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Basic Algebraic Topology 1st Edition Shastri A.R. Digital
Instant Download
Author(s): Shastri A.R.
ISBN(s): 9781466562448, 1466562447
Edition: 1
File Details: PDF, 5.35 MB
Year: 2014
Language: english
 Basic
Algebraic
Topology

Anant R. Shastri
 Basic
Algebraic
Topology

Anant R. Shastri
Indian Institute of Technology Bombay Mumbai,
Maharastra, India
CRC Press
Taylor & Francis Group
6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300
Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742
© 2014 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
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Contents

Foreword vii

Preface ix

List of Symbols and Abbreviations xiii

Sectionwise Dependence Tree xv

1 Introduction 1
1.1 The Basic Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Fundamental Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.3 Function Spaces and Quotient Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
1.4 Relative Homotopy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
1.5 Some Typical Constructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
1.6 Cofibrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
1.7 Fibrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
1.8 Categories and Functors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
1.9 Miscellaneous Exercises to Chapter 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

2 Cell Complexes and Simplicial Complexes 63

2.1 Basics of Convex Polytopes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
2.2 Cell Complexes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
2.3 Product of Cell Complexes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
2.4 Homotopical Aspects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
2.5 Cellular Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
2.6 Abstract Simplicial Complexes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
2.7 Geometric Realization of Simplicial Complexes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
2.8 Barycentric Subdivision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
2.9 Simplicial Approximation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
2.10 Links and Stars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
2.11 Miscellaneous Exercises to Chapter 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

3 Covering Spaces and Fundamental Group 127

3.1 Basic Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
3.2 Lifting Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
3.3 Relation with the Fundamental Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
3.4 Classification of Covering Projections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
3.5 Group Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
3.6 Pushouts and Free Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
3.7 Seifert–van Kampen Theorem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
3.8 Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
3.9 Miscellaneous Exercises to Chapter 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

iii
iv

4 Homology Groups 169

4.1 Basic Homological Algebra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
4.2 Singular Homology Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
4.3 Construction of Some Other Homology Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
4.4 Some Applications of Homology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
4.5 Relation between π1 and H1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
4.6 All Postponed Proofs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
4.7 Miscellaneous Exercises to Chapter 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

5 Topology of Manifolds 213

5.1 Set Topological Aspects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
5.2 Triangulation of Manifolds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
5.3 Classification of Surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
5.4 Basics of Vector Bundles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
5.5 Miscellaneous Exercises to Chapter 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

6 Universal Coefficient Theorem for Homology 253

6.1 Method of Acyclic Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
6.2 Homology with Coefficients: The Tor Functor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
6.3 Künneth Formula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
6.4 Miscellaneous Exercises to Chapter 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271

7 Cohomology 273
7.1 Cochain Complexes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
7.2 Universal Coefficient Theorem for Cohomology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
7.3 Products in Cohomology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
7.4 Some Computations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
7.5 Cohomology Operations; Steenrod Squares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

8 Homology of Manifolds 303

8.1 Orientability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
8.2 Duality Theorems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
8.3 Some Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
8.4 de Rham Cohomology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324
8.5 Miscellaneous Exercises to Chapter 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327

9 Cohomology of Sheaves 329

9.1 Sheaves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
9.2 Injective Sheaves and Resolutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340
9.3 Cohomology of Sheaves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346
9.4 Čech Cohomology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
9.5 Miscellaneous Exercises to Chapter 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356

10 Homotopy Theory 357

10.1 H-spaces and H ′ -spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
10.2 Higher Homotopy Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362
10.3 Change of Base Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370
10.4 The Hurewicz Isomorphism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
10.5 Obstruction Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384
10.6 Homotopy Extension and Classification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387
10.7 Eilenberg–Mac Lane Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391
10.8 Moore–Postnikov Decomposition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396
 v

10.9 Computation with Lie Groups and Their Quotients . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403

10.10 Homology with Local Coefficients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411
10.11 Miscellaneous Exercises to Chapter 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414

11 Homology of Fibre Spaces 415

11.1 Generalities about Fibrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415
11.2 Thom Isomorphism Theorem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422
11.3 Fibrations over Suspensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430
11.4 Cohomology of Classical Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436
11.5 Miscellaneous Exercises to Chapter 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444

12 Characteristic Classes 445

12.1 Orientation and Euler Class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445
12.2 Construction of Steifel–Whitney Classes and Chern Classes . . . . . . . . . 452
12.3 Fundamental Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454
12.4 Splitting Principle and Uniqueness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457
12.5 Complex Bundles and Pontrjagin Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 458
12.6 Miscellaneous Exercises to Chapter 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461

13 Spectral Sequences 463

13.1 Warm-up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463
13.2 Exact Couples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465
13.3 Algebra of Spectral Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470
13.4 Leray–Serre Spectral Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475
13.5 Some Immediate Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480
13.6 Transgression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484
13.7 Cohomology Spectral Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486
13.8 Serre Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491
13.9 Homotopy Groups of Spheres . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497

Hints and Solutions 501

Bibliography 525

Index 531
Foreword

While the subject of algebraic topology began long before H. Poincaré’s Analysis Situs,
the discipline started to take shape only in the 1930s during which the foundation of mod-
ern algebraic topology was laid. Fundamental concepts such as manifolds, fiber spaces,
higher homotopy groups, and various homology and cohomology theories were firmly es-
tablished. Meanwhile, obstruction theory, cohomology operations, and spectral sequences
were among some of the powerful tools developed as the subject rapidly grew. By the 1960s
(see [Dieudonné, 1989]), algebraic topology was already a well-established discipline and
together with differential topology dominated much of mathematics at the time.
Applications to analysis and other fields were some of the motivating factors in the
early development of algebraic topology. For instance, the Lusternik–Schnirelmann (LS-)
category cat(X) of a topological space X was first introduced in the early 1930s as a means
to obtain information about the critical points of a functional. This subject was later taken
up and advanced by R. Palais and S. Smale (1963–64). The homotopy approach to the LS-
category by T. Ganea (1971) revived the subject. The so-called Ganea conjecture claiming
that cat(X × S n ) = cat(X) + 1 for any sphere S n with n > 0 attracted much attention until
a counter-example was given by N. Iwase in 1998. The study of the classical LS-category and
its many variants and their applications to analysis continues to be an active area of current
research. The classical Borsuk-Ulam theorem (first conjectured by S. Ulam and later proved
by K. Borsuk in 1933) is another example which has generated many new and interesting
problems with diverse applications in other fields such as combinatorics and economics (see
[Matousek, 2003]), among many others.
One of the deepest and most important theorems in homotopy theory is J. F. Adams’
work ([Adams, 1960]) on the Hopf invariant one problem, which asserts that the sphere S n
is an H-space exactly when n is 0, 1, 3, or 7. In 1966, an alternate proof by Adams and M.
Atiyah was given using Adams operations and topological K-theory. The study of stable
homotopy theory (see [Adams, 1974]) recently saw a major breakthrough when M. Hopkins,
M. Hill, and D. Ravenel resolved the so-called Kervaire-invariant one problem except in
dimension 126. The existence of smooth framed manifolds of Kervaire-invariant one has
been a long-standing problem in differential and algebraic topology. Through the work of
W. Browder (1969), the original problem is equivalent to a problem in stable homotopy
groups of spheres and it is known that such framed manifolds can only exist in dimension
n = 2j+1 − 2. The recent achievement of Hopkins et al. states that such manifolds exist
only in dimensions 2, 6, 14, 30, 62, and possibly 126.
Nowadays, every student in his or her first year of a Ph.D. program in mathematics must
take basic graduate courses in algebra, analysis, and geometry/topology. Algebraic topology
constitutes a significant portion of such basic knowledge a practicing mathematician should
know in geometry/topology. As suggested by the title, Professor Shastri’s book covers the
most basic and essential elements in algebraic topology. Similar to his other well-written
textbook [Shastri, 2011] on differential topology, Professor Shastri’s book gives a detailed
introduction to the vast subject of algebraic topology together with an abundance of care-
fully chosen exercises at the end of each chapter. The content of Professor Shastri’s book
furnishes the necessary background to access many major achievements such as the results

vii
viii

cited above, to explore current research work as well as the possible applications to other
branches of mathematics of modern algebraic topology.

