IN this way they went over all the logs, and at length reached the lowest layer of all. At this point, Pat’s superior dexterity4 with the pick enabled him to invent and to put in practice a plan which could not have been used before, or with any of the logs except these lowest ones. For beneath these was the earth, and Pat’s plan was the natural and simple one of digging this earth away, and so undermining the log that lay there. Pat worked nimbly and thoroughly5, and as he loosened the soil, Bart scraped it away with his hands. Pat dug down to the depth of a foot all along, and then thrust the pick far in, scooping6 out the earth that lay on the other side of the log. In this way they succeeded in removing the earth that kept the log in its place, and at length they were able to detach it, and draw it forth7.
The removal of this one log served to make the removal of the others possible. By diligent8 efforts the four logs which composed the lower tier were detached. The side logs were too long for the pit, and therefore had to be placed erect9, and leaned against the side. The end logs could lie down easily. The second tier then followed, and was removed more easily than the first. Then the third tier was detached, and the fourth. In each case the logs of the side had to be stood erect, while the end logs were laid on the ground at the bottom.
A serious difficulty now appeared before the boys, and one, too, for which they had not been prepared. The length of the side logs was a very embarrassing circumstance. They were too long to be placed at the bottom, and had to be stood up. But this took up space, and infringed10 very seriously upon the narrow area in which their operations were carried on. In passing from one side to remove the logs on the other, they had to lift these backward and forward so as to get them out of the way—a work which was most exhaustive, and at the same time hindered them in their proper efforts. Still they kept on, until at length about eight tiers of logs had been removed, and the longer ones filled up so much space, that it was quite impossible to do any more. They still worked away at those which were within reach, and managed to remove a dozen logs more; but after this they could do nothing, for the bottom of the pit was completely filled, and the staying was now a compact mass from which nothing further could be detached until the logs were removed which were covered up by those piled against it.
Bart and Pat were now compelled to desist for a time, and as they felt quite exhausted11, they raised themselves to the top of the pile of upright logs, and there sat down. Scarcely had they done this, when they were aware of a trembling all around, like an earthquake. In horror they sprang to their feet. The sides seemed to be moving; the logs separated, and descended12, and through the crevices14 there protruded15 sand and clay. It was as though the whole mass of the casing was falling in. In an instant they knew what it was. In their thoughtlessness they had taken away the foundations of this structure, and it was all falling in. An involuntary cry of terror burst from both. They shrank together, clinging to the pile on which they stood, and awaited their last hour.
But once again there was a respite16. The movement ceased. The worst seemed to be over, at least for the present. Yet the result of this one movement was fearful as far as it went. All the logs of the casing seemed severed17 and distorted, and had apparently18 descended as far as they had dug away the foundations. Seeing this, another frightful19 thought came—the broken beam above. They looked up fearfully. As yet, however, the danger impending hesitated to strike, for there, across the mouth of the hole, they saw the broken beam defined against the sky. It did not appear to have moved; nor was there that appearance of irregularity about the upper casing of the pit which now marked the lower. It seemed to them as though the slighter staying of plank20 had been put in the upper part of the pit, because it was clay, and needed but little protection; but down below, where the soil was looser, stout21 logs had been required. As they looked up, they saw that all this lower casing of logs had fallen.
No sooner had they discovered this than they saw also something which inspired them with hope. Not only had the lower staying of logs thus descended, but it had also lost its cohesion22, and the logs all seemed to be separated by spaces of more or less width, while many of them protruded into the pit as though thrust in by the pressure of the earth. Now they recognized at a glance the tremendous risk that they had run while removing the lowest logs; but at the same glance they perceived that the immediate23 danger had passed, and that they were now at least less helpless than before. For now, at last, there need be no difficulty about climbing. Now the spaces between the logs were wide enough for them to find something which they might grasp with their hands, and for some distance up, at any rate, they could see what seemed like a ladder, up which they might climb in search of escape from this fearful place.
