"Are you hurt?"
"I don't think I am, but I reckon my liver turned over about ten times. How about you?"
"Shook up, that's all," answered Sam, after rising to his feet. "Say, we came down in a hurry, didn't we?"
"Yes, and got no return ticket either." Tom looked upward. "Gracious! the top of this hole is about fifty feet away! We are lucky that we didn't break our necks!"
"Now we are down here, the question is, How do we get out, Tom?"
"Don't ask me any conundrums."
"We've got to get out somehow."
"Unless we want to stay here and save the expense of a cemetery lot."
"Tom!"
"Oh, I know it's no joke, Sam. But what is there to do? Here's a hole at least fifty feet deep and the sides are almost perpendicular. Do you think we can climb up? I am afraid, if we try it, we'll end by breaking our necks."
"It certainly is steep," answered the youngest brother, looking upward. "Say!" he added, suddenly, "do you suppose Dick went down in some such hole as this?"
"Perhaps; where there is one hole there may be more. If he went down let us hope he didn't get killed."
