LIFE IN SALT LAKE CITY;
OR,
A Visit to the Mormons.
By LEON LEWIS,
AUTHOR OF "THE GIRL HERMIT," "THE BOY MA-GICIAN," "THE BROKEN HOME," "RED KNIFE," ETC., ETC., ETC.
CHAPTER XIX.
BRIGHAM'S VIEW OF THE MATTER.
There's ne'er a villain dwelling in all Denmark But he's an arrant knave. HAMLET. As Harry Osburn took his way through the streets of Salt Lake City toward the residence of Elder True, as related, he was suddenly passed by a man going in the opposite direction at sight of whom he started as if shot.
"Surely— yes, it must be," ejaculated the young Gentile, halting abruptly, and staring after the individual in question. "That's certainly Doctor Burton!"
His first shock of joyous surprise over, Harry hastened in pursuit of the man. exclaiming:
"Hallo, Doctor Burton! Stop a moment, Doctor! I wish to see you!"
The man thus addressed cast one quick, startled glance over his shoulder, on hearing the physician's name uttered, and then, with a visible trepidation, as of shrinking and appre-hension, hurried on his way more swiftly than before.
"Hold on, Doctor Burton," cried Harry, also quickening his pace. "It's me, Doctor; your friend, Harry Osburn! Don't you know me?"
The man paid no heed to these words, unless it be that they caused him to further accelerate his steps. He did not even look around.
"Well, that's queer enough," exclaimed Harry. "He's Doctor Barton, and nobody else, just as sure as I have my eyes open! His build; his features; everything, it's me, Doctor Bur-ton! he repeated, still more loudly. "It's Harry Osburn—your friend Harry!"
The man sped on more rapidly than ever.
“Strange enough!” muttered the young Gen-tile. “But he shall not escape me in this singu-lar fashion. What can he mean? He must cer-tainly know me. What misapprehension can he be laboring under? Well, well, I'll chase him!”
Suiting the action to the word, he bounded in pursuit of the supposed physician, upon whose moving figure, which was now only dimly outlined to his view, he kept his eyes fixed with the keen intentness born of his astonishment. His feet being thus left to their own guidance, it was not surprising that they soon came in contact with some obstruction, the result of which was that he measured his length upon the ground.
When he arose, the mysterious object of his pursuit had vanished. "Well, that's smart," he ejaculated, rubbing his eyes and his bruised limbs alternately. "He s gone, beyond all question!"
Proceeding to the spot where the last glimpse of the fugitive had been presented to his gaze he looked in every direction, taking several turns up and down the sidewalk, but saw noth-ing more of him.
"He must have turned one of the nearest corners," was his mental comment upon this vexatious disappearance; " or slipped through one of these walls, or through some of these gates into one of these dwellings. But how strange it is that he should run away! He was certainly the Doctor. And it is none the less certain that he heard me bawling my name, as well as his own. Curious! What can this con-duct mean?"
For a few moments, he stood staring into empty space, with the air of a man thoroughly puzzled and confounded, and then he faced about and took his way toward the spot from which this unsuccessful chase had led him.
"It was Burton, just as certainly as I am liv-ing," he kept saying to himself. "And why did he wish to avoid me? Evidently affairs here are in a greater snarl than I have even imag-ined!"
The more he thought of the matter the less he could make out of it, and at length, with a great sigh, he gave up the attempt to solve the mys-tery.
And then, his mind recovering its usual elas-ticity, a new thought struck him.
Would it not be well for him before going to the Elder's, to report the situation of affairs to Brigham Young? Would it not be wise to in-voke Brigham's assistance?
"This thing is being carried on by True and Coulter without Brigham's knowledge," he said to himself, coming to a halt. "In the Mormon flock, as in all others, there are necessarily just so many black sheep. This True and his friend Coulter are doubtless scheming and planning for themselves, rather than for the advance-ment of the Latter-day kingdom, or for the ben-efit of the Prophet. Yes, I had better see Brig-ham."
Having reached this decision, he resumed his way, at a brisk walk, setting his face toward the Prophet's Block, and in the course of five min- utes had reached the little gate in the high wall through which he had previously passed to the proprietor's presence.
Not much to his surprise, he found an armed porter in attendance just inside of the gate.
"Is Governor Young in his office?" asked Harry.
The porter turned the light of a lantern full upon the questioner's form and features, scan-ning them earnestly.
