“Yes, sir.”
“Swinging on a rope?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Then you’ve a good nerve, my lad. It wants a cool head to do that.”
Will winced and glanced at Josh, who wrinkled up his forehead in a curious way.
“A tremendous nerve,” continued Mr Temple. “You wouldn’t care to go down, Dick?”
“No, father; but I’d go if you told me, and the rope was safe.”
“That’s right,” said Mr Temple, smiling; “but, as I said before, it would require tremendous nerve—like that of our friend here.”
Will looked from one to the other uneasily, and turned his cap first to right, and then to left. Suddenly he drew a long breath.
“I felt when I got out of the shaft, sir, as if I never dared try to do it again,” he said hastily.