“You know; to try and find them.”
“Yes, and I’m getting better now. I couldn’t help feeling scared. We’re alone here, but we won’t give up. We’ve got to find them somehow, and we will. I sha’n’t turn back, for mother’s sake. How could I go and tell her I came down to try and find them, and was afraid to go on in the dark!”
“Do you mean it?” said Joe, whose face was of a ghastly white.
“Yes; and you won’t turn like you did on the ladder?”
“No.”
“There was something to be afraid of then, but there isn’t now.”
“No,” said Joe, with a gasp.
“We’ve got a light and can avoid any pit-holes; the water has all been pumped out, and there are only the pools we passed here and there. Nothing can hurt us here, for the roof won’t fall; it’s too strong, cut all through the rock as it is.”
“Yes, but if we go on and lose ourselves as they have done—”
“Well, we must find our way again; and if we can’t we must wait till somebody comes.”