Mr. Young, having been appointed Governor of Utah by President Fillmore, has a perfect right to the title of "Governor," but it is not generally accorded to him by the Gentiles, and its use by Harry was accordingly a mark of con-sideration that the old servant appreciated, as was shown by his manner.
"Yes, sir, the Governor is within," was the prompt answer, with the utmost politeness.
"Are you Mr. Osburn?"
Harry nodded assent. "Walk in, sir," said the porter, lighting the way. "The Governor is alone. He had an idea that yon would visit him again, and has spoken to me about you, giving me orders to let you come and go at your own good pleasure, sir."
Encouraged in his purpose by finding himself on such a footing with Brigham, Harry thanked the porter for both his politeness and his in-formation, and hurried into the prophet's pres-ence.
"Ah! here you are again, Mr. Osburn—as I partly expected," exclaimed Brigham, advancing to meet the visitor and shaking hands warmly with him. "Glad to see you again, sir. Sit down."
"And why did you expect me, Mr. Young?" asked Harry, as he took the proffered chair and his host hastened to secure the entrance against intrusion.
"Why, because you are in trouble," declared Brigham, returning to the chair from which he had arisen at Harry's entrance. "And being in trouble, and knowing that I am your friend, as I am the friend of every honest man, you would naturally come to me again, to talk further of the matters that concern us."
Harry heaved a deep sigh. What an abyss of disappointment, grief and desolation had sud-denly yawned beneath his feet!
"And now for your report, Mr. Osburn," added the prophet; "for I know that you have one, and a bad one too!"
Thus called upon, Harry proceeded to state how he had found things in Salt Lake City. His narration was simply to the effect that Dr. Bur-ton and his family had vanished, and that he had not been able to get speech with them, or even to find a trace of the mother and daugh-ter.
"But what seems to be the general opinion of the resident Gentiles on the subject?" asked Brigham.
"Why, they say that the Doctor has left the city, and his family with him."
"But why has he left us?"
"Because—so several have told me—because he has had some legal difficulty."
"Yes, that's it," commented Brigham, taking a package of papers from his desk. " It seems that Doctor Burton has been guilty of all sorts of enormities, during the last few weeks, and here are copies of some ten or a dozen indict-ments which have been found against him!"
He placed the papers in Harry's hands, invit-ing him by a gesture to examine them.
"Indictments!" gasped Harry. "Impossible!"
"I would have said the same tiling twenty-four hours ago," declared Brigham. "I supposed Doctor Burton to be the very soul of honor."
"And so he is! Oh, so he is, Mr. Young—you may depend upon it!"
The prophet smiled pityingly, but with a gen-uine sympathy and interest.
"Just look over these papers," he enjoined, "and especially hear what I have to say to you, and you will think differently."
His attention thus again directed to the papers, Harry proceeded to examine them.
"Robbery!" he soon ejaculated, turning death-ly pale. "Robbery, with breaking and enter-ing!' Robbery at the house of Mrs. Sophronia Jones, with two other men. Impossible!"
The prophet again smiled as pityingly as sadly.
"The fact is exactly as it is herein stated," he declared. "I saw Mrs. Jones myself only a few hours since, and received from her lips full par-ticulars of this villainy, which took place, it seems, some ten days ago."
"But Doctor Burton a vulgar robber and burglar!" cried Harry, his tones husky with anguish "I can never believe it— never!"
"Nor would I have done so, had not the truth been forced upon me," returned Brigham. "Mrs Jones is a widow lady, and lives rather retired a few miles out of the city, on the road to Farm-ington. She had some fifteen hundred dollars in the house, as the proceeds of the sale of sun-dry pieces of property, and this fact, it appears came to the knowledge of the Doctor and his two unknown associates. At any rate, they came to the widow's house at midnight. They overpowered and gagged her solitary servant" Then they threatened and terrified the old lady forcing her to give up the money in question."
"And the leader in this outrage was Doctor Burton?" cried Harry. "Mrs. Jones recognized him distinctly?"
"Perfectly, Mr. Osburn—perfectly. Why, he has been her physician for years, and she knew him as certainly as she ever knew anything. He was a little disguised, and his actions so be-lied the Doctor's supposed character, that she at first refused to believe the evidence of her senses, but she was at length compelled to see and know that the chief robber was Doctor Wil-liam Burton, and no other!"
