It seemed that all they could do was to sit and think of there being any
likelihood of their being found, and Will asked at last whether anyone
knew where Josh was about to take the new rope.
"Nobody," he said gruffly. "I knowed you didn't want it known, so I
held my tongue."
"But who lent you the rope, Josh?"
"Nobody."
"Nobody?"
"Nobody. Folk won't lend noo ropes to a fellow without knowing what
they're going to do with 'em. I bought it."
"You bought it, Josh--with your own money?"
"Ain't got anybody else's money, have I?" growled Josh. "Here, I know.
What stoopids we are!"
"You know what?" cried Will.
"Why, how to get out o' this here squabble."
"Can you--find a way along this gallery, Josh?" said Will eagerly.
"Not likely; but we can get down to the water and go along the adit."
"Adit!" said Will; "is there one?"
"Sure to be, else the water would be up here ever so high. They didn't
bring all the earth and stones and water up past here, I know, when they
could get rid of 'em by cutting an adit to the shore."
Will caught the fisherman's arm in his hands. "I--I never saw it," he
cried.
"Well, what o' that? Pr'aps it's half hid among the stones. I dunno:
but there allus is one where they make a shaft along on the cliff."
"But what will you do?"
"Do, lad? Why, go down and see--or I s'pose I must feel; it'll be so
dark."
As Josh spoke he rose and got hold of the rope once more.
"No, no!" panted Will. "It is too dangerous, Josh, I can't let you go."
"I say, don't be stoopid, lad. We can't stop here; you know. Nobody
won't bring us cake and loaves o' bread and pilchard and tea, will
they?"
"But, Josh!"
"Look here, lad, it's easy enough going down, ain't it?"
"Yes, yes," cried Will; "but suppose there is no adit; suppose there is
no way out to the shore: how will you get back?"
"There I am again," growled Josh in an ill-used tone. "I never thought
of that. I've got a good big head, but it never seems to hold enough to
make me think like other men."
"You could not climb up to the mouth, so how could you climb up again
here?"
Josh remained silent for a few minutes, and then he gave a stamp with
his foot.
"Why," he cried, "you're never so much more clever than me. Why didn't
you think o' this here?"
"What? What are you going to do, Josh?"
"Do, lad!" he cried, suiting the action to the word by running the rope
through his hands sailor-fashion till he got hold of the end; "why, I'm
going to make a knot every half fathom as nigh as I can guess it, and
then it'll be easy enough to climb up or down."
Will breathed more freely, and stood listening to his companion's work,
for it was a task for only one.
"There you are," cried Josh at the end of a few minutes' knotting.
"Now, then, who'll go down first--you or me?"
"I will," said Will. "I'm better now."
"Glad to hear it, lad; but you ain't going first into that gashly hole
while I'm here. Stand aside."
Catching hold of the rope again he gradually tightened it to feel
whether it was all right and had not left its place over the iron bar;
and then, swinging himself off, he descended quickly about fifty feet
till Will could hear his feet splash into the water, and then he
shouted:
"Hooray, lad!"
"Is there an adit, Josh?"
"Dunno yet, but there's a big stick o' wood floating here as someone's
pitched down, and our old rope's lying across it. I shall make it fast
to the end here before I go any farther."
A good deal of splashing ensued, and then as Will listened it seemed to
him that his companion must have lowered himself partly into the adit,
for the rope swung to and fro. Then his heart leaped, for Josh sang out
cheerily:
"All right, lad! here's the adit just at the bottom here, and the water
dribbling out over it, I think. Come on down."
"Come on down!" echoed Will.
"To be sure, lad. Here I'm in the hole all right. Lay hold o' the
rope. It's all slack now."
He set it swinging as he spoke, and at the end of a few moments Will
caught it, drew in a long breath, and let himself hang over the black
gulf, which seemed far less awful now that there was a friendly voice
below.
"Steady it is, lad, steady. There, they knots make her easy, don't
they?" Josh kept on saying as his young companion lowered himself
rapidly down into the darkness, till he could see the water with the
light from above reflected upon it; and the next moment he was seized
and drawn aside, his feet resting on solid stone. "Stoop your head,
lad, mind."
He bent down, and Josh drew him into a gallery similar to that which
they had just left, only there was a little stream of water trickling
about their feet.
"Come along, lad. I'll go first," said Josh. "Never mind the ropes:
we'll go up and haul them to the top when we get out."
Then creeping cautiously forward in the total darkness, and with Will
following, Josh went slowly, feeling his way step by step for about
fifty yards, when a faint ray of light sent joy into their breasts; and
on pushing forward they found their way stopped by what seemed to be a
heap of fallen rock and earth, at whose feet the little stream that ran
from the mine trickled gently forth.
The light came through several interstices, which seemed to be overgrown
with ferns and rough seagrass and hanging brambles; but it needed no
great effort to force some of them aside, sufficient for Josh to creep
out, and the next minute they were standing in the broad sunshine, the
reason of the mouth of the adit being closed evident before them, the
earth and stones from the cliff above having gone on falling for perhaps
a century, and plants of various kinds common to the cliff covering the
debris, till all trace of the opening but that, where a spring seemed to
be trickling forth was gone.
Will drew a long breath and gazed with delight at the sail-dotted sea.
Then, without a word he led the way up the cliff, till, after an arduous
climb, they stood once more by the open shaft.
"I--say!" cried Josh, staring; and Will looked down with horror to see
that the iron bar had so given way that the rope had gradually been
dragged to the top, passed over, and probably both Josh and Will had
made their last descent depending upon the strength of the former's old
silk neck-tie.
"What an escape, Josh!" cried Will.
"Well," said Josh smiling, "I didn't think the old bit had it in her.
Well, she is a good un, any way."
Stooping down he undid the knots, handed the rope to Will to haul, while
he smilingly replaced his kerchief about his neck with a loose sailor's
knot, tucking the ends afterwards inside his blue jersey, and then
helped with the rope, taking hold of the old one, as it came up at last
dripping wet, and soon forming it also into a coil.
The next thing was to drag out the iron bar, which came out easily
enough, making Will shake his head at it reproachfully, as if he thought
what an untrustworthy servant it was.
This and the ropes were hidden at last; and they turned to descend, when
Josh exclaimed:--
"Well, lad, I s'pose you won't try any o' them games again?"
"Not try?" said Will. "I mean to try till I succeed."