Ned stopped every little while to examine the walls close by. He was looking for signs of unusual wealth, because the company owning the mine had declared in no uncertain way that even the sides of the passages were rich, beyond all conception, in copper.
His examinations thus far did not justify such extravagant terms of description. There were to be sure signs of the mineral in the rock, and possibly in quantities that might have paid for mining under ordinary conditions; but when the vast distance from civilization was taken into consideration, there would be nothing in the business, unless ore at least three times more sustaining were shown.
More and more was Ned coming to the conclusion that the affair was a gigantic swindle, and that the company which Mr. Bosworth headed was in for a grand plucking, unless warned in time. These men were playing for high stakes, and squandering lots of money, fully expecting to recoup themselves a dozen times.
The boys had been moving along in this leisurely fashion for possibly five minutes, and so far nothing had occurred to break the monotony. Ned had even begun to fancy that the inspection of the wonderful copper lode was going to be an easy matter when, as they started to turn a bend in the passage, he made a discovery that caused him to instantly press the button of his hand electric light, causing darkness to instantly surround them.
This gave them an opportunity for observing the movements of several men who by the light of lanterns seemed to be busily working a short distance ahead.
Even though the illumination did not seem very good, all of the scouts could see that these were the trio of miners whom they had tracked from the shore of the bay.
"Whatever are they doing, Ned?" whispered the irrepressible Jimmy, apparently greatly perplexed by the strange actions of the men who, unconscious of the fact that they were being watched, continued their labors.
"They are hurrying to do just what I said they might," Ned replied, also in the lowest of tones. "Perhaps the order has gone out to get things ready for us, in case we managed to slip by the river guard and arrived here unexpectedly. In other words, Jimmy, they are salting the mine with rich copper ore!"