It is above
one of the unworked stopes and its entrance defies detection."
"But are you sure?" she interjected earnestly. "Have you seen it
yourself?"
"Yes, I was with Jose the first time Gallito showed it to him. Then he,
your father, took us over the other parts of the mine and brought us
back to the same spot to see if we could discover the hiding place for
ourselves. I assure you we could not. Neither Jose nor myself liked
being baffled in that way, for it seemed to us that we went over every
inch of the ground, and your father stood there laughing at us in that
sarcastic way of his. Finally we gave up the search and Gallito marked
it, so that it might be found in a hurry. It is above one's head and the
wall is too smooth to climb in order to reach it--"
"How can Jose get in then?" interrupted Pearl.
"Jose has a key to your father's locker, and in that locker he keeps a
rope ladder. Jose throws up the ladder and the hooks catch on a dark,
narrow little ledge; climbing up to this, he finds a small opening; he
wriggles into this and finds himself in a small chamber which your
father always keeps well provisioned. From this chamber a narrow passage
leads up to the surface of the ground, thus providing two exits; but, of
course, the one above ground cannot be used now, owing to the snow."
Pearl, who had been listening breathlessly to this description of Jose's
hiding place, leaned back with a sigh of relief. "Then it looks as if
Jose might be all right for the present.
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