Frank got to his feet. He was not seriously injured by the fall, although he had wrenched one knee. But he was able to walk without much difficulty. He explored the bottom of the shaft with the flashlight. Almost directly across from them he found the entrance to the tunnel indicated on the map he had discovered in the outlaw's notebook.
"Here we are!"
To refresh his memory he drew the notebook from his pocket again and the boys studied the map once more.
"This passage leads to the big chamber, by the looks of it. And when we get there we find two passages leading out of it. We follow this one," Frank indicated the tunnel marked X. "And from there we get to a smaller chamber. We follow a tunnel out of that until we get to what they call the blue room. And there we'll find the gold."
"If the outlaws haven't beaten us to it."
"Perhaps so. But perhaps they haven't."
Frank advanced toward the tunnel, flashing the light before him. It was a large passage and had evidently been frequently used. He examined the damp floor and found footprints that were plainly of recent origin.
"Some one has been here, and not so long ago either."
"To-day?"
"It's hard to tell. Footprints would look fresh down here for weeks, as long as no one else stepped over them. What I mean is that there has been some one down here since the mine was abandoned. That's plain enough."