It was empty.
"He was callin' 'Help'," said the round-eyed boy.
"Yes, we heard him," added the sheriff.
They had come up the road. They started back down the trail.
* * * * *
Charlie had got nearly home when he began to worry about a deep prospect
hole near the trail known as "Rosenhammer's Shaft." He must be careful
to avoid it. Suddenly his foot slipped on a pebble. He clutched
unavailingly at a manzanita and rolled into a circle of inky blackness.
Rosenhammer's Shaft! Now he was lost, indeed.
But, no. As he slid he came against a sturdy live-oak bush which he
clutched, managing to stop his descent into the next world for the time
being. He even, swung one leg over a wiry limb, and there he clung,
puttering sailors' argot, considering his sins, and roaring for help in
his best fortissimo tone.
The shaft was said to be a hundred feet deep. It was filled part way
with oily water, and inhabited by snakes and monsters of the
subterranean deeps. People had fallen in and drowned, and had been known
never to rise again.
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