TUNNELING
“We’ll have to conserve our candles,” was Phil’s first remark after he
and his two assistants, Dan Fentress and Donald Winslow, reached the
foot of the stairway. “I haven’t any candlestick yet, but we can make
one with some stiff clay as soon as we get to digging.”
“What kind of masonwork do we have to cut through?” asked Dan, stepping
over to the south wall and proceeding to find an answer to the question
for himself.
“It’s brick and cement,” Phil replied, anticipating the questioner’s
move to answer himself. “Ordinarily it would be difficult to break even
with a crowbar and a sledge hammer; but observe that large frost-crack
running down from one corner of the window. Several of the bricks there
are almost loose. We can start a hole in the wall by picking out those
bricks. Then the work of enlarging the opening ought to be comparatively
easy with the aid of this pick.”
As he spoke Phil took up the tool referred to, which he had stood up
against the wall, together with the spade, shovel and hoe discovered by
him on his first inspection of the cellar. It was by no means a delicate
looking pick, and all three of the Marines who examined it agreed that
it ought to withstand an extremely heavy leverage in the work before
them.
“I figure that the man who lived here worked in that quarry, and that is
the explanation of these tools,” Phil continued after his companions had
examined the articles in question and satisfied themselves as to their
serviceability.
“They are not exactly stonequarry tools, or at least they constitute a
decidedly incomplete kit,” Dan remarked critically. “This isn’t much
more than an ordinary garden outfit.”
“Well, anyway, they’re here for us to use,” Winslow put in; “so let’s
get busy, for this candle is nearly half gone already, and we’re liable
to run out of light if we don’t hustle. Here goes for a starter.”
He seized the pick and was about to transform his manifestation of
energy into action, when Phil stayed him with this caution:
“Be careful, Winslow; no hard blows. Remember, there are guards within a
few rods of this house, and any noises, even though they are muffled by
cellar walls and masses of earth, are pretty certain to be
investigated.”
“Very wisely said,” returned the young Marine with the pick. “I’m
altogether too impulsive for a general. That’s the reason I’m a private
and always will be. What shall I do, sergeant, begin a toothpick
operation on the wall?”
“Yes, something o’ the sort,” Phil replied, smiling. “Jab the pick into
that crack there and see if you can’t pry some of those bricks loose.”
Winslow did as directed, and was astonished on discovering with what
ease half a dozen of the bricks came out.
“Fine!” exclaimed Phil gleefully. “Now, try some of that solid wall.”
Winslow did as directed. He was a powerful fellow—Phil had selected him
as an aid for this reason. The pick stood the test and the wall fell
away in bits. In less than an hour—estimated—a section of the wall three
feet wide and nearly six feet high had been broken away, and the first
candle was still burning.
“Everything’s going great,” said the young engineer of the enterprise.
“The candles are going to last longer than I thought.”
“Shan’t we light two of them?” Dan suggested. “We can work faster,
maybe.”
“No, not yet,” Sergeant Speed replied quickly. “We’ll have two or three
of them going after we get the tunnel started a few feet.”
“Stick ’em on our hats?” inquired Winslow.
“No, we haven’t any way that I know of to fasten them to our hats. We’ll
cut niches in the wall and set the candles in there. By the way, I’m
going upstairs and get a couple more fellows down here to help.”
“We’ll have to have some fresh air before long,” said Dan. “First thing
we know we’ll be asphyxiated—carbon-dioxidized, as it were. That fresh
air upstairs won’t come down here unless forced down with a fan, or we
manage to effect some kind of open-air vent through these walls.”
“I’ve been thinking of that,” said Phil; “and I have a scheme that I
think will work first rate. After we get ahead with the tunnel a few
feet, we’ll cut a hole straight up to the surface next to the
foundation. We’ll keep the lights away from that hole, and stop our
talking, too.”
Phil now left his two companions hard at work and ascended the stairway
to report progress to his waiting companions and select two or three
more assistants to help speed up the work in the cellar.