After it was withdrawn conversation became more easy, and I had a few words with Mr Frewen and Mr Preddle, all of which were cheering, though as far as escape was concerned it did no good. But I learned how that they had been literally thrown down there, as they supposed, for they had come-to very much as we had, to find themselves lying helpless on the floor.
We had reached this point when Barney’s voice came, and it sounded anxious.
“Better come now, Mr Dale, sir,” he whispered. “We can get along here again.”
“Yes, I’ll come soon,” I whispered back, for to a certain extent I forgot my troubles in the satisfaction of having been able to reach my friends.
“Better come now, sir. They’re getting scared behind yonder, and seems to me there’s on’y just wind enough left for us to breathe going back. If you stop any longer there won’t be none, for I shall swaller it all.”
I explained what he said to me, and it was Mr Frewen who now spoke through the tiny hole.
“Yes, go back directly,” he said. “Come again in a few hours’ time, the air will be better again then, and we will cut this hole big enough for you to come through.”
I could have wished it to have been made bigger then, so that I could get to my friends, but I knew it would be like forsaking the men I had left, so after promising to return soon—thinking nothing now of the difficulty of the journey—I said good-bye, and began to crawl back, remembering directly plenty of things I should have liked to ask.
But now I had to think of my perilous journey back, and I shuddered as I thought how nearly I had been wedged fast beside the crate. Somehow, though, now that I knew the extent of my risk, it did not seem half so bad, I reached the crate, changed from the horizontal to the perpendicular opening, kept close to the top with my head and shoulders, and let my legs go down till I could rest them on the crossbar of the crate, made my way to the end round the corner, and reached the place where Barney was anxiously waiting, and then paused for a few moments to rest, ready to wonder at the ease with which I had returned. I said something of the kind to Barney, and he laughed.
“Oh yes, sir,” he said. “It’s like going aloft when you’re young. I remember the first time I went up to the main-topgallant mast-head, I said to myself, ‘On’y let me once get down safe, and you’ll never ketch me up here again;’ while now one goes up and does what one has to do without thinking about it, and— Hear that?”