"I wonder if he's really here?" whispered Mr. Damon.

"We'll soon find out," answered Tom. "Let's go in."

They entered, and, in pursuance of their plan, Tom and his friend talked of various foods.

"I think I'd like some of that canned lobster, with French dressing on," spoke the eccentric man.

"That's away in the back end of the room," said Tom, in a loud voice. "It's under a lot of boxes."

"Then I'll help you get it out! Bless my frying pan! but I am very fond of lobster!" exclaimed Mr. Damon, in as natural tones as was possible under the circumstances.

He and Tom moved cautiously back among the boxes and barrels. They were glancing about with eager eyes. Tom switched on an electric light, and, the instant he did so, he was aware of a movement in a little space formed by one box which was placed on top, of two others. The lad saw a dark figure moving, as if to get farther out of sight.

"I've got him!" cried Tom, making a dive for the shadow.

A moment later the young inventor was bowled over, as a dark figure leaped over his head.

"Catch him, Mr. Damon!" he cried.

"Bless my hatband! I—I—" Mr. Damon's voice ended in a grunt. He, too, had been knocked down by the fleeing man.

"Look out, Mr. Jenks!" cried Tom, to warn those on guard at the door of the storeroom.

There was the report of a gun, some excited shouts, and when Tom could scramble to his feet, and rush out, he beheld Mr. Parker calmly sitting on a struggling man, while Mr. Jenks held a gun, that was still smoking.

"We caught him!" cried the scientist.

"Anybody hurt?" asked Tom, anxiously.

"No, I knocked up his gun as he fired," explained Mr. Jenks. "Where are the ropes, Tom?"

The cords were produced and the man, who had now ceased to struggle, was tightly bound. He uttered not a word, but he smiled grimly when Mr. Damon remarked:

"I guess I'll go back in the storeroom, Tom, and see how much food he ate."

"Oh, I guess he didn't take much," declared the lad. "He wasn't there long enough."

"Well, Farley Munson, so it's you, is it?" asked Mr. Jenks, as he surveyed the prisoner.

"Do you know him?" asked Tom, in some surprise.

"He was in with the diamond makers," said Mr. Jenks. "He was one of those who took me to the secret cave. But it will be the last time he ever goes there. How high up are we, Tom?"

"About two miles. Why?"

"I guess that will be far enough to let him fall," went on the diamond seeker. "Come on, Mr. Damon, help me throw him overboard!"

"You—you're not going to throw me over—with the airship two miles high; are you?" gasped the man.

"Will you tell us what we want to know, if we don't?" asked Mr. Jenks.

"What do you want to know?"

"How you got aboard, and what your object was in coming."

"That's easy enough. I had been hanging around the shed for several days, watching a chance to get in. Finally I saw it, when that colored man went to feed his mule, and I slipped in, and hid in the airship. The stores were all in then, and I stowed myself away among the boxes. I had food and water, so I didn't touch any of yours," and he looked at Mr. Damon, who seemed much relieved.

"And what was your object?" demanded Mr. Jenks.

"I wanted to prevent you from going to Phantom Mountain."

"How?"

"By destroying the airship if need be. But I hoped to accomplish it by other means. I would have stopped at nothing, though, to prevent you. You must keep away from there!"

"And if we refuse?" asked Tom.

"Then you'll have to take what comes!"

"But not from you!" exclaimed Mr. Jenks. "We're going to get rid of you."

The man's face showed the alarm he felt.

"Oh, don't worry," said Mr. Jenks, quickly, "we're not going to toss you overboard. We're not as desperate as your crowd. But we're going to get rid of you, and then go on before you can send any word to your confederates. We'll put you off in the most lonesome spot we can find, and I guess you'll be some time getting back to civilization. By that time we'll have the secret of the diamonds."

"You never will!" declared the man, firmly. And he would say nothing more, though by threats and promises Mr. Jenks tried to get from him something about the men in with him, and where the cave of the diamonds was located.

Heavily bound with ropes the man was locked in a small closet, to be kept there until a favorable spot was reached for letting him go. Mr. Jenks' plan, of dropping him down in some place where he would have difficulty in sending on word to his confederates was considered a good one.

Three days later, in crossing over a lonely region, near the Nebraska National Forest, Farley Munson, which was one of the names the spy went by, was dropped off the airship, when it was sent down to within a few feet of the earth.

"It will take you some time to get to a telegraph office," said Mr. Jenks, as a package of food, and a flask of water was tossed down to the stowaway. He shook his fist at those in the airship, and shouted after them:

"You'll never discover the secret of Phantom Mountain!"

"Yes, we will," declared Tom, as he sent the Red Cloud high into the air again.



CHAPTER XI—A WEARY SEARCH

During the three days when the stowaway had been kept a prisoner, the Red Cloud had made good time on her western trip. She was now about two hundred and fifty miles from Leadville, Colorado, and Tom knew he could accomplish that distance in a short time. It was necessary, therefore, since they were so close to the place where the real search would begin, to make some more definite plans.

"We will need to replenish our supply of gasoline," said Tom, shortly after the stowaway had been dropped, and when the young inventor had made a general inspection of the airship.

"Is it all gone?" inquired Mr. Damon.

"Not all, but we will soon be in the wildest part of the Rocky Mountains, and gasoline is difficult to procure there. So I want to fill all our reserve tanks. But I would rather do that before we get far into Colorado."

"Why?" inquired Mr. Parker.

"Because airships are not so common but what the appearance of one attracts attention. Ours is sure to be talked about, and commented on. In that case, in spite of our precaution in putting Munson off in this lonely place, word of the Red Cloud being in the vicinity of Leadville may reach the diamond makers, and put them on their guard. We want to take them unawares if we can."

"That's so," agreed Mr. Jenks. "We had better get our gasoline at the first stopping place, then, and proceed with our search. Our first object ought to be to look for the landmark—the head of stone. Then we can begin to prospect about a bit."

"My idea, exactly," declared Tom. "Well, then, I'll go down at the first place we cross, where we can get gasoline, and then we'll be in a position to hover in the air for a long time, without descending."

The airship kept on her way, traveling slowly the remainder of that day, and at dusk, when there was less chance of big crowds seeing them, the Red Cloud was sent down on the outskirts of a large village. Tom and Mr. Damon went to a supply store, and arranged to have a sufficient quantity of the gasoline taken out to the airship. It was delivered after dark, and little talk was occasioned by the few who were aware of the presence of the craft. Then, once more, they went aloft, and Tom sent several wireless messages to Shopton, including one to Miss Nestor.

"Please tell my wife that I am well, and that I have a good appetite," said Mr. Damon.

Mr. Parker also sent a message to a scientific friend of his, stating that he made some observations among the mountains, of the region in which the airship then was, and that the indications were that a great landslide would soon take place.

"That won't worry us," spoke Tom, "for we'll be far above it."

"I hope we will be near enough to enable me to observe it, and make some scientific notes," came from Mr. Parker. "I am positive that one of these mountain peaks that we saw to-day will disappear in a landslide within a few days. I have an instrument somewhat like the one that records earthquakes, and it has been acting strangely of late."

Tom wondered what enjoyment Mr. Parker got out of life, when he was always looking for some calamity to happen, but the scientist seemed to take as much pleasure in his gloomy forebodings now, as he had on Earthquake Island.

They reached the vicinity of Leadville the next day, but took care to keep high above the city, so that the airship could not be observed. With powerful glasses they examined the mountainous country, looking for the little settlement of Indian Ridge.

"There it is!" exclaimed Mr. Jenks, just as dusk was settling down. "I can make out the hotel I stopped at. Now we can really begin our search. The next thing is to find the stone head, and then, I think, I will have my bearings."

"We'll begin the hunt for that landmark in the morning," said Tom.

High in the air hovered the Red Cloud. At that distance above the earth she must have looked like some great bird, and the adventurers thought it unlikely that any one in the vicinity of Leadville would observe them.

The quest for the great mountain peak, that looked like a stone head, was under way. Back and forth sailed the airship. Sometimes she was enveloped in fog, and no sight could be had of the earth below. At other times there were rain storms, which likewise prevented a view. Mr. Parker was on the lookout for his predicted mountain landslide, but it did not occur, and he was much disappointed.

"It's queer I can't pick out that landmark," said Mr. Jenks after two days of weary searching, when their eyes were strained from long peering through telescopes. "I'm sure it was around Indian Ridge, yet we've covered almost all the ground in this neighborhood, and I haven't had a glimpse of it."

"Perhaps it was destroyed in a landslide, or some cataclysm of nature," suggested Mr. Parker. "That is very possible."

"If that's the case we're going to have a hard time to locate the cave of the diamond makers," answered Mr. Jenks, "but I hope it isn't so."

They continued the search for another day, and then Tom, as they sat in the comfortable cabin of the airship that night, hovering almost motionless (for the motor had been shut down) made a proposition.

"Why not descend in some secluded place," he suggested, "and wander around on foot, making inquiries of the miners. They may know where the stone head is, or they may even know about Phantom Mountain."

"Good idea," spoke Mr. Jenks. "We'll do it."

Accordingly, the next morning, the Red Cloud was lowered in a good but lonely landing place, and securely moored. It was in a valley, well screened from observation, and the craft was not likely to be seen, but, to guard against any damage being done to it by passing hunters or miners, Mr. Parker and Mr. Damon agreed to remain on guard in it, while Tom and Mr. Jenks spent a day or two traveling around, making inquiries.

The young inventor and his companion proceeded on foot to a small settlement, where they hired horses on which to make their way about. They were to be gone two days, and in that time they hoped to get on the right trail.



