“Me, sir?” said the big fellow wonderingly. “Not spoilt yourn too, Mr Dean?”
“Yes, you have,” said the lad addressed. “You have set me thinking that the poor fellows have tumbled down somewhere and been drowned, or else are regularly trapped in some deep cellar-like passage underground, where they have lost their way.”
“Well, that means, gentlemen, that what we ought to do is to go for a big hunt in and out amongst the ruins till we find them, or something else.”
“Yes,” said Dan, “something else; and that would be like killing two birds with one stone.”
“Come on, then,” cried Mark, “only this time we will take two ropes and a lantern, and we will go at once. Look here, Dean, we will start from where we saw them disappear amongst the bushes. Shall we take our guns?”
“I would, gentlemen,” said Buck. “You see, you never know what you are coming against.”
“No; but they are a bother to carry.”
“Oh, we will carry them, sir—sling ’em.”
“There, we needn’t all go. Run and fetch what we want, you two, and we had better take a canteen or two of water and something to eat, in case we lose ourselves. But no, we had better all go together, Dean, and rig up, or we shall be sure to find we have left something behind that we ought to have taken.”
“Especially matches,” said Dean.