“Sure I’m here! It wasn’t much of a tumble, but my lantern went out. Didn’t break, though, I guess.”
“Are you hurt?” asked Uncle Tod.
“Nope!” cheerfully answered Chot. “There’s a lot of old leaves and stuff down here and I fell on that. If you lower the rope I can get up all right.”
“It’s good we brought the rope,” said Rick, as his uncle uncoiled it.
“Yes, I figured on something like this,” said the miner.
It was not difficult to pull Chot up, for the hole into which he had fallen was not deep. The lad was bruised and shaken up, but not otherwise harmed.
“We have got to be more careful,” declared Uncle Tod.
But, with all their care the same accident happened again, a little farther on, only it was Rick who fell in. And he fell harder and deeper than Chot, with the result that he received a badly bruised left arm which gave him great pain.
“Want to go back?” asked Uncle Tod.
“No, sir!” exclaimed Rick, gritting his teeth to keep back a groan of anguish.