"Possible, I suppose. I'm not so interested in what he thinks as I am in what he was doing here. Where would we have ended if we had taken the left-hand turn, do you suppose?"
"Why suppose? Unless you've had enough of mines for one day, we can go back in and find out."
"I've had enough, but not enough to miss a chance like this. My flashlight is still strong and it shouldn't take more than a few minutes."
"Then let's go. No telling when a spook may visit the mine from this end. Of course there's no telling about Uncle Frostola, either. He may be inside."
That hadn't occurred to Rick. He thought it over, then shrugged. "We might as well take the chance. If he is inside, that proves something, and we're two to his one. Besides, it's late, and any sensible man is eating his supper. Come on."
He led the way back into the cave, but because of the peddler's possible presence, he wasn't as headlong in his traversing of the tunnel as he might otherwise have been.
They passed the side tunnel from which they had emerged a short time before and entered entirely new territory. It wasn't unlike the rest of the mine, consisting of a main bore with some alcoves indicating either deviations of the ore vein or niches cut to allow ore carts to pass.
Walking rapidly, but alert for either sound or light, they traveled through the tunnel at a good speed.
"We've been walking quite a while," Rick said finally. "How long do you suppose this shaft is?"
Scotty thought it over. "It can't be any longer than the hill is wide, because we're traveling through the hill. It must be about the same length as the lower tunnel."