Peter Wong
Lewiston, Maine
Preface

This book is intended for a two-semester first course in algebraic topology, though I would
recommend not to try to cover the whole thing in two semesters. A glance through the
contents page will tell the reader that the selection of topics is quite standard whereas the
sequencing of them may not be so. The material in the first five chapters is very basic and
quite enough for a semester course. A teacher can afford to be a little choosy in selecting
exactly which sections she may want to teach. There is more freedom in the choice of
material to be taught from latter chapters. It goes without saying that the material in later
chapters demands much higher mathematical maturity than the first five chapters. Also,
this is where some knowledge of differential manifolds helps to understand the material
better.
The book can be adopted as a text for M.Sc./B.Tech./M.Tech./Ph.D. students. We
assume that the readers of this book have gone through a semester course each in real
analysis and point-set-topology and some basic algebra. It is desirable that they also have
had a course in differential topology or are concurrently studying such a course, but that is
necessary only for a few sections. There are exercises at the end of many sections or within
a section, which involve a single theme of that particular section. There are Miscellaneous
Exercises at the end of most of the chapters, which may normally involve themes studied
thus far. Most of these exercises are part of the main material and working through them
is an essential part of learning. However, it is not necessary that a student get the right
answers before proceeding further. Also, it is not a good idea to get stuck with a problem
for too long—keep going further and come back to it later. There is a hint/solution manual
at the end of the book for some selected exercises, especially for those which are being used
in a later section, so as to make this book self-readable by any interested student. However,
peeping into the solutions at the beginning is like reading the last section of a thriller first.
You will notice that the number of exercises goes down as the chapters proceed for the
simple reason that more and more ‘routine verifications’ of claims in the main text are left
to the reader as exercises.
In the first chapter, we begin with a general discussion of what algebraic topology is and
what to expect from this book, and then go on to introduce one of the very basic algebraic
topological invariants, viz., the fundamental group. We then give a quick introduction to
some set topological results such as function spaces and quotient spaces, which are crucial
to understanding homotopy theory. The concept of relative homotopy, basics of cofibrations
and fibrations, and an introduction to the language of category theory, etc., make up the
rest of this chapter. No doubt the material here is used throughout the rest of the book and
a teacher/reader may choose only a part of it and go ahead with other chapters preferring
to come back later, to whatever is wanted.
In Chapter 2, we begin with an introduction to basics of convex polytopes laying down a
foundation for the study of simplicial complexes/polyhedral topology. We take the view that
simplicial complexes are a very special type of CW-complexes, with additional combinatorial
structure but with the same point-set-topological and homotopy theoretic behaviour. If
nothing else, this point of view saves us some time. Simplicial approximation theorem is

ix
x

one of the milestone results here. We give a number of applications of this. A simple proof
of Brouwer’s invariance of domain via Sperner’s lemma is one such.
Chapter 3 deals with the notion of covering spaces, along with the study of discontinuous
group actions and the relationship with fundamental group. We then give yet another pow-
erful tool of computation of the fundamental groups, viz., Seifert–Van Kampen theorems.
Grothendieck’s idea of G-coverings is introduced especially for this purpose.
In Chapter 4, we start the study of homology theory. With singular homology taking
centre stage, we also introduce CW-homology, simplicial homology, etc. Standard applica-
tions to results such as Brouwer’s and Lefschetz’s fixed point theorems, hairy ball theorem,
Jordan-Brouwer separation theorem, Brouwer’s invariance of domain, etc., are included.
We also give the result which relates fundamental group with the first homology group,
paving the way for a more general result known as Hurewicz’s isomorphism theorem to be
discussed in Chapter 10. The emphasis here is to get familiar with the tools so as to start
using them rather than the theory and the proofs. So, most of the long and pedagogically
less important proofs have been clubbed together in one section.
In Chapter 5, we introduce topological manifolds, the central objects of study in topol-
ogy. This chapter also contains a topological classification of compact surfaces by first show-
ing that they are all triangulable. We also include some preparatory materials on vector
bundles and fibrations.
Chapter 6 contains more algebraic tools which help us to develop homology with coef-
ficients and study homology of product spaces, etc. (Method of acyclic models should not
be postponed any more.) Künneth formula is an important result here.
In Chapter 7, we develop cohomology algebra, carry out some computations and ap-
plications, and discuss cohomology operations. Steenrod squares are constructed and their
fundamental properties are verified but the proof of the uniqueness is omitted. Similarly,
though we discuss Adem’s relations to some extent and verify them on finite product of
infinite real projective spaces, further discussion is postponed to Chapter 10.
In Chapter 8, we return to the study of manifolds. Poincaré duality theorem is the
central result here. We include a number of variants of it such as Alexander duality and
Lefschetz’s duality. Bootstrap lemma which plays the central role in the proof here is taken
from [Bredon, 1977]. Various applications of duality are included. The notion of degree and
the index of a 4n-dimensional smooth manifold, etc., are discussed. This chapter ends with
another important result, viz., de Rham’s Theorem which relates the singular cohomology
with that of cohomology of differential forms on a smooth manifold. The proof here does
not use sheaf cohomology.
Chapter 9 contains more topics on cohomology. We introduce the important concept of
sheaves and basics of sheaf cohomology, and Čech cohomology of sheaves. As an application
we present the standard proof of de Rham’s theorem.
Chapter 10 is the heart of the book. With a somewhat digressive note on H-spaces
and co H-spaces in Section 10.1, we quickly reintroduce higher homotopy groups (which
have been introduced in the Miscellaneous Exercises to Chapter 1) and verify their basic
properties, in Section 10.2. In Section 10.3, we thoroughly discuss the effect of change
of base points on homotopy groups. In Section 10.4, we present Hurewicz’s isomorphism
theorem, Whitehead’s theorem, etc. In Section 10.5, we are able to address one of the
central problems that we had posed in Section 1.1, through obstruction theory. In Section
10.6, we give a number of applications to extension and classification problems such as
Eilenberg classification and Hopf–Whitney theorem. As a natural fall-out, the homotopy
theoretic building blocks, viz., the Eilenberg–Mac Lane spaces are introduced in Chapter
10.7. As an application, we continue our discussion on Steenrod squares and show how to
prove Adem’s relations modulo a technical result of Serre on the structure of cohomology
algebra of K(Zm ; Z2 )-spaces. In Section 10.8, we present a method of breaking up spaces
 Acknowledgments xi

