"They shall be attended to instanter, sir. And I shall esteem it signal honour on fitting occasion to act as guide, philosopher and friend to young gents, show them my stores; in fact, do them proud, and all that."
He bowed, puffed, and waddled away. The boys laughed when his back was turned.
"What a treasure!" said Lawrence. "Our old school porter at Rugton was pretty big about, but this fellow would make two of him. What a rag the chaps would have if we could transport him!"
"I can't spare him. He's an abiding joy. But come, let me take you round."
The next hour was spent in going over the not very extensive settlement. The boys found that the portion on the west side of the gorge was divided into three. The first contained Mr. Appleton's dwelling-house, the engine-house and stores, and a set of small stamps, together with sheds for assaying, and a number of huts occupied by the personal native servants and the Sikh garrison. The dwelling-house was built in an angle of the cliff, which rose sheer behind it. Between house and cliff, however, was a space of about three yards filled with heavy beams, which were all loopholed. The whole of the enclosure in which the house stood was surrounded by a bank of earth about six feet high, formed of "tailings" from the mine. This bank was broken only in two places, one for the gate leading into the second enclosure or compound, the second for the drawbridge connecting with the east side of the gorge.
The second compound was somewhat smaller than the first. Here were to be seen barrows, trucks, and other implements; a line of rails led into a cave-like opening in the hillside, which, Mr. Appleton explained, was the entrance to a vein or lode sloping upwards into the heart of the mountain.
"It was lucky I hadn't to sink shafts," he said, "considering the difficulty of bringing mining appliances to this remote region."
"What led you to pitch here?" asked Bob.
"Well, you may call it accident, or you may put it down to my being possessed of a roving eye. I was hunting hereabout some years ago, and caught sight of what seemed to be an outcrop of copper ore. I poked about rather carefully, and collected a number of samples of this and other ores, which I had tested by a capital fellow in Peshawar. His assays confirmed my suspicions, and I thought I couldn't do better than try my luck."
"Who does the place belong to?" asked Lawrence. "Do you pay rent?"