Panther Eye

is d

Langlois was dead-if he was dead? And was he? They were surrounded by inky blackness. It was the thick darkness of a subterranean cavern

Pant," as the laborers called

o is certain of every step. Twice they had turned to avoid mine-props. They had gone back into the mine perhaps a hundred fe

is d

was, who had killed him? How did Pant know he was dea

d. Had he caught a yellow glow from one eye of the man? He could not be sure about it,

g forward. There, not ten feet before them, lay the form of Frank Langlois. To all appe

him? How did

cat-like motion, dropped down beside the prostrate form. Tearing away at jacket

sighed at last. "Wo

e its kill. As if he searched for the answer to

nny time to study Pant, to reca

rtook, both of labor and sport. One queer thing about him was that he always wore a pair of glasses with smoked lenses of such large proportions that they hid his eyes completely; he was never without them. One more thing, he always wore the Eskimo cut of garments; in cold weather, deer skin; in warm weather and at work, blue drill; but always that middy-

picked up in New York by some orphan asylum and sent west to be raised by a rancher; that he had soon run away from his foster home and had, since that time, lived by his wits, sometimes in western cities, sometimes

se upon which he was entering. How would this tragedy

ediscovery of the Seven Mines of Siberia. These mines had first been discovered by an American prospector who, having crossed Bering Strait one summer with natives in their skin boats, had explored the Arctic Siberian rivers. He believed that there was an abundance of the precious yellow me

ge quantities of mining machinery and coal to the mouth of the river when the Czar's government suddenly went to smash. Everything was dropped for the time b

. After these had been settled and the Big Five, having learned that Hanada, Johnny's Japanese friend and school mate, who had made the entire Siberian journey with him and had previously worked in the Se

ell them frankly that there would be practically no chance of obtaining a conc

The concession," they explained, "does not expire until January, 1925. That being the case, it still holds good, even though the g

is a royalty of 25 per cent which was to have been paid to the Czar. No

nny had one of his oc

the sufferings of those freezing, starving, and naked refugees I saw pouring into Vladivostok from the interior by tens of thousands. You appo

the rich men

we're with you, we'll

with what high hopes he had landed on those bleak shores and had taken up the task of making his men comfortable for the long winter. Only yesterday the housing work had been completed, and to-day, while the other laborers were going over the rusted machinery, he had sent hi

is a land without law. There will be no coroner's inquest. That is all the more reason why we must be car

with frost. In the middle of this pool, driven into the earth was a pick. It was rusty and its handle was slimy with dampness. Close to the end of the handle were the marks of a man's fingers where his firm grip had ground off particles of the black

red to himself as he

od in the attitude of listening. He seemed to feel rather than hear an almost undetect

t?" whispe

mpanion, and there was a no

arth-tremble many times before th