As he spoke a hollow roar issued from the depths of the mountain,
followed in a short time by a gust of foul air.

"You probably will not care to go in there," said the doctor, "and, in
fact, it is very uncomfortable. But we shall follow the next car-load
to the smelter, and you can witness the reduction of the ore."

Accordingly when another car came rumbling out of the tunnel, with its
load of cracked rock, they all accompanied it into an adjoining
apartment, where it was cast into a metallic shute, through which,
they were informed, it reached the furnace.

"While it is melting," explained Dr. Syx, "certain elements, the
nature of which I must beg to keep secret, are mixed with the ore,
causing chemical action which results in the extraction of the
metal. Now let me show you pure artemisium issuing from the furnace."

He led the visitors through two apartments into a third, one side of
which was walled by the front of a furnace. From this projected two or
three small spouts, and iridescent streams of molten metal fell from
the spouts into earthen receptacles from which the blazing liquid was
led, like flowing iron, into a system of molds, where it was allowed
to cool and harden.

The financiers looked on wondering, and their astonishment grew when
they were conducted into the rock-cut store-rooms beneath, where they
saw metallic ingots glowing like gigantic opals in the light which Dr.
Syx turned on. They were piled in rows along the walls as high as a
man could reach. A very brief inspection sufficed to convince the