SANDY IS DISCHARGED

Elmer and Sandy, guarding the gangway variously called the North section and Tunnel Six, presently heard voices coming from the direction of the shaft, and the latter moved back a few paces in order to inspect the new-comers. In a moment he saw three rather pompous looking men approaching him, their footsteps being directed by a man clothed as a miner.

“Here, boy!” shouted one of the pompous men. “Can you tell me where Canfield, the caretaker of this mine, may be found?”

“He’s up on the next level,” replied Sandy.

“I was told he was down here,” growled the speaker, who was very short and fat, and very much out of breath.

“He was here a little while ago,” answered Sandy.

“What’s the meaning of this show of firearms?” demanded the fat man, after glancing disdainfully at the automatic in the boy’s hand.

“We’ve got three robbers cooped up in the mine,” replied Sandy.

“That’s the old, old story!” exclaimed the fat man. “I don’t know that I ever knew of a mine that wasn’t haunted, either by ghosts or robbers! Mysteries seem to breed in coal mines!”

Sandy walked back to the place where he had left Elmer, and the three men and their guide followed him. When Elmer caught a view of the fat man’s face and figure, he gave a sharp pull at Sandy’s sleeve.

“That’s Stephen Carson!” he said. “I guess I’d better keep out of sight, because I don’t care about getting into an argument with him. He’s the most contrary person I ever saw in my life, and never fails to get up an argument about something or other with yours truly.”

“You seem to know him pretty well,” whispered Sandy.

“I ought to,” returned Elmer, “he’s my Uncle! The two tall men in the party are my father and the cashier of the Night and Day bank. I’ll take a sneak, and that will shorten the session.”

Accordingly, Elmer strolled along the gangway and came to a halt some distance from where the three men had drawn up.

“My boy,” Carson went on, looking condescendingly at the youth, “will you kindly run up to the second level and tell Mr. Canfield that his presence is required by the president of the mining company?”

“I’m not allowed to leave this place, sir,” replied Sandy, taking offense at the man’s air of proprietorship.

“All persons in and about this mine,” Carson almost shouted, “are subject to my orders. Run along now, you foolish boy, find don’t make any further trouble for yourself!”

The man’s manner was so unnecessarily dictatorial and offensive that Sandy found it impossible to retain his temper. He was not naturally a “fresh” youngster, but now he had passed the limit of endurance.

“Aw, go chase yourself!” he said.

“You’re discharged!” shouted Carson.

“You didn’t hire me!” retorted Sandy. “You haven’t got any right to discharge me! I’m going to stay here until I get ready to leave!”

“If you don’t get out of the mine immediately, I’ll have you thrown out!” shouted Carson. “I never saw such impudence!”

“If I do get out,” replied Sandy with a grin, “you’ll wish I hadn’t!”

Carson turned to Elmer’s father and the bank cashier, and the three consulted together for a short time. Then Elmer’s father came closer to where Sandy was standing.

“Why do you say that?” he asked. “Why do you think we will wish you had remained in case you are sent out of the mine?”

“Because I was left here to prevent robbers getting out of the gangway. They’re further in, and have captured three of my chums.”

“All nonsense!” shouted Mr. Carson breaking into the conversation impatiently. “These breaker boys never tell the truth!”

“Are you Mr. Buck?” asked Sandy, speaking in an undertone to Elmer’s father. “Because if you are, you’ll find Elmer just a short distance ahead. He’s on guard, too. He didn’t want his uncle to recognize him, because he says he’s always getting up an argument with him.”

“I’m glad to know that Elmer is attending to his duty,” Mr. Buck answered. “Somehow,” he continued with a smile, “Stephen Carson always rubs Elmer the wrong way of the grain.”

“What’s he butting in here for?” asked Sandy, while the cashier of the Night and Day bank and the miner stood by waiting for the peace negotiations to conclude.

“Why, he came in to get his two hundred thousand dollars!” replied Mr. Buck. “He thinks he knows How right where he left it.”

“Does he often get foolish in the head like that?” asked Sandy with a grin. “If he does, he ought to hire a couple of detectives to keep track of him when he goes wandering out in the night!”

“Oh, Stephen is usually a pretty level-headed sort of a fellow!” replied Mr. Buck. “He is out of humor just now because he has always denied that he visited the mine during his two weeks of absence. He is one of the men who dislike very much to be caught in an error of any kind.”