No sooner had they made this discovery than they at once caught at this prospect24 which thus had so unexpectedly opened before them, and began to climb. The task was not very difficult. Each one took a corner of the pit where the meeting of the two walls favored the ascent, and for some time they continued to mount without much difficulty.
“Sure but I’m afraid this is too good to last,” said Pat.
Bart made no reply. That very fear was in his own mind. In that suspense25 he could say nothing. At last they had mounted as high as the place where the rope had broken. The end hung here suspended most tantalizingly26. O, what joy it would have been for them had it been the rope alone which had thus broken,—if the beam had only continued sound; but now that rope was useless, and they dared not touch it for fear lest even a touch might bring down upon their heads the beam that hung there impending over them. Fortunately they were able to ascend27 yet higher, for still above them the log casing had been started asunder28, and still they found themselves able to grasp places of support. The staying had certainly undergone a universal disintegration29, and nothing but its great compactness had prevented it from falling in ruin over their heads, and burying them alive. It was with amazement30 and consternation31 that they recognized their work, and these feelings would have overwhelmed them had they not found the result, after all, so fortunate for themselves. The risk had passed away. For the present, at least, they were receiving the benefit.
The fear which Pat had expressed, and which Bart had felt without expressing, that the ascent was too good a thing to last, was at length proved to be only too well founded. After they had climbed some distance farther, they found their ascent brought to an abrupt32 termination. For here there was a kind of separation between the lower casing and the upper; a log bulged33 forward about a foot, and above this there was a gap in the casing about two feet in height which shoved the earth behind, a kind of clay, and in this there was a cavity caused by the falling of the casing. Above this the casing had held firm, but unfortunately they had not reached the planks34. They were the same round logs which rose above them, and which would be as difficult to scale from this point as they had proved from below.
Upon this ledge35, formed by the bulging36 logs, they clambered, and seated themselves, dejected at the termination of their ascent, yet relieved slightly by the chance which was now afforded of some rest and breathing space. Here they sat, and looked up.
“Sure an it’s hard, so it is,” said Pat, “to find an ind to it just here, whin, if we’d only been able to climb twinty or thirty feet further, we’d have got to the planks, an been all safe.”
“Yes,” said Bart, looking up, “there are the planks; and they’re not more than thirty feet above us at the farthest.”
“An yit they’re as much out of our raich as though they were a hundred, so they are.”
“I’d rather have the thirty feet, at any rate,” said Bart. “Come now; can’t we manage to get farther up.”
“Nivir a farther,” said Pat. “We’ve got to the ind of our journey.”
“Come now,” said Bart. “See here, Pat. You spoke37 of a tunnel once. In fact we came down here with the pickaxe on purpose to make a tunnel to the money-hole. Well, we’re after something more precious than money—life itself. Can’t we tunnel up to life?”
“Tunnel, is it?” cried Pat, in great excitement. “Of coorse we can. Ye’ve jist hit it, so you have. It’s what we’ll do. We will thin.”
“The soil here seems like clay; and if we cut up behind this casing, it’ll be comparatively safe,” said Bart. “We need only cut up to the planks.”
“Sure an we’ll have to cut up to the top.”
“O, no! When we get to the planks, we can break through, and climb them like a ladder to the top. Once up to the planks, and we’re safe.”
“Break through the plankin is it? Sure enough; right are you; that’s what we’ll do, so it is.”
“And so that makes only thirty feet to cut away. It’ll be hard work cutting upwards38; but you and I ought to manage it, Pat, when our lives are at stake.”
“Manage it? Of coorse; why not? Only we haven’t got that bit of a pick with us, so we haven’t, for we left it down below; an sorra one of me knows what’s become of it. It may be buried under the roons of the fallin logs.”
At this Bart looked at Pat with something like consternation.
“Well,” said he at length, “we’ll have to go down again—one of us; we must have that pickaxe. I’ll go.”
“Sure an you won’t,” said Pat; “meself’s the one that’s goin to go.”
“No, you shan’t. Poh! Don’t be absurd.”
“Sure I’m bound to go; and so don’t you go too. There’s not the laste nicissity in life for both of us to go.”
