“Lord!” exclaimed Stubbs, “Why couldn’t he put this in plain English. There is no sense in that.”
“The path leads down,” repeated Wilson. “That can mean but one thing; it leads over the edge here.”
“To what? You get into that hole an’–––”
“Let’s have a closer look.”
The opposite side was smooth and sloped in so that it was lost beneath the side upon which they stood. 248 A man dropping over would strike this slanting surface.
“If we had brought a bit of rope now.”
“We’ll have to take the next best thing,” said Wilson. “Peel off your coat.”
“You don’t mean to go over the side, m’ son?”
“It’s only twice the length of a man’s body,” repeated Wilson. “If that is so, I ought to strike something below––a ledge––that we can’t see now.”
“Better wait until we can get a rope. If it ain’t so, you may drop a mile.”