the four came ramI up Canby slopped anti and spoke to one of the ile workmen Air quit on you did It Jim Its It's all right I was Just about to send lInd into In Into Into to tell tIll you oU to knock off a bit tilt until I could bring these gentlemen In and show them what weve we've got Landis reasoned Instantly that this was said sold for tor the benefit of the three thre strangers Canby must have ha learned from the time stricken panic miners the true cause for the stoppage e Of ot course you cant can't tell much about a R gold mine by merely looking at nt It I heard the speaker say Y to the three as they stood In the time heading Time The assays assas tell tIll the true story of ot the values ailles and ns os you know we have ha I given your examiners a free rein I 1 You have hove done everything you OU agreed to said one of the three There I ls Is only one thing that puzzles us liS a bit and that Is why you OU are ore willing to let go of so good a thing as astill this till mine seems Felm to be Canby laughed easily I 1 can give you OU the reason In four words Sir Mr l Fleming Im I'm no mining man A year ago I 1 thought I was and andI I let a hunch bunch of ot scamps stick me for forthe the old I found fount out pretty soon that Id I'd been hlen done clone but the extent extent ex ex- ex tent of ot the old workings was j proof that the mine hind had once been a II producer So I sent some good money after atler the bad developing one of ot theold the theold old olt veins Here lIere Is the result but good as It Is It hasn't made a mining man out of ot me my Interests now are all In the time Hast East and I cant can't ride two horses horl's at nt once There was more tulle talk After n time one oue of ot the time three said Well 1 I 1 guess we have ha seen seea all we need to to and I 1 think we are pretty well satisfied I Iguess guess we may ns as well 11 adjourn to and have our lawyers draw up the time papers What do you say Fleming and you Cantrell There was no dissenting voice and anda a II moment later the group of ot four tour was passing the mouth of ot the shallow drift drifton on Its way out L I run ava vi i live a aner me uv I sound of ot the footsteps of ot the retreatIng retreat retreat- retreatIng Ing quartette had died away In to the distant distant dis dis- tant readies reaches of ot the tunnel the two men who were barring the way for tor Landis made no move and his Impatience Impatience tience to get back bock to Hetty Getty became a i maddening obsession Then one got ot I upon his feet and began where he had left oft off when the Interruption had come Im telling you that the fellow tellow we locked up the up-the the fellow that made that back action speaker loud over o there theres there- there i Is s the one that turned h h I 1 loose on us usa usa usa |