"And you have had these facts from the woman herself?"
"Exactly—as I stated."
"And you put every trust in her statements?"
"The same trust that I put in myself. Her character is in every way excellent. I would put the same faith in her statements that I would put in yours."
With still another deep sigh, Harry proceeded to finish the reading of the indictment, and then he turned to another document of similar aspect.
"Assault and battery, with attempt to kill!" he ejaculated, after a brief examination of the second indictment. "Oh, this is too horrible! I cannot believe it!"
"I have seen the witnesses in this case my-self," returned Brigham. "They are no less than three in number, and as honest men as you can find in the Territory. It may add to the value of their testimony in your eyes, that one of the three is a Gentile."
"And this whole batch of papers are of this kind?" murmured Harry, holding them from him, with a face convulsed with horror, as if they had been so many deadly serpents.
"Yes, I am sorry to say. Put them into your pocket. I have had these copies made during the day expressly for your use. You can look at them at your leisure. The sum and substance of them is, that Doctor Burton has been guilty of a series of crimes, during the last few weeks, that may well cause you to lose your faith in human nature. I have seen all the leading witnesses in all these cases—have spent the whole day, in fact, in this investigation, to the exclusion of all other duties—and the result is, that I have no more doubt of the Doctor's guilt in all these cases than I have of my own existence. The Doctor has been at the places named—he has done the acts ascribed to him—he has been rec-ognized and identified, beyond all possibility of mistake. And the extent of his wickedness, when you come to look over these evidences of it, will cause you to shudder!"
Mechanically Harry put the package of papers in his pocket, with a face that resembled the face of a corpse.
"And now a word respecting the Doctor's whereabouts" added the prophet. "From all I can learn, he got wind of these indictments, and has taken himself out of the Territory. His wife and daughter have naturally gone with him."
"Out of the Territory!" exclaimed Harry, arising and pacing agitatedly to and fro. "Why, I saw him not fifteen minutes ago—permit me to tell you under what circumstances."
He narrated the episode in question, adding:
"I glided over this matter, in my ‘report,' for the reason that I did not know what to make of it. You can doubtless excuse my reti-cence."
"Oh, that is all right. Until men get well acquainted, they have their little quirks in deal-ing with one another. For instance, when you first came here, last evening, you heard me tell-ing Mornington that I had received a 'revela-tion' concerning you, that you are a danger-ous man, and so on?"
"Certainly, and I took all that 'gag' at its value," replied Harry.
"Until that hour," resumed Brigham, "I had considered Mornington a harmless braggart, and all my intention was to see you, the girl and the Eider, and so arrange the whole matter at issue as to prevent it from causing any scan-dal. I find that I was in the dark in regard to a number of things in which we are mutually con-cerned. Mr. Osburn, and it is now my intention to act in concert with you until these crooked ways are all made straight. But upon one matter we have already struck light—namely, in regard to Doctor Burton's status. His refusal to stop when you called him mentioning your name, tells ter-ribly against him. Are you sure of his iden-tity'?"
"Perfectly. The light fell full upon us both—a light in the front room of the house before which we happened to meet. I saw him as plainly as I see you at this moment."
"Then what does his flight prove? That he did not wish to see you. In other words, that he is the criminal—the fugitive—he is proven to be by these several indictments!"
A groan escaped Harry.
"And the worst of it is," he said, "the Doctor left word for me—with Mr. Frazer, the druggist—that I would find him and his family at Mountain Jack's, some fourteen miles east of the city, on one of the summits of Little Mountain."
"Oh, he did? You have been to Mountain Jack's then, in the course of the day?"
"Yes, sir. I passed nearly all the forenoon there. And—and—"
The young Gentile hesitated, again groaning, such was his grief and tribulation.
"And you saw nothing of the Doctor?"
"No, sir; nor of Miss Burton or her mother. I did not even see Mountain Jack."
The prophet's lips curled half mockingly. "Of course you did not see them,' he com-mented. "The Doctor and his family had fled in some other direction, and Mountain Jack was waiting at some rendezvous where Burton had agreed to meet him, but where he took good care not to show himself. Or it may be that this Mr. Weber, or Mountain Jack, is a bird of just such a feather as the Doctor. I know nothing about the man, and don't remember to have ever met him. You left word with Mrs. Weber, of course, where you are stopping?"
"Yes. I told her to send to me at Town-send's."
