"We sure stumbled into something, Chief," agreed Crane.
As they dropped sickeningly in the cage, the engineer saw that the controls of the automatic elevator were of craftsmanship like none he had ever seen.
Crane said: "I don't understand it, either. They didn't tell me much, but kept me with them till Gates had landed below. I saw enough to scare the devil out of me, though."
"Why do you suppose they didn't knock us off like they did Andy Pauchek?" wondered Bonwitt.
"They want us to join up with them. At least Peterson does. Gates would cut our throats in a minute."
"M-mm. He's tough. Let's see; he came on the job a month before Peterson, didn't he?"
"Right, Chief. And they were thick as thieves from the start."
"Don't we ever reach the bottom?" asked Bonwitt impatiently.
"It's a long way down but we're nearly there." Crane puckered his sandy brows. "Nobody can make cables that long," he opined.