Presently, at the top of a slight elevation, I came among the bushes to a softer spot where the soil had given way, and saw that it was the mouth of a shaft like a wide chimney flue, the earth of which had evidently recently fallen in.

Here Sailor stopped and whined, pawing the earth, and, at the same time, I heard a moaning underneath.
"Is that you, Tom ?" I called.

Thank God, the old chap was not dead at all events.
"Thank the Lord, it's you, sar," he cried.

"I'm all right, but I've had a bad fall--and I can't seem able to move." "Hold on and keep up your heart--I'll be with you in a minute," I called down to him.
"Mind yourself, sar," he called cheerily, and, indeed, it was a problem to get down to him without precipitating the loose earth and rock that were ready to make a landslide down the hole, and perhaps bury him for ever.
But, looking about, I found another natural tunnel in the side of the hill.

Into this I was able to worm myself, and in the dim light found the old man, and put my flask to his lips.
"Anything broken, do you think ?" Tom didn't think so.