into these building blocks, viz., Moore-Postnikov decomposition. We then carry out some
elementary computations with the homotopy groups of classical groups in Section 10.9. The
chapter ends with the section on homology with local coefficients.
In Chapter 11, we return again to the study of homology. Here the theme is to relate
the homology of the total space of a fibration with that of the base and the fibre under
special conditions. We first consider the case when the fibre is a sphere. After establishing
the celebrated Thom isomorphism theorem, and as a consequence the Gysin exact homology
sequences, we present a generalization of this, viz., Leray Hirsch theorem. We then consider
fibrations in which the base is a sphere. Since the technique involved uses only the fact
that spheres are suspensions, we treat the broader class of fibrations over suspensions.
Wang homology exact sequence and Freudenthal’s homotopy suspension theorem are two
important results here. We give an application to computation of the integral homology of
the Eilenberg-Mac Lane space of type (Z, 3). We then compute the cohomology algebra of
some of the classical groups. As a necessity, we include Borel’s structure theorem for Hopf
algebras.
Chapter 12 is a quick introduction to characteristic classes of vector bundles. In Section
12.1, we discuss orientation and Euler class. The relation between Euler class and the Euler
characteristic is the main result here. In section 12.2, we give constructions of Steifel–
Whitney classes and Chern classes, treating both of them simultaneously. Section 12.3
contains discussion of standard properties of these characteristic classes and applications to
non-existence of division algebras and un-oriented cobordism theory. Section 12.4 contains
the splitting principle and the proof of uniqueness of characteristic classes. In section 12.5,
we study complex vector bundles and Pontrjagin classes and give some applications to
oriented cobordism theory. All in all, our treatment of this subject here is merely a glimpse
of the theory of characteristic classes and is far from being complete.
The last chapter introduces spectral sequences. After some brief discussion of gener-
alities, we concentrate on one particular spectral sequence, viz., the Leray–Serre spectral
sequence of a fibration. We first give the construction of homology spectral sequence, give
some immediate applications. For instance, we show how to derive both Gysin sequence
and Wang sequence from spectral sequence. We then discuss transgression in homology.
In Section 13.7, we discuss cohomology spectral sequences with product structure without
proof. (Theorem 13.7.4 is one of the few results in the book that we have used without
proving it.) This is immediately applied in obtaining the structure of cohomology algebra
of the loop space ΩX under two different types of assumptions on the cohomology algebra
of X. In Section 13.8, we introduce “Serre class of abelian groups” and generalize several
homotopy theoretic results of Chapter 10. For example, an immediate consequence here is
that all homotopy groups of all the spheres are finitely generated. The book concludes with
a presentation of Serre’s celebrated results on higher homotopy groups.
According to Ahlfors, no teacher should follow any single book in toto. There is a certain
amount of comprehensiveness in the early chapters, which is time consuming but deliberate.
For instance, a lot of material in the later chapters can be understood without the knowledge
of Van Kampen theorem. So, I have included a ‘section-wise dependence tree’ which may
help a teacher to make his/her pick-and-choose course plan and then tell the students to
read the book for the rest of the stuff.

Acknowledgments
I have benefited mainly from [Spanier, 1966] and [Whitehead, 1978]. In addition, the
books [Bredon, 1977], [Fulton, 1995], [Hatcher, 2002], [Husemoller, 1994], [McCleary, 2001],
[Milnor–Stasheff, 1974], [Mosher–Tangora, 1968], [Ramanan, 2004], [Seifert–Threlfall, 1990],
xii

etc., were also used whenever I needed extra help or have found an irresistibly beautiful pre-
sentation. The bibliography contains the list of all of these from which I may have borrowed
something or the other.
This book grew out of regular courses that I have taught to M.Sc. and Ph.D. students
since 1989 at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. Initially, I was mostly following the
classic book [Spanier, 1966] from which I have myself learned algebraic topology. Invariably,
most of the students were finding the course difficult and so I started writing my own notes
in Chi-writer. When Allen Hatcher’s book on the subject arrived, it was a big relief and
writing my own notes came to an end. With some younger faculty at the department willing
to teach algebraic topology, I was not teaching the course so regularly any more.
The interest in writing the notes was revived when we started the Advanced Training in
Mathematics (ATM) schools under the aegis of the National Board for Higher Mathematics,
DAE, Govt. of India. However, the old Chi-writer notes were lost since the old floppies which
had those files had become unreadable. So, the present version has grown out of these notes
for the Annual Foundation Schools and Advanced Instructional Schools of ATM schools.
The revision efforts were supported twice by the Curriculum Development Programme of
Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.
In the first year of my graduation at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, I received
a lot of help and encouragement from Anand Doraswami with whom I was sharing my office,
while working through exercises in [Spanier, 1966]. M. S. Raghunathan, R. R. Simha and
Gopal Prasad have educated me through ‘coffee table discussions.’ Interaction with several
students in the department as well as at ATM schools have helped me in understanding
and presenting the material in a better way. Many friends such as Parameswaran Sankaran,
Basudev Datta, Goutam Mukherjee, Mahuya Datta, Keerti Vardhan, and students B. Sub-
hash and K. Ramesh have gone through various parts of these notes and pointed out errors,
and have suggested improvements in presentation. Discussions with colleague Gopal Srini-
vasan were always informative. My heartfelt thanks to all these people. The errors which
still persist are all due to my own limitations. Readers are welcome to report them to me
so that I can keep updating the corrections on my website

http://www.math.iitb.ac.in/∼ars/
Thanks to Prof. Peter Wong for providing a friendly foreword. Finally, my thanks to
CRC Press for publishing these notes and for doing an excellent job of converting it into a
book.

Anant R. Shastri
Department of Mathematics
Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay
Powai, Mumbai
List of Symbols and Abbreviations

N set of natural numbers Z ring of integers

Q field of rational numbers R field of real numbers
C field of complex numbers H skew field of quaternions
Zm ring of integers modulo m I unit interval [0, 1] ⊂ R
Dn unit disc in Rn Sn−1 unit sphere in Rn
Pn real projective space of dim. n CPn complex projective space of dim. n
R∞ countable infinite sum of R S∞ unit sphere in R∞
P∞ infinite real projective space CP∞ infinite complex projective space
CX cone over X SX suspension of X
Cf mapping cone of f Mf mapping cylinder of f
LHS left hand side RHS right hand side
WLOG without loss of generality NDR neighbourhood deformation retract
DR deformation retract SDR strong deformation retract
HED homotopy extension data HEP homotopy extension property
HLD homotopy lifting data HLP homotopy lifting property
UCT universal coefficient theorem UPL unique path lifting property
PID principal ideal domain ♠ end of the proof

