As Shaw finished speaking the boy found another,
and the watcher was wondering how rich the earth was.
Then he saw the boy, stooping to the floor of the cavern, evidently in
quest of more gold, he being at that time close to the east wall,
suddenly throw up his arms and disappear, apparently through the very
floor of the chamber.
Frank stood for a second looking toward the place where this strange
disappearance had taken place, rubbed his eyes to make sure that he
was wide awake, and then uttered a cry which brought the others hastily
to his side.
When the boys reached the point of disappearance they looked for a
fissure in the rocky floor, but found none. Instead, they saw a
round, smooth opening into what seemed to be another tunnel. The
light, when held into the dark break in the rock, revealed a
landing about six feet down, but Jimmie was not in sight. Presently,
however, the alarmed boys heard his voice, coming up out of the darkness.
"Hey, there!" he said. "Get a rope and a light! I'm on a toboggan!"
"In a second," Harry replied. "Are you falling?"
"No, I'm hangin' on with me toes!" was the reply. "Hurry up, you
fellers! I'll drop clear into the middle of the world if I let go!"
Harry darted away to the outer chamber and brought a line from his
camping outfit. Tying a piece of stone to one end, to act as a sinker,
he dropped it into the mouth of the tunnel.
"Catch it!" he called to the boy.
"Nothin' doin'!" returned Jimmie.
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