“Ah,” he said, “the gods were with us, but it was a wild chance, I assure you.  Fortunately, it was still snowing.  Hugh and Jose were already in the cart and everyone else had hastened home as fast as he or she could go.  The boys would not have waited for me if I had not dashed out just when I did, and I was glad enough to escape, for I was afraid they would make some mistake in the road, Hugh not being able to see, and Jose familiar with the village only through our description of it.  I wasted no time in jumping into the cart and then drove like Jehu to the Mont d’Or, fortunately on our way up the hill.”

“The Mont d’Or!” she interjected in surprise.  “But why did you stop there?”

He shrugged his shoulders significantly.  “It is Jose’s shelter.  He had the keys of the engine room.  Your father had sent them to him, and with them he let himself in, and then locked the door behind him.  We got a fair start, of course, but it was only a few moments after we reached here that three or four of the deputies were on our heels.”

“Ah,” she cried, “they thought you had driven him here.”

“Naturally, and it is unnecessary to say that they spent several hours in searching, not only this cabin, but your father’s and Mrs. Nitschkan’s to boot, and also the stable yonder.”  He pointed to a little shed farther up the hill where he kept his horse and cart.  He held out his coffee cup for her to refill and laughed heartily.  “I have no doubt that they will return at intervals during the day to see if there isn’t some tree-top or ledge of rock that they may have overlooked; but at present they are too busy exploring every nook and cranny of the various mines, especially the Mont d’Or.”

She put down the coffee pot with a clatter and threw herself back in her chair with a gesture of intense disappointment.  “Then surely they will find Jose!” she cried.

“Oh, you do not know,” he exclaimed.  “Wait; it was stupid of me not to have explained.  Your father is a wonderful man.  He overlooks nothing.  He foresaw that in spite of all precautions, Jose—­and other friends of his,” there was a trace of hesitation in his tones in speaking to her of her father’s chosen companions, “might be trapped here in the winter time when they could not escape over the one or two secret trails which he knows and which he has shown Jose.  So, long ago, working secretly and overtime in the Mont d’Or, he hollowed out a small chamber.  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—­”