xiii
Sectionwise Dependence Tree

1.1 − 1.5 1.6 − 1.7 1.8

2.1 2.2 − 2.5 2.6 − 2.10

3.1 − 3.7 3.8

4.1 − 4.5 4.6

5.1 5.2 − 5.3 5.4 − 5.5

6.1 − 6.4

7.1 − 7.4 7.5

8.1 − 8.3 8.4

9.1 − 9.3 9.4

10.1 − 10.3 10.4 10.5 − 10.8 10.9 10.10

11.1 − 11.8

12.1 − 12.5

13.1 − 13.8 13.9

xv
Chapter 1
Introduction

We shall assume that the readers of this book have had a course in general point-set topology
and are familiar with some basic notions such as connectedness, path connectedness, local
path-connectedness, compactness, Hausdorffness, etc. Some of the slightly more advanced
topics such as function spaces, quotient spaces, etc., will be recalled as a ready reference.
Throughout this exposition, we shall use the word ‘space’ to mean a topological space.
Similarly, we shall use the word ‘map’ to mean a continuous function between topological
spaces. This however, does not forbid us from using terminologies such as ‘linear map’ or
‘simplicial map’, etc., wherein we may not really be bothered about the function being
continuous, the emphasis being on something else.
In Section 1.1, we begin with an attempt to describe what algebraic topology is and
what to expect from this book, and discuss an experiment with the Möbius band.
In Section 1.2, as a typical motivating example of tools of algebraic topology, we intro-
duce the concept of fundamental group of a topological space, establish some basic prop-
erties and compute it in the case of the circle. Applications to (2-dimensional) Brouwer’s
fixed point theorem, Borsuk-Ulam theorem, etc., are included, which illustrate the power
of categorical constructions in general, and the fundamental group in particular.
In Section 1.3, we shall quickly introduce the compact open topology and quotient spaces.
These are fundamental point-set-topological background needed to understand homotopies
and constructions in algebraic topology. Section 1.4 will plunge the reader into technical-
ities of relative homotopy. In Section 1.5, we give certain basic constructions which keep
cropping up repeatedly in algebraic topology. In Sections 6 and 7, we introduce the reader
to cofibrations and fibrations, respectively. In Section 1.7, the language of category theory
is introduced.
This chapter, like many others, will end with a large number of doable and challenging
exercises. It is not necessary that the reader solve all of them before proceeding with the
book but she is expected to give a good try. The joy that one gets after cracking a problem
on one’s own is perhaps the best motivation for many of us for doing mathematics.

1.1 The Basic Problem

A central problem in topology is to determine whether two given topological spaces
are homeomorphic or not. For instance, we all know that any two open intervals in R are
homeomorphic to each other, since we can actually write down a homeomorphism in each
case. On the other hand, we also know that a closed interval and an open interval are not
homeomorphic to each other because the former is compact whereas the latter is not.
In general, displaying such homeomorphisms between topological spaces becomes very
difficult. On the other hand, it is fruitful and easier to find out that there is no homeomor-
phism between two given specific spaces X and Y. The standard method is to look for a
suitable ‘topological invariant’ such as compactness, connectedness, etc., which is present
in one of the two spaces and absent in the other.
Let us consider an example. Let us show that R and R2 are not homeomorphic. If

1
2 Introduction

f : R → R2 were a homeomorphism then the restriction map f : R \ {0} → R2 \ {f (0)}

is also a homeomorphism. Now the domain of f is not connected whereas the range is.
Since this is absurd, we conclude that R and R2 are not homeomorphic. However, note that
the connectivity could not be directly applied to the map f : R → R2 to arrive at this
conclusion. Again, this method may not work very far. For example, it is not effective if the
problem is to prove that Rn and Rm are not homeomorphic to each other for m > n > 1. Of
course, there are purely point-set-topological proofs of this result as well but they are not
so easy. So, one looks for other topological invariants, which are perhaps not so demanding.
Taking up a different thread, let us take an example from complex analysis of 1-variable.
Look at Figure 1.1 in which oriented closed smooth curves C1 , C1′ , C2 , C2′ are drawn around
the origin (with varying thicknesses),

C2

C2
C1 C1
0 0

FIGURE 1.1. Why do the integrals take the same value on Cj and Cj′ ?

The reader may recall that by Cauchy’s integral formula,

Z Z
dz dz
= = (2πı)j, j = 1, 2.
Cj z Cj z
′

Certainly, we can observe that the curves C1 , C1′ are homeomorphic (indeed diffeomorphic)
to each other, though this really does not help us here. Even this information is not available
for C2 and C2′ , as the two curves are not homeomorphic as subsets of C \ {0}. What makes
the integrals have the same value? It is the property that one curve can be ‘deformed’ into
the other while remaining all the time inside C \ {0}. The other technical terms that are
used in this contexts in complex analysis are ‘homologous’ and ‘homotopic’. Also, the reader
may recall that several variants of the notion of simple connectedness were used in complex
analysis. One may call this the starting point of algebraic topology, wherein ‘quantitative’
invariants such as the integral, which is a number, were introduced. Complex analysis of
1-variable may be considered as the birthplace of algebraic topology (and also of many other
branches of modern mathematics).
When we start the study of a discipline, it is good to have at least some idea of what the
fundamental problems in that discipline are. In most of the cases, these problems remain
unsolved. In some cases, some day one may find that the fundamental problem cannot be
solved. However, that does not mean that we have come to the end of the road—there will
always be some related problems or modified problems demanding our attention.
And this is the case with topology in general and algebraic topology in particular. The
central objects of study in topology are ‘manifolds’. Roughly speaking, an n-dimensional
manifold is a topological space in which each point has a neighbourhood system consisting
of open sets which are homeomorphic to open sets in a n-dimensional Euclidean space.
 The Basic Problem 3

(For a formal definition of a manifold, see 5.1.1.) The central problem then is to determine
whether any two given manifolds are homeomorphic or not. It is known that this problem
is not solvable. Even this negative result is quite valuable and let us take a few seconds to
see how this result was established.
To each space X one ‘associates’ a group called the fundamental group π1 (X). This
association has the property that for any map f : X → Y, there is the homomorphism of
groups f# : π1 (X) → π1 (Y ). The association is ‘natural’ in the sense that if g : Y → Z
is another map, then (g ◦ f )# = g# ◦ f# and for the identity map Id : X → X, we
have Id# : π1 (X) → π1 (X) is the identity homomorphism. (See Section 1.2 for more
details.) In particular, it now follows that if f : X → Y is a homeomorphism then f#
is an isomorphism. Thus, in order that two given spaces X and Y are homeomorphic,
first of all, their fundamental groups must be isomorphic. The next step is to construct a
manifold such that π1 (M ) is isomorphic to a given group G. Indeed, given a group G with
finitely many generators and relations, (i.e., a finitely presented group) it can be shown that
there is a compact 4-dimensional manifold M with π1 (M ) = G. (See Exercise 5.5.11.) The
net result is that now the homeomorphism problem for compact 4-dimensional manifolds
implies the isomorphism problem for finitely presented groups. This latter problem goes
under the name ‘word problem’ and nowadays is a very specialized branch of group theory
and mathematical logic. The non solubility of the word problem was established in 1955 by
P.S. Novikov [Novikov, 1955].
This, however does not close the subject altogether—topology is still a very lively subject
extending a helping hand in solving problems from several areas of mathematics. The process
of associating the fundamental group to a space X as considered above is called constructing
a functor (see Section 1.8 for more). Algebraic topology may be described at the outset as
the study of such functors.
Coming back to the fundamental problem, there are many interesting related problems.
For instance before finding a homeomorphism f : X → Y, we may want to find some map
which may be defined on a part of X or may be defined all over X but does not have all the
properties that we demand. This, in turn, raises many other questions. Instead of listing all
these questions, we shall begin with two of the important ones:
(i) the lifting problem and
(ii) the extension problem.
The underlying themes in these two problems occur repeatedly throughout this book. So,
it may be worthwhile to get some familiarity with these concepts.
Consider a triangle of maps as represented in Figure 1.2.

f
X Y

h g

FIGURE 1.2. Triangle of maps

Such a diagram is called a commutative diagram, if h = g ◦ f. Given any two of the three
maps, we can consider the problem of finding one or all maps which fit the third arrow in
the diagram. Naturally, this problem can be broken up into three cases, out of which one
case is too easy, viz., if f, g are given then h can be taken to be g ◦ f and nothing else. So,
we consider the other two cases which we reformulate as follows:
Q. I Given maps, p : E → B and f : X → B, does there exist g : X → E such that,
p ◦ g = f ? The map g is called a lift of f through p and this problem goes under the name
Other documents randomly have
different content
 CHAPTER XVIII.