CHAPTER XII—THE GREAT STONE HEAD

It was a wild and desolate country in which Tom Swift and Mr. Jenks were traveling. Villages were far apart, and they were at best but small settlements. In their journeys from place to place they met few travelers.

But of these few they made cautious inquiries as to the location of Phantom Mountain, or the landmark known as the great stone head. Prospectors, miners and hunters, whom they asked, shook their heads.

"I've heard of Phantom Mountain," said one grizzled miner, "but I couldn't say where it is. Maybe it's only a fish story—the place may not even exist."

"Oh, it does, for I've been there!" exclaimed Mr. Jenks.

"Then why don't you go back to it?" asked the miner.

"Because I can't locate it again," was the reply.

"Humph! Mighty queer if you've seen a place once, and can't get to it again," and the man looked as if he thought there was something strange about Tom and his companion. Mr. Jenks did not want to say that he had been taken to the mountain blindfolded, for that would have caused too much talk.

"I think if we spent to-night in a place where the miners congregate, listened to their talk, and put a few casual questions to them, more as if we were only asking out of idle curiosity, we might learn something," suggested Tom.

"Very well, we'll try that scheme."

Accordingly, after they had left the suspicious miner the two proceeded to a small milling town, not far from Indian Ridge. There they engaged rooms for the night at the only hotel, and, after supper they sat around the combined dance hall and gambling place.

There were wild, rough scenes, which were distasteful to Tom, and to Mr. Jenks, but they felt that this was their only chance to get on the right trail, and so they stayed. As strangers in a western mining settlement they were made roughly welcome, and in response to their inquiries about the country, they were told many tales, some of which were evidently gotten up for the benefit of the "tenderfeet."

"Is there a place around here called Phantom Mountain?" asked Tom, at length, as quietly as he could.

"Never heard of it, stranger," replied a miner who had done most of the talking. "I never heard of it, and what Bill Slatterly don't know ain't worth knowin'. I'm Bill Slatterly," he added, lest there be some doubt on that score.

"Isn't there some sort of a landmark around here shaped like a great stone head?" went on Tom, after some unimportant questions. "Seems to me I've heard of that."

"Nary a one," answered Mr. Slatterly. "No stone heads, and no Phantom Mountains—nary a one.

"Who says there ain't no Phantom Mountains?" demanded an elderly miner, who had been dozing in one corner of the room, but who was awakened by Slatterly's loud voice. "Who says so?"

"I do," answered the one who claimed to know everything.

"Then you're wrong!" Tom's heart commenced beating faster than usual.

"Do you mean to say you've seen Phantom Mountain, Jed Nugg?" demanded Slatterly.

"No, I ain't exactly seen it, an' I don't want to, but there is such a place, about sixty mile from here. Folks says it's haunted, and them sort of places I steer clear from."

"Can you tell me about it?" asked Mr. Jenks, eagerly. "I am interested in such things."

"I can't tell you much about it," was the reply, "and I wouldn't git too interested, if I was you. It might not be healthy. All I know is that one time my partner and I were in hard luck. We got grub-staked, and went out prospectin'. We strayed into a wild part of the country about sixty mile from here, and one night we camped on a mountain—a wild, desolate place it was too."

The miner stopped, and began leisurely filling his pipe.

"Well?" asked Tom, trying not to let his voice sound too eager.

"Well, that was Phantom Mountain."

The miner seemed to have finished his story.

"Is that all?" asked Mr. Jenks. "How did you know it was Phantom Mountain?"

"'Cause we seen the ghost—my partner and I—that's why!" exclaimed the man, puffing on his pipe. "As I said, we was campin' there, and 'long about midnight we seen somethin' tall and white, and all shimmerin', with a sort of yellow fire, slidin' down the side of the mountain It made straight for our camp."

"Huh! Guess you run, didn't you, Jed?" asked Bill Slatterly.

"Course we did. You'd a run too, if you seen a ghost comm' at you, an' firm' a gun."

"Ghosts can't fire guns!" declared Bill. "I guess you dreamed it, Jed."

"Ghosts can't fire guns, eh? That's all you know about it. This one did, and to prove I didn't dream it, there was a bullet hole in my hat next mornin'. I could prove it, too, only I ain't got that hat any more. But that was Phantom Mountain, strangers, an' my advice to you is to keep away from it. I was on it but I didn't exactly see it, 'cause it was dark at the time."

"Was it near a peak that looked like a stone head?" asked Tom.

"It were, stranger, but I didn't take much notice of it. Me and my partner got out of them diggin's next day, and I never went back. I ain't never said much about this place, but it's called Phantom Mountain all right, and I ain't the only one that's seen a ghost there. Other grub-stakers has had the same experience."

"Why ain't I never heard about it?" demanded Bill, suspiciously.

"'Cause as why you're allers so busy talkin' that you don't never listen to nothin' I reckon," was Jed's answer, amid laughter.

"Can you tell us what trail to take to get there?" asked Tom, of the miner.

"Yes, it's called the old silver trail, and you strike it by goin' to a place called Black Gulch, about forty mile from here. Then it's twenty mile farther on. But take my advice and don't go."

"Can it be reached by way of Indian Ridge?" asked Mr. Jenks, wondering how he had been taken to the cave of the diamond makers. He did not remember Black Gulch.

"Yes, you can git there by Indian Ridge way, but it's more dangerous. You're likely to lose your way, for that's a trail that's seldom traveled." Mr. Jenks thought that, perhaps, was the reason the gang had taken him that way. "It's easier to get to the stone head and Phantom Mountain by Black Gulch, but it ain't healthy to go there, strangers, take my advice on that," concluded the miner, as he prepared to go to sleep again.

Tom could scarcely contain the exultation he felt. At last, it seemed, they were on the trail. He motioned to Mr. Jenks, and they slipped quietly from the place, just as another dance was beginning.

"Now for Black Gulch!" cried Tom. "We must hurry back to the airship, and tell the good news.

"It's too late to-night," decided Mr. Jenks, and so they waited until morning, when they made an early start.

They found Mr. Damon and Mr. Parker anxiously awaiting their return. Mr. Damon blessed so many things that he was nearly out of breath, and Mr. Parker related something of the observations he had made.

"I think I have discovered traces of a dormant volcano," he said. "I am in hopes that it will have an eruption while we are here."

"I'm not," spoke Tom, decidedly. "We'll start for Black Gulch as soon as possible."

The airship once more rose in the air, and, following the directions the miner had given him, Tom pointed his craft for the depression in the mountains which had been given the name Black Gulch. It was reached in a short time, and then, making a turn up a long valley the airship proceeded at reduced speed.

"We ought to see that stone head soon now," spoke Tom, as he peered from the windows of the pilot house.

"It's queer we didn't notice it when we were up in the air," remarked Mr. Jenks. "We've been over this place before, I'm sure of it."

The next moment Mr. Damon uttered a cry. "Bless my watch-chain!" he exclaimed. "Look at that!"

He pointed off to the left. There, jutting out from the side of a steep mountain peak was a mass of stone—black stone—which, as the airship slowly approached, took the form and shape of a giant's head.

"That's it! That's it!" cried Tom. "The great stone head!"

"And now for Phantom Mountain and the diamonds!" shouted Mr. Jenks, as Tom let the airship slowly settle to the bottom of the valley.



CHAPTER XIII—ON PHANTOM MOUNTAIN

Out from the Red Cloud piled Tom and the others. They made a rush for the irregular mass of rock which bore so strong a resemblance to the head of some gigantic man.

"That's the one! That's the thing I saw when they were taking me along here blindfolded!" exclaimed Mr. Jenks. "I'm sure we're on the right trail, now!"

"But what gets me, though," remarked Mr. Damon, "is why we couldn't see that landmark when we were up in the air. We had a fine view, and ought to have been able to pick it out with the telescopes."

The adventurers saw the reason a few seconds later. The image was visible only from one place, and that was directly looking up the valley. If one went too far to the right or left the head disappeared from view behind jutting crags, and it was impossible to see it from overhead, because the head was almost under a great spur of a mighty mountain.

"We might have hunted for it a week in the airship, and been directly over it," said Tom, "and yet we would never have seen it."

"Yes, but we never would have gotten here in such good shape if it hadn't been for your wonderful craft," declared Mr. Jenks. "It brought us here safely and quickly, and enabled us to elude the men who tried to keep us back. We're here in spite of them. If we had traveled by train they might have interfered with us in a dozen ways."

"That's so," agreed Mr. Damon. "Well, now we're here, what's to be done? Which way do we start to reach the cave where the diamonds are manufactured, Mr. Jenks?"

"That I can't say. As you know, I only had a momentary glimpse of this stone head as they wore taking me along the trail. Then one the men noticed that the bandage had slipped and he pulled it into place. So I really can't say which direction to take now, in order to discover the secret."

"How long after you saw the head before you reached the cave?" asked Tom. "In that way we may be able to tell how far away it is."

"Well, I should say it was about two or three hours after I saw the head, before we got to the halting place, and I was carried into the cave. That would make it several miles from here, for we went in a wagon."

"Yes, and they might have driven in a round-about way, in order to deceive you," suggested Mr. Damon. "At best we have but a faint idea where the diamond cave is, but we must search for it; eh, Tom?"

"Certainly. We'll start right in. And as the airship will be of but little service to us now, I suggest that we leave it in this valley. It is very much secluded, and no one will harm it, I think. We can then start off prospecting, for I have a large portable tent, and we can carry enough food with us, with what game we can shoot, to enable us to live. I have a regular camping outfit on board."

