They quickly dressed and hiked down the long tunnel to the point they had reached when the cave-in occurred. Rick paid more attention to the formation than before, and found it was easy to trace the ore vein. Pockets in the walls showed where offshoots of the main ore vein had been located and dug out, but mostly the mine bored through the hill in one continuous tunnel.
"Funny they didn't take more ore out of the top," Scotty commented. "Looks like fairly decent stuff overhead and to the left."
"Not good enough, I guess. Refining was pretty primitive in those days. Techniques are better now, but there probably isn't enough good ore here to make new operations worth the expense of getting it out."
"Look ahead," Scotty said.
Rick had been examining the wall of the tunnel. He turned and looked to where Scotty pointed, and his heart sank. It was another rockslide.
"Funny," Scotty commented. "The tunnel goes uphill to the slide."
Rick saw that his pal was right. But the change in elevation of the tunnel didn't seem important compared to the prospect that now faced them. They simply had to go back and resume their rock hauling. There was no way of knowing whether the tunnel continued beyond the slide, or whether the slide itself was the reason the Civil War miners had gone no farther.
"I need a rest," Rick said, discouraged. "Let's sit down and take a breather before we start back."
"Okay. Douse the light?"
"Might as well. Your battery's getting low."