Ferrers shook his head.
"It would cost us forty dollars to cart the stuff to Dugout in the Spring. Then there'd be the smelter's charges. We couldn't borrow more than fifty dollars on such security. No bank is going to bother with such a small item."
Tom said nothing, but went forward to the heading of the tunnel. Here he made a careful examination ere he ordered the men to go ahead.
One after another five sticks of the dynamite were fired in small blasts, but the ore that came out did not suggest hope.
Then another drilling was made, and the sixth stick put in place, the magneto wires being connected with the charge.
Tom himself seized the magneto handle.
"Now, hold your breaths," he called, cheerily. "This blast means a lot, and then a bit more, to all of us. This blast may point the path to fortune!"
CHAPTER XIX
HARRY'S SIGNAL OF DISTRESS
Through the tunnel a dull boom sounded. Then, as if by a common impulse, all hands rushed back to the heading.