Gasping and choking from the smoke that filled the tiny pit, Joey and Tammy essayed to crawl out. Bang! went Moir’s six-shooter and they hastily retreated. The tunnel was filled with smoke by this time. Down at the bottom, choking coughs and cries told that the two unfortunate men were being suffocated. Moir waited until the faintness of the sounds told how far gone the men were. Then he motioned to Reivers with his revolver. The smoke was leaving the pit by this time. “Step down and drag ’em out, old son,” he said. “Come now, no hanging back. Tuh trigger on this gun is filed down so she pulls very light.” Reivers obeyed, climbing into the pit as if trembling with fear, and toiling furiously as he dragged the unconscious men out, though he could have walked away with one under each arm. “Throw water on ’em. Splash ’em good.” Ten minutes later Joey and Tammy were sitting up, coughing and sneezing, and trying their best to make Moir believe they had only been joking. “Good enough, ma sons; so was I,” chuckled Moir. “Now back to tuh job, and if ever you doubt who’s top man here you’ll stay in tuh pit till you’re browned well enough to eat. Dost hear me?” “Aye, Shanty,” said the two men humbly, and hurried back to their tasks. “And now, jackass and old ox, step over here and get into tuh harness,” commanded Moir. He continued to hold the gun in his hand and motioned to the sledge near the thawing-pan. High side-boards had been placed on the sledge, making it capable of holding twice its former load, and a looped rope supplemented the traces to which MacGregor was so ignominiously hitched. “Take hold of the rope, old son,” directed Moir. He did not approach as MacGregor resignedly led the way to the sledge. Tammy turned from his thawing-pan to hitch the Scotchman to his traces and to strap down his hands. Moir stood back, the gun in his hand, dominating all three. “Now into tuh pit; Joey’s got a load waiting,” he commanded. “And one whine out of you, old ox, and you get the prod. Hi-jah! Giddap!” CHAPTER XLII—THE SNOW-BURNER WORKS FOR TWO With MacGregor leading the way, Reivers humbly picked up his rope and helped drag the sledge into the mine. The tunnel, high and broad enough only for two men to crawl abreast, ran at a steep slant into the sand for probably twenty-five feet. At its end it spread into a small room in which Joey was at work, chopping loose chunks of frozen earth. One glance around and Reivers knew from experience that this room had been the home of the pocket, and that, unless the signs lied, the pocket soon would be worked out. Judging by the extent of the excavation the pocket had been a good-sized one, and the amount of dust and nuggets taken from it undoubtedly would foot up to a neat sum. Yes, it would be a tidy fortune. It would be plenty to give him a new start in life, plenty to pay him for the trouble he had gone to, plenty even to pay him for the baseness of his present position.