"Mr--" began the captain angrily, but his words were drowned in the hearty cheer given by the men.--"Silence!" cried Captain Roby, and leaning over, he shouted down the horrible-looking pit.--"Unfasten the rope from the lantern," he said, "and tie it tightly round your breast. Don't be frightened now: we'll soon have you out." There was no response. "Tut, tut, tut!" went the captain again. "Some one will have to go down. Who'll volunteer?" "I will, sir," cried Lennox excitedly, before any one else could answer. The captain was silent for a few moments, and then, in a way that seemed to suggest that he had been trying to find some objection to giving his consent, "Very well, Mr Lennox," he said.--"Here, sergeant, haul up the light again." This was rapidly done, the lantern set free, and the rope tied securely just beneath the young man's arms. "How will you have the lantern, sir?" said the sergeant. "I will see to that, James," said the captain. "Unfasten your belt, Mr Lennox, and pass it through the ring of the lantern so that it can hang to your waist and leave your hands free." "Just as if we didn't know!" said the sergeant to himself as he helped in this arrangement. "Sure the knot will not slip, sergeant?" said Lennox. "Oh, it won't come undone, sir. If it moves at all, it will be to get tighter." "That is what I meant. I want to breathe." "Less talking there," said the captain. "Recollect that a man's life is in danger. If you feel any compunction about going, Mr Lennox, make way for one of the men." "Ready, sir, and waiting for your orders," said Lennox quietly. "Very well. Now then, lower away." The sergeant took a firm hold of the rope, and whispered "Trust me, sir," to the explorer, who nodded and looked calmly enough in the sergeant's eyes, and gave way as he felt himself lifted off the stones upon which he stood and gently lowered down till he was half-hanging, half-sitting, against the sloping side of the rock. Then a few feet of the rope glided through the sergeant's hands, and Lennox stiffened himself out, to hang rigidly, feeling his back rest against the wet rock, over which he began to glide slowly, and then faster and faster as he was let down hand over hand, seeing nothing but the black darkness lit up like a quaint halo in front of him, and going down what he felt to be a terrible depth. He fought hard against one horrible thought which would trouble him: should he ever be pulled up again? And no sooner had he mastered this than another gruesome idea forced itself as it were out of the darkness in front, the words to his excited imagination seeming to be luminous: suppose the rope should break! It is wonderful how much thought will compress itself into a minute. It was so here, these ideas repeating themselves again and again before the young man's feet touched something soft and yielding, and upon his stretching his legs wide he felt slippery rock.