Wild Bill, having carried his load of water and food into the level, had returned to the scout in the shaft; but Nomad had pushed along toward the end of the level.
The surprises began at once, and almost at the very moment Dell and Cayuse left the ore-dump. This, the first of the strange events, was ushered in by a wild yell from the old trapper.
“By gorry!” exclaimed Wild Bill, dashing into the level, “Nomad’s struck a snag, first crack out of the box.”
The trapper had secured a candle when he and Wild Bill began carrying the canteens and provision-bags into the level. The scout likewise had a candle, and made haste to follow Hickok into the pitch-dark passage.
Cody could not imagine what it was that had brought that yell from his old pard. It wasn’t a shout of fear, but rather of surprise and consternation. Apart from his superstitious vagaries, the old trapper did not know the meaning of the word “fear.”
Wild Bill, stumbling along somewhat in the lead of the scout, kept watching for the glimmer of Nomad’s candle. The tunnel was full of angles, and Wild Bill went clear to the breast of it, and whirled around with his back to the rocks. He had not found a trace of the trapper in the entire length of the level!
“Well!” exclaimed Wild Bill, looking blankly into the scout’s face. “What sort of a hocus-pocus do you call this, Cody? Disagreeable surprises! By gorry, Dell was right. We no more than get into the mine before they’re sprung on us.”
Without speaking, Buffalo Bill turned and picked his way back to the shaft, sweeping the candlelight about him and examining every nook and cranny as he went.
He saw nothing of Nomad.
Midway between the breast of the level and the shaft was the opening into the short “drift.”