“Don’t worry about us,” Jo Ann said, more confidently than she felt. “There’s nothing here to harm us.”
“Nothing at all,” agreed Florence in a voice that quivered unconvincingly.
Just then Peggy’s hand clutched Jo Ann’s convulsively. “Poor Peg’s scared stiff at the idea of his leaving us,” thought Jo Ann as she grasped the cold hand in a comforting pressure. Her mind, however, flew back to Manuel. Surely he couldn’t have been killed. He must’ve fainted. But he was so strong-looking. What could have happened in that short time? If only José would hurry faster and let down that cable. “Oh, surely Manuel can’t be dead!” she kept repeating to herself.
CHAPTER XVII
IN THE DARKNESS
After what seemed to Jo Ann an interminable time the cable appeared, and Mr. Eldridge was pulled up the shaft.
“I feel better now that he’s up safely,” Jo Ann said, breathing more freely.
“I don’t know which I dread worse—going up in that awful bag or staying down here in this terrible dark,” Peggy groaned.
Noticing that Peggy’s flashlight was not on, Florence asked, “Why don’t you switch on your flashlight? That’ll help some.”
“It won’t turn on. When I bumped against that dynamite box, I got so scared I dropped it. It must’ve got broken then.”
So worried over Manuel was Jo Ann that she paid little heed to Peggy’s continued laments. If only this awful suspense about him was over! Surely he must be only unconscious. If he were, when they got out they could help give him first aid. She’d had first-aid training in her scout work. “I wish I could go up first and see if I could do anything for him,” she told herself.