“‘Dig down,’ I says.
“‘No, no,’ says he. ‘If we do we shall smother them.’
“‘That boy, then, you sot to look out—send him down.’
“‘Go and bring him,’ says the ganger; ‘and—oh, we have no rope. Bring the reins; they’re strong and new.’
“Five minutes after, the boy was up with us, and he said he’d go down if we’d put the reins round him like a rope, and so we did, and after we’d torn some furze away he got into the hole feet first, and wriggled himself down till only his head was out.
“‘Goes down all sidewise,’ he says, ‘and then turns round.’
“‘Will you go, my lad? The dog’s down there, and we’ll hold on to the reins, and have you out in a minute, if you shout.’
“‘And ’spose the sand falls?’
“‘Why, we’ve got the reins to trace you by, and we’ll dig you out in a jiffy,’ I says.
“‘All right!’ he says, and he shuffled himself down and went out of sight, and he kept on saying, ‘all right! all right!’ and then all at once, quickly, ‘I’ve slipped,’ he says, as if frightened. ‘There’s no bottom. I’m over a big hole.’