Part 21 (1/2)
”By going down again with plenty of light, company, and an a.s.sured means at leaving at any moment, the place will present a very different and much more cheerful aspect. Besides, the ancient tools that you mention as existing in such numbers down there are becoming so scarce as to be very valuable and well worth collecting. So, on the whole, I think we had better go and take a look at your prehistoric diggings this very day.”
”Very well, sir. Since you insist upon it, I will act as your guide; but I must confess that I shall be heartily glad to leave this part of the country and return to the civilization of Red Jacket.”
”Civilization of Red Jacket is good!” laughed the other. ”How long since you considered it as civilized?”
”Ever since I left there and found out how much worse other places could be.”
As a result of this conversation, four men left Laughing Fish soon after the tug again dropped anchor in its cove, and took to the trail that two of them had followed before. These two were Peveril and Connell. The others were the White Pine manager and Captain Spillins.
Arrived at the point from which ”Darrell's Folly” could be seen, they turned abruptly to the right and plunged into the woods.
Only too well did Peveril remember the path over which he had been dragged a helpless captive only three days before. But the way seemed shorter now than then, and he was surprised to discover the dreaded shaft within a few hundred feet of the trail they had just left.
They had brought ropes with them, as well as an axe, and candles in abundance. Now, after cutting away the bushes from the shaft-mouth, and measuring its depth by letting down a lighted candle until it was extinguished in the water at the bottom, they prepared for the descent. The major was to go first, and Peveril, whose dread of the undertaking had been partially overcome, was to follow. The others were to remain on the surface to pull their companions up, when their explorations should be finished.
So Major Arkell seated himself in a loop of the rope, swung over the edge of the old shaft, and was slowly lowered until the measured length had run out. Then the others, peering anxiously down from above, saw his twinkling light swing back and forth until it suddenly disappeared. A moment later the rope was relieved of its strain, and they knew that its burden had been safely deposited on the rocky platform described by Peveril. He went next, and was quickly landed in safety beside his companion.
”It is an old working, sure as you live!” exclaimed the major, who was examining the walls of the gallery with a professional eye. ”And here are the tools you spoke of. Beautiful specimens, by Jove! Finest I ever saw. We must have them all up--every one. But let us go back a piece and examine the drift. First time I ever knew of those old fellows drifting, though. They generally only worked in open pits until they struck water, and then quit. Didn't seem to have any idea of pumps.”
Still filled with his recent horror of the place, Peveril tried to dissuade the other from penetrating any farther into the workings, but in vain; and so, each bearing a lighted candle, they set forth. At the several piles of material, previously noted as barring the way, the major uttered exclamations of delight and astonishment.
”It is copper!” he cried. ”Ma.s.s copper, almost pure! The very richest specimens I have ever seen! Why, man, the old mine must have been a bonanza, if it all panned out stuff like this! These piles were evidently ready for removal when something interfered to prevent.
Wonder what it could have been? Didn't find any bones, did you, or evidences of a catastrophe?”
”No. Nothing but what you see. Good heavens, major! What's that?”
With blanched faces the two stood and listened. Strong men as they were, their very limbs trembled, while their hearts almost ceased beating.
Again it came from the black depths beyond them--a cry of agony, pitiful and pleading.
”Let's get out of this,” whispered the major, clutching at Peveril's arm and endeavoring to drag him back the way they had come. ”I've had enough.”
”No,” replied the other, resolutely; ”we can't leave while some human being is calling for deliverance from this awful place.”
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE TWO MEN STOOD AND LISTENED]
”You don't think it a human voice?”
”I do, and at any rate I am going to see. There! Hear it?”
Again came the shrill cry, echoing from the rocky walls. ”Help! For G.o.d's sake, don't leave us here to peris.h.!.+”
At the sound Peveril sprang forward, and the major tremblingly followed him.
Back in the gloom, a hundred yards from where they had halted, they came upon a scene that neither will ever forget so long as he lives.
A slender youth and a white-haired man stood clinging to each other, and gazing with wildly incredulous eyes at the advancing lights.
”It is Richard Peveril, father! Oh, thank G.o.d! Thank G.o.d, sir, that you have come in time!” cried the younger of the two.