The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-09-01

rs. has prevented him further exploring the
able richness of it from what we had al
ready seen, and that he thought no dlm-
GUILTY could be found in removing the rock
by blasting. Here he placed his hand on
tho rock, but recoiled with shrek 1or tne
skin had been blistered in an instant. Ana
while we stood nonplussed, we became
aware that certain dull faint roar we had
scarcely perceived before was growing
into rumblinR that promised to deafen
us, and accompanied as it was by herce
kissing and boiling, was horribly suggest
i've of a lake of liquid metal bubbllnR up
from some unimaginable region. l sup.
pose there was no real danger from 1t, but
t seemed to me that the boiling food was
coming through the rock, and it was Ger
tainly rising, for the noise grew louder
every moment. while the heat increased
perceptibly.
"Will X. here tried to call to me, but
sank down in heap, fainting, and 1t was
back to the ante-chamber. l felt myself
also becoming faint and dizzy from the
heat, and was just able to request the
Mexican to take US back to the surface OF
the earth when my limbs failed me. have
faint remembrance of being dragged and
pushed for some distance; but when l at
last recovered myself found that X. and
were living close to where our horses were
tied, with Romero bathing our heads with
water. He must with incredible difficulty
have brought us through that underg-ound
passage and to the place where We found
ourselves. When we recovered he took US
to his house cabin near the foot of the
mountains, where he had lived he told us,
for a number of years with his wife and
five children. He did not give any reason
for his exile, but suspected that he had
COTTON into trouble with the
authorities in Mexico and had fled across the
border. He was a man OF some educa-
ton and more than ordinary intelligence,
and accidentally discovering an entrance
into the cavern had taken it for one of the
lost mines of the Aztecs. That it was a
mine was beyond doubt, but, rs saic, it
had not been worked by the ancient Mexi-
cans, but by race which must have ante
dated them.
"The narrow passage found by Romero
was natural excavation, and not of course
the regular entrance to the mine, and was
prbably unknown to the miners. Romero
declared that when he had explored the
cavern the week before the great heat we
had found was not there, So it was evident
that the boiling food we had found
bubbling up was only of intermittent oc-
currence. The rock which had kept it from
invading the antechamber had probably
been sucked into place by the receding OF
the steaming tide, perhaps on the very oc-
casion when the men we had seen had been
killed. But as to that and the cause OF
their strange preservation, of course, l
only surmise.
"We offered to buy the utensils and hu-
man remains in the cavern, which would
have been of inestimable value as archeo-
logical curiosities, but tried to convince
Romero that it would be impossible to work
the mine. He would not, however, admit
the impracticability of the thing, and when
VIC rofuco1 %o ha aruna6 Or narSua6a1 into
any attempt to NEEDLE with an undertaking
nature had centuries before set her veto on
he became angry and declined to sell us the
curiosities We wanted. We left him declar-
ing he would yet remove the difficulties that
blocked his way to the enormous wealth
the mine contained.
after our return to town did not see X.
for some days. but when did we mutually
confessed that we were haunted by the
thought of that silver mine to such an ex-
tent that we could not rest, though both had
| thought himself resigned to its loss on
learning of the impossibility of getting q
hand on its treasures. Weagreed to 60 and
look up Romero and see if we could not
search out the regular entrance to the mine,
our idea being that an exploration from
| that point might be feasible. We found
from Eomero's wife that he had gone to Ell
Paso the day after our visit and brought
home large quantity of Runpowder, but
! mountains. The woman evidently knew
nothing of her husbands discovery and
| seemed worried over his absence. X. and I
spent nearly a week searching for Romero's
hole and the main entrance, but we found
neither. and it is my opinion that the
| former must have mined at or by some con-
| vulsion of nature. We went again and
again to see if Romero had returned home,
but he never turned up; SO it is probable
that he lost his life in desperate attempt
to blast away the great rock, or was over
taken by the heat and died there. For years
X. and as long as he lived, used to 70 and
look for the hole we had crept into blind.
folded, but, needless to say, We never found
it. Yes, told you would tax your credul.
ity, but, all the same, every word l have
spoken is the exact TRUTH