Billie hastened to lend a hand and in a short time the head of the ape appeared above the edge of the shaft. In his hand he held one end of a good-sized rope, which the mountebank took and tied around one of the stone pillars which supported the roof.
"Now, then," he said, "we are ready to descend into the old mine. Which one of you will go first?"
The boys looked at each other, but there was no reply until Donald asked:
"Why should we go down at all?"
"Why," was the somewhat quizzical reply, "to show your nerve."
"Unless there is some good reason other than that, there are plenty of ways to show our nerve without lowering ourselves to the bottom of an old mine."
"There is a good reason," was the reply.
"Then tell us. If it is good, there can be no objection."
"The object of this descent," said the stranger calmly, "is to see if we cannot solve the mystery of the abandonment of the mine."
"Have you ever been down?" asked Billie.