So they yelled and shouted, in unison and separately. Hours passed. They were becoming desperate and were ready to make another try at climbing the steep, shifting, sandy side of the pit when Bob suddenly called:
“Hark!”
They all listened.
“What did you hear?” asked Jerry.
“A voice, I thought! There it is again!”
There was no question about it. A voice faintly called:
“Hello! Hello, boys! Where are you?”
Joyously they answered. The calling voices came nearer and five minutes later a brilliant shaft of light shot down into the pit. It was an electric torch in the hands of Tinny, who soon made his identity known, and then the plight of the boys was told.
“We’ll soon have you out!” cried Bill Cromley. “I’ve got a rope. Some of the men said you might be in a hole.”
Other electric searchlights now flashed on top of the pit, and in their gleam the boys could see several figures moving about. A rope soon came uncoiling down to them, and when they had made sure by pulling on it that it was securely fastened, they hauled themselves up, one by one, finding it easy to walk on the sloping, gravel side of the pit when they had hold of the rope to give them purchase.