“That is a hard question for me to answer,” Dick admitted, candidly. “If it comes to the worst, of course we can turn back, and give over our hunt for Jasper Williams. If he should change his mind and return to the camp all would be well. On the other hand, if he stayed out the main part of the winter, or the Indians were holding him a prisoner, we would stand to lose all we had won.”
“And our dear parents must see their homes taken away from them by that rascally Lascelles,” groaned Roger, grinding his teeth in his distress. “Dick, sooner than allow that, I would try to stay out here all winter, taking my chances with the wolves, the Indians, and these terrible things that surround us on every side.”
“Remember our old motto, Roger, that carried us through so many troubles in the past—never despair, no matter how black the skies look. We will come out on top yet,—we must!”
“Do you think that awful hole can have any bottom, Dick?”
For answer the other dropped a large bit of rock, being careful to cast it far out from the wall underneath them.
It seemed a long time before they believed they caught the faintest kind of sound away down in the black depths.
“Why, it must be nearly half a mile deep!” cried the astonished Roger. “We can never hope to see our things again, for a fact.”
“I’m afraid that’s the truth,” admitted Dick. “It is a great misfortune, but we must face it bravely. ‘There are more ways than one to skin a cat,’ you know Jasper used to say; and, while things look dark for us just now, we can find a way out, never fear.”
They backed away carefully, not wishing to start another slide that might carry them down to keep company with the lost outfit. At least they had their guns, and a fair stock of ammunition to fall back on. Besides this they were warmly dressed, and able to resist to some extent the attack of the wintry winds.