He disappeared in the gloom of a “side drift” just as a head appeared in the mouth of the shaft and somebody shouted “Hello!”—­which he did not answer.  He was not disturbed any more.  An hour later he entered the cabin, hot, red, and ready to burst with smothered excitement, and exclaimed in a stage whisper: 

“I knew it!  We are rich!  It’s A blind lead!”

I thought the very earth reeled under me.  Doubt—­conviction—­doubt again—­exultation—­hope, amazement, belief, unbelief—­every emotion imaginable swept in wild procession through my heart and brain, and I could not speak a word.  After a moment or two of this mental fury, I shook myself to rights, and said: 

“Say it again!”

“It’s blind lead!”

“Cal, let’s—­let’s burn the house—­or kill somebody!  Let’s get out where there’s room to hurrah!  But what is the use?  It is a hundred times too good to be true.”

“It’s a blind lead, for a million!—­hanging wall—­foot wall—­clay casings—­everything complete!” He swung his hat and gave three cheers, and I cast doubt to the winds and chimed in with a will.  For I was worth a million dollars, and did not care “whether school kept or not!”

But perhaps I ought to explain.  A “blind lead” is a lead or ledge that does not “crop out” above the surface.  A miner does not know where to look for such leads, but they are often stumbled upon by accident in the course of driving a tunnel or sinking a shaft.  Higbie knew the Wide West rock perfectly well, and the more he had examined the new developments the more he was satisfied that the ore could not have come from the Wide West vein.  And so had it occurred to him alone, of all the camp, that there was a blind lead down in the shaft, and that even the Wide West people themselves did not suspect it.  He was right.  When he went down the shaft, he found that the blind lead held its independent way through the Wide West vein, cutting it diagonally, and that it was enclosed in its own well-defined casing-rocks and clay.  Hence it was public property.  Both leads being perfectly well defined, it was easy for any miner to see which one belonged to the Wide West and which did not.

We thought it well to have a strong friend, and therefore we brought the foreman of the Wide West to our cabin that night and revealed the great surprise to him.  Higbie said: 

“We are going to take possession of this blind lead, record it and establish ownership, and then forbid the Wide West company to take out any more of the rock.  You cannot help your company in this matter —­nobody can help them.  I will go into the shaft with you and prove to your entire satisfaction that it is a blind lead.  Now we propose to take you in with us, and claim the blind lead in our three names.  What do you say?”

What could a man say who had an opportunity to simply stretch forth his hand and take possession of a fortune without risk of any kind and without wronging any one or attaching the least taint of dishonor to his name?  He could only say, “Agreed.”