from being buried in a living tomb.

An examination of the point where he had debouched from these Plutonian
regions showed Fred that he was considerably below the general regions of
the earth. He was in a sort of valley, surrounded by rocks and boulders,
and the opening through which he had scrambled was situated sidewise, so
that at a distance of ten feet it could not be seen. This accounted for
the fact that none of the Indians knew any other means of ingress and
egress excepting the opening in the roof of the cave. It was almost
impossible to discover, except by accident or long continued and
systematic search.

Fred's next thought was regarding Mickey O'Rooney, and he questioned
himself as to the best means of reaching him, and assisting him to the
same remarkably good fortune which had attended himself. The immediate
suggestion, naturally, was to re-enter the cave and, after hunting up his
old friend, conduct Mickey to the outer world, but it required only brief
deliberation to convince him of the utter folly of such an attempt. In the
first place, should he re-enter the cave, he would be lost again, not
knowing in what direction to turn to find his friend and entirely unable
to communicate with him by signal, as had been their custom when separated
and looking for each other. Should he venture away from the tunnel to
renew his search, it was scarcely possible that he could find his way back
again. He would not only lose Mickey, but he would lose himself, with not
the remotest chance of finding his way into the outer world again. So it
was clearly apparent that, having been delivered from prison, it would not
do for him to go back under any circumstances. He must remain where he
was, and whatever assistance he could render his friend, must be given
from the outside. How was this to be done?