"Pedro may be right," spoke up Billie suddenly, "but I am in favor of making an inspection of our own, now that we are here. What do you say, Don?"
"I'm with you." Then to Strong: "How are we to get to the bottom?"
Strong reached over and from behind a nearby boulder produced another bundle of rope.
"I had intended making a rope ladder," he said.
"All right, then," from Donald, "a rope ladder it shall be."
The boys set to work and in the course of an hour had made a rope ladder more than fifty feet in length. Lowering it into the shaft, it seemed to reach to the bottom and Billie started to go down, but Strong prevented him.
"I shall go first," he said. "If there is any danger from poisonous gas, or from reptiles, I shall take the risk. You boys have parents and homes. I have no one. If I should suffer any mishap, do not attempt to rescue me. It would not be worth while."
"Nothing will happen," declared Adrian. "I have a hunch and my hunches are usually right."
The rope having been properly fastened and warded off the side by an ingenious arrangement of several large rocks, Strong began his descent. In his left hand he carried a flaming torch and Donald leaned over the edge, looking down, with rifle sighted, to fire upon any reptile which might be brought to light by the torch's ruddy glare.
Step by step Strong went down, stopping every now and then to hold his torch below him, if perchance it might come into contact with fire damp or any other noxious gas.