"There's things you don't want a girl to see," I explained as we walked off; "but if this is the valley the skeletons of those two horses should be down there somewhere," and I pointed over the edge of the funnel.
"I'll go down," he said with alacrity. "I guess it's my go. It's time I took some sort of a risk."
"You surely don't expect there'll be anything wrong?" I queried.
"I can't say," he answered with a shrug of his shoulders. "Anyway, I think you'd better get back to Miss Drummond. She's looking over this way, and in a minute or so she'll be asking awkward questions, if you don't go and tell her something."
"All right," I agreed. "Look as slippy as you can, but be careful. An injured man is always more or less of a nuisance, you know."
He grinned cheerfully at that, and then, without another word, turned on his heel and made off towards the funnel. I walked back to Moira.
"What are you going to do now?" she asked me suspiciously. "What's Mr. Cumshaw after?"
"He's going down through that funnel-shaped thing," I answered. "He wants to see what's at the end of it."
The golden-brown eyes regarded me thoughtfully for a space and then: "Why didn't you go yourself instead of sending him?" she asked.
"It was his suggestion," I said defensively. "He seemed to think he had a better right than anyone else, so I didn't argue with him about it. I let him go."