The climb must have tired the colonel, for he halted and sat down on a convenient bowlder for a brief rest. Jode dropped to the ground at his side. They were not more than twenty feet from Darrel.
“It won’t take me ten minutes to load the hole and set off the charge, Jode,” the colonel was saying, “and then we’ll see what sort of rock we uncover. There’s a vein there—I’m too old a hand at the business to be fooled—but whether it amounts to much or not remains to be seen.”
“You’re mighty clever at this sort of business, Uncle Al,” returned Jode admiringly. “I wish I knew as much about dips, angles, and formations as you do.”
“It won’t be necessary for you to work along that line, my boy,” said the colonel affectionately. “You’re to educate yourself for commercial work, and learn to take care of what I shall one day leave you.”
“I hope,” observed Jode, “that it will be a long time before I shall be called on to do that. There’s no chance, you think, of patching up our differences with the Ophir fellows?”
“No chance—at least, not so long as Merriwell has anything to do with the Ophir team. I’ve cancelled the Thanksgiving Day game.”
“That’s pretty tough! I think, uncle, we could play Ophir, even with Merriwell in their crowd, and show them that we can be square and let bygones be bygones.”
“What you say, Jode, does you a lot of credit. Our boys are gentlemen, however, and not hoodlums. I could not sanction your playing with a team where such a spirit as Merriwell and Clancy showed yesterday is liable to crop out at any moment.”
“Whatever you say goes, Uncle Al. But I wish the thing could be patched up in some way.”
“Well, I don’t see how it can. Mr. Bradlaugh has placed Merriwell in charge of the Ophir eleven, and a team is bound to reflect the spirit of the coach. There’ll be no more exhibitions of petty partisanship between the two clubs if I can help it.” The colonel got up and stooped to lay hold of the bundle he had been carrying. “What’s the matter?” he asked, starting quickly erect.