“O, well, then,” said Bart, “we’ll have to toss up for it. That’s all.”
And saying this, he took out a piece of money, and said to Pat,—
“Head or Tail?”
“Tail.” said Pat.
Bart tossed. Pat lost. It was Pat’s business therefore to go down.
“Sure an it’s aisy climbin,” said Pat, “an the pick’ll be a help whin I return.”
With these words he departed.
Seated on the log, Bart looked down, watching Pat’s descent. They had climbed about half way up the pit, and Pat had about fifty feet to go down. Looking down, it was dark, and Pat at length disappeared from view. Bart could only hear him as he moved about. At length there was a deep stillness. Bart grew alarmed.
“Pat!” he called.
No answer came. “Pat!” he called again.
Still no answer.
“Pat!” he called, as loud as he could, for he was now thoroughly frightened. As he called, he put his feet over, and prepared to descend13.
“I’m here,” Pat’s voice came up. “Don’t come down. I’m coming up.”
These words filled Bart with a feeling of immense relief. He now heard Pat moving again, and at length saw him ascending39. Nearer he came, and nearer. But Bart noticed that he did not have the pickaxe. He feared by this that it had been buried beneath the fallen logs. If so, their situation was as desperate as ever. But he said not a word.
Pat at length reached the place where Bart was, and flung himself down, panting heavily. Bart watched him in silence.
“The pickaxe is buried,” said he at length, “I suppose.7’
“Worse,” said Pat, with something like a groan40.
“Worse?” repeated Bart in dismay.
“Yis, worse,” said Pat. “The water’s comin in. There’s six feet of it, an more too. The hole’s flooded, an fillin up.”
At this awful intelligence Bart sat petrified41 with horror, and said not one word.
“It’s the diggin away at the casin,” said Pat, dolefully, “an the cuttin away of the earth, that’s done the business, so it is. I can onderstand it all easy enough. Sure this pit’s close by the money-hole, an the bottom of it’s close by the drain that they towld us of. An them that made this hole didn’t dare to go one inch further. An that’s the very thing, so it is, that we’ve done. We’ve cut, and dug, and broke through into the drain. What’s worse, all the casin an all the earth’s broke and fallen down. An there’s no knowin the mischief42 we’ve done. Any how, we’ve broke through to the “drain”—bad luck to it; and the water’s jist now a powerin in fast enough. Sure it’s got to the top of them logs that we stood upon end—the long ones; and they’re more’n six feet long, an it’s risin ivery minit, so it is, an it’s comin up, an it’ll soon be up to this place, so it will. An sure it’s lost an done for we are intirely, an there you have it.”
After this dreadful intelligence, not a word was spoken for a long time. Pat had said his say, and had nothing to add to it. Bart had heard it, and had nothing to say. He was dumb. They were helpless. They could go no farther. Here they were on this log, half way up the pit, but unable to ascend any further, and with the prospect before them of swift and inevitable43 destruction.
They had worked long and diligently44. Not one mouthful had they eaten since morning; but in their deep anxiety, they had felt no hunger. They had labored45 as those only can labor46 who are struggling for life. And this was the end. But all this time they had not been conscious of the passage of the hours; yet those hours had been flying by none the less. Time had been passing during their long labor at the logs below—how much time they had never suspected.
The first indication which they had of this lapse47 of time was the discovery which they now made of a gradually increasing gloom. At first they attributed this to the gathering48 of clouds over the sky above; but after a time the gloom increased to an extent which made itself apparent even to their despairing minds. And what was it? Could it be twilight49? Could it be evening? Was it possible that the day had passed away? Long indeed had the time seemed; yet, even in spite of this, they felt an additional shock at this discovery. Yet it was true. It was evening. The day was done. They two had passed the day in this pit. This was night that was now coming swiftly on.
They remained motionless and silent. Nothing could be done; and the thoughts of each were too deep for utterance50. Words were useless now. In the mind of each there was an awful expectation of a doom that was coming upon them—inevitable, swift, terrible! They could only await it in dumb despair.