"Fine!" cried Mr. Parker, "and that will give me a chance to make some observations among the mountains, and perhaps I can predict when a landslide, or an eruption of some dormant volcano, may occur."

"Bless my stars!" cried Mr. Damon. "I don't wish you any bad luck, Mr. Parker, but I sincerely hope nothing of the sort happens! We had enough of that on Earthquake Island!"

"One can not halt the forces of nature," said the scientist, solemnly. "There are many towering peaks around here which may contain old volcanoes. And I notice the presence of iron ore all about. This must be a wonderful place in a thunder and lightning storm."

"Why?" asked Tom, curiously.

"Because lightning would be powerfully attracted here by the presence of the metal. In fact there is evidence that many of the peaks have been struck by lightning," and the scientist showed curious, livid scars on the stone faces of the peaks within sight.

"Then this is a good place to stay away from in a storm," observed Mr. Damon. "However, we won't worry about that now. If this is the landmark Mr. Jenks was searching for, then we must be in the vicinity of Phantom Mountain."

"I think we are," declared the diamond seeker. "Probably it is within sight now, but there are so many peaks, and this is such a wild and desolate part of the country that we may have trouble in locating it."

"We've got to make a beginning, anyhow," decided Tom, "and the sooner the better. Come, we'll make up our camping kits, and start out."

It was something to know that they were on the right trail, and it was a relief to be able to busy oneself, and not be aimlessly searching for a mysterious landmark. They all felt this, and soon the airship was taken to a secluded part of the valley, where it was well hidden from sight in a grove of trees.

Tom and Mr. Damon then served a good meal, and preparations were made to start on their search among the mountains—a search which they hoped would lead them to Phantom Mountain, and the cave of the diamond makers.

The tent which would afford them shelter was in sections, and could be laced together. They carried food, compressed into small packages, coffee, a few cooking utensils; and each one had a gun, Tom carrying a combination rifle and shotgun, for game.

"We can't live very high while we're on the trail," said the young inventor, "but it won't be much worse than it was on Earthquake Island. Are we all ready?"

"I guess so," answered Mr. Damon. "How long are we going to be away?"

"Until we find the diamond makers!" declared Tom, firmly.

Shouldering their packs, the adventurers started off. Tom turned for a last look at his airship, dimly seen amid the trees. Would he ever come back to the Red Cloud? Would she be there when he did return? Would their quest be successful? These questions the lad asked himself, as he followed his companions along the rocky trail.

"Perhaps we can find the road by which these men go in and out of the cave," suggested Mr. Damon, when they had gone on for several miles.

"I fancy not," replied Mr. Jenks. "They probably take great pains to hide it. I think though, that our best plan will be to go here and there, looking for the entrance to the cave. I believe I would remember the place."

"But why can't you follow the directions given by the miner who told you about Phantom Mountain?" asked Mr. Damon.

"Because his talk was too indefinite," answered Mr. Jenks. "He was so frightened by seeing what he believed to be a ghost, that he didn't take much notice of the location of the place. All he knows is that Phantom Mountain is somewhere around here."

"And we've got to hunt until we find it; is that the idea?" asked Mr. Parker.

"Or until we see the phantom," added Tom, in a low voice.

"Bless my topknot!" exclaimed Mr. Damon. "You don't mean to say you expect to see that ghost; do you Tom?"

"Perhaps," answered the young inventor, and he did not add something else of which he was thinking. For Tom had a curious theory regarding the phantom.

They tramped about the remainder of that day. Toward evening Tom shot some birds, which made a welcome addition to their supper. Then the tent was put together, some spruce and hemlock boughs were cut to make a soft bed, and on these, while the light of a campfire gleamed in on them, the adventurers slept.

Their experience the following day was similar to the first. They saw no evidence of a large cave such as Mr. Jenks had described, nor were there any traces of men having gone back and forth among the mountains, as might have been expected of the diamond makers, for, as Mr. Jenks had said, they made frequent journeys to the settlement for food, and other supplies.

"Well, I haven't begun to give up yet," announced Tom, on the third day, when their quest was still unsuccessful. "But I think we are making one mistake."

"What is that?" inquired Mr. Jenks.

"I think we should go up higher. In my opinion the cave is near the top of some peak; isn't it, Mr. Jenks?"

"I have that impression, though, as you know, I never saw the outside of it. Still, it might not be a bad idea to ascend some of these peaks."

Following this suggestion, they laid their trail more toward the sky, and that night found them encamped several thousand feet above the sea-level. It was quite cool, and the campfire was a big one about which they sat after supper, talking of many things.

Tom did not sleep well that night. He tossed from side to side on the bed of boughs, and once or twice got up to replenish the fire, which had burned low. His companions were in deep slumber.

"I wonder what time it is?" mused Tom, when he had been up the third time to throw wood on the blaze. "Must be near morning." He looked at his watch, and was somewhat startled to see that it was only a little after twelve. Somehow it seemed much later.

As he was putting the timepiece back into his pocket the lad looked around at the dark and gloomy mountains, amid which they were encamped. As his gaze wandered toward the peak of the one on the side of which the tent was pitched, he gave a start of surprise.

For, coming down a place where, that afternoon, Tom had noticed a sort of indefinite trail was a figure in white. A tall, waving figure, which swayed this way and that—a figure which halted and then came on again.

"I wonder—I wonder if that can be a wisp of fog?" mused the young inventor. He rubbed his eyes, thinking it might be a swirling of the night mist or a defect of vision. Then, as he saw more plainly, he noticed the thing in white rushing toward him.

"It's the phantom—the phantom!" cried Tom, aloud. "It's the thing the miner saw! We're on Phantom Mountain now!"



CHAPTER XIV—WARNED BACK

Tom's cries awakened the sleepers in the tent. Mr. Damon was the first to rush out.

"Bless my nightcap, Tom!" he cried. "What is it? What has happened? Are we attacked by a mountain lion?"

For answer the young inventor pointed up the mountain, to where, in the dim light from a crescent moon, there stood boldly revealed, the figure in white.

"Bless—bless my very existence!" cried the odd man. "What is it, Tom?"

"The phantom," was the quiet answer. "Watch it, and see what it does."

By this time Mr. Jenks and Mr. Parker had joined Tom and Mr. Damon. The four diamond seekers stood gazing at the apparition. And, as they looked, the thing in white, seemingly too tall for any human being, slid slowly forward, with a gliding motion. Then it raised its long, white arms, and waved them threateningly at the adventurers.

"It's motioning us to go back," said Mr. Parker in an awed whisper. "It doesn't want us to go any farther."

"Very likely," agreed Tom, coolly. "But we're not going to be frightened by anything like that; are we?"

"Not much!" exclaimed Mr. Jenks. "I expected this. A ghost can't drive me back from getting my rights from those scoundrels!"

"Suppose it uses a revolver to back up its demand?" asked the scientist.

"Wait until it does," answered Mr. Jenks. But the figure in white evidently had no such intentions. It came on a little distance farther, still waving the long arms threateningly, and then it suddenly disappeared, seeming to dissolve in the misty shadows of the night.

"Bless my suspenders!" cried Mr. Damon. "That's a very strange proceeding! Very strange! What do you make of it, Tom?"

"It is evidently some man dressed up in a sheet," declared Mr. Jenks. "I expected as much."

"The work of those diamond makers; do you think?" continued Mr. Damon.

"I believe so," answered Tom, slowly, for he was trying to think it out. "I believe they are the cause of the phantom, though I don't know that it's a man dressed in a sheet."

"Why isn't it?" demanded Mr. Jenks.

"Because it was too tall for a man, unless he's a giant."

"He may have been on stilts," suggested Mr. Parker.

"No man on stilts could walk along that way," declared Tom, confidently. "He glided along too easily. I am inclined to think it may be some sort of a light."

"A light?" queried Mr. Damon.

"Yes, the diamond makers may be hidden in some small cave near here, and they may have some sort of a magic lantern or a similar arrangement, for throwing a shadow picture. They could arrange it to move as they liked, and could cause it to disappear at will. That, I think, is the ghost we have just seen."

"But the diamond makers have only been in this mountain recently," objected Mr. Jenks, "and the phantom was here before them. In fact, that was what gave the place its name."

"That may be," admitted the lad. "There are many places that have the name of being haunted, but no one ever sees the ghost. It is always some one else, who has heard of some one who has seen it. That may have been the case here. I grant that this place may have been called 'Phantom Mountain' for a number of years, due to the superstitious tales of miners. The diamond makers came along, found the conditions just right for their work, and adopted the ghost, so to speak. As there wasn't any real spirit they made one, and they use it to scare people away. I think that's what we've just seen, though I may be wrong in my theory as to what the phantom is."

"Well, it's gone now, at any rate," said Mr. Jenks, "and I think we'd better get back inside the tent. It's cold out here."

"Aren't some of us going to stand guard?" demanded Mr. Damon.

"What for?" asked Mr. Jenks.

"Why—er—bless my key-ring! Suppose that ghost takes a notion to come down here, and use his gun, as he did on the miners?"

"I don't believe that will happen," remarked Tom. "The diamond makers, if the white thing had anything to do with them, have given us a warning, and I think they'll at least wait until morning to see how we heed it."

"We aren't going to heed it!" burst out Mr. Jenks. "I'm going to go right ahead and find that cave where they make diamonds!"

"And we're with you!" exclaimed Tom. "We'll have a good fire going the rest of the night, and that may keep intruders away. In the morning we'll begin our search, and we'll go up the trail where we saw the white figure."

