And "Iss, sure!" was
Trevna's curt, complete endorsement.
But when, at John Drillot's suggestion, they had squeezed under the slab
to have a look at what lay below, and had peered down the slit that Gard
tried first, and had then lighted on the tunnel, and had found the gun
and powder-flask jammed in a crevice--that put a different face on the
matter.
And, after prolonged discussion as to the proper method of procedure,
especially in the matter of precedence, it was at last arranged that
Evan Morgan should go first with his miner's lamp, and that John Trevna
should follow close behind, carrying the gun.
"And iss it understood that I shoot him if I see him?" asked Trevna, to
make sure of his ground and make his conscience easy.
"Pardi, yes, mon gars! Shoot straight, and the Island will thank you,"
asserted John Drillot.
"Ant for Heaven's sake, John Trevna, see you ton't shoot me behint by
mistake," urged Evan Morgan; and they disappeared slowly into the
tunnel, while the other two stood waiting expectantly in the well.
Accustomed as they were to narrow places, this long worm-hole of a
tunnel, with the doubtful possibilities that lay beyond it, seemed as
endless to the militant members of the expedition as it did to the
waiters outside.
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