It was now so dark that the lights were actually needed in the pit, still they did not turn them on, fearful that the boy who had shown himself for an instant and then disappeared might return with the half-breeds.
“The first thing to do,” Jack suggested, “is to bring Harry over to the mouth of this dry channel. You see,” he went on, “we’ve got to investigate the place before we attempt to carry him in, and he’ll feel better if we place him where he can hear our voices and see our lights. I guess we can carry him so as not to cause him suffering or injure his bruises.”
“I’ll just bet he can walk over,” Frank declared. “Anyway, I know he won’t like the idea of being carried around like a baby.”
On being consulted upon the point, Harry declared that he could walk just as well as not, and walk he did, although his steps were rather shaky at first. The entrance to the tunnel was quite large, tapering away as it mined the hill. Into this large outer chamber, for such it virtually was, Harry was seated with one of the searchlights for company, and Frank and Jack proceeded on their tour of investigation.
For the first few feet they were able to walk with their backs only slightly bent but then they advanced slowly on their hands and knees. When at last they reached a steep declivity extending, apparently, far into the heart of the mountain, they turned back and brought the wounded boy up to that place.
“Now keep your light covered,” Jack advised, “and if anyone comes down to the pit led by that thief of a boy messenger, they will naturally think we had made a get-away.”
“We’re going down this long incline,” Frank went on, “and when we get to the bottom, if everything is clear, we’re coming back after you.”
For a time the voices and lights of the boys supplied companionship for the wounded lad, then they were heard and seen no more.
Harry waited for a long time for some sign of the return of his friends, but they did not come and he feared the worst.