"And that was at noon?"
"Yes, sir."
"And you have received no message yet?"
"No, sir." The prophet glanced at his watch.
"It isn't late, to be sure," he commented. "But it is strange that the whole day should slip away without your receiving a word from any member of the family, or from Mountain Jack."
"Strange? it is horrible !" returned Harry, his soul convulsed with anguish. "The only expla-nation I can give myself is—Is—Well, I don't know what to think." What sort of a man is this Elder True? And Colonel Mornington? And Bishop Coulter?"
"Let's go and see what they are," returned the prophet. " What do you say to interviewing them? The hour is early enough, and I am suffi-ciently interested in all this business, as you may well believe, to desire a searching answer to your questions. Suppose we take a turn about the city together, and see if we can pick up any information upon all these points?"
"Oh, if you will do me this kindness, I shall never cease to be your debtor."
"Enough, then," said Brigham, arising. "We'll start immediately upon a tour of discovery."
And in less than another minute, the two men were taking their way, arm in arm, through the streets of the Mormon capital, intent upon solv-ing the many mysteries which had been pre-sented to their notice.
CHAPTER XX. IN A STRANGE HIDING-PLACE.
Our dangers and delights are near allies; From the same stem the rose and prickle rise.
ALYEN.
In the mean time, how had ended the wild flight of Mountain Jack and Winnie through the defiles of Little Mountain?
The prospect to which we left the fugitives was soon seen to be threatening.
The din of the pursuit sounded steadily louder and louder behind them.
The Elder and his rescuers either had better horses, or else they rode with a more desperate fury.
"They are certainly gaining upon us," at length said Jack thoughtfully.
The young girl assented.
"And we shall have to do as ships do when they are chased by pirates—get rid of all incum-brances," pursued the hunter. "This third horse anchors us," and he glanced at the animal he was still leading—the one upon which True had been mounted. "I will cast him off."
He relinquished his hold of the bridle, and the discarded horse fell rapidly behind, while the progress of the fugitives was considerably accelerated.
"This is better," commented Jack. "Keep a firm hand, dear. Every step we take at this speed is at the risk of breaking our necks."
"Well, the Elder's neck is equally in dan-ger," returned the brave girl. "But what is your idea, Mr. Weber? Do you propose to go home?"
"Not just yet, Winnie. I am too old a coon to run into my burrow when there are so many hounds behind me. They'd dig us out at their leisure."
For a period that seemed an age to the girl, but which was, in reality, only a few minutes, the couple held to their course, with various alternations of hope and apprehension. At one moment, when they were climbing a steep declivity, the pursuers would come quite near, shouting and cursing, and uttering all sorts of threats of violence. At another moment, when the conditions were reversed, and the pursuers were climbing a hill, the fugitives would leave them nearly out of hearing.
Thus the flight and the chase were continued for more than a mile.
"There are four of them," then remarked Jack, with increased seriousness.
"Counting the one that's on foot—yes."
"I might fight them successfully, I presume. Here's a good place for that purpose."
The spot, was indeed a miniature Thermopylae, tall cliffs shutting in the road on each side and contracting it to the width of a wagon.
"But there's a danger to be thought of," pro-ceeded the hunter. "You remember the train of Mormons of which I spoke, as having been encamped over night in the Big Creek val-ley?"
Winnie nodded assent.
"Well, those Mormons are now on the move. We are liable to meet them at any moment in these passes. And if we met them we should be between two fires."
The girl signified her appreciation of this peril.
"Another thing, I don't care to run the risk of your getting a bullet, or even of getting one myself," explained Jack; "that is, until it is absolutely necessary for us to fight them. That neces-sity will come soon enough, no doubt, to judge by the mood True is in, and we will meet it of course, when it does come, as beat we can. For the present, however, I think we had better use cunning than force."
"Well, Mr. Weber, what shall we do?"
Here a projecting limb of a tree came within a few inches of sweeping Winnie from her saddle, and a stumble of his horse lodged Jack astride of the animal's neck, but in neither case did they for a moment slacken their speed.
"We'll do as the old Deacon said he would at the end of the world—take to the woods!'" replied Jack, as he regained his seat in the sad-dle. "And we must act promptly. The enemy is already too near us."
The result of this wild flight was indeed seen to be as inevitable as it was unpleasant.
