Once more the fugitives shrank back into the foul passage. As the two men passed the entrance Jack heard Sowinski say:
"I cannot understand it. Are you sure they searched the cavern? There are not two caverns?"
"No, barin. There is only one. Scuratoff guided them; there is no mistake."
They turned into the left-hand passage. Jack instantly resolved to follow them. Without his boots he would be inaudible, and they carried no light. Accustomed as he now was to the darkness of the mine, he could move about it more rapidly than the Pole and his companion. He whispered his intention to his father.
"Better not."
"I don't think there's any danger. We three should be able to deal with the men, big as the Russian is. I'll give you one of my pistols. Hi Lo can fetch an iron rail from the workings for the Count to use."
"Very well, but be careful, my boy."
Jack slipped away in the wake of the two conspirators. In a few moments he heard the Russian apparently hailing someone in a low voice. Approaching within a few yards of them he heard the man still hailing. There was no reply. Then there was the chink of a boot against a chain.
"What's that?" cried Sowinski in his harsh voice. "Light your candle."
The posselentsy lit his candle. The two saw the chain wound about the wedges, and hanging over the brink. Jack wished he had removed it.