"What a pity!" chorused the lads.
"Dunno 'bout that; cause, yer see, it's proof ter me no one's bin interferin.'"
"'Twon't be a heavy job to clear it out, will it?" continued Joe.
"Carn't say; depends on the amount that's fallen. But 'tain't my notion ter use the tunnel at all. Yer see, it's this way: it may take us an hour or a day to clear the rubbage outer the tunnel. When we'd done that, we'd have ter do two other things afore we could tackle the wash-dirt. Fust an' foremost, there's plenty of foul air in the far end of the drive, like wot nearly pisened you coves in the caves. Let me tell you, it's hard work clearing the stinkin' air outer a tunnel. You can git it outer a shaft easy enough, by tyin' a bunch o' bushes onter a rope and running 'em up an' down; but it's mighty hard work clearin' a tunnel, an' orften a long job. Then, s'posin' we got it out, we'd have ter shore up the whole blessed length; for, let me tell you, I'm not goin' ter run any risks in this 'ere job. We've had fright enough over Joe an' the shark, an' I cuddent face the Boss an' the missus if anything happened to any of you here. Now, to shore up this blessed tunnel'd take a power of timber, an' ter git it an' fix it'd take a far longer time than we've got."
"Oh, I say, Harry," cried Tom in tones of deep disappointment, voicing the feelings of the group of boy diggers, "don't tell us it's all a go, an' we're to return without havin' a try! Can't you find some other spot?"
"Harry, ye spalpeen, Oi dhramed all laast night Oi was diggin' up gowlden prr-aties, an', ochone! Oi'd just stuck th' pick into a monsther iv a prr-atie, a ton weight at the laast, an' was tryin' me best to upind her wid a laver, whin owld Jago comes bangin' at th' dure. Begor! Oi was sweatin' loike a stoker whin th' owld mahn woke me. Jist give me wan little chanst, me bhoy, an' be Saint Michael Oi'll——"
"Ye'll git yer charnse, Denny, never fret. They's more ways of killin' a pig besides chokin' 'im with a lump o' butter. It never was my plan, boys, ter use the ole tunnel. There's a better way nor that. When me an' ole Humpy drove in 'ere, we wus follerin' a lead, an' ye niver can tell 'ow far yer 'ave ter go: maybe a few feet, maybe a 'undered yards afore it opens out inter a body. So we did the right thing then. Now I propose ter put down a shaft, to tap the wash-dirt jist erbout the end of the tunnel, or, maybe, a little furder up nor that. I calkerlate we'll tap it in twenty feet or so. I know the clarss of country we'll have to go through. All this bank's wot we call 'made up.' It's a formation called pudden stone. It's formed o' river wash, an' is pretty pebbly. The pebbles is the plums. We'll go through it in a couple o' days at most, an' that'd give us two days more afore we need clear orf 'ome."
The boys were delighted beyond measure at Harry's proposal, and set about rigging up the camp near the spot which the leader had selected to put down the shaft.
While the pals were doing this, Harry and Denny set to work at sinking the shaft. So expeditious were they that by night they had sunk the hole about ten feet and had rigged up the windlass. All the boys had a turn at digging, which they enjoyed immensely because of the novelty of the work. Harry and Denny, however, did the main part, while the lads manned the windlass, and hauled up the stuff from time to time, as the buckets were filled.
At daylight next morning the party were eating breakfast preparatory to a long day's work at the shaft. They had to do a good deal of blasting, for some of the stones were too heavy to haul up, and that consumed time. It was verging on evening when, clearing up a rather heavy blast, Harry, who had gone down to fill the bucket, cried out, "Haul up quick! we've broken through. Foul air!"