Page:Allan Dunn--Dead Man's Gold.djvu/217

Rh to summit by a natural chimney that widened suddenly halfway up and then narrowed again. It was broken here and there by ledges, but Larkin surveyed it ruefully when Stone announced it as their stairway.

"Nice flight of steps, I don't fink," he exclaimed. "Chap could come down heasy enough but—hup? I hain't a bloomin' buzzard. Hain't there hany lift?"

"They used to have ladders, I fancy, that they drew up after them," said Stone. "Reaching from one ledge to another. But Lyman got up this way and so can we."

"It looks as if you could climb to the top from the other side fairly easily," announced Healy.

"Wot good 'ud that do us?" demanded Larkin. "Want to roost on top of the bloody crag? Wot do you fink we are? Heagles?"

"This is where the rope comes in handy," said Stone. "The first part of that chimney isn't so difficult if you use your elbows and knees. We've got some spikes and our prospectors' hammers. It can be done. Lyman did it."

"W'ot made 'im tackle it in the first place?" persisted Larkin. "Is there a door hup there somewheres?"

"There's a way in," said Stone. "As for Lyman, he was sure there was gold inside and he knew such buttes were sometimes honeycombed with caves. There were three of them, you remember. They weren't likely to quit without exploring the whole butte as far as they could climb. Anyway, there is an