“Nurse, wherever have you been? Mr. Travers has been waiting over half an hour to see the patients.”
Half an hour! Mavis offered no excuse—indeed she had none, and she wheeled her charge to Alan’s side. As she turned away to fetch Mr. Travers, she heard Alan say petulantly, “Wherever have you been all this time, Dez?” but she didn’t catch Desmond’s reply. If she had it would have set her thinking, for he said in an awe-struck tone, “Lanny, old boy, do you know there has been a war—a war with Germany? And we’ve missed it, old chap, we’ve missed it.”
Mr. Travers was a genial soul and loved by all the miners. He came forward and greeted the boys cheerily.
“Well, I’m glad to hear you are both better. A nice fright you gave every one to be sure. We wondered at first how you had got into such a position.” He laughed heartily at the recollection.
“However, the explanation was quite simple after all, wasn’t it?”
The cousins looked at one another with questioning eyes. In their opinion the explanation could hardly be called simple! Mr. Travers, however, went on. “After you had been rescued, Mennell, our foreman, gave orders for the men to cease work at that point. He wanted investigations to be made, after consulting me. The following day, however, we found the cave had filled with water, and the pumps were kept very busy, I can tell you. Then part of the flooring caved in, and the walls gave way. Oh, it was a horrid mess! However, it was eventually cleared away, and we discovered the subterranean passage. Very ingenious indeed.” And he rubbed his hands together. The boys were frankly puzzled.
“When did you leave Karragua?” asked Mr. Travers suddenly.
Desmond opened his mouth as if about to speak, but Alan was the first to recover his wits.
“Before we tell you our story, won’t you tell us what you discovered?” he asked shrewdly.
“Certainly, my friend. I suppose it was some bet you had on?”
“Something of the sort,” agreed Alan, now wholly puzzled.
“I thought so. I knew I was right. I shall take a bottle of rum off Old Man Paterson now. I told him it was the result of some freakish wager—he would have it you had discovered it by accident.”
“Do go on,” urged Alan. The situation was becoming desperate. Neither of the boys had the slightest idea of what Mr. Travers was talking about.