The fugitives were sure to be overtaken if they trusted themselves longer to the exertions of their jaded horses.
"You see that we shall have to take to cover?" added Jack, as he turned his ear toward the increasing din behind them.
Winnie nodded dumbly. "You may go first, then. Here is a gully just ahead of us, to the right. Slip from your horse, after checking his speed, and hide yourself in this place until I come for you."
This measure was quickly accomplished.
Then Jack sped on with the two horses about fifty rods further, and until he came to a wooded ravine to the left of the road. Plunging into this ravine, he penetrated its depths so far as to be out of sight from the road, and here he dis-mounted, leaving the horses to themselves.
A few moments later, the pursuers thundered past, and then Jack took his way back to the spot where Winnie was hidden.
"And so we have given them the slip," she murmured joyfully. "How terribly they looked, as they thundered past! The one who was a foot has secured the horse we abandon-ed. The Elder is raging more furiously than ever."
"Well, let him rage. He may ride a mile or two before he discovers that we are not ahead of him. And when he does turn back, he may not readily find the horses."
"And when he does find them, they will be on the other side of the road, so that he will look for us in the Emigration Valley."
"Yes : that was my intention exactly."
At this instant a loud and confused cry arose from the Elder and his men, and was echoed by a score of excited voices.
"Ah, they have met those Mormon pilgrims!" exclaimed Jack. "And True is learning that we are no longer ahead of him."
"And evidently he don't like the news," re-turned Winnie, as the tumult in the distance deepened. "We dropped off just in time."
"Yes, we did, fortunately. And now to widen the space between them and us. Permit me, Miss Winnie, to assist you over these rocks and through these bushes."
Gathering the skirt of her habit about her, Winnie took the arm of her protector, and to-gether they swiftly traversed the lateral ravine in which she had concealed herself, taking their way toward the Big Creek valley.
Ere long, all sounds of the search that was being made for them died out in the distance. "This movement has saved us," at length murmured Winnie. "All they know is, that we are hidden somewhere in the mountains."
"And it will be no easy matter for them to find us," declared Jack. "In fact. I have in my mind's eye a hiding-place in which we can defy all possible pursuit. Will you halt here a few minutes to rest?"
"Oh, no. I am not in the least weary. I shall feel better satisfied to be moving."
"Let us go quietly on, then. We will take the nearest way to the place of refuge in question. Fortunately the distance is not great."
For nearly an hour they took their way along the side of the mountain, gradually descending toward the valley of the Big Creek; and at last, still proceeding quite at their leisure, they came out upon the wooded brow of a ledge that looked like a young mountain lying beside the larger one. And here they came to a halt, the hunter looking smilingly around them.
"Do you see any signs of the hiding-place, Miss Winnie?" he asked.
The girl looked up at the sides of the moun-tain, towering, so bleak and precipitous, to such a vast height above her. Then she looked down into the depths of the kanyon far below her, with its broken, tortuous course, its wooded, rocky sides, and its patches of gleaming water in various little natural depressions and pools. And finally she looked along the ridge of the ledge upon which she was standing, bending a long glance in every direction around her, under the branches of the thinly scattered trees, and along the crests of various masses of rock that had fallen from the principal mountain.
"No, I see nothing of any hiding-place," she answered; "nothing but these open crests, these bare surfaces of rock. Do you?"
"Well, no; not at this moment," acknowl-edged Weber. "But it is none the less near us. In fact, its mouth is not a rod from us."
"Its mouth? It is a cave, then?"
"Not exactly a cave, as you understand the word. It is rather a mine."
"A mine, Mr. Weber? How strange! And I cannot see the least trace of it."
"Then we may consider the secret of its whereabouts likely to keep," said Jack, again smiling. "And there's no little satisfaction to me in this way of thinking, I can assure you. In the present state of affairs, when we are so ut-terly ignorant of what has become of your par-ents, you cannot think of taking your leave of this vicinity—"
"Oh, no—certainly not!"
"Nor can you think of going back to Salt Lake City, so long as the present posture of affairs is continued. There are ten Mormons thereto every Gentile, and the Elder would again have you in his custody, within an hour after your return."
"I can't go back there, of course—at least for the present. What I want is some place in which I can remain hidden until we have got track of father and mother—until we have communicated with Harry—in fact, until this whole war upon us has ended."
