"I am going to get out of here," announced Bob. "This is worse than the stoke-hole."
"Oh, pshaw, it isn't nearly so hot, though it is about as dirty. I know, though, that the men do not work in a pit as hot as this one is. There must be some other way out of the woods. Yes; we will climb up now. We shall be burned to cinders soon if we don't."
"Is that a joke?" demanded Jarvis.
"Is what a joke?"
"Burned to cinders."
"Certainly not," answered Steve, placing the plank against the side of the pit. "Go on, Bob."
The latter lost no time in crawling from the hot hole. They were met by Kalinski at the top.
"Well, what is it now?" he growled.
"Isn't there some way of cooling that pit off a little? We can't work down there, or dig any deeper, until it gets cooler. Why, it will burn the clothes from our backs."