“Bunk!” sneered Floyd. “Tell that to the marines. Why would you have done that?”
“Merely to get a line on you rascals.”
“At the risk of your life, eh?”
“Certainly. That’s not uncommon,” said Nick.
“Rot!” Floyd glared at him doubtfully. “If you walked into it with your eyes open, Carter, we’ll make mighty sure to close them for you. You’ll keep them closed, too. Take my word for that.”
“Let it go at that, then,” Nick said indifferently.
All the while, in grim amusement over this colloquy, Gorman and Bagley continued their work of melting the silver plate and pouring it into the earth molds.
The seething caldron glowed with the heat.
The fire burned intensely under it, forced by the wheezy bellows.
It was like a scene in the infernal regions.