The thing was inexplicable, and we ceased operations to consider the matter.

The next day a man walking by a tent some little distance from the one in which the hole began, was badly startled by the ground giving way under his feet, and his sinking nearly to his waist in a hole.

It was very singular, but after wondering over the matter for some hours, there came a glimmer of suspicion that it might be, in some way, connected with the missing end of our tunnel.

One of us started through on an exploring expedition, and confirmed the suspicions by coming out where the man had broken through.

Our tunnel was shaped like a horse shoe, and the beginning and end were not fifteen feet apart.