He got down on his knees and began very carefully to brush away with his
hands the debris on the floor.

"You ain't lost that diamond ring I gave you?" questioned Jim in mock
anxiety.

He, too, got down on the floor and began to dust for himself.

"I've found it," cried Berwick; "just get your hulk off this door."

Jim obeyed promptly, exclaiming, "Hully Gee, it's a trap!"

"What would you expect?" replied the engineer. "The captain could use
this nicely in his line of trade I'm thinking."

"That is where that poor fellow would have been sent, whom we found in
the gulch," exclaimed Jim.

"Certain thing," agreed his friend.

"I've got an idea," said Jim, lying flat on the floor. He stuck his head
through the trap door while his friend held him solicitously by his legs
so he could not do the sudden disappearance act.

"I can fix it," declared Jim as he pulled his head back; "just let me
have the end of that rope."

The engineer did as requested, and Jim slipped the rope's end around one
of the log joists and tied it securely.

"It will be a good thing to have this fastened here, in case we should
have to come back," remarked Jim.

"Which I hope we won't until we get something to eat," said Berwick, who
was not so young and enthusiastic as to find sufficient food in an
adventure as Jim did.

"Might fish through here," remarked Jim.

"Yes, with a bent pin," replied the engineer caustically, "as far as
getting anything to eat."

Jim laughed gleefully.

"Well, I'm off, or down rather," he said, his face growing sober.
"You're next, Chief."

CHAPTER XXVIII

A SQUARE MEAL

However, before Jim began his descent, he cut off some of the rope.

"That might come in handy, you know," he said.

Then without any more adieu he let himself down, caught the edge of the
trap, then dropped, seizing the rope and thus hand over hand until he
was within a few feet of the water, then watching his chance as a wave
receded, he dropped onto the sand and at top speed made around the
projecting cliff. It extended, however, farther than he had thought, and
the returning water caught him and it was only by his exerting himself
to the utmost that he was able to grip a narrow outcrop of the rock from
the face of the cliff. Instantly he thought of his comrade, who was much
lighter than himself, and though he could swim it would not help him
much against the fierce rush of the water. A little above him there was
quite