“You figure Hansart never filed a claim?”
“I doubt it, Jack. If he had, word would have swept this section of country like a prairie fire. He’s probably panned enough pure gold from the lake to keep him in supplies. Meanwhile, he has stayed on here alone, enlarging the mine.”
A short distance further into the pit, they came to a tunnel opening which had been half covered with debris. Pulling the brush aside, Warner ran the beam of his light over the rough wall.
“This seems to be where Hansart has done his most recent work,” he observed. “You can see the vein. But it’s thin—played out.”
“Then this is only another worthless mine?”
“I couldn’t pass judgment on such a brief inspection,” Warner returned. “Besides, as I say, I’m not an expert.”
“But it doesn’t look too promising to you?”
“Frankly, it doesn’t, Jack. I don’t want to build up your hopes, only to have them collapse.”
“Oh, I hadn’t figured on cashing in on this trip except in fun and experience,” Jack rejoined cheerfully.
“There’s gold here,” Warner said soberly. “These days, though, it takes capital—lots of it—to operate any mine profitably. Headless Hollow is hard to get at. So to make it worth while, the vein would have to be exceedingly rich.”