A big pile of wood had been collected for the fire, and Tom now piled some logs and branches on the blaze. It would last for some time now, and the adventurers, still talking of the "ghost" went back into the tent. It was over an hour before they all got to sleep again, and Mr. Jenks and Mr. Damon took turns in getting up once or twice during the remainder of the night to replenish the fire.

Morning dawned without anything further having occurred to disturb them, and, after a hearty breakfast, to which Tom added some fish he caught in a nearby mountain stream, they set off up the trail on Phantom Mountain.

They had left their tent standing, as they proposed making that spot their headquarters until they located the cave they were seeking. What their course would be after that would depend on the circumstances.

If they had expected to have an easy task locating the cavern in which Mr. Jenks had seen diamonds made, the adventurers were disappointed. All that day they tramped up and down the mountain, looking for some secret entrance, but none was disclosed. The higher they went up the great peak, the fainter became the trail, until, at length it vanished completely.

But this was not to be wondered at, since it was on solid rock, in which no footsteps would leave an impression.

"They never brought you up here in a wagon, Mr. Jenks," decided Tom, when he saw how steep the place was.

"I'm inclined to think so myself," admitted the diamond man. "They must have reached the cave from some other way. As a matter of fact, I walked some distance after getting out of the vehicle, before we got to the cavern. But, even at that, I don't believe we came this way."

"Yet the phantom was here," persisted Tom, "and I'm convinced that the cave is in this neighborhood. It's up to us to find it!"

But they searched the remainder of that day in vain, and as night was coming on, they made their way back to the camp. As Tom, who was in the lead, approached the tent, he saw something black fastened to the entrance.

"Hello!" he cried. "Some one's been here. That wasn't on the tent when he left this morning."

"What is it?" asked Mr. Damon.

"A black piece of paper, written on with white ink," replied the lad. He was reading it, and, as he perused it a look of surprise came over his face.

"Listen to this!" called Tom. "It's evidently from the diamond makers."

Holding up the black paper, on which the white writing stood out in bold relief Tom read aloud:

"Be warned in time! Go back before it is too late! You are near to death! Go back!"

"Bless my shoelaces!" cried Mr. Damon. "This is getting serious."



CHAPTER XV—THE LANDSLIDE

Gathered about the young inventor, the three men looked at the warning. The writing was poor, and it was evident that an attempt had been made to disguise it. But there was no misspelling of words, and there were no rudely drawn daggers, or bloody hands or anything of that sort. In fact, it was a very business-like sort of warning.

"Rather odd," commented Mr. Jenks. "Black paper and white ink."

"White ink is easy enough to make," stated Mr. Parker. "I fancy they wanted it as conspicuous as possible."

"Yes," agreed Tom, "and this warning, together with the antics of the thing in white last night, shows that they are aware of our presence here, and perhaps know who we are. We will have to be on our guard."

"Do you think that fellow Munson, whom we left in the forest, could have gotten here and warned them?" asked Mr. Damon.

"It's possible," admitted Tom, "but now let's see if the person who pinned this warning on our tent took any of our things."

A hasty examination, however, showed that nothing had been disturbed, and Tom and Mr. Damon were soon getting supper ready, everyone talking, during the progress of the meal, about the events of the day, and the rather weird culmination of it.

"Well, we haven't had a great deal of success—so far," admitted Tom, as they sat about the fire, in the fast gathering dusk. "I think, perhaps, we'd better try on the other side of the mountain to-morrow. We've explored this side pretty thoroughly."

"Good idea," commented Mr. Jenks. "We'll do it, and move our camp. I only hope those fellows don't find our airship and destroy it. We'll have a hard time getting back to civilization again, if we have to walk all the way."

This contingency caused Tom some uneasiness. He did not like to think that the unscrupulous men might damage the Red Cloud, that had been built only after hard labor. But he knew he could accomplish nothing by worrying, and he tried to dismiss the matter from his mind.

They rather expected to see the thing in white again that night, but it did not appear, and morning came without anything having disturbed their heavy sleep, for they were tired from the day's tramp.

It took them the greater part of the day to make a circuit of the base of Phantom Mountain in order to get to a place where a sort of trail led upward.

"It's too late to do anything to-night," decided Tom, as they set up the tent. "We'll rest, and start the first thing in the morning."

"And the ghost isn't likely to find us here," added Mr. Damon. "Where are you going, Mr. Parker?" he asked, as he saw the scientist tramping a little way up the side of the mountain.

"I am going to make some observations," was the answer, and no one paid any more attention to him for some time. Supper was nearly ready when Mr. Parker returned. His face wore a rather serious air, and Mr. Damon, noting it, asked laughingly:

"Well, did you discover any volcanoes, that may erupt during the night, and scare us to death?"

"No," replied Mr. Parker, calmly, "but there is every indication that we will soon have a terrific electrical storm. From a high peak I caught a glimpse of one working this way across the mountains."

"Then we'd better fasten the tent well down," called Tom. "We don't want it to blow away."

"There will not be much danger from wind," was Mr. Parker's opinion.

"From what then?" asked Mr. Jenks.

"From the discharges of lightning among these mountain peaks, which contain so much iron ore. We will be in grave danger."

The fact that the scientist had not always made correct predictions was not now considered by his hearers, and Tom and the two men gazed at Mr. Parker in some alarm.

"Is there anything we can do to avoid it?" asked Mr. Jenks.

"The only thing to do would be to leave the mountain," was the answer, "and, as the iron ore extends for miles, we can not get out of the danger zone before the storm will reach us. It will be here in less than half an hour."

"Then we'd better have supper," remarked Tom, practically, "and get ready for it. Perhaps it may not be as bad as Mr. Parker fears."

"It will be bad enough," declared the gloomy scientist, and he seemed to find pleasure in his announcement.

The meal was soon over, and Tom busied himself in looking to the guy ropes of the tent, for he feared lest there might be wind with the storm. That it was coming was evident, for now low mutterings of thunder could be heard off toward the west.

Black clouds rapidly obscured the heavens, and the sound of thunder increased. Fitful flashes of lightning could be seen forking across the sky in jagged chains of purple light.

"It's going to be a heavy storm," Tom admitted to himself. "I hope lightning doesn't strike around here."

The storm came on rapidly, but there was a curious quietness in the air that was more alarming than if a wind had blown. The campfire burned steadily, and there was a certain oppressiveness in the atmosphere.

It was now quite dark, save when the fitful lightning flashes came, and they illuminated the scene brilliantly for a few seconds. Then, by contrast, it was blacker than ever.

Suddenly, as Tom was gazing up toward the peak of Phantom Mountain, he saw something that caused him to cry out in alarm. He pointed upward, and whispered hoarsely:

"The ghost again! There's our friend in white!"

The others looked, and saw the same weird figure that had menaced them when they were encamped on the other side of the peak.

"They must have followed us," said Mr. Jenks, in a low voice.

Slowly the figure advanced, It waved the long white arms, as if in warning. At times it would be only dimly visible in the blackness, then, suddenly it would stand out in bold relief as a great flash of fire split the clouds.

The thunder, meanwhile, had been growing louder and sharper, indicating the nearer approach of the storm. Each lightning flash was followed in a second or two, by a terrific clap. Still there was no wind nor rain, and the campfire burned steadily.

All at once there was a crash as if the very mountain had split asunder, and the adventurers saw a great ball of purple-bluish fire shoot down, as if from some cloud, and strike against the side of the crag, not a hundred feet from where stood the ghostly figure in white.

"That was a bad one," cried Mr. Damon, shouting so as to be heard above the echoes of the thunderclap.

Almost as he spoke there came another explosion, even louder than the one preceding. A great ball of fire, pear shaped, leaped for the same spot in the mountain.

"There's a mass of iron ore there!" yelled Mr. Parker. "The lightning is attracted to it!"

His voice was swallowed up in the terrific crash that followed, and, as there came another flash of the celestial fire, the figure in white could be seen hurrying back up the mountain trail. Evidently the electrical storm, with lightning bolts discharging so close, was too much for the "ghost."

In another instant it looked as if the whole place about where the diamond seekers stood, was a mass of fire. Great forked tongues of lightning leaped from the clouds, and seemed to lick the ground. There was a rattle and bang of thunder, like the firing of a battery of guns. Tom and the others felt themselves tingling all over, as if they had hold of an electrical battery, and there was a strong smell of sulphur in the air.

"We are in the midst of the storm!" cried Mr. Parker. "We are standing on a mass of iron ore! Any minute may be our last!"

But fate had not intended the adventurers for death by lightning. Almost as suddenly as it had begun, the discharge of the tongues of fire ceased in the immediate vicinity of our friends. They stood still—awed—not knowing what to do.

Then, once more, came a terrific clap! A great mass of fire, like some red-hot ingot from a foundry, was hurled through the air, straight at the face of the mountain, and at the spot where the figure in white had stood but a few minutes before.

Instantly the earth trembled, as it had at Earthquake Island, but it was not the same. It was over in a few seconds. Then, as the diamond seekers looked, they saw in the glare of a score of lightning flashes that followed the one great clap, the whole side of the mountain slip away, and go crashing into the valley below.

"A landslide!" cried Mr. Parker. "That is the landslide which I predicted! The lightning bolt has split Phantom Mountain!"



CHAPTER XVI—THE VAST CAVERN

For a time the roiling, slipping, sliding and tumbling of the mass of earth and stones, down the side of the mountain, effectually drowned all other sounds. Even the thunder was stilled, and though Tom and his companions called to one another in terror, their voices could not rise above that terrific tumult.