TRACKING TROUBLE.

Merriwell dashed into the chaparral like a whirlwind and beat

about in the bushes trying to discover where the person was who
needed help. His hunt was vain. Several times he called aloud, from
various parts of the chaparral, but without getting any response.

“This beats the deuce!” he muttered, at last, withdrawing from the

bushes and throwing a puzzled look about him into the dark. “What
the mischief is going on? It can’t be that I imagined I heard a cry for
help. If I didn’t, why can’t I find somebody or something to account
for it?”

He was greatly disturbed by his failure to locate the source of that

alarm. Finally he gave up, and started to regain the road that led
down the slope and in among the mine buildings. Scarcely had he
turned, however, when that cry in the night once more smote upon
his ears.

He whirled to an about face in a flash. “Where are you?” he called.

The cry was repeated, apparently coming from a mass of shadow,

to his left, and farther down the slope. He plunged on into the
gloom.

“I’ll find out what’s back of this if it takes a leg,” he declared to

himself.

The next moment he stumbled over some obstacle, and fell

forward. He threw out his hands instinctively to ease his fall, but
they came in contact with nothing more substantial than thin air.
 He dropped through space—not far, yet far enough to give him
quite a jolt when he landed on the hard rocks. After a moment he
scrambled to a sitting posture and rubbed his bruised shins.

On every side of him the gloom was thick. He could look up,
however, and see an oblong patch of sky, studded with stars.

“Thunder!” he exclaimed ruefully. “There’s an open cut on the

slope, and I’ve stumbled into it. That’s what a fellow gets for
tracking trouble over ground he doesn’t know anything about. But
that cry for help! It certainly gets my goat.”

He had lost his cap in his fall, and he groped around in the dark
until he found it. Then, getting to his feet, he made his way to the
steep bank and began climbing.

An “open cut” is a gouge in the earth made for purposes of

exploration. Usually an “open cut” is dug or blasted out in order to
make sure of surface indications of a vein, and sometimes it is made
in the hunt for a vein that has been lost.

Yet it made little difference how or what that particular open cut
was there. The fact of most importance to Merry was that he had
fallen into it.

His bruises were of small consequences; and many a time he had

landed from a pole vault with a harder jolt. When a youngster keeps
in the pink of physical condition, a hard fall now and then is nothing
to worry him.

Presently Frank managed to paw and scramble his way to the top
of the steep bank; and there he perched, trying to figure out what in
blazes it was that had lured him into the pitfall. He could make
nothing of it, and at last turned his attention to the buildings below
him.
 That was not his first visit to the Ophir mine, by any means. He
was fairly familiar with the location of the different buildings, and he
knew that the cyanide plant lay at a considerable distance to the left
of the mill. It surprised him, though, to discover that his wanderings
across the slope had brought him to a point directly opposite the
cyanide tanks.

Cyanide of potassium, it may be explained, is one of the two

commercially valuable solvents of gold. This cyanide eats up the gold
and holds it in solution. For that reason, the drug is used in treating
refuse from a stamp mill. In such refuse—technically known as
“tailings”—there is always present a small amount of yellow metal
which the quicksilver on the copper plates of the mill fails to “catch.”
If it were not for the cyanide, this gold would prove a total loss.

The tailings are thrown into tanks, arranged in rows like a series
of giant steps. From a large reservoir, high above the rows of vats,
the cyanide solution flows by gravity into all the tanks below—
entering at the bottom and percolating through the tailings upward
to the top, where it flows off and into the row of tanks next below.
The solution takes up the gold as it flows, finally depositing its
burden of wealth on zinc shavings in what is called the “zinc box.”
From the zinc box the solution drops down another step into a sump
tank, and from there, at stated intervals, it is pumped back into the
reservoir.

Merriwell was familiar with the cyanide plant at the Ophir mine. He
had been showed around by the super, and the work had been
explained to him. Consequently he was able to recognize the plant
from the open cut the moment his eyes rested on the black bulk of
the tanks.

For the present the tanks were out of commission. A cyanide

“clean-up” is a long and tedious operation, and the work pauses for
a longer or shorter period while the work is going on.
 “I’ll slip down among the tanks and look for Lenning,” Frank
murmured. “After I talk with him a while, I’ll return to the hotel and
go to bed. If the bullion is locked up in a safe, I guess he won’t have
any trouble taking care of it. Funny I didn’t think of that before. The
strong box here must be a regular teaser for a cracksman.”

Carefully he gained his feet and descended the rough slope to the
tanks. At his left, as he stood by the end of the upper tier of vats,
was the laboratory building, where the cyanide expert kept his store
of the deadly poison that stole the gold from the tailings, and where
he had his assay equipment, his furnaces, crucibles, et cetera. The
building was dark, and Frank, sure that Lenning was not inside of it,
but on duty around the tanks, paid the structure no attention.

Comparatively close to the mill, where the rumble of the stamps

drowned every other noise, to call for Lenning was useless. Frank
would have to plunge in among the tanks and look for him.
Scrambling over the tailings piles that cluttered the ground, he
began his search.

Lenning was not in the vicinity of the first row, and Frank dropped
to the next tier. He wasn’t there, either. In spite of the gloomy
shadows cast by the big vats, the lad was able to see with tolerable
clearness. The third and last row remained to be investigated, but
here the same ill luck rewarded Frank’s search. Lenning was not in
evidence around the tanks.

Possibly, Frank thought, the new watchman might be in the mill.

Or, if he was not there, some of the night shift might know where he
could be found. Just as Frank was turning to start for the mill, he
saw a flash of light through one of the windows of the laboratory. He
halted and stared, a trifle bewildered.

Not five minutes before he had looked at the laboratory, and the
windows had all been dark. How did it happen that now there was a
light in one of them?
 “Not much of a mystery about that,” he finally decided. “Some one
has gone into the place and lighted a lamp. It may be Lenning; or, if
not Lenning, then some one who has been helping with the clean-
up. I’ll——”

The muttered words died on Frank’s lips. Under his eyes, as he

continued to watch the window, the light winked out and again left
the laboratory in darkness.

“I guess that’s easily explained, too,” he presently decided. “The

fellow that lighted the lamp put it out again. It was Lenning, of
course. As I went hunting for him among the tanks, he had to go to
the laboratory for something. That’s how I happened to miss him.
He has got what he wanted, and so he has put out the light and will
soon be coming back. I’ll wait here for him.”

