That flat slab is a likely-looking place, for instance.
Three or four of you get hold of it and heave it up."
The men gathered round to lift it. Ralph stooped down and peeped under
as they did so.
"Hurrah!" he shouted, "there is an opening here."
Several of the others now got hold of the stone. It was up-ended and
thrown backward, and the entrance to a passage some three feet high
and two feet wide was revealed.
"I can smell a peat fire!" one of the men exclaimed.
"This is the entrance, no doubt," Captain O'Connor said. "See, the
bottom is evidently worn by feet. The passage must have been used for
a long time; but it's an awkward place to follow desperate men into."
"It is, indeed," Lieutenant Adcock agreed. "They could shoot us down
one after one as we go in. They would see us against the light, while
we should be able to make out nothing."
"Surrender in there!" Captain O'Connor shouted. "You can't get away;
and I promise you all a fair trial."
His summons was followed by a taunting laugh; and a moment later there
was a sharp sound within, and a rifle bullet struck the side of the
entrance and flew out.
"It would be throwing away one's life to go in there," Captain
O'Connor said. "At any rate we have got them secure, and they must
come out in time. But it would be madness to crawl in there on one's
hands and feet to be picked off by those scoundrels at their ease.
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