Finally, when they found that the direction of the slide was away from their tent, and that they were not likely to be engulfed, they grew more calm.

Gradually the noise subsided. The great boulders had rolled to the bottom of the valley, and now only a mass of earth and stones was sliding down. Even this stopped in about five minutes, and, as though satisfied with what it had done, the electrical storm passed. Not a drop of rain had fallen.

"Bless my shirt studs!" exclaimed Mr. Damon, who was the first to speak after the din had quieted. "Bless my soul! But that was awful!"

"It was just what I expected," said Mr. Parker, calmly. "I knew, from my observations, that we were in a region where landslides and terrific electrical storms may be expected at any time. I fully looked for this."

"Well," remarked Mr. Jenks, rather sarcastically, "I hope it came up to your expectations, Mr. Parker."

"Oh, fully," was the answer, "though I wish it could have happened in daylight, so that I could better have observed certain phenomena regarding the landslide. They are very interesting."

"At a distance," admitted Tom, with a laugh of relief. "Well, I'm glad it's over, though we'll have to wait until morning to see what damage has been done. Lucky we weren't struck by lightning. I never saw such bolts!"

"Me, either!" declared Mr. Damon. "This mountain seems to attract them."

"It is like a magnet," said Mr. Parker. "I think I shall be able to make some fine observations here."

"If we live through it," murmured Mr. Jenks.

They watched the play of lightning about a distant bank of clouds, but the storm was now far away, only a faint rumbling of thunder being heard.

"I'm wondering what happened to the phantom," said Tom, after a pause. "Seems to me he was right in that track of the storm."

"Do you think it was a 'he'?" asked Mr. Jenks.

"I think we'll find that it's some sort of a man," answered the young inventor. "We may find out very soon, now. I've changed my theory about the ghost being reflections of light."

"How's that?" Mr. Damon wanted to know.

"Well, I think we are on the side of Phantom Mountain where the diamond cave is," went on the lad. "The fact that the phantom appeared here, soon after we arrived, shows that the men kept close track of our movements. It also shows, I think, that the phantom did not have to travel far to be on the spot, whereas we had to make quite a trip to get around the base of the mountain. I think the cave is up there," and Tom pointed toward the spot where the weird figure had been last seen, before the storm drove it back.

"There may be two phantoms," suggested Mr. Jenks. "They may keep one on this side of the mountain, and one on the other, to warn intruders away.

"It's possible," admitted Tom. "Well, we'll see how things look in the morning, when we'll take up our march again, and go up the mountain. We'll reach the top, if possible, which we couldn't do from the other side, as it was too steep."

"I hope we shall be able to go forward in the morning," came from Mr. Jenks.

"What do you mean?" asked the lad, struck by a peculiar significance in the diamond man's tones.

"Why, that landslide may have opened a great gully in the side of Phantom Mountain, which will prevent us from passing. It was a terrific lot of earth and stones that slid away," answered Mr. Jenks.

"It certainly was," agreed Mr. Parker. "I would not be surprised if the mountain was half destroyed, and it may be that the diamond cave no longer exists."

"Not very cheerful, to say the least," murmured Mr. Jenks to Tom, and, as it was getting quite chilly, following the storm, they went inside the tent.

Tom could hardly wait for daylight, to get up and see what havoc the landslide had wrought. As soon as the first faint flush of dawn showed over the eastern peaks, he hurried from the tent. Mr. Damon heard him arise, and followed.

A curious scene met their eyes. All about were great rocks rent and torn by the awful power of the lightning. The fronts of the stone cliffs were scarred and burned by the electrical fire, and fantastic markings, grotesque faces, and leering animals seemed to have been drawn by some gigantic artist who used a bolt from heaven for his brush.

But the eyes of Tom and Mr. Damon took all this in at a glance, and then their gaze went forward to where the avalanche had torn away a great part of the mountain.

"Whew! I should say it was a landslide!" cried Tom.

"Bless my wishbone, yes!" agreed Mr. Damon.

Below them, in the valley, lay piled immense masses of earth and stones. Boulders were heaped up on boulders, and rocks upon rocks, being tossed about in heaps, strung about in long ridges, and swirled about in curves, as though some cyclone had toyed with them after the lightning flash had tossed them there.

"But the mountain isn't half gone," said Tom, as his eyes took in what was left of the phantom berg. "I guess it will take a few more bolts like that one, to put this hill out of business."

Though the landslide had been a great one, the larger part of the mountain still stood. An immense slice had been taken from one side, but the summit was untouched.

"And there's where the diamond cave is!" cried Tom, pointing to it.

"I think so myself," agreed Mr. Jenks, who came from the tent at that moment, and joined the lad and Mr. Damon. "I think we shall find the cave somewhere up there. We must start for it, as soon as we have eaten, and we may reach it by night."

The three stood gazing up toward the summit of the great mountain. Suddenly, as the sun rose higher in the heavens, it sent a shaft of rosy light on the face of the berg that had been scarred by the landslide. Tom Swift uttered an exclamation, and pointed at something.

"See!" he cried. "Look where the trail is—the trail down which the phantom must have come. It is on the edge of a cliff now!"

They looked, and saw that this was so. The increasing light had just revealed it to them. When the lightning bolt had torn away a great portion of the mountain it had cut sheer down for a great depth and when the earth and stones fell away they left a narrow pathway, winding around the mountain, but so near the edge of a great chasm, that there was room but for one person at a time to walk on that footway. The uncertain trail up Phantom Mountain had all but been destroyed.

"The way up to the peak is by that path, now," spoke Tom, in a low voice.

"Bless my soul!" cried Mr. Damon. "It's as much as a man's life is worth to attempt it. If he got dizzy, he'd topple over, and fall a thousand feet. Dare we risk it?"

"It's the only way to get up," went on Tom. "It's either that way, or not at all. We've tried the other side without success. We must go up this way—or turn back."

"Then we'll go up!" cried Mr. Jenks. "It may not be as dangerous as it looks from here."

But it was even more dangerous than it appeared, when they went part way up it after a hasty breakfast. The trail was a mere ledge of rock now, and in some places, to get around a projecting edge of the mountain, they had to stand with their backs to the dizzy depths at their feet, and with both arms outstretched work their way around to where the trail was wider.

"Shall we risk it?" asked Tom, when they had tried the way, and found it so dangerous. "We can't take anything with us—even our guns, for we couldn't carry them, and if we reach the month of the cave, and find those men there—"

He paused significantly. The adventurers looked at one another. The search for the diamond makers was becoming more and more dangerous.

"I say let's go on!" decided Mr. Damon, suddenly. "We want to locate that cave, first of all. Perhaps, when we do find it, we may see some easier way of getting to it than this. And if those diamond makers do attack us—well, I don't believe they'll shoot defenseless men, and they may listen to reason, and give Mr. Jenks his rights—tell him how to make diamonds in return for the money he gave them."

"I don't believe those scoundrels will listen to reason," replied the diamond man, "but I agree with Mr. Damon that we ought to go on. We may find some other means of reaching the cave—if we can discover it, and we'll take a chance with the men."

"Forward it is, then!" cried Tom. "I have a revolver, and I can supply one of you gentlemen with another. They may come in useful in an emergency. Let's go back to camp, take a little lunch in our pockets, and try to scale the mountain."

They were soon on their way up the dizzy path once more, and, as they advanced, they found it growing more and more dangerous. In some places they found it almost impossible to get around certain corners, where there was barely room for their feet. As Tom remarked grimly, a fat man never could have done it. Fortunately they were all comparatively thin, for their hard work, and not too abundant food, since they had left the airship, had reduced their weight.

Up and up they went, higher and higher, sometimes finding the path wide enough for two to walk abreast, and again seeing it narrow almost to a ribbon. They hardly dared look down into the chasm at their left—a chasm filled, in part, with the rocks and boulders tossed into it by the lightning bolt.

Tom was in the lead, and had just made a dangerous turn around a shoulder of rock—one of those places where he had to extend both arms, and fairly hug the cliff before he could get around.

But, when he had made it, and found himself on a broad pathway, cut in the living rock, he gave a great shout—a shout that caused his companions to hasten to his side. They found the young inventor pointing to a clump of bushes and small trees.

But it was not the shrubbery that Tom desired to call to their attention. They saw that in an instant, for, dimly seen through the leaves, was something black, and, as they looked more closely, they saw that it was a great hole in the side of the mountain—a vast cavern, opening like a tunnel.

"The cave! The cave!" cried Tom. "The diamond makers' cave!"

Hardly had he spoken than two men, each one carrying a gun, showed themselves in the mouth of the cavern, and, instant later they both ran toward the little party of adventurers.



CHAPTER XVII—THE PHANTOM CAPTURED

Surprise held Tom and his friends almost spellbound for the moment. The young inventor's hand went toward the pocket where he carried his revolver. Mr. Jenks, who had the only other weapon, sought to draw it, but he was stopped by a gesture of one of the two men with guns.

"Hold on, strangers!" the man cried. "I know what you're up to! Better not try to draw anything—it might not be healthy. Now, then, who are you, and what do you want?"

The question came rather as a surprise, at least to Tom and Mr. Jenks. They had taken it for granted that these men—if they were the diamond makers—would know Mr. Jenks, and guess at his errand in coming back to Phantom Mountain. But, it seemed, that they took them all for casual strangers.

No one answered for a moment. Tom caught the eye of Mr. Jenks, and there was a look of hope in it. If ever there was a time for strategy, it was now. Evidently Munson, the stowaway on the airship, had not yet been able to send a warning to his confederates. And neither of the two men recognized Mr. Jenks as the man who had been defrauded of his rights. It might be possible to conceal the real object of the adventurers until they had time to formulate a plan of action.

