"Yes." "Who is it?" came back. "Dale; and the three men are with me." "Can you force off one of these boards?" "No. Who is it?" I said. I was almost sure when I asked the question, and my ideas were confirmed. It was Mr Brymer speaking, and he told me that Mr Preddle, Mr Frewen, and the captain were with him. That was good news, but he had not told me all. "Where is Miss Denning?" I asked. "With her brother in their cabin still, I think. Now look here, Dale, we will try and pull out one of these boards, and you and the others must join us here." I must have made his heart sink in despair the next minute, when I told him that it was impossible, and said how I had had to struggle to get to him. "Then either you or we must get out, and the party that gets on deck must help the other. Wait a minute." I waited, and heard the sound of boring, and a few minutes later, as I kept a hand upon the board, I felt the point of a knife or gimlet working its way through. After it was withdrawn conversation became more easy, and I had a few words with Mr Frewen and Mr Preddle, all of which were cheering, though as far as escape was concerned it did no good. But I learned how that they had been literally thrown down there, as they supposed, for they had come-to very much as we had, to find themselves lying helpless on the floor. We had reached this point when Barney's voice came, and it sounded anxious. "Better come now, Mr Dale, sir," he whispered. "We can get along here again." "Yes, I'll come soon," I whispered back, for to a certain extent I forgot my troubles in the satisfaction of having been able to reach my friends. "Better come now, sir. They're getting scared behind yonder, and seems to me there's on'y just wind enough left for us to breathe going back. If you stop any longer there won't be none, for I shall swaller it all." I explained what he said to me, and it was Mr Frewen who now spoke through the tiny hole. "Yes, go back directly," he said. "Come again in a few hours' time, the air will be better again then, and we will cut this hole big enough for you to come through." I could have wished it to have been made bigger then, so that I could get to my friends, but I knew it would be like forsaking the men I had left, so after promising to return soon--thinking nothing now of the difficulty of the journey--I said good-bye, and began to crawl back, remembering directly plenty of things I should have liked to ask.