Frank kept his eyes fixed on the dark side of the laboratory
building, where he knew the door was located. Every moment he
expected Lenning to appear, walking toward him out of the shadow
of the laboratory wall. But the seconds grew into minutes, and still
Lenning did not come. The waiting lad was forced to the conclusion
that there was something strange about all this.

“If there’s anything wrong,” he thought, “I ought to find the

superintendent, and report. But how do I know there is anything
wrong? Maybe all I see is a part of the night’s work, and if I went to
the super he’d only have the laugh on me. I’d better investigate a
little before I spread any news of trouble.”

The roaring mill, with its glittering lights, suggested quick help in
the case of emergency. Frank had a vague notion that it would be
well to go there and make some inquiries before investigating the
laboratory. But, if he went to the mill, the fellow who had struck a
light in the laboratory would have time to come out and get away
unseen. If it was Lenning, then he would miss him, and would have
to begin his search all over.
 Another thought came to him, as he moved slowly upon the
laboratory, and Frank was surprised that it had not occurred to him
before. A night watchman, moving about among those dark tanks,
would certainly carry a lantern. Frank had been stumbling blindly
around the tanks, hunting for Lenning, when, if he had considered
the matter thoroughly, he need only have looked for a bobbing light.

“I must be getting ‘dippy’ over this Lenning business,” he

reflected. “I’m making mysteries where there are only commonplace,
every-night events. Probably I’ll find Lenning sitting in a chair in
front of the laboratory, guarding the bullion as comfortably as
possible.”

He moved on to the side of the laboratory with considerable

confidence. At one of the dark windows he halted and peered into
the interior of the structure. A quick breath escaped his lips.

What he saw, in the black gloom of the laboratory, was a long,

quivering shaft of light. It crossed the big room, coming from a mass
of shadow and trembling over some object whose nature Frank was
not able to determine. But a thrill of apprehension ran through him.

Surely that penciled gleam was from a bull’s-eye lantern! An

honest watchman never made use of such a light—or, at least, no
watchman whose duty kept him around a lot of big cyanide tanks!

With this for a starting point, Frank’s thoughts took a dizzy and
horrifying leap into a tangle of conjectures. Perhaps Lenning was
working at the safe! It might be that he had asked for that job at the
mine with the sole idea of getting a chance at the bullion! And it was
Frank who had recommended the fellow to Mr. Bradlaugh!

A sick feeling ran through the lad as he stood leaning against the
wall and looking into the laboratory. Then, against these forbidding
fancies, he marshaled all that Lenning had said to him that
afternoon—how he was going to do the square thing, and that Merry
would never have cause to regret befriending him.
 It did not seem possible that——

Frank’s reflections were suddenly interrupted. Above the

mutterings of the stamps, his keen ear caught a crunch of sand
behind him. Alarmed, he started to whirl around; but, before he
could turn, he was caught by the shoulders and thrown violently
sideways. As he fell, his head crashed against the stone sill of the
window, and he remembered nothing more. Blank darkness rolled
over him, suddenly and completely.
 CHAPTER XIX.

MISSING BULLION.

Had Merriwell not been as tough as sole leather, that ugly fall
might have had serious consequences. As it was, he was merely
stunned, and in a minute or two he was sitting up on the ground,
rubbing the side of his head and trying to guess what had
happened.

Although he could not remember it, yet at the moment he was

seized and thrown sideways, a startled cry had escaped his lips. Ears
accustomed to hearing sounds through the clamor of the mill had
caught that cry, and Merriwell was conscious of a dark form
hastening in his direction.

“What’s the matter here?” demanded a voice, as the form halted

at Merriwell’s side. “That you, Lenning?”

“No, Burke, it’s not Lenning,” Merry answered, recognizing the

man as the recently appointed superintendent at the mine, “it’s
Merriwell.”

“Merriwell! What the blazes are you doing here, at this time o’
night?”

“Looking for Lenning.”

“Well, he ought to be around the tanks somewhere.”

“I couldn’t find him,” said Frank, and jumped to his feet. He was
dizzy for a moment and leaned back against the wall of the building.
“He wasn’t anywhere around the tanks,” he went on, “and I started
for the laboratory. When I got this far I stopped and looked through
the window. Somebody grabbed me from behind, all at once, and
jammed my head against the window sill. When I came to I was
sitting up on the ground, and you were hustling toward me. I
haven’t the least idea how long my wits were woolgathering, but it
couldn’t have been long.”

“It wasn’t,” answered Burke, his voice showing his concern. “You
yelled, and I was prowling around and happened to hear. I wasn’t
more than a minute in getting here.”

“What the mischief is going on, Burke?”

“Search me. Everything has been as quiet and peaceable around

these diggings as a Sunday-school picnic, right up to now. You say
you couldn’t find Lenning?”

“No.”

“You don’t suppose he was the one who came up behind you and
——”

“Lenning? Great Scott, no! Why should he want to slam me into

the laboratory wall?”

“He didn’t use to be a very warm friend of yours.”

“I know, but things are different, now. You see, I’m helping him to
square away and——”

“Yes, yes, I’m next to all that. He wouldn’t have been taken on
here, if it hadn’t been for you. I haven’t much use for the fellow,
though, even if you have. That’s why I was strolling around the
tanks when I ought to have been ‘hitting the hay.’ Thought it was
just as well to keep an eye on Lenning for the first few nights. Say,
Merriwell,” and the super smothered a laugh as he spoke, “is that
why you’re out here to-night?”
 “You’re too darned keen, Burke,” laughed Merriwell. “I heard you
finished a cyanide clean-up, this afternoon, and were to have some
bullion in the laboratory safe for overnight.”

“That’s correct. Four ten-pound bars were locked in the safe about
eight o’clock.”

“Well,” Frank proceeded earnestly, “don’t think for a minute that

I’m not trusting Lenning. I just happened around to have a talk with
him during his first night on duty.”

“He wasn’t on duty. If he had been, you’d have found him. How
does that look—for a new hand?”

“There’s some reason for it, I’ll bet.”

“Yes,” said the super dryly, “there must be a reason; but, whatever
it is, it’s no credit to Lenning. Come on and we’ll see if we can find
him.”

Burke walked hurriedly along the side of the laboratory to the

door, Frank following close at his heels. The bruise on the side of
Frank’s forehead was not serious enough to bother him, and his
head was as clear as a bell. The consequences of the fall had spent
themselves on the first shock, and only the bruise remained to
remind him of his disagreeable experience.

As his wits grew active, they picked up his interrupted chain of

reflections where they had been broken off. He recalled the gleam of
the bull’s-eye, and his suspicions of Lenning. Although he wanted to
believe the fellow innocent of any treacherous work, yet his
mysterious absence was the strongest bit of circumstantial evidence
against him.

“The door’s unlocked,” announced Burke, halting at the entrance

and drawing a long breath of relief, “and that means that Lenning is
probably inside. Queer, though, that he hasn’t got a light.”
 He pushed open the door and was about to step into the dark
interior of the laboratory. Frank suddenly reached out a restraining
hand and gripped his arm.

“Don’t be in a rush, Burke,” he warned. “When I was looking

through the window I saw the gleam of a bull’s-eye lantern.”

