CHAPTER X.
SCOUT TACTICS.
"Gee! that ought to settle the business!" breathed Jimmy, as hecontinued to stare at the three workers.
These men seemed as busy as beavers, passing from crevice to crevice,and managing in some way to insert what were very likely pieces of richcopper ore, brought from some distant and well-known mine, for thepurpose of deceiving any one sent up to inspect this new venture.
Ned himself felt that he could have no better evidence of fraud than wasexhibited in the actions of these laborers. He knew that if this scenewas incorporated in his report, it would sound the doom of the intendedbig deal, whereby a million, perhaps many of them, was to pass into thehands of the swindlers.
And knowing this, Ned was also aware of the fact that should theemployees of the company running the game learn that the scouts hadactually been inside the mine, and watched its being so beautifully"salted," they would realize that desperate tactics must be employed inorder to silence the spies.
That might mean either their speedy dispatch, or being kept prisonersin that region so far away from civilization until the deal had been putthrough, and the vast amount of cash changed hands.
He could easily enough imagine these desperate scoundrels making himsign a glowing report declaring that the property was fabulously rich.Plainly, then, it would be greatly to the advantage of the scouts to getout of the mine without being discovered.
"Well, do we go on and see what the fellows have to say for themselves?"asked Frank, chafing under the delay.
"If we have to do that, please let me take care of old Blackbeard, Ned,"urged Jimmy, who seemed to have taken an especial dislike toward thegiant, whom he had been comparing with the old-time pirate.
"We'll back out!" said Ned, shortly.
"Seem to have seen enough, eh?" Jack whispered, with a little vein ofdisappointment back of his words, just as though he had really beenhoping they might see some lively action, while up in this "neck of thewoods."
"When your father learns about this job, he'll want to throw up hishands and wash them of the whole business," the other assured him.
"Then it's no use going deeper," admitted Jack.
Of course, all this conversation was carried on very cautiously. No onedared to raise his voice above the softest sort of whisper; and usuallyspoke directly into the ear of the chum he wanted to address. On thisaccount, the workers not far away did not suspect the presence ofinterlopers, or that their actions were being carefully noted.
Ned managed to let the two guides know that it was now up to the partyto execute a masterly retreat. If they could quit the mine as easily asthey had entered, it would be a big feather in their caps.
All of them were immediately in motion, and after the bend in thepassage had been negotiated they could once more use a light. As before,Ned brought his means of illumination into service, and guided by thesoft white glow ahead, that showed up all inequalities of the path, theyset out for the exit.
They had gone perhaps half-way, when Ned stopped to listen. All of themcould hear what had come to his ears. Shouts without were sounding thealarm. Plainly, something must have occurred to excite the few who hadbeen in the tented settlement. Perhaps after all some one witnessedtheir entrance to the mine, and had hurried to the camp with the news.There were two or three men there, as Ned had noted before; and thesewere now trying to communicate their discovery to the three minersengaged in "salting" the works.
There seemed to be only one course open to the scouts, and this was tomake all haste possible to attain the exit. Here, they might sallyforth, and by taking advantage of the confusion cause the few guards todisperse, by firing a volley over their heads.
This plan flashed into the head of the young leader of the explorers, ashe listened to the shouts that were ringing forth.
"Hurry along, fellows!" he urged his companions, knowing only too wellthe value of prompt action in a case like this. "We must rush theopening, and scatter that howling bunch like wolves. Shoot to frighten,then if that doesn't work, try to cut them in the legs. Understand?"
They all answered in the affirmative, even Jimmy showing that he hadcaught the idea. And bent upon carrying it out, without the loss of evena second, the party pressed forward eagerly.
Just for another minute, and then they met with a sudden surprise, thatcame as unexpectedly as lightning might from a clear sky.
As though some giant hand had brushed them all over into a heap, so thefive scouts and their two husky guides were sent headlong to the rocks,some of them receiving bumps that would prove more or less painful lateron.
There was no mystery about the matter, because accompanying their upsethad come a loud explosion that sounded doubly severe to them, since theywere underground.
Plainly the conspirators had looked far enough ahead to make ready toentomb any prowling visitors who might succeed in gaining access to themine, and learn something of its secrets. They had a charge of blastingpowder, or possibly a dynamite cartridge, placed so that it could befired with ease.
"Wow!" exclaimed Jimmy, struggling half erect, "who hit me with thatbrick?"
"What happened, Ned?" asked Teddy, almost dazed from the way his headhad collided with a hard rock, causing him to see about a millionflashing stars in that one second of time.
"They've fired some sort of explosive, to seal up the exit of the mine!"broke from Jack, who was quick to guess the appalling truth.
"Then we're shut up here like rats in a trap, is that it?" persistedJimmy, now so astonished that he even forgot to rub the back of his headwhere the seat of the pain seemed to be located.
"I don't know," said Ned, "but we can soon settle that by pushing on."
"What if another bomb lets go?" Teddy inquired.
"Small danger of that happening," the leader assured him; "but anyhowwe'll have to take the chances. Come along, everybody!"
That was Ned's way of doing things, and proved him to be the right typeof leader, capable of winning the respect of his patrol. Seldom had anyof the scouts heard him tell them to "go on" when there was a spice ofperil in the air.
They were not long in finding out the dismal truth. Indeed, as theyadvanced along the tortuous passage, the air became more and more foulwith the odor of burnt powder. And, finally, the light from the severalelectric hand-torches disclosed the presence ahead of a mass of fallenrock and dirt that effectually filled the narrow passage.
The boys stared at the barrier in more or less dismay. It effectuallycut them off from making their exit, and so far as they knew there wasno other means of leaving the mine.
