Dead Man's Land Part 51

"Yes, sir. I went right in to where there was that snug sort of place where Bob Bacon found he had been lying--where we left him, sir."

"Well, do you mean to say he wasn't there?"

"No, sir; that he wasn't."

"Oh, how could you be so stupid! The doctor trusted you to fetch the soup because he thought you were a man he could depend upon."

"Well, that's right, sir."

"And because you didn't see him directly, the poor creature never got the soup."

"That's right, sir, too," said Dan, smiling.

"There's nothing to laugh at in it, sir," cried Mark, angrily. "Did you ever know anything so stupid, Dean?"

"No," cried Dean, taking up his cousin's tone. "You might have been sure, Dan, that as soon as we had gone the poor old fellow would have crawled right in as far as he could go."

"Yes, sir; that's what I did think, sir."

"You went right in?" cried Mark. "Yes, sir; right to the very end, and he warn't there."

"Where was he, then?"

"Oh, I don't know, sir."

"Did you look about well?"

"Yes, sir, as far as there was anywhere to look about."

"As far as there was anywhere to look about?"

"Yes, sir. Don't you remember you could only go right on into the hole or come back again? You couldn't climb up the sides without somebody had gone up there first with a rope and let it down to you."

"Yes, that's right, Mark," said Dean. "Yes, I suppose so," replied Mark, "but I wanted that poor old fellow to have the soup. It might have been the means of saving his life."

Dan shook his head solemnly. Mark made no observation about that, but went on: "Look here, Dan, somebody must have been there and helped him."

Dan shook his head again solemnly. "Did you try to tell Mak about it?"

"Yes, sir, as well as I could."

"But do you think you made him understand you?"

"Yes, sir; I think he did."

"And what did he say?"

"Nothing, sir. Only shook his head, just like that."

"Bother! Don't get wagging your head in that way," cried Mark angrily, "or you will have it come loose. Well, what did you do with the soup?"

"Ate it, sir."

"What!" cried Mark sharply.

"Well, sir, I couldn't drink it, it was that thick and strong. It was some of my best."

"And so you ate it?"

"Yes, sir; I was so precious hungry."

"Did you ever hear such impudence, Dean?"

"Well, I thought it a pity to waste it, sir, and I have always got plenty more on the way."

"Bah!" cried Mark. "You couldn't have half looked."

"No, sir; I put my back into it and did it thorough. But he was gone;"

and Dan shook his head again.

"What do you mean by that?" said Dean.

"Same as black Mak did, sir."

"And what did black Mak mean?" cried Mark.

"Seems to me as he thought the poor old chap had dried up like and gone."

"What nonsense!"

"Well, sir, it may be nonsense, but I had a good look at the poor old chap when we had him out. Why, you see him, sir. Look what his face was like. Walnut sh.e.l.l was nothing to his skin. I have been thinking about it a deal, sir, and I have heard what you gentlemen have said about this 'ere place as we have found. I have been about a deal, sir, all round the world, and seen and heerd much more than you would think."

"Oh, of course you would see and hear a good deal, being aboard s.h.i.+p."

"Yes, gentlemen, and it set me thinking a deal, both as I was going up and as I was coming back again with the empty tin. I thought a deal, Mr Mark, sir."

"Perhaps it was the soup made you think so much, Dan," said Mark sarcastically.

"Very like, sir," said the man with an innocent look.

"Well, what did you think?" asked Mark.

"I thought about that old fellow being so awful old, and that he must have had to do with the building up of them stones."

"Nonsense! It must be two or three thousand years since those walls were built."

"Daresay, sir, and he's been there ever since."

"Oh, that's impossible," said Dean.