“Thunder!” cried Burke, alarmed.

Shaking Frank’s hand from his sleeve, he flung himself into the
darkness of the big room. Frank, tremendously excited, posted
himself in the open door and watched and waited.

The ray from the lantern had vanished. That was a disturbing fact
in itself. Listening with all his ears, Merry tried to follow the
movements of the super by the noise he made in moving around.
This was difficult, owing to the loud roaring of the stamps.

At last, Burke struck a match. The glimmer moved a few paces

through the dark and then touched the wick of a lamp. In a moment
there was light, and the large, brick-floored room slowly took form
under Frank’s staring eyes.

The furnaces stood duskily out of the half gloom, quartering-down

tables, glass-inclosed assayer’s scales, a pyramid of crucibles, a heap
of charcoal, a huge safe in a distant corner—Frank saw all these
dimly. The lamp stood on a table in the center of the room, with
Burke’s tall form reared upward beside it.

“There doesn’t seem to be any one here but us,” said the super,
“although there are plenty of places where a man could hide. Close
the door, lock it on the inside, and keep the key in your pocket. We’ll
make a search to see what we can find, if anything.”

The key was in the lock. Frank followed the super’s orders, and
then went around helping him in his search.
 Burke, lamp in hand, peered here and there in every place where
a prowler would have a chance to conceal himself. In a few minutes
it became evident that the lad and the super were the only ones in
the laboratory.

Burke moved to the corner where the safe stood, and a shout of
consternation burst from him. “Look there!” he gasped, as Frank
rushed to his side.

With a shaking finger the super was pointing to the safe. The big
door had been wrenched open, and broken scraps of steel and iron
lay in a clutter in front of it.

“By Jove!” whispered Merry hoarsely. “There’s been a robbery.”

“I should say so,” ground out Burke. “There’ll be merry blazes to

pay, now. See this!”

He bent over the wrecked door of the safe and pointed out a rim
of some soft substance that had been plastered around the edge.

“What’s that?” queried Frank.

“Only a little evidence of how the safe was wrecked. Soft soap and
nitroglycerin did the work. The soap was ridged around the edge of
the door, and then the explosive was poured in and touched off. I’ve
heard how such things are done. Hold the lamp a minute.”

Frank took the light, and the super went down on his knees and
pushed head and shoulders into the safe. An instant later he drew
back.

“Those four bars of bullion are gone,” he reported. “I was positive

of that, of course, before I looked, but now there isn’t a shadow of a
doubt. Yeggmen have cracked the safe and made off with the bars.
Here’s a go!” he growled, starting to his feet and giving Frank a
troubled look. “When you saw the gleam of that bull’s-eye through
the window, the cracksman had just about finished the job. One of
them must have been outside, posted as a lookout. He was the
scoundrel who crept up behind you. While you were stunned, the
thieves got away with the gold. Give me the key to the door,
Merriwell, and stay here a minute.”

Burke snatched the key as Frank offered it to him, dashed for the
door, unlocked it, and flung it wide, then plunged away into the
night. The lad, left alone with his reflections, put the lamp back on
the table and dropped down on a bench. What his thoughts were
need not be discussed, but they were sufficiently unpleasant.

The superintendent had been gone only a short time when Frank,
through the open door of the laboratory, saw half a dozen lanterns
emerge from the stamp mill, separate and go scurrying off into the
night in as many different directions. A little later, Burke returned.

“I’ve started men out to beat up the camp,” he reported, “and I’ve
telephoned to Mr. Bradlaugh. He will get hold of Hawkins, the deputy
sheriff, and get him on the trail as soon as possible. It’s a long
chance, Merriwell, whether we ever get back that missing bullion.
Lenning is pretty foxy.”

“Lenning?” echoed Frank.

“Sure. You know he is at the bottom of this robbery, don’t you? All
he wanted the job for was to be in a position to get hold of that
bullion.”

“He’s not a cracksman, Burke!” protested Frank. “The work here

was done by a man who knew the business. Don’t make any snap
judgments on the spur of the moment. Lenning was brought up by
Colonel Hawtrey, and I don’t think he ever had a chance to take
lessons in cracking safes. Give him the benefit of the doubt.”

“Let’s look this business square in the eyes,” answered Burke

determinedly. “Lenning was at the bottom of it, but he certainly had
help. That was part of the scheme. Some fellow who knew how
acted as his confederate. While Lenning was around the place, after
the bullion was locked up, it was easy for him to let his confederate
into the laboratory. Probably Lenning himself was the lookout, while
the confederate was tinkering with the safe. The noise of the
explosion was drowned in the roar from the stamp mill. After all,
Merriwell, it must have been Lenning who grabbed you and shoved
you against the wall. You can consider that you got off pretty luckily,
I think.”

“How much was that bullion worth?” queried Frank, with a sinking
heart.

“It was base bullion—all this cyanide product, as we turn it out, is

a good way from being the pure stuff. There were about six hundred
ounces at, say, ten dollars an ounce. Placer gold runs double that,
you know.”

“Six thousand dollars!” muttered Frank. “If Lenning took the gold,
and if we don’t get it back, I’m in for that amount. Ouch! I wonder
what dad will say when he hears of this brilliant piece of work?”
 CHAPTER XX.

THE FINGER OF SUSPICION.

Merriwell was very much out of sorts with himself. It did not seem
possible that Lenning could play such a game and make it win. And
yet, he was missing and the bullion was missing. Lenning’s past
record rose up against him, and clinched the circumstantial
evidence. Nevertheless, a lingering doubt stirred itself far down in
Merriwell’s mind.

“Chirk up, son!” said Burke, in a kindly tone. “I don’t believe Mr.
Bradlaugh will come down very hard on you. You’ve made the
biggest kind of a hit with the general manager, and you can bet
something handsome he’ll let you off as easy as he can.”

“Business is business,” Merry answered glumly. “I put myself on

record and became responsible for Lenning. It was on my say-so
alone that Lenning got the job here. I’m not asking any favors from
Mr. Bradlaugh, but I’ll be dinged if I call on dad to fork over the six
thousand. I’ll go out and find a mine, or something, and pay it all
myself.”

“That’s the spirit. Anyhow, don’t go looking for the mine until we
make sure the bullion can’t be recovered. The thieves haven’t got
very much the start of us, and Hawkins is a regular terror when he
cuts loose on the track of a lawbreaker. Pin your faith to Hawkins,
boy, and hope for the best.”

“Maybe,” said Frank, after a little hard thinking, “Lenning isn’t

mixed up in the robbery, after all.”
 “Don’t fool yourself about that. You’re not helping matters any by
starting on the wrong track. Lenning is gone. That’s the strongest
point against him. How can you get around that?”

“He may have met with foul play——”

Burke laughed scoffingly.

“Nonsense! Everything points to the fact that he engineered all the

foul play himself.”

“Wait a minute, Burke,” urged Merriwell. “When I was coming to

the mine, I heard something like a call for help. It was a smothered
sort of cry, just as though some one was having a hard time using
his voice.”

Burke began to show some interest.

“Where did you hear the cry?” he asked.

