Dick considered for a few moments; then he took from his pocket a knife and a long piece of string, knotted the latter about the haft, and stuck the blade into a lighted candle. This he lowered into the chasm, lying at full length to make the most of the string. But the flame revealed no bottom to the shaft. Even had they seen a floor it seemed impossible to get there, or, getting there, to be in any way profited. At one time, no doubt, there had been a means of ascending and descending the shaft; but the very existence of the bridge showed that the machinery had long since disappeared, and the passage-way by which they had made their entrance was the only exit. "We had better blow out the candle," said Dick. "We don’t know how long we may be here, and you may be glad to eat it before we get out of this." "That I never could; but ’tis wisdom to save it, when we can’t see anything nice to look at, and you can allers meditate better in the dark." They reclined against the wall of the gallery. For a time they were silent except for sighs that now and then escaped Sam’s heaving breast. After one prolonged expiration Dick asked sharply what he was grunting about. "Don’t ’ee laugh, now, if I tell o’t," said Sam pleadingly. "My simple thought was, what would Maidy Susan say if she knowed o’ this horrible place o’ torment? ’There shall be weepin’ and gnashin’ o’ teeth,’ says pa’son; ’twill come to that afore long wi’ me. There now, ’nation take it! I said I’d spake merry thoughts. Maybe you could put one into my mizzy-mazy head, Maister Dick." "I’ll break it for you if you can’t talk sense—— There! Did you hear that?" "’Twas like the whisk of a rabbit’s scut among the furze. Hoy! Yo-hoy! Come and help two poor boys in misery." "Hoy! hoy!" shouted Dick. The echoes crossed and clashed, but there was no answer. Another period of silence. It seemed to last for hours. At length Dick relit the candle and once more scanned the shaft. Could he jump it? He measured it with his eye. He had never been to school; jumping as a sport was unknown to him. In the ordinary course of his outdoor adventures he had sometimes leapt across a stream or from rock to rock, but never a space so wide as this. Realising the impossibility of the feat, he blew out the candle and returned to his place beside Sam. "I seed yer thought," said the boy, "but Sir Bevil fox-hunting never took a gap like that. A hoss med do it, but not a two-legged body." Again there was silence. Presently Sam fell asleep, snoring vigorously. Dick pondered and puzzled; to him sleep was impossible. All at once he remembered the barrel he had found in the wall of the cave. A faint hope stirred within him. He wakened Sam, relit the candle, and hurried back through the passage. "What be goin’ to do?" asked Sam. "To see how many tubs there are," he said.