"Well," exclaimed the man with the gun, impatiently, "I ask you folks a question. What do you want?"

Fortunately, neither Mr. Damon nor Mr. Parker replied. The former because he deferred to Tom and Mr. Jenks, and the scientist because he was busy inspecting some curious rocks he picked up. As it turned out this was the luckiest thing he could have done. It lent color to what Mr. Jenks said a moment later.

"What are you doing up here?" demanded the man again. "Don't you know this is private property?"

"We—we were just looking around," answered Mr. Jenks, which was true enough; as far as it went.

"Prospecting," added Tom.

"After gold?" demanded the second man, suspiciously.

"We'd be glad to find some," retorted the lad. At that moment Mr. Parker began breaking off bits of rock with a small geologist's hammer which he carried. The men with the guns looked at him.

"So you think you'll find gold up here?" asked the one who had first spoken.

"Is there any?" inquired Tom, trying to make his voice sound eager.

"Nary a bit, strangers," was the answer, and the two men laughed heartily. "Now, we don't want to seem harsh," went on the man who seemed to be the spokesman, "but you'd better get away from here. This is private ground, and dangerous too—how'd you ever get up the trail—we heard it was destroyed."

"There is still a narrow path," said Mr. Jenks. "We came up that—the lightning and landslide haven't left much of it, though."

Mr. Parker looked quickly up from the rocks at which he was tapping with his small hammer. "You have terrific lightning up here," he said. "I am much interested in it, from a scientific standpoint. I predict that some day the entire mountain will be destroyed by a blast from the sky."

"I hope it won't be right away," spoke one of the men. "Now I guess you folks had better be leaving while there's a path left to go down by."

"Might I ask," broke in Mr. Parker, as calmly as though he was lecturing to a class of students, "might I ask if you have noticed any peculiar effect of the lightning up here on the summit of the mountain? Does it fuse and melt rocks, so to speak?"

"What's that?" cried the spokesman, with a sudden flash of anger. The two men looked at each other.

"I wanted to know, merely for scientific reasons, whether the lightning up here ever melted rocks?" repeated Mr. Jenks.

"Well, whether it's for scientific reasons or for any other, I'm not going to answer you!" snapped the man. "It's none of your affair what the lightning does up here. Now you'd all better 'vamoose'—clear out!"

"All right—we'll go," said Tom, quickly, at the same time motioning to Mr. Jenks to agree with him. The eyes of the young inventor were roving about. He saw what looked like a second trail, leading down the mountain, from the far side of the cave. He was convinced now that there was another way to get to it. Possibly they might find it. At any rate nothing more could be done now. They must go back, for the cavern was too well guarded to attempt to enter it by force—at least just yet.

"Yes, we'll go back," assented Mr. Jenks.

Mr. Parker was tapping away at the rocks. He looked toward the black mouth of the big cave. On what corresponded to the roof of it, some distance back from the entrance, he saw a slender metal rod sticking up into the air.

"May I ask if that's a lightning rod?" he inquired innocently. "If it is, I should like to ask about its action in a mountain that is so impregnated with iron ore.

"You may ask until you get tired!" cried the spokesman, again showing unreasoning anger, "but you'll get no answer from us. Now get away from here before we do something desperate. You're on private ground and you're not wanted. Clear out while you have the chance."

There was no help for it. Slowly our friends turned and began to go down the dangerous trail. They were soon out of sight of the two men who stood before the cave, with their guns ready, but neither Tom nor any of his companions spoke for some time.

When they had rounded one of the most dangerous turns the young inventor sat down to rest, an example followed by the others.

"Well," asked Tom, "do you think those are some of the diamond makers, Mr. Jenks?"

"I certainly do, though I never saw those two men before. If I could once get inside the cave, I could tell whether or not it was the one where I was practically held a prisoner. But I'm sure it is. I know some of the men used to go off every day with guns, and not come back until night. I have no doubt they were on guard, just as these two are. And, also, I think I heard them speak of a second entrance to the cavern. The one we just saw may not be the main one, through which I was taken."

"I believe we are on the right track," ventured Mr. Damon, "but we will either have to go up there after dark, which will be risky, on account of the narrow trail, or else we will have to find some other path."

"The last would be better," spoke Tom.

"That rod of metal sticking up on top of the cave interested me," said the scientist. "Did you hear anything of that when you were here before, Mr. Jenks?"

"No. Probably that is only a lightning rod, or it may be a staff for a signal flag. But what surprises me is that those men didn't suspect that we were seeking to discover their secret. They took us for ordinary prospectors."

"So much the better," remarked Tom. "We have a chance now of getting inside that cave. But we will have to go back to camp, and make other plans. And we must hurry, or it will be dark before we get there."

They hastened their steps, pausing only briefly to eat some of the lunch they had brought along, and to drink from a spring that bubbled from the side of the mountain. It was getting dusk when they got back to their tent. They found nothing disturbed.

"I wonder if we'll see that phantom again to-night?" ventured Tom, as they were sitting about the campfire a little later.

"Probably not," remarked Mr. Jenks. "I don't believe the ghost will venture down the dangerous trail after dark, and the gang may think that the warning given us by the two men on guard at the cave will be sufficient. But if we don't leave here by to-morrow I think we will have another visit from the thing in white."

It was about an hour after this when Tom was collecting some wood in a pile nearer the fire, so as to have it ready to throw on, in case there was any alarm in the night, that he happened to look up toward the summit of the mountain. A slight noise, as of loose stones rolling down, attracted his attention, and, at first, he feared lest another landslide was beginning, but a moment later he saw what caused it.

There, advancing down the steep and dangerous trail was the figure in white—the phantom. Instantly a daring plan came into Tom's head. Dropping the wood softly, he moved back out of the glare of the fire.

"Mr. Jenks!" he called in a whisper.

The diamond man, who was behind the tent, came toward Tom.

"What is it?" he asked. Then, as he saw the ghostly visitor, he added: "Oh—the phantom again! What's it up to?"

"The same thing," replied Tom, "but it won't do it long, if my plan succeeds."

"What plan is that, Tom?"

"I'm going to try to capture that—that man—or whatever it is. Will you help?"

"Surely!"

"Then let's work around behind it, while Mr. Damon and Mr. Parker come up from in front. We'll solve this part of the mystery, anyhow, if it's possible!"

The two other men were soon told of the plan. Meanwhile the thing in white had advanced slowly, until within a few hundred feet of the camp. They could see now that it was no shaft of light, but some white body, shaped like a tall, thin man, draped in a white garment. The long arms waved to and fro. There was no semblance of a head.

"You and Mr. Parker go right toward it, slowly, Mr. Damon," advised Tom. "Mr. Jenks and I will make a circle, and get in back. Then, if it's anything alive we'll have it."

The "ghost" continued to advance. Tom and the diamond man stole off to one side, their buckskin moccasins making no sound. Mr. Damon and the scientist went boldly forward.

This movement appeared to disconcert the spirit. It halted, waved the arms with greater vigor than before, and seemed to indicate to the adventurers that it was dangerous to advance. But Mr. Damon and Mr. Parker kept on. They wanted to give Tom and Mr. Jenks time enough to make the circuit.

Suddenly the stillness of the night was broken by a low whistle. It was Tom's signal that he and Mr. Jenks were ready.

"Come on! Run!" cried Mr. Damon.

The scientist and the eccentric man leaped forward.

The "ghost" heard the whistle, and heard the spoken words. The thing in white hesitated a moment, and then raised one arm. There was a flash of lire, and a loud report.

"He's firing in the air!" cried Tom. "Come on, we have him now!"

Undaunted by the display of firearms, Mr. Damon and Mr. Parker kept on. They could hear Tom and Mr. Jenks running up in back of the figure. The latter also heard this, and suddenly turned. Caught between the two forces of our friends, the "ghost" was at a loss what to do.

The next instant Tom, who had distanced Mr. Jenks, made a flying tackle for the figure in white, and caught it around the legs. Very substantial legs they were, too, Tom felt—the legs of a man.

"Wow!" yelled the "ghost," as he went down in a heap, the revolver falling from his hand.

"Come on!" cried Tom. "I have him!"

His friends rushed to his aid. There was a confused mass of dark bodies, arms and legs mingled with something tall and thin, all in white. Suddenly the moon came from behind a cloud and they could see what they had captured—for captured the phantom was.

It proved to be a rather small man, who wore upon his shoulders a framework of wood, over which some white cloth was draped. It had fallen off him when Tom made that tackle.

"Well," remarked the young inventor, as he sat on the struggling man's chest. "I guess we've got you."

"I rather guess you have, stranger," was the cool reply.



CHAPTER XVIII—BILL RENSHAW WILL HELP

They were all panting from the exertion of the run up the mountain and the contest with the phantom—a phantom no longer—though, truth to tell, the struggle was not nearly so fierce as Tom had expected. He thought the "ghost" would put up a stiff fight.

"Got any ropes to tie him with?" asked Mr. Damon, who was helping Tom hold the man down.

"Ropes? You aren't going to tie me up are you, strangers?" asked the captive.

"That's what we are!" exclaimed Mr. Jenks. "We've had trouble enough in this matter, and if I've got one of the gang, perhaps I can get some of the others, and have my rights. So tie him up, Tom, and we'll take him to camp.

