Thereupon Ben, the oldest of the young fellows present, said quietly that he would go in with Rufus and light the fuse himself while Rufus held the lantern.
"I'll shout when I touch the match to the fuse," he said, "so that you can get away from the mouth of the cave." They crept in, and the rest of us stood round, listening for the signal.
Several minutes passed, and we wondered what could be taking them so long.

At last there came a muffled shout, and all of us, retreating twenty or thirty yards, watched for Ben and Rufus to emerge.

Some of us were counting off the seconds.

We could hear Ben and Rufus coming, climbing over the rocks.

Then suddenly there was an outcry and the sound of tinkling glass.