"No, there's no use going back. But to my mind I don't think there's any use going ahead, either. This tunnel probably ends in a blank wall."
"We might as well find out. We won't do ourselves any good by just sitting here and waiting to die." Frank got to his feet and picked up his flashlight. "Better turn out your light," he advised. "We need only one light at a time and we might as well be saving the batteries."
Joe got up and did as his brother had suggested.
Frank went on down the passage, followed by Joe. The boys felt in their hearts that there was very little hope that the passage would lead anywhere, but it seemed to be the only possible avenue of escape. They recognized that it was only a "drift" that the miners had dug and blasted away from the main workings in an effort to discover a vein of gold, and the fact that it had not been further developed seemed to indicate that the search had been unsuccessful and that the drift had been abandoned.
"I wish we had told dad exactly where we were going to go to-day," said Frank as they went slowly on down the tunnel.
"So do I. There'd be a chance for us then. They'd send some one out to look for us, and then they could start to work clearing away that shaft."
"Well, we can be thankful we weren't in the shaft when it collapsed."
"Yes, it could have been worse. If I had been caught in the cave-in you would be lying under that boulder yet."
"We still have a chance as long as we have that crowbar and can keep moving." Frank paused. "By the way, do you feel a draft?"
"Seems to me I do feel cold air!"