The Raymer enterprise., 1922-12-21
CHAPTER xvli-Continued.

himself, to stare about him In won
fasten his eyes upon Fairchlld. He
seemed to be struggling for speech, for
coordination OF ideas. Finally. after
many minutes
THAT'S you, Boyi"
"les, Harry"
But where are we?'
Were In hospital, and you're
Knocked out. Don't you know where
you've hccuT'
81 don't know anything since slid
down the wall"
Since you whatf'
But Harry had lapsed into semi
consciousness again. And II was not
until late In the night after the rescue.
following few hours Of rest forced
upon him by the inferno, that Fair
child once more could converse with
his stricken partner.
"Its something III ave to show you
to explain" said Harry II can't tell
you about 1t. You know where that
little iissure Is In the angling wall.
away back In the stopef'
ayes"
"Well. that's 1t. That's where ! got
cut"
"But what happened before thatT'
What didn't 'appeni" asked Harry.
with painful grin. Everything In
the world 'appened. but what dbl
the assay show"
Fairrhlld reached forth and laid a
hand on the brawny one OF his part
ner
Were rich, Hurry" he said. richer
than | ever dreamed we could be. The
ores as good as that Of the Silver
Queen -
"The bloody ell 1t Is" Then Harry
dropped back on his pillow for long
time and simply grinned at the cell
ing. Somewhat anxious. Fairchlld
leaned forward. but his partners eyes
were open and smiling. "Tm just let
ting It sink in." he announced, and
FairchIld was silent. saving his ques-
lions until at" had sunk. Then:
"You were saying something about
that fissuref"
But there Is other things first.
After you went TO the assayers, /
fooled around there In the chamber,
and thought I'd just take flyer and
blow up them oles that I'd drilled In
the Angling wall at the same time that
I shot the other. so put In the
powder and fuses, tamped 'em down
and then thinks, thinks I. that there's
somebody moving around In the drift.
But | didn't pay any attention to 1t
you know. was busy and all that,
and you often ear noises that sound
funny. SO | set 'em off-that Is. ! lit
the fuses aad | started to run. Well,
'adn't any moren started when
bloeyy-y-y. right In front OF me, the
whole world tgrned upside down, and
felt myself Knocked back into the
chamber And there was them fuses.
All Of 'em burning. Well, managed
to pull out the one from the foot wall
and stamp 1t out, hut didn't ave time
to get at the others. And the only
place where there was 4 chance for
me was clear at the end II the cham
Der. Already | was bleeding ike
stuck hog where whole ar moan
tpIp f0I EA
didn't know much what was doing.
Just wanted to get be'ind something
that's all | could think Of. so l SHE'D
for that fissure in the rocks and
crawled back In there, trying to
squeeze az far along a. I could. And
'ere's the funny part Of it--I kept on
Eoingl"
"You whatT
Kept on going Td always thought
u was Just place where the Angling
wall I'D slipped. and that 1t stopped
q few feet back. But It don't--it goes
on crawled along It as fast as
couId-I was about woozy. anyway
and by and oy card ths shots 60 OF
beInd me- But there v1sn't any use
In going tack-the tnEcel was caved
IN ~ Vept on.
After while ran into stream Of
the III somewhere. and took a drink.
II gave me a bit Of strength. And
then kept on some more-until all Of
sudden, ! slipped and fell. just when
! was beginning to see dyelght. And
that's all | know. 'Ow long ave !
been gomez"
Long enough to make me gray
headed" FairchIld answered with a
little laugh. Then his brow furrowed
"You say you slipped and fell Just as
you were beginning to see daylIghtT
Eyes. II looked like 1t was reflected
from below. somewyes"
yairchild nodded.
-Isn't there quite spring right by
Crazy Laura's house?"
Yes; It keeps going all year;
there's q current and 1t don't freeze
Up. II comes out like 1t was water
faIl--and there's roaring noise be-
ind Il"
'.Then that's the explanation. You
followed the fissure until It Joined the
natural tunnel that the spring has
made through the hills. And when you
reached the waterfall-we'!, you fell
.-Hth u