"That's what I was about to say. Such a place you could have had at my house, If things had turned differently; but it will not do for you to go there, after what True has discovered. And so, as I was just upon the point of conclud-ing, this mine is the only place which meets all our requirements, and right glad I am that such a retreat is open to us. And now to take posses-sion of it."
Advancing to the midst of a score of large stones which seemed to have tumbled, during some of the world's ancient convulsions, from the face of the overhanging mountain, the hunter looked searchingly around upon their jagged surfaces, as if seeking for some particu-lar fissure or projection.
"Ah, there it is!" he suddenly ejaculated, as he caught hold of one of the smaller stones, of a roundish form, and partially turned it over. "Yes, here is the opening!" An opening extending far down into the ledge was indeed revealed—an opening like a well, perpendicular, nearly circular, and appearing to have been originally a rude fissure between two upheaved stratas of rock, which fissure had been shaped and widened by the hand of man.
" Why, how deep it is!" murmured Winnie, peering down into the opening. "I cannot see the bottom."
"You will in a moment, when I throw a flam-ing bush down there," returned Jack. "It's depth is not more than twenty feet."
"And then?"
"And then we come to a vast cavern, a room in the solid rock as large as a small church—the result of the excavations which have been made here. See!"
While speaking, he had secured a dry shrub and set fire to it and this shrub he now dropped into the well-like opening, down which it flut-tered slowly to the rocky flooring below."
“Ah, I see," murmured Winnie. "But how are we to get down there?"
"We must lower ourselves with a rope. True, we have none, but we have its equivalent—a number of stout cords I secured at your house, with the idea that I might need them."
He produced the cords in question from his several pockets, and hastily knotted them to-gether, thus forming a whole one long enough to reach to the rocky flooring of the cavern be-neath.
"The place looks pokerish enough," he ob-served, "but you need not be afraid. I will guarantee your safe arrival."
He proceeded to fasten the end of the cord around Winnie's waist, and in a few moments more had lowered her into the mine.
"And now keep your fire alive," enjoined Jack, throwing down some more fragments of wood, as she untied herself from the rope. "I will soon be with you."
The wood he wanted was soon collected and flung into the mine, and then securing the up-per end of his rope to a convenient projection of a rock, he lowered himself into the girl's presence.
"What a strange place it is!" murmured Win-nie, looking around with the aid of the bright fire she had made. "What is its history?"
"I will tell you; and while telling you, we will examine it together, with the aid of one of these flaming brands. To begin with, this place is probably unknown to every human being except ourselves. It is a silver mine that was discov-ered some fifteen years ago by a Mormon named Borly. He worked it long enough in secret to obtain a small fortune, and, to make a pretty-large hole, as you see, in the ledge in which it is situated. Then his secret came to the ears of the Mormon leaders, and he was forbidden to work the mine. You know how it has always been with Brigham & Co. They have always discouraged this branch of industry, and have even positively forbidden their followers to dig for any of the precious metals. In this case, Borly not only ceased to work the mine, but he closed its mouth so securely that its very exist-ence has remained a secret from that day to this."
While giving this history of the mine, he had exhibited its various nooks and caverns to Win-nie, crossing and recrossing it in several differ-ent directions.
"But how did you know of its existence?" was her next inquiry.
"Well, I once had the good fortune to save Borly from a grizzly, during a hunt in the Uintah mountains, and he always cherished for me—naturally enough—a most friendly feeling there-after. And so, when he found himself on his death-bed, a few years ago, he sent for me and gave me such directions that I succeeded not long after his death, in discovering the where-abouts of the mine and in exploring it I have always been intending to work it, of course sooner or later, but I have had to defer opera-tions until now, and expect to do so for some time to come. In the mean time, however it will make you a good hiding-place. Not as it is of course," he added. "I shall have to bring food, lamps and bedding—lots of things, in fact; to make it tenantable, and I will lose no time in doing so. You won't be afraid to remain here alone an hour or two?"
"Certainly not."
"Then I'll be off at once. I reckon there is wood enough to last; but even if the allowance should prove scanty, you need not be afraid of the darkness. No one knows of the place, and I will close the entrance exactly as we found it, so that you need not have the least apprehen-sion about intruders."
A few further details were added, and then Jack seized the rope and drew himself up, hand over hand, to the entrance of the mine. Here he addressed a few additional words of advice and consolation for the girl, and then he closed the entrance and took his departure.
[TO BE CONTINUED.]