"Oh, you needn't go to all that trouble, strangers," went on the man, calmly. "If one of you will get off my chest, and the other gentleman ease up on my stomach a bit, I'll walk wherever you want me, and not make any trouble. I haven't got a gun."

"Bless my gloves! But you're a cool one," commented Mr. Damon, as he complied with the man's request, and got up from his stomach. "But look out for him, Tom. He had a gun, for he fired it in the air."

"He hasn't it now," answered the young inventor. "I knocked it from his hand when I leaped for him."

"That's what you did," assented the man, as he got up, while Tom kept a tight hold of him, as did Mr. Jenks. "What kind of a grizzly bear hug do you call that, anyhow, that you gave me?"

"That was a football tackle," explained Tom.

"I allers heard that was a dangerous game!" remarked the former phantom simply. "Well, now you've got me, what are you going to do with me?"

"Take you where we can have a good look at you," replied Mr. Jenks, as he kicked aside the wooden framework, and the sheet which had made the "ghost" appear so tall. "So this is how you worked it; eh?"

"Yep. That was the 'haunt' stranger. I made it myself, and it worked all right until you folks come along. I rather suspicioned from the first, when I played the trick over on 'tother side of the mountain, that you wouldn't be so easy to fool as most prospectors are."

"Oh, so you're the only ghost then?" asked Tom.

"I'm the only one."

By this time they had reached the camp. Tom threw some light logs on the fire, which blazed up brightly. As the flames illuminated the face of their captive, Mr. Jenks looked at him, and cried out:

"Why it's Bill Renshaw!"

"That's me," admitted the man who had played the part of the phantom, "and thunder-turtles! if it ain't Mr. Jenks who was once in the diamond cave with us. Whatever happened to you? I never heard. The others said you got tired and went away."

"They took me away—defrauded me of my rights!" declared Mr. Jenks, bitterly. "But I'll get them back! To think of Bill Renshaw playing the part of a ghost!"

"They made me do it," went on the man, somewhat dejectedly. "I wanted to be at work in the cave, but they wouldn't let me."

"Is this man one of the diamond makers?" asked Tom, in great surprise.

"He is—one of the helpers, though I don't believe he knows the secret of making the gems," explained Mr. Jenks. "He was one of the men in the cave when I was there before, and he and I struck up quite a friendship; didn't we, Renshaw?"

"That's what, and there ain't no reason why we can't be friends now; that is unless you hold a grudge against me for firing at you. But I only shot in the air, to scare you away. Them's my instructions. I'm supposed to be on guard, and scare away strangers. I'm tired of the work, too, for I don't get my share, and those other fellows, in the cave, get all the money from the diamonds."

Tom Swift uttered an exclamation. A sudden plan had come to him. Quickly he whispered to Mr. Jenks:

"Make a friend of this man if possible. He evidently is dissatisfied. Offer him a sum to show us another way into the cave, and we may yet discover the secret of the diamond makers."

"I will," declared Mr. Jenks, quietly. Then, turning to Renshaw, he added:

"Bill, come over here. I want to have a talk with you. Perhaps it will be to our mutual advantage."

He led the former phantom to one side, and for some time conversed earnestly with him. Mr. Jenks told the story of how he had been deceived by Folwell and the others who were at the head of the gang of diamond makers. The rich man related how they had taken his money, and, after promising to disclose the secret process to him, had broken faith, and had drugged him, afterward taking him out of the cave.

"I want only my rights, and that for which I paid," concluded Mr. Jenks. "Now, I gather that these men haven't treated you altogether fairly, Bill."

"Indeed they haven't. I helped 'em to the best of my ability, and all I get out of it is to stay out on this lonely side of the mountain, and play ghost. They owe me money, too, and they won't pay me, either, though they have lots, for they sold some diamonds lately."

"Then they are still making diamonds?" asked Mr. Jenks, eagerly. "Have you seen them? Do you know the secret?"

"No, I don't know it, for they won't let me in on it. I'm always sent out of the cave just before they make the gems. But I know they've made some lately, and have sold 'em. I want my share."

"Look here!" exclaimed Mr. Jenks, quickly, wishing to strike while the iron was hot. "I'll make you a proposition. Show us how to get into that cave, unknown to the diamond makers, and I'll pay you twice what they agreed to. Is it a bargain?"

Bill Renshaw considered a moment. Then he thrust out his hand, clasped that of Mr. Jenks, and exclaimed:

"It is. I'll take you into the cave by an entrance that's seldom used. There are four ways to get in. The one where the two men drove you back is the rear one. The front one is on the other side of the mountain, but it's so well concealed that you'd never find it. But I can take you to one where you can get in, and those fellows will never know it. And, what's more, I'll help you if it comes to a fight!"

"Good!" exclaimed Mr. Jenks. "I think we'll discover the secret of the diamond makers this time," and he went to tell the others of the success of his talk. Bill Renshaw had been converted from an enemy into a friend, and the former phantom was now ready to lead Tom and the others into the secret cave.

"We'll start in the morning," decided Mr. Jenks, who, after many disappointments, at last saw success ahead of him.



CHAPTER XIX—IN THE SECRET CAVE

Tom Swift was up at break of day, and the others were not far behind him.

"Now for the secret cave!" cried the young inventor as he gazed up the mountain, in the interior of which the mysterious band of men were making the diamonds.

"Have you made any plans, Bill?" asked Mr. Jenks of the former phantom, who had cast his lot in with the adventurers. "What will be the best course for us to follow?"

"You just leave it to me, Mr. Jenks," was the answer. "I'll get you into the cave, and those fellows, who, I believe, are trying to do me out of my rights, as they did you out of yours, will never know a thing about it."

"Bless my finger-nails!" cried Mr. Damon. "That will be great! We can get in the cave, and watch them make the diamonds at our leisure."

"They don't make them every day," explained Renshaw. "It seems they have to wait for certain occasions. Mostly they make the diamonds when there's a big storm."

"A big storm," asked the scientist with a sudden show of interest. "Do you mean one of those electrical storms, such as we had the other night?"

"That's it, Mr. Parker, though why they wait until there's a storm is more than I can tell."

"Perhaps they know that on such occasions no one will venture up the mountain," spoke Mr. Damon.

"No, it isn't that," declared the scientist. "I think I am on the track of a great scientific discovery, and I will soon be able to make observations that will confirm it."

"Well, I'm going to make an observation right now," said Tom, with a laugh. "I'm going to see what there is for breakfast."

"And that reminds me," came from Mr. Jenks, "shall we move our camp, Bill, and take the tent with us to the cave?"

"I hardly think so," was the answer. "I think the best plan would be to conceal the tent somewhere around here, in case you might need it again. You can also store what food you have left."

"But, bless my appetite, we don't want to starve in that diamond cave!" objected Mr. Damon.

"I'll see that you don't," declared Bill Renshaw. "I'll take you in there, unbeknownst to those fellows, and I'll provide you with plenty of food and water. You see the cave is so big that there are some parts they never visit."

"And we can stay in one of those parts, and eat?" asked Tom.

"Sure," answered Bill.

"And watch the diamond makers at work?" asked Mr. Jenks.

"That's it," replied the former phantom.

"Then the sooner we get started the better," remarked Mr. Damon. Mr. Parker said nothing. He appeared to be thinking deeply, and was tapping at some rocks with his little hammer.

The advice of Bill Renshaw was followed, and the tent, and what food remained, was concealed in the bushes, with rocks piled over to keep away prowling animals. Then they started for the secret cave.

The man who played the part of a ghost picked up the framework and white cloth that had formed his disguise.

"I'll still have to use this," he explained, "for I don't want those fellows to know that I'm helping you. I'll continue to play the spirit of the mountain, but there won't be much need of it. I don't think any more people will come prospecting out here."

"Have you heard of the arrival of Farley Munson?" asked Tom, as he related the facts about the stowaway.

"He hadn't arrived up to a day or so ago," answered Bill. "I guess he's still traveling. Farley is one of the heads of the gang," he added, "and a dangerous man."

As Bill led the way toward the cave, taking a route that the adventurers had never suspected led to it, he explained that the cavern was a large one, capable of holding an army.

"But there's only a small part of it used by the diamond makers," he added. "They work in a small recess, near the summit of the mountain. The little cave, where I'm going to take you, opens off from it by a long passage. And, except that you'll be pretty much in the dark, you'll be quite comfortable. There are tables, chairs, and some bunks in the place. I can get you some lights, and plenty of food."

"But, if you are seen taking away food, won't the others suspect something?" asked Tom.

"I do pretty much as I please," said Bill. "I go and come when I like. All I'm supposed to do is to watch my two sides of the mountain, play the ghost, and give warning when any one is coming. Sometimes I leave black and white messages, like the one I put on your tent. Those fellows fix 'em up for me. I've told 'em about you, though I didn't know who you were, and they think you have gone, for the two men on guard at the rear entrance so reported. Sometimes I stay out on the mountain for a couple of days at a time, when the weather's good, and don't go back to the cave. Those times I take food with me, and so if they see me making off with some supplies they'll think I'm going to camp out."

"It doesn't look as though we'd ever get into a cave near the top of the mountain, going this way," said Tom, as they marched along. "We're going down, instead of up."

"That's the secret of this trail," explained Bill. "We go down in a sort of valley, and then go up a pretty stiff place, and then we're on a direct trail to the entrance I told you about. It's a steep road to climb, but I guess we can manage it."

And a hard climb the adventurers did find it. The road was almost as bad as the one along the edge of the chasm, but they managed to negotiate it, and finally found themselves on a fairly good trail.