“Just as I started down the slope toward the mine. I was in the
trail, at the time, and it wasn’t until the cry was repeated that I gave
much attention to it. You see, the stamps made so much noise that I
couldn’t be sure. After a while I thought I located the sound in a
clump of greasewood. I pounded around in the bushes but couldn’t
find any one. Just as I had given up and was starting on again, I
heard the shout once more. This time it was still farther away from
the trail, seemingly. I tried to follow it, and tumbled head over heels
into one of your open cuts. It’s the cut just above the cyanide works.
After I got out of that hole, I came down to the tanks and tried to
find Lenning. Now, what did those cries for help mean?”

“Nothing,” answered Burke. “Some coyote was yelping in the hills.

The yelp of a prowling brute like that, when it gets mixed with the
noise of the stamps, gives a queer impression sometimes.”
 “Well,” said Frank doubtfully, “maybe you are right, Burke, but I
don’t think so.”

“If you really heard a cry,” was the skeptical rejoinder, “why
couldn’t you find the person that gave it?”

“I may have missed him in the dark.”

“That’s possible, too, but not probable.”

“Another thing,” went on Merriwell, “I think Lenning was honest in

his intentions, and that he meant to do the right thing here. He
came to the hotel to see me, in the afternoon, and we walked out on
the trail a short distance and had a talk. He wanted to thank me for
helping him get a job here. He said he was going to make good, and
that I’d never be sorry for what I’d done.”

“Oh, he’s smooth,” said Burke. “If he hadn’t been, how could he
have pulled the wool over his smart old uncle’s eyes for so long? He
had an object in going to town—and his object wasn’t to thank you
for helping him. That was merely a makeshift to cover his real
purpose.”

“What do you think his real purpose was?”

“That’s a poser. Maybe, though, he wanted to get word to his

confederate—to tell him that he’d got the job, and that the work
could be pulled off to-night.”

“That’s a guess, Burke, and maybe a wild one.”

“If it comes to that, Chip, we’re guessing about everything except

one thing—and that thing’s as plain as print.”

“What is that?”
 “Why, that Lenning is at the bottom of the whole black business.
It must have been Lenning. But we’re wasting time here. I don’t
know that we can do much, but we can try. Suppose we rummage
around for clews?”

They rummaged for half an hour, but all they discovered was a
blank. Just what sort of clews Burke was looking for, Frank did not
know, but he helped the super paw around the laboratory, hoping
against hope that something might turn up. In the midst of their
fruitless search, Mr. Bradlaugh and Hawkins, the deputy sheriff,
hurried into the building.

“Here’s a fine kettle of fish, Burke!” cried the exasperated general

manager. “Mighty queer we can’t hang onto our gold, after we get
hold of it. Has Lenning turned up?”

“No,” said the super, “he has vanished, and the gold has vanished.
I reckon one explains the other.”

“I reckon it does. Why,” and Mr. Bradlaugh’s glance took stock of

Merry for the first time, “how did you get the news, Merriwell? And
how did you beat Hawkins and me to the mine.”

“I was mixed up in the robbery,” Frank answered.

Hawkins, a good friend of Frank’s, laughed at that.

“How was it, son?” he inquired.

Frank went over his experiences for the benefit of Mr. Bradlaugh
and the deputy sheriff.

“Thought, mebby, you’d made a mistake in recommendin’

Lenning, hey?” grinned Hawkins. “That why you came out to the
mine?”
 “No,” Frank answered, “I’ve got a lot of confidence in Lenning. I
didn’t think he’d do such a thing, and I’m not positive he did it now.”

“Don’t dodge the facts, my boy,” interposed Mr. Bradlaugh. “I think

it’s pretty plain, myself. Lenning’s record is all against him.”

“It must have been Lenning, Chip,” asserted Hawkins.

Just as before, when Merry had stood up for Lenning and asked
Mr. Bradlaugh to give him a place, every one was against the boy.
His friendlessness was even more evident than it had ever been.

“If Lenning made off with the bullion,” said Frank, “then I’m out
six thousand dollars—in case Hawkins fails to get it back.”

“We’ll talk about that later,” said Mr. Bradlaugh significantly.

“A bargain’s a bargain,” said Frank firmly. “You’ll have to give me

time, though, Mr. Bradlaugh. I’ve got to do something to get hold of
that six thousand myself. That’s what it’s liable to cost me for taking
a chance on Lenning.”

“Hold your bronks a spell, son,” put in Hawkins. “Don’t forget that
I’m on the job, or that I’d work harder for you than I would for any
one. I’ve said a number o’ times that you’re the clear quill; and when
I toot my bazoo to that effect about any one, it’s a sure sign they’re
pretty solid with me. I want to tell you that I’ve laid hold of this
proposition with both hands, because Mr. Bradlaugh told me Lenning
was your protégé. I don’t reckon you had much savvy when you
tried to help the coyote, but you acted accordin’ to your lights. When
a feller does that-a-way, he’s entitled to credit. Just on your account,
son, I exerted myself more’n common. I managed to get hold of half
a dozen men and hosses, and they’re shacking off to lay for Lenning
and his burglar pal, between here and the border. That’s where
they’ll make for, I reckon—mostly they all do. Mexico’s safer than the
U. S., arter a job same as this. Don’t be down in the mouth till
Hawkins throws up his hands and says there’s nothin’ doin’. It ’u’d
tickle me plumb out o’ my boots to get back that bullion for you.”

There was no doubt of the deputy sheriff’s feelings in the matter,

and Frank felt grateful.

“You’re a good friend, Mr. Hawkins,” said he. “If I can help any, I
wish you’d tell me how.”

“You can help by goin’ to the Ophir House and turnin’ in,” laughed
the deputy. “Not much can be done at night. With daybreak, though,
you can climb a-straddle of Borak and report to me for orders.”

“I don’t want to go back to the hotel,” demurred Frank. “I want to

stay right around here, and be Johnny-on-the-spot if anything turns
up.”

Hawkins and Mr. Bradlaugh went over to the safe and gave it a
critical examination.

“Good job of safe blowin’,” declared the deputy. “Some old hand
did the business. Couldn’t have been Lenning.”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell Burke,” said Frank, grasping at
this straw of hope and trying to swing it in Lenning’s favor.

“But,” went on Hawkins, “it’s not a one-man job. There was two of
’em—mebby more. Lenning was one—he must have been.”

There was the same old positiveness in convicting Lenning. Merry

had heard that “it must have been Lenning” several times. Yet,
blindly, the youngster still clung to the scrap of faith he still had in
Lenning.

“What have you done, Burke?” Hawkins inquired, turning from his
examination of the safe to face the super.
 “I’ve sent half a dozen men from the mill to curry the chaparral
around the camp,” Burke answered. “I don’t think they’ll discover
anything, but it was about all I could do.”

Hawkins nodded his approval.

“Any of ’em reported yet?” he asked.

“No, not yet. They’ve been out for some time, though, and I
reckon it won’t be long before some of ’em come straggling in.”

The words were hardly out of Burke’s mouth before a couple of

the mill men came running into the room with their lanterns. They
were jubilant, and the very appearance of them caused those in the
laboratory to feel a thrill of hope.

“Found something?” demanded Hawkins.

“Bet we have,” answered one.

“Lenning?”

“Well, no; but we got hold of a couple of fellers, and they’re

comin’ this way. Wait till they come. I reckon we’d better let ’em talk
for themselves.”

Then two more came into the room—and the sight of them made
Merriwell dizzy.
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