"No," said Joe, after a pause.

"Don't be so stupid! You can--Listen!"

They held their breath, and plainly now came the barking of a dog.

"There!" cried Gwyn. "Here, here, here!" and he whistled before listening again, when there was the pattering of the dog's nails on the rocky floor, and almost directly after Grip bounded up to them.

"Ah, we mustn't have any more of that, old fellow," cried Gwyn, seizing the dog's collar, and patting him. "Get on, you old rascal; can't you see we've only got two legs apiece to your four?"

The dog strained to be off again, barking excitedly; but Gwyn held on while their neckerchiefs were tied together, and then fastened to the dog's collar.

"Now, then, forward once more. Come on, Joe, you must carry the lanthorn and walk by his head. Steady, stupid! We can't run. Walk, will you? Now, then, forward for home."

The dog barked and went off panting, with his tongue out and glistening in the light as the red end was curled, and he strained hard, as if bound to drag as much as he could behind him, while the boys' spirits steadily rose as their confidence in the dog's knowledge of the way back began to increase.

CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR.

TOO EAGER BY HALF.

"Think the candle will last, Jolly?" said Gwyn, after they had progressed for some time and the lanthorn door was opened.

"Plenty--yes," said Joe.

"Wish I knew there was enough and to spare," said Gwyn.

"Why?"

"Because I'd have a bite off the end. I'm so faint and hungry, it's quite horrible."

"Horrid!" exclaimed Joe.

"Not it. Nothing's horrid when you're starving. But I don't suppose it's very far as the crow flies."

"Crows don't fly in tin mines," said Joe, who was in better spirits now.

"Well, then, in a straight line."

"I don't believe there's a straight line in the place."

"I say, don't chop logic, Jolly, and don't--I say, look here, Grip, steady! don't pull a fellow's arm off!" interpolated Gwyn, for the dog tugged heavily at the neckerchiefs. "Look here, Joe, old chap, do talk gently to me, for I'm so hungry that I feel quite vicious, and just as if I could bite. Ah, would you get away! Steady, sir! We want to get home as badly as you do--for 'hoozza! we're homeward bound--bound; hoozza, we're homeward bound!'" sang the boy wildly.

"Don't you holloa till you're out of the wood."

"I wasn't holloaing," cried Gwyn, with hysterical merriment. "I was singing, only you've no ear for music."

"Not for such music as that. Hark at the echoes!--they sound just like howls."

"All right, but don't talk about getting out of the wood when we're like moles underground."

"Who's chopping logic now?"

"Oh, anybody. Steady, Grip, slow march."

"Does he pull so hard?"

"Horribly; but I don't mind--it shows he knows his way."

Grip barked and dragged at the improvised leash as if determined to hasten their pace.

"It's just like the greyhounds do over the coursing. But pull away, old chap! I say, though, isn't it hot now?"

"Yes, I'm bathed in perspiration. We must be very deep down."

"Oh, no, it's just about on a level; sometimes we go down, and sometimes up."

_Splash, splash, splash_, and then the dog's progress seemed to be checked, as the boys followed into a pool of water which filled all the tunnel to the sides.

"Stop!" cried Joe, as he waded to his knees.

"Why? What for?"

"Because we're going wrong."

"So I thought; but Grip ought to know."

"He can't, because we never came along here."

"No; but that proves he's right, for we never came along here, and we always lost ourselves."

"But it's getting deeper, and there's no knowing how deep it will be."

"Never mind; we must wade."

Joe went on, and the water was soon up to their waists, while the dog swam on.

"I'm sure Grip's going wrong," said Joe, excitedly, as the light of the lanthorn gleamed from the surface of what was now a narrow ca.n.a.l.

"Get on. Grip knows."

"He can't. It's impossible that he could have scented us over water."

"Yes, so it is," said Gwyn, anxiously; and he stopped, naturally checking the dog, who began to splash and to howl and bark angrily.

"Well, we must go on now. Perhaps it's the way he came."

"Couldn't be, because he was not wet."