Night was coming, adding by its darkness to the horror of their situation. Death in daylight is bad enough, but in the dark how much worse! And the fate that threatened them appeared wherever they might turn their eyes—above, in the shape of that broken beam which yet in the twilight appeared defined in a shadowy form against the dim sky; around, in this treacherous51 casing, which, being undermined, might at any moment fall, like the lower portion, and crush them; beneath, most awfully52, and most surely, are those dark, stealthy, secret waters which had come in from the “drain” upon them as though to punish their rashness, and make them pay for it with their lives. In the midst of all these fears they remembered the superstitious53 words of the man whom they had questioned, “Flesh and blood will never lay hands on that treasure, unless there’s a sacrifice made—the sacrifice of human life!” Such was the declaration of the man on the shore, and this declaration now made itself remembered. The sacrifice of life. What life? Was it theirs? Were they, then, the destined54 victims? Awful thought! Yet how else could it be? Yes, that declaration was a prophecy, and that prophecy was being fulfilled in them. But O, how hard it was to die thus! so young! in such a way! to die when no friends were near! and where their fate would never, never be known to those friends.
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1
ascent
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| n.(声望或地位)提高；上升，升高；登高 | |
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2
impending
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| a.imminent, about to come or happen | |
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3
doom
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| n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定 | |
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4
dexterity
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| n.(手的)灵巧，灵活 | |
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5
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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6
scooping
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| n.捞球v.抢先报道( scoop的现在分词 )；（敏捷地）抱起；抢先获得；用铲[勺]等挖（洞等） | |
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7
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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8
diligent
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| adj.勤勉的，勤奋的 | |
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9
erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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10
infringed
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| v.违反（规章等）( infringe的过去式和过去分词 )；侵犯（某人的权利）；侵害（某人的自由、权益等） | |
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11
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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12
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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13
descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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14
crevices
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| n.（尤指岩石的）裂缝，缺口( crevice的名词复数 ) | |
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15
protruded
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| v.（使某物）伸出，（使某物）突出( protrude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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16
respite
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| n.休息，中止，暂缓 | |
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17
severed
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| v.切断，断绝( sever的过去式和过去分词 )；断，裂 | |
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18
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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19
frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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plank
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| n.板条，木板，政策要点，政纲条目 | |
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cohesion
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| n.团结，凝结力 | |
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23
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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24
prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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25
suspense
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| n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑 | |
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26
tantalizingly
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| adv.…得令人着急，…到令人着急的程度 | |
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27
ascend
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| vi.渐渐上升，升高；vt.攀登，登上 | |
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28
asunder
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| adj.分离的，化为碎片 | |
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29
disintegration
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| n.分散，解体 | |
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30
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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31
consternation
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| n.大为吃惊，惊骇 | |
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32
abrupt
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| adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的 | |
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33
bulged
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| 凸出( bulge的过去式和过去分词 )； 充满； 塞满（某物） | |
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34
planks
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| （厚）木板( plank的名词复数 )； 政纲条目，政策要点 | |
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35
ledge
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| n.壁架，架状突出物；岩架，岩礁 | |
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36
bulging
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| 膨胀； 凸出（部）； 打气； 折皱 | |
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37
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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38
upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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39
ascending
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| adj.上升的，向上的 | |
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40
groan
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| vi./n.呻吟，抱怨；(发出)呻吟般的声音 | |
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41
petrified
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| adj.惊呆的；目瞪口呆的v.使吓呆，使惊呆；变僵硬；使石化(petrify的过去式和过去分词) | |
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42
mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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43
inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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44
diligently
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| ad.industriously;carefully | |
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45
labored
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| adj.吃力的，谨慎的v.努力争取(for)( labor的过去式和过去分词 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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46
labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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47
lapse
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| n.过失，流逝，失效，抛弃信仰，间隔；vi.堕落，停止，失效，流逝；vt.使失效 | |
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48
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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49
twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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50
utterance
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| n.用言语表达，话语，言语 | |
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51
treacherous
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| adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的 | |
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52
awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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53
superstitious
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| adj.迷信的 | |
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54
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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