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" he been killed?"

"What shall we do next?"

"I can't see or hear anything of him."

One and another stared at his companions. Robert Menden was gone, and there was no telling what had become of him:

"I'll go down and find out," said Dick, determinedly.

"But the danger, lad—" began old Jacob.

"I'll be very careful, Jacob. I have no wish to lose my life. But we must do something, you know."

The old sailor shook his head doubtfully.

"If you lose your life, lad, I'll never be able to face your folks—not me!"

Nevertheless, he allowed Dick to tie the end of the jagged rope around him, and then the boy was lowered over the brink of the fissure, also with a lighted torch in his hand.

Down and down he went, and still down, until he felt as if he was entering the very bowels of the earth. His heart beat violently,