“Hurrah!” cried Oliver. “There is open daylight at last! If it was not for the fact that the sun has set it would be lighter still. Come, let us go on.”
But they could not do so. On the opposite side of the chamber, if such it might be called, could be seen nothing but the solid rocks.
“Blocked!” cried Gus in dismay, and Oliver echoed the cry. “What shall we do now? Go back?”
“No, no! I think—” Oliver sprang aside and pointed to a corner. “Oh, Gus, what is that?”
The stout youth looked towards the spot indicated, and turned pale. And small wonder; for there, lying on its back, was the skeleton of a human being.
Both of the boys approached it slowly. It was the first time they had seen so ghastly an object, and it filled them with awe.
“Some poor miner that wandered in here and could not get out,” said Gus. “See, nothing but his bones remain to tell the tale!”
“And if he wandered in here and could not find any way out, what are we to do?” asked Oliver in almost a whisper, so horrible was the thought.
“Don’t—don’t say that!” cried Gus; “my nerves are already unstrung. We must do what we can, and do it quickly too; for it will soon be night and then morning, and if we don’t find anything to eat—” And he finished with a groan.