"
"Did they think you had escaped?" asked Tom.
"They did," replied the Russian, "and they punished us severely for it,
in spite of our denials. In time I managed secretly to smelt the
platinum ore, and I found I had some of the purest metal I had ever
seen. I was wishing I could find the mine, or tell some of my friends
about it, when one of the officers discovered the metal in my bed.
"He demanded to know where I had gotten it, and knowing that refusal
would only make it the worse for me I told him. There was considerable
excitement, for the value of the discovery was recognized, and a search
was at once made for the mine.
"But, even with the aid we were able to give, it could not be located.
Many expeditions went out to hunt for it but came back baffled. They
could not penetrate that wild country."
"They should have used an aeroplane," suggested Tom.
"They did," replied the Russian quickly, "but it was of no use."
"Why not?" the young inventor wanted to know.
"Because of the terrific winds that almost continually sweep over that
part of Siberia. They never seem to cease, and there are treacherous air
currents and 'pockets' that engulfed more than one luckless aviator. Oh,
you may be sure the Russian government spared no means of finding the
lost platinum mine, but they could not locate it, or even get near the
place where they supposed it to be.
Pages:
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37