CHAPTER XXXIII
RESCUED
It seemed to Gerald like a terrible dream, as he tried with his unpractised eyes to peer through the blackness. But it was completely dark. It seemed to be an excavation which had been abandoned. It was at some distance from that part of the mine in which active operations were going on. How long he would be kept here he could not conjecture. Whether, indeed, the superintendent would dare to keep him in captivity, perhaps even let him starve to death, he could not tell. He felt it hard to realize the position he was in.
Leaving him to his troubled thoughts, we will go back to the hotel where Joshua Burdoch and he were guests.
When Gerald left the house with the superintendent, Burdoch was temporarily absent. Twenty minutes later he returned, and looked about for Gerald. Not seeing him he concluded that he had gone out for a walk. But an hour passed, and still Gerald was absent. He did not feel anxious about him, but he and Gerald were such constant companions that he felt lonesome and uneasy without him.
He walked up to the desk of the hotel and asked the landlord: "Have you seen anything of the boy?"
"Yes, he was here rather more than an hour ago."
"Did he go out?"
"Yes; he went out with Mr. Hawk."
"The superintendent of the mine?"