Pete Coffey now took up a kerosene lamp and some matches, but he did not strike a light.
He dropped down on his knees at the back of the cabin, and ran his hand over the boards.
Presently he shoved one aside, and then another, and another.
"Now, one of you come here," he said.
Barney was quickly at his side.
"Let me aim you right," said Pete, "and then crawl ahead on your hands and knees for at least twenty feet before you rise."
Barney started ahead, doing the "baby act" very creditably.
"Come, Bissell, hurry up," said Pete, impatiently, and dropping down beside him, Bissell endeavored to peer into the black darkness beyond.
"What devil's hole is this?" he asked, suspiciously.
"It may be the devil's hole, as you say," answered Pete. "In fact, I have sometimes thought it was myself. At all events, the devil takes better care of his own in there than I've ever known him to do anywhere else; and so, if you really want to escape your enemies, you'd better be getting in, for I don't propose to fool all my time away on you to-night, I can tell you."