“That’s what some of our chaps have been doing.”
“What! going down to the water?”
“No; exploring to find gold. Look here; they’ve been doing exactly what I said. Here’s a rein tied round this stone with the end going right down, and—”
Crash!
“Ah! Val!”
There was the sound of a couple of strokes, one falling upon the lamp, which seemed to leap down into the shaft at our feet, the other stroke falling on Denham’s head; and as I sprang to his assistance I was conscious of receiving a tremendous thrust which sent me headlong downward, as if I were making a dive from the stone I tried to cross. The next minute my head came in contact with stones, strange scintillations of light flashed before my eyes, there was a roar as of thunder in my ears, and then all was blank.