Apologies for the unworkman-like condition of the mine were unnecessary, since everybody knew the history of the undertaking, so that nothing was said until the inner chamber had been reached, at the crosscut, the shape and situation of which was first explained to the visitors.
“Is your title unquestionable?” asked Mr. Anderson.
“Yes; we had the papers examined by a lawyer, and the transfer properly recorded. There is no flaw, that we can discover.”
“Where does this water come from?”
“Mainly from a surface seam. I think it could be drained off above ground by a little engineering, and thus stopped entirely without much expense.”
While this colloquy was in progress, the superintendent had taken up a pick and chipped off some pieces of rock from the roof and sides of the vein, at which he was looking very sharply under the flame of his smoky lamp. Lennox noticed with a thrill of gratification how his expert eye, with the instinctive perception acquired by a long training, threw away what they had learned was worthless rock, while the brown stuff, which they had proved to be valuable, was selected for closer examination.
“This is queer-looking stuff,” he remarked, “I never came across anything just like it. What do you take it to be, Mr. Brehm?”
“That, sir,” Max replied, with a bit of tremor in his voice, for this was the first announcement, “that, sir, I suppose to be a telluride of gold, carrying about twenty-eight ounces to the ton.”
“Great Scott! That’s the best show of gold in these parts! And this black grit must be a lead-carbonate!”
“So we are told by Denver assayers. They pronounce it a soft carbonate, rich in lead and iron, and worth—here’s the letter—about one hundred and twenty dollars to the ton.”