Jimmy started in to lifting several of the rocks and tossing them aside.With his customary zeal, he fancied that if they all got to work theymight in a short time bore through the barrier.
"Be careful there!" warned Jack, as the action of the "busy bee"dislodged several other masses of rock, and Jimmy had a narrow escapefrom being crushed.
"Yes," added Ned, hastily, "better leave that alone for the present,Jimmy. For every pound you take away three will drop down, because youcan see how the shock has loosened everything above you."
"But my stars! we ain't goin' to stand for being sealed up here like alot of old mummies, are we?" gasped Jimmy. "Why, whatever would we dofor grub; and then a feller wants to have a fresh drink every once in awhile? Ned, we've just _got_ to break out of this!"
"You bet we do!" added Frank, who did not like the bitter prospect anymore than the one who was putting up such a savage protest.
"Tell me, how you're going to do it then," said Teddy.
Neither of the scouts answered. The fact of the matter was that whilethey were so vehement in their declaration not to stand, they did nothave the least idea how the trouble might be remedied.
As usually happened, it became more and more evident that they mustdepend on Ned to lead them out of the wilderness. Instead of talking hehad been doing some hard thinking; and was now able to suggest a plan.
"I don
't know whether there can be anything in it boys," Ned started into say, "but it seems queer that they should shut their companions up inhere with us, if there wasn't some other means for escaping. Our planthen is to hurry back, and try to get in touch with that giant and hisbunch. By now they'll have taken warning, and be hustling for the openair."
"Whee! then we'd better be on the jump," Jimmy jerked out.
All of them saw the necessity for prompt action. Now that Ned hadsuggested such a possibility they could understand how it might be justas he said. And if those toilers were already making in hot haste forthe second exit, the sooner the scouts got close in touch with them thebetter.
They had already been over this ground two times, so that they shouldknow it fairly by now. Every fellow had his electric light in service,gripping it in one hand, while his gun was held in the other.
In this fashion, then, they reached the bend around which they hadpeered at the trio of industrious "salt" workers.
All was as black as a pocket there now.
"Why, they're gone!" burst out Jimmy, just as though he had an idea theminers, after hearing the horrible crash of the explosion, would be kindenough to linger there, so as to show the intruders the back door of themine.
"Keep right on going," said Ned, "we've got to overtake them, if we cando it."
"Guess, that'll save more or less trouble in the end," admitted Jack;while Teddy and Frank were heard to mutter their approval of thescheme.
Indeed, it was a rare occurrence for any of the scouts to radicallydiffer from their leader. Somehow, Ned Nestor seemed capable of judgingthings just right, and these comrades tried and true had come to rely onhis way of looking at the solving of knotty problems as well nighperfect.
They passed the place where the men had been working. Perhaps some ofthe lads might have been glad of a chance to stop and see how thisclever trick of making a mine appear ten times more valuable than itreally was, could be carried out; but there was no time for delay now.
On they rushed.
The channel seemed to be so fashioned up to now that they were notcompelled to make any choice between rival passages. There had been nosuch thing as going astray. But shortly afterwards they came to a fork,where a second fissure gaped before them.
Now came the question, which way had the three men gone in order toreach the friendly exit they were acquainted with? Jimmy would haveperhaps thrown up a copper cent and trusted to "heads or tails" tosettle the matter for him; but this was not the happy-go-lucky way Nedhad of deciding.
Of course, it would have been an easy thing for him to have settled inhis mind which way the workings of the mine lay. All that was necessarywas to look and see which passage showed many marks of loads of orehaving been carried along it, portions of which had fallen from thewheel-barrows.
But this would not tell them whether the men had fled by that passage oralong the other one. Just then they were bent on chasing after the threeminers, and not hunting for the spot from which ore had been taken.
Ned had an idea. These usually came to him like flashes of light, andmight almost be called happy inspirations.
He remembered that just after the tremendous crash several of the boyshad been half choked by the cloud of dust in the air. He himself had hadsome difficulty in breathing, and refraining with an effort fromcoughing. That gave him the thought upon which he hastened to act; andit was here that his Boy Scout training stood him in good stead.
Immediately bending down he held his electric torch to the flat rockthat constituted the floor of the passage where it forked, and just ashe suspected would be the case, he discovered that a very thin layer ofdust had covered the place after the explosion.
While there was not much of this, at the same time, it would allow apair of keen eyes to discover footprints, providing they had been made_after_ the layer had settled.
Ned's chums watched his every move almost breathlessly. They immediatelyunderstood what he expected to do, and while not very sanguine ofsuccess, still they hoped for the best.
They saw Ned start to move slowly along. He continued to hold his lightclose to the rock, and waved it slightly from side to side, as thoughbent on covering as much ground as possible. But the fact that he didadvance showed them that he must be meeting with some success.
Another step did Ned take, then a third and a fourth. The boys began tobreathe freely again, for hope had once more taken root in theirbreasts. They saw that he was showing confidence, as though he had nolonger any doubt of his ability to decide the enigma.
Even Jimmy remembered reading about the visit of the Queen of Sheba tothe wise Solomon, when he ruled as king, bearing a wreath of naturalflowers in one hand and another that was artificial, but so skilfullydone that no eye could detect the difference, and then asked him todecide. The wise king had simply ordered a window to be opened, and alot of bees, searching for honey, soon settled on the right flowers.
That was the commonsense way in which Ned Nestor usually settled knottyproblems.
"The trail in the dust runs along the smaller passage, that does notlead to the worked part of the mine," he said; "and so it's up to us tohustle after the three men. So come on boys, and let's hope we get tothe open air soon!"
Boy Scouts on Hudson Bay; Or, The Disappearing Fleet Page 10