Chapter Twenty Nine.
The Position Darkens.
“Isn’t a flood coming to sweep us away, is it?” said Vores, in a low voice full of the awe he felt.
“Nay, that’s no flood,” said Hardock. “There’ll be no flood, lads, that I can’t master with my pumping gear. Now, look here, all of you; I want to try and find those boys, but we can’t carry the guv’nor farther in. What do you all say?”
The men gathered round him, a weird-looking company with their lanthorns, turned to Vores as their spokesman, and the latter took off his hat and wiped his streaming brow.
“And I want to find those two poor lads,” he said; “but I want to go back, for it’s turrerble work searching a place that you don’t know, and in which you seem to lose your way. It’s just madness to go on carrying the guv’nor with us; and the captain here is dead beat, so it’s nonsense to let him go on.”
“Then what must we do?” said Hardock, who looked quite exhausted.
“’Vide into two parties,” said Vores. “One, headed by Sam Hardock, ’ll take the guv’nor back to grass; t’other party, all volunteers, ’ll choose a leader and go on searching till a fresh gang comes down and brings some grub for ’em. That’s all I can say. If some ’un ’ll make a better plan I’d be glad to hear it and follow it out.”
There was a dead silence, during which every man thought of the frank lads, who had won the hearts of those who knew them, but no one spoke.