The shoulders of the Indian youth were bare. Indeed, he wore nothing at all in the way of a garment above his waist. Dig waved his hand to the Indian, and shouted:
“Hello, John! You livin’ up here all alone?”
The Indian youth made no immediate reply, but walked out to the trail on which the boys were riding. Chet was impatient of delay, but Dig pulled in his horse. The lame boy stepped between the chums and Chet looked back, restraining Hero.
“What are you boys doing up this way?” asked John.
“We’re in a hurry,” said Chet quickly. “Going over to the Crayton shaft.”
“What for?”
“Say! you’re kind of nosey, I think,” said Dig frankly. “What do you want to know for?”
But John Peep was looking at Chet and seemed to expect his answer to come from that individual.
“There’s been an accident at the shaft of my father’s mine,” Chet said. “There is a cave-in, and my father and five other men are shut down in the mine. We’re going to see if we can’t get into the Silent Sue mine from the old Crayton shaft. You know the Crayton shaft, John?”
“I know,” said the Indian boy, nodding. “You can’t get down there.”