He got down on his knees and began very carefully to brush away with his hands the débris on the floor.
"You ain't lost that diamond ring I gave you?" questioned Jim in mock anxiety.
He, too, got down on the floor and began to dust for himself.
"I've found it," cried Berwick; "just get your hulk off this door."
Jim obeyed promptly, exclaiming, "Hully Gee, it's a trap!"
"What would you expect?" replied the engineer. "The captain could use this nicely in his line of trade I'm thinking."
"That is where that poor fellow would have been sent, whom we found in the gulch," exclaimed Jim.
"Certain thing," agreed his friend.
"I've got an idea," said Jim, lying flat on the floor. He stuck his head through the trap door while his friend held him solicitously by his legs so he could not do the sudden disappearance act.
"I can fix it," declared Jim as he pulled his head back; "just let me have the end of that rope."