impassive broncos that the party rode lifted their heads inquiringly,
and snorted as if in equine astonishment at the magnificent spectacle.

One familiar with the place would have noticed something, which, to
his mind, would have seemed more surprising than the pageantry of the
mountains in their morning sun-bath. Curling above one of the wild
gorges that cut the lower slopes of the Tetons was a thick black
smoke, which, when lifted by a passing breeze, obscured the precipices
half-way to the summit of the peak.

Had the Grand Teton become a volcano? Certainly no hunting or
exploring party could make a smoke like that. But a word from the
leader of the party of horsemen explained the mystery.

"There is my mill, and the mine is underneath it."

The speaker was Dr. Syx, and his companions were members of the
financial congress. When he quitted their presence in New York, with
the promise to return within an hour for their reply, he had no doubt
in his own mind what that reply would be. He knew they would accept
his proposition, and they did. No time was then lost in communicating
with the various governments, and arrangements were quickly perfected
whereby, in case the inspection of Dr. Syx's mine and its resources
proved satisfactory, America and Europe should unite in adopting the
new metal as the basis of their coinage. As soon as this stage in the
negotiations was reached, it only remained to send a committee of
financiers and metallurgists, in company with Dr. Syx, to the Rocky
Mountains. They started under the doctor's guidance, completing the
last stage of their journey on horseback.