In the end I could stand it no longer, 'I'm going outside,' I said. I had to know whether they had located the old man. I got to my feet. In the same instant Dave had leapt to the entrance, the gun in his hand. 'No, you don't,' he said.
'Listen, Dave,' I said, 'I need some fresh air.'
'So do I,' he answered. 'But the Captain said I was to keep you here. And it's not going against the Captain's orders I am.'
'I can't stand this place,' I said. 'It's like a tomb.'
'It is indeed. But — " He shrugged his shoulders.
I said, 'You realise that the old man means to kill me. He's tried already and he'll try again. He's loose in the mine at this moment. For all I know he's outside in the gallery right now. One charge and he could have us walled up in here by a fall of rock.'
Dave's eyes dilated in horror. 'You really think that?'
I nodded. 'And they'd never get us out in time,' I said.
'You think he'd try?'
'He might. You don't want to be trapped down here, do you?'