“So he knows where the money is?” asked Sandy.

“He says he can find it if he can secure the services of Canfield, the caretaker. He remembers now of getting in the mine, and of hearing footsteps in the darkness. His impression at that time was that robbers had followed him in, so he unloaded the banknotes in a small chamber which he is now able to describe accurately but which he cannot, of course, find.”

“Was the money hidden on this level?” asked Sandy.

“Yes, on this level.”

“In this gangway?”

“He thinks it was hidden here.”

“Right about here, or further on?”

“Why,” was the answer, “he seems to remember something about Tunnel Six. He thinks he hid the money there! As soon as he finds Canfield, the caretaker will probably be able to tell him exactly how Tunnel Six looks.”

“It looks all in a mess right now! I can tell you that,” grinned Sandy.

“What do you mean by that?”

“I mean that there’s been doings here!” replied Sandy.

“Are there really robbers in there?”

“Sure, there are robbers in there!”

“Then perhaps we’d better bring in a squad of deputies.”

“If you’ll just let us boys alone,” Sandy said, “we’ll bring the money out if it’s anywhere in the mine, but if this man Carson goes to butting in at this time, he’ll have to dig out his own money. He won’t believe there’s any robbers in there, and he wants to fire me out of the mine, so I guess we’d better let him go his own gait a little while.”

“He’ll do that anyhow no matter what you say!” replied Mr. Buck.

“Look here!” shouted Carson, starting forward, with his stomach out and his fat shoulders thrown back, “what’s all this conversation about? Why don’t some one go up and get Canfield, and why isn’t that young rowdy thrown out of the mine? I won’t have him in here!”

“Say,” Sandy broke in, “Mr. Buck says that you’re looking for Tunnel Six. If you are, I can show you right where it is!”

“Do so, then!” shouted Carson.

“Go straight ahead,” Sandy directed, “and when the robbers begin to shoot, you command them to throw down their weapons in the name of the law. They’ll probably do it, all right, if you tell them to, but you’ll be lucky if they don’t throw them down your throat!”

“Do you mean to tell me,” screamed Carson, “that there are actually robbers here, and that they have taken possession of Tunnel Six?”

“That’s the idea,” replied Sandy.

“Why, that’s where I put my ”

“That’s where you put your money, is it?” Sandy went on.

“I never saw such impudence!” reared Carson.

“Well, go on and get your money!” advised Sandy. “Just go straight down the gangway until you come to a face of rock and then switch off to the left, and you’ll find yourself in a chamber used at present by robbers and hold-up men as a winter resort.”

“Oh you can’t frighten me!” declared Carson. “I believe that you’re here in quest of the money yourself!”

“That’s right!” admitted Sandy. “Go on in, now, and tell the robbers to give up your hoarded gold! Just butt in, and tell ’em what you want them to do! They’ll probably do just as you tell them to!”

“I never saw such impudence in my life!” roared Carson, wiping his perspiring forehead with a large red silk handkerchief.

“I don’t see where the impudence comes in!” replied Sandy. “You said you wanted to find Tunnel Six in order that you might locate your money. I’m telling you where it is, and what to do to get it!”

“Old Stephen never took a bluff in his life!” chuckled Mr. Buck, “Now see if he doesn’t go stalking down that passage and declaring himself in the name of the law!”

The banker did exactly what Mr. Buck had predicted. He went storming down the passage, giving notice to all intruders to walk out of his mine in a peaceable manner. Mr. Buck followed along until he came to where Elmer was standing with his back against the wall, and then the two paused and entered into conversation. The cashier of the Night and Day bank and the miner started back toward the shaft.

“What’s the matter?” shouted Sandy. “Why don’t you stay and see the fun? There’ll be shooting here directly!”

The miner and the cashier now took to their heels and were soon out of sight. Every moment the boy expected to see a flash of fire in the gangway. Carson was now very near to Tunnel Six, and it seemed certain that the outlaws must soon open fire on him.

“Come back, Stephen!” shouted Mr. Buck. “Don’t make a fool of yourself!”

“This is all pure bluff!” shouted Carson. “There are no robbers here at all. This is a scheme to keep me out of Tunnel Six, where I believe my money to be hidden!”

They saw Carson halt in his rather clumsy passage down the gangway, and draw an automatic revolver from his pocket.

There was a quick shot and the banker rushed ahead!