The dynamite had been rather loosely tamped home, for young Reade wanted to begin with light rending force and work up, through successive blasts, to just the proper amount of force.
"Get back, everybody!" Reade called, and there was a flying of feet. Tom was last to leave the spot. He ran over to where Harry stood at a safe distance.
"Pump her up, Harry," nodded the young chief engineer.
"You watch me, and see just how I run this magneto," Hazelton said to one of their men who stood near by. "This will be your job after we've fired a few charges. I want you to get the hang of the trick."
Harry worked the handle of the magneto up and down.
Bang! Over where the drilling had been done a mass of dirt and rock was shot up into the air.
"What are you running so fast for, Harry?" laughed Tom, as he pursued his chum back to the scene of the blast.
"I want to see if we stirred up any real ore. I want to know if our claim is worth the grub it takes to feed the men," was Hazelton's almost breathless response.