It was like being in a tomb, and was by no means agreeable to Frank.
“I certainly hope I shall soon come across them,” he reflected. “There is a possibility of getting a bad chill in this damp and loathsome place.”
But time passed on, and he felt sure that he must have reached the part of the cavern directly under the pit’s mouth.
But it was not until he had burned two torches and lit a third that he hit upon a clew.
Then suddenly a glistening object in the dirt caught his eye.
Instantly he picked it up.
It was a hunting knife with a bright silver handle, and he knew that it had belonged to Harding.
Frank flashed the rays of his torch to the roof above.
And there he saw a circular opening which he knew was the end of the pit into which the two men had fallen.
Barney’s ingenious hypothesis was correct, after all.