"I say, hanged if there isn’t a machine gun!" He pointed to a corner of the room, where the muzzle of the gun protruded from a nest of boxes. "A very neat little machine," said Mr. Appleton. "I got it as a precaution against a second raid, and the difficulty of smuggling it through turned my surviving hairs grey. It came in parts among some engine fittings; the invoices are very interesting! A clear case of gun running, of course; but there was no other way; the government would never have allowed it to pass complete. Nobody here knows of it but you; I put it together myself; and if you know anything about such things, Bob, I’ll be glad if you’ll overhaul it one of these days, and see if my amateurish efforts have been successful. Some of those boxes contain ammunition: smuggled in as dynamite. Now stack your cans, and when you’ve finished bring me the key. I’ll have duplicates cut for you." Later in the day the boys had a consultation. "It’s no good putting the aeroplane together until we’ve found a starting-place," said Lawrence. "I know. I’ve looked all about, and can’t find one. It’s pretty rotten, and the old man is so ratty about it that I almost wish we’d never brought the thing." "Oh, he’ll come round. I bet you what you like that he’ll be as keen as mustard if we can only get the thing going. We’ll go out exploring; we’re sure to hit on some place by and by." They spent the spare time of two or three days in ranging up and down stream in search of a suitable starting-place. Every morning at breakfast Mr. Appleton dropped some quizzing remark that sorely tried Bob’s temper. "How’s the white elephant?" he would say; or "When is the ascent to take place?" Meanwhile the dismembered aeroplane lay under tarpaulin at the side of the house, and the Babu irritated Bob by kind enquiries. "Will tender plant suffer, sir?" he asked one morning, when a sprinkling of snow lay upon the ground. "What do you mean?" said Bob. "Packages were marked ’fragile with care,’ sir, and having been myself once fragile, delicate infant, sir, I have fellow feeling, that makes me wondrous kind." "Well, be kind enough to shut up," said Bob. At length, after much searching, they discovered a spot which, so far as space was concerned, promised the solution of their difficulty. About a hundred yards up stream, at a somewhat higher level than the ledge upon which the mine buildings were situated, there was a similar ledge of about the same extent and on the same side of the gorge. But it was very difficult of access. It could not be approached from the mine, owing to the sheer wall of cliff that separated the two ledges. Nor could it be gained by bridging the river, for not only was the stream at this point much broader than lower down, but there was no rock in mid-channel that would serve as support. After a good deal of cogitation, Bob hit upon a plan which he determined to attempt.