The mid-day sun flamed above their heads at the end of a stupendous tube.
An indescribable cry arose. Then all was still.
A crow flew between them and the sun. All bent their heads and crouched low as though instant death was rushing down upon them. The crow went by harmlessly.
"Do you know where we are?" asked Phelan, in the voice of an awestruck child.
"No."
"At the bottom of the shaft of the old mine. It slants to the southward, and that's the sun!"
They looked around: some wreckage floated on one side of the boat.
"The planks that covered the mouth of the shaft. They must have fallen in."
Something that was not a plank floated on the other side of the boat.
It was the body of Fahey!