The boys would have followed him as he went into the tunnel, but he prevented them by saying:
“Stay here, an’ keep a mighty sharp watch. Nobody knows but that all this yellin’ was done to throw us off our guard.”
“I’m certain those noises couldn’t have been made for effect, an’ you’ll find a whole crowd in the place where the diamonds came from,” Nelse replied, in a decided tone.
“Then all the more reason why some one should be there to prevent them from crawlin’ out. I can take care of a good many, if they’re in that trap; but we are bound to watch out for all the chances.”
Jenkins was so reckless as to light a match before he was more than a dozen feet inside the tunnel, and a moment after the boys saw a glow, telling that he had ignited one of the torches.
From the outside not a sound came, and in a few seconds the boys heard the mate’s cheery cry:
“You were right, Nelse. The whole boilin’ of ’em are in here like rats, an’ believe I’m goin’ to kill ’em.”
“Can you see them?” Gil asked, in surprise.
“Of course I can, as well as if the whole lot were on exhibition in a dime museum. One of you come here an take a peep, for there’s no question now but that some of their plans have gone wrong.”
Nelse ran into the tunnel in response to this invitation, and on reaching the hole saw seven black forms crouching at the bottom in deepest terror, while Jenkins was amusing himself by walking around the edge of the excavation throwing the light on the huddling mass, and threatening the poor wretches with what he proposed doing when it should be convenient.