"We'll soon be there," Bill assured them. "After you get in the little cave, where I'm going to hide you, I'll have to leave you for a spell, until I get my ghost rigging fixed up again. But I'll see that you have plenty of food and drink."

A little later their guide came to a sudden halt, and peered around anxiously.

"What's the matter?" asked Tom.

"I was just looking to see if any of the men were about," he answered. "But I guess not—it looks all right. The entrance is right here."

They were on a side of the mountain, near the summit. Below stretched a magnificent scene. A great valley lay at their feet, and they could look off to many distant peaks. The main trail to Leadville, and the one to the settlement of Indian Ridge, was in sight.

Suddenly Tom, who had been using a small but powerful telescope, uttered an exclamation, and focussed the instrument on a speck that seemed moving along on the trail below.

"A man—coming up the mountain," cried Tom. "And—it can't be—yet it is—it's Farley Munson—the stowaway!" he cried. "He's coming here!"

"Let me look!" begged Mr. Jenks, taking the glass from Tom. An instant later the diamond man exclaimed: "Yes, it's Munson!"

"Then in here with you—quick!" cried Renshaw. "He can't see us yet, and we'll be out of sight in another minute."

The former spirit pulled aside some thick bushes, and pointed to a hole which was disclosed.

"The entrance to the secret cave," he announced. "Slip in all of you."

Tom, after another glance at the man toiling his way up the mountain, entered the cavern. He was followed by the others. Bill was the last to enter, and he replaced the bushes over the entrance.

"At last!" exclaimed Mr. Jenks, as he gazed up at the roof of the dimly-lighted vault in which they found themselves.

"Yes, we're in the diamond makers' secret cave," added Tom. "Now to catch them at work!"

"Come on," advised Bill, in a low tone, "We're not safe yet," and he produced a lantern from some hidden recess, lighted the wick, and led the way. As the others followed they were aware of a subdued noise in the great cavern.



CHAPTER XX—MAKING THE DIAMONDS

"What's that noise?" asked Tom, as their guide flashed the lantern to show them the way.

"That's the men getting ready to make diamonds, I guess," was the answer. "You see it takes quite a while to get the stuff ready. I don't know what they use—they never tell me any of their secrets."

"Oh, I know the ingredients well enough," said Mr. Jenks, "but I don't know the secret of how they apply the terrific heat and pressure necessary to fuse the materials into diamonds."

"Well, you'll soon know," declared Bill Renshaw. "Of course it isn't always successful. I've known 'em to try half a dozen times before they got any diamonds big enough to satisfy 'em. They gave me some of the small ones when I asked for my wages.

"How did you come to get in with these men?" asked Tom, curious to understand how a person seemingly as honest as Renshaw appeared to be had cast his lot in with the men who had broken faith with Mr. Jenks.

"Oh, I've lived around these parts all my life," was the answer. "I knew of this cave before these diamond fellers came to it. In fact, I showed it to 'em. It was several years ago that a party of men who were prospecting around here came to me and asked if I knew of a small cave near the top of a high mountain, where lightning storms were frequent. I told them about Phantom Mountain, as it was called then, and also of this cave. If there's any place where they have worse lightning storms than here, I'd like to know it. They scare me, sometimes, like the night when that landslide happened, and I'm sort of used to 'em.

"Well, I took these men to the cave, and they hired me as a sort of lookout. Then they began their work, and at first I didn't know what they were up to, but finally I caught on. Then Mr. Jenks came, and disappeared mysteriously, though then I didn't know that they had played a trick on him. I was outside most of the time, pretending I was the ghost. So that's how I came to get in with 'em, and I wish I was out."

"You soon will be, I think," declared Mr. Jenks. "But won't our talking be heard by the men?"

"No danger. There is a thick wall between this part of the cave, and the part where they live and work. I'll soon have you well hid, and then you wait until I come back."

"What about Munson?" asked Tom. "He is evidently on his way here to tell his confederates about us."

"He won't know what has happened to us," said Mr. Jenks, "and he won't see anything of us. I guess we're safe enough."

Through the dark passage they followed Bill Renshaw until he came to a halt in a place that suddenly widened and broadened into a good-sized cave.

"Here's your stopping place," said the former ghost. "Now if you follow that passage, off to the left," and he pointed to it, "you'll come to the larger part of the cave where the diamond makers are. But go cautiously, and don't make any noise. I won't be responsible for what happens."

"We'll take all the risk," interrupted Tom.

"All right. Now there's a couple of lanterns around here. I'll light them, and leave you for a while until I can get some grub. I'll be back as soon as I can."

He glided away, after lighting two lanterns, by the gleams of which the adventurers could see that they were in a vaulted cavern that had evidently been fitted up as a living apartment. The sides, roof and floor were of stone. It was clean, and the air was fresh. There were some chairs, a table, and several cots, with pieces of bagging for bedding, though it was warm in the place.

"I guess we can stay here until we discover the secret," spoke Tom.

"Bless my watch! We can if we have something to eat," came from Mr. Damon, with something like a sigh. "I'm hungry!"

"And I want to make some observations," said Mr. Parker. "From what I have seen of this mountain, I would not be surprised if this cave was to be suddenly destroyed by a landslide or a lightning bolt. I will make some further investigations."

"Well, if it's going to cause you to make such gloomy prophecies as that, I'd just as soon you wouldn't look any further," spoke Tom, in a low voice. But Mr. Parker, taking one of the lanterns, set about examining the rock of which the cave consisted.

In a short time Bill Renshaw returned with enough food to last for two days. He said he was going out on the mountain once more to act the part of a lookout, and would visit the adventurers again the next day.

"In the meanwhile you can do just as you please," he said. "Nobody is likely to disturb you here, and you can sneak up and take a look at the men in the other cave whenever you're ready. Only be careful—that's all I've got to say. They're desperate men."

It was not very pleasant, eating in the gloomy cavern, but they made the best of it. They cooked on a small oil-stove they found in the place, and after some hot coffee they felt much better.

"Well," remarked Tom, after a while, "shall we take a chance, and go look at the men at work?"

"I think so," answered Mr. Jenks. "The sooner we discover this mystery, the better. Then we can go back home."

"And recover my airship," added Tom, who was a bit uneasy regarding the safety of the Red Cloud.

"Then, bless my finger-rings! let's go and see if we can find the big cave your friend the ghost told us of," suggested Mr. Damon.

Cautiously they made their way along the passage Bill had pointed out. As they went forward the subdued noise became louder, and finally they could feel the vibration of machinery.

"This is the place," whispered Mr. Jenks. "That sound we hear is one of the mixing machines, for grinding the materials—carbon and the other substances—which go to make up the diamonds. I remember hearing that when I was in the cave before."

"Then we must be near the place," observed Tom.

"Yes, but I didn't have much chance to look around when I was here before. They wouldn't let me. I never even knew of the small cave Bill took us to."

"Well, if we're close to it, we'd better go cautiously, and not talk any more than we're obliged to," suggested Mr. Parker, and they agreed that this was good advice.

They walked on softly. Suddenly Tom, who was in the lead, saw a gleam of light.

"We're here," he whispered. "I'll put out our lantern, now," which he did. Then, stealing forward he and the others beheld a curious sight. The tunnel they were in ended at a small hole which opened into a large cavern, and, fortunately, this opening was concealed from the view of those in the main place.

"The diamond makers!" whispered Tom, hoarsely, pointing to several men grouped about a number of strange machines.

"Yes—the very place where I was," answered Mr. Jenks, "and there is the apparatus—the steel box—from which the diamonds are taken—now to see how they make them."

Fascinated, the adventurers looked into the cave. The men there were unaware of the presence of our friends, and were busily engaged. Some attended to the grinding machine, the roar and clatter of which made it possible for Tom and the others to talk and move about without being overheard. Into this machine certain ingredients were put, and they were then pulverized, and taken out in powdery form.

The power to run the mixing machine was a gasoline motor, which chug-chugged away in one corner of the cave.

As the powder was taken out, other men fashioned it into small balls, which were put on pan, and into a sort of oven, that was heated by a gasoline stove.

"Is that how they make the diamonds?" asked Mr. Damon.

"That is evidently the first step," said Mr. Jenks. "Those balls of powdered chemicals are partly baked, and then they are put into the steel box. In some way terrific heat and pressure are applied, and the diamonds are made. But how the heat and pressure are obtained is what we have yet to learn."

He paused to watch the men at work. They were all busy, some attending to the machines, and others coming and going in and out of the cave. In one part a man was apparently getting ready a meal.

Suddenly there rushed into the cave a man who seemed much excited.

"Are you nearly ready with that stuff?" he cried. "There's a good storm gathering on the mountain!"

"Yes, we'll be ready in half an hour," answered one of the men at the mixing machine.

"Good. It will be flashing lightning bolts then, and we can see what luck we have. The last batch was a failure." The man hurried out again. Mr. Parker touched Tom and Mr. Jenks on their shoulders.

"What is it?" asked Tom.

"I know the secret of making the diamonds," said the scientist.

"What?" cried Mr. Jenks.

"It is by the awful power of the lightning bolts!" whispered Mr. Parker. "Everything is explained now—the reason why they make diamonds in this lonely place, near the top of the mountain. They need a place where the lightning is powerful. I can understand it now—I suspected it before. They make diamonds by lightning!"

"Are you sure?" cried Mr. Jenks.

"Positive."

"I agree with you," said Tom Swift. "I was just getting on that track myself, when I saw the electric wires running to the steel box. That explains the upright rod on the top of the mountain. The man says a storm is coming—very well; we'll stay here and watch them make diamonds!"