"And I believe you're right," declared Frank. "It sounds reasonable."
"Then the next question is; what are we going to do about it?" inquired Ned. "No use standing here discussing what happened, or how it happened. What we want to do is to get busy and rescue Fenn."
"That's the way to talk," declared Frank.
"Wait a minute," suggested Bart. Once more he got down close to the hole, and peered into the depths.
"There a way to get down," replied Bart, after a moment.
"No. Ropes. See, there are cables fastened to the sides of this shaft, and it looks as if they had been used several times."
Bart reached down and got hold of a clay-covered rope, one of those which Fenn had tried so vainly to grasp.
"That's funny," remarked Frank. "Looks as if this was a regular underground railway system."
"I'll bet that's what it is," cried Ned. "This must be one of the means whereby the smugglers get the Chinamen ashore. Why didn't we think of it before? Let's go down there. We can easily do it by holding on to the ropes."
"It's too risky," decided Frank. "There's no telling what is at the bottom."
"But we've got to save Fenn!" exclaimed Bart, who rather sided with Ned.
"I know that, but there's no use running recklessly into danger. We can't help him that way. If he's down that hole, or in the hands of the smugglers, we can do him more good by keeping out of that pit, or away from the scoundrels, than we can by falling into their hands. Fenn needs some one outside to help him, not some one in the same pickle he's in."
Frank's vigorous reasoning appealed to his chums, and, though they would have been willing to brave the unknown dangers of the hole, they admitted it would be best to try first some other means of rescuing their chum.
"Let's prospect around a bit," proposed Frank. "Maybe we can find some other way of discovering where this hole leads to. The lake can't be far away, and if we can get down to the shore we may see something that will give us a clue."
"All right, come on," said Bart, and the Darewell chums started down the hill, in the direction of Lake Superior.
As they emerged upon a bluff, which overlooked the vast body of water, they came to a pause, so impressed were they, even in their anxiety, with the beautiful view that stretched out before them. Under the bright rays of the morning sun the lake sparkled like a sheet of silver.