--I--"

He put his hand to his head.

"Here, take a drink o' this, mate," said one of the men, and Ramsden
swallowed some water with avidity.

"Arn't seen a ghost, have you?"

"I recollect now, Mr Jones. You left me in that hole."

"And called to you to come out."

"Yes, but--"

Don's heart beat furiously. They were discovered, and now the betrayal
was to come.

"Well, what happened?" said the boatswain.

"I felt sure that those two were in this place, and I went on farther
into the darkness till I kicked against something and fell down."

"Out here and stunned yourself."

"No, no; in there! I'd got up and picked up my cutlash, and then
something seemed to choke me, and I went down again."

Jem squeezed Don's arm, for they both felt more hopeful.

"And then one of they chaps came and give you a crack on the head?" said
a sailor.

Don's heart sank again.

"Nonsense!" said his old friend, the boatswain. "Foul air. He must
have staggered out and fallen down insensible."

Jem gripped Don's arm with painful force here.

"How do you feel? Can you walk?"

Ramsden rose slowly, and staggered, but one of the men caught his arm.

"I--I think I can."

"Well, we must get you down to the boat as soon as we can walk, if you
are able. If you can't, we must carry you."

"But them chaps," said one of the party, just as Don and Jem were
beginning to breathe freely. "Think they're in yonder, mate?"

"I--I think so," said Ramsden faintly. "You had better search."

"What! A place full of foul air?" said the boatswain, greatly to Don's
relief. "Absurd! If Ramsden could not live in there, how could the
escaped men? Here, let's get him down."

"Ay, ay, sir. But I say, mate, where's your fighting tools? What yer
done with them?"

Don made an angry gesticulation, and turned to Jem, who had the pistols
and cutlass in his hand and waistbelt, and felt as if he should like to
hurl them away.

"He must have dropped them inside. Here, one of you come with me and
get them."

Don shrank back into the stony passage as a man volunteered, but the
boatswain hesitated.

"No," he said, to Don's great relief; "I can't afford to run risks for
the sake of a pair of pistols."

"Let me go in," said the man.

"I'm not going to send men where I'm afraid to go myself," said the
boatswain bluntly. "Come on down."

The boatswain led the way, and Ramsden was helped down, the man who had
volunteered to go in the