But this none of them could tell, and so they all kept silent.
That silence was at last broken by Bart.
“Well, boys,” said he, “what are we going to do now? Our shovels and lights are there; and, worst of all, our palladium—-the bust. Solomon has gone, and Captain Corbet; but we still remain. We’ve rallied; and now what shall we do? Shall we retreat, or go back again to the hole?”
Bart spoke, and silence followed. Overhead the clouds swept wrathfully before the face of the moon, and all around’ rose the dim forest shades.
In front flickered and twinkled the feeble, fitful lights. And there, by those lights, was That, whatever it was, from which they had fled.
“I’ll tell you what I’ll do, at any rate,” said Bruce, in a harsh, constrained voice; “I’ll go back to that hole, if I die for it.”
“You!” cried Bart.
“Yes,” said Bruce, standing with his fists close clinched, and his brow darkly frowning; “yes, I; you fellows may come or stay, just as you like.”
A man’s courage must be measured from his own idea of danger. A couple of hundred years ago many acts were brave which to-day are commonplace. To defy the superstitions of the age may be a sign of transcendent courage. Now, of all these boys Bruce was by far the most superstitious; yet he was the first who offered to go back to face That from which they had all fled. It was an effort of pure pluck. It was a grand recoil from the superstitious timidity of his weaker self. Buoyed up by his lofty pride and sense of shame, he crushed down the fear that rose within him, and his very superstition made his act all the more courageous. And as he spoke those last words, before the others had time to say anything in reply, he turned abruptly, and strode back with firm steps towards the cellar. So he stalked off, steeling his shaking nerves and rousing up the resources of his lofty nature. By that victory over the flesh he grew calm, and walked steadily back into the dark, ready to encounter any danger that might be lingering there—an example of splendid courage and conquest over fear.
But he did not long walk alone. Before he had taken a dozen steps the others were with him, and in a short time they were all in the hole again. Bart proceeded to light the extinguished candles, while Bruce quietly picked up the spades, assisted by the other boys. Soon all the lights were burning, and Bart joined the little knot of boys who were standing in the centre of the cellar.