"Of course we've got to continue!" declared Blake, half savagely. "We can't give up now—and die!"
"We may die anyhow," said Joe.
They were resting in the darkness after strenuous digging. In the dark because, to save the battery, they had switched off the electric light by which they had been working.
Charlie turned to look back. They had been piling the earth behind them as they worked, but there was not much of it as yet. They had made but small impression on the débris that hemmed them in. And as Charlie looked he uttered a cry.
"What is it?" asked Blake.
"A light! Don't you see a light there?" Charlie demanded. "See! Back there through the chinks in the rock. See, a flickering light!"
There was no doubt of it! There was a gleam of light, and it appeared to come from a point where some fallen rocks were loosely piled.
Dropping their boards, which they had been using for shovels, the boys climbed as near as they could to the hole. In the dark as they were, the light showed plainly.
"Can you see anything?" asked Charlie of Joe, who was nearest.
"No, only some figures moving about. It seems like some sort of dugout beyond there, and it hasn't caved in. Maybe it's the end of the tunnel."