without standing for any of your alleged witticisms!"

While the boys sat in the boat, occasionally moving it from side to
side, a shaft of light appeared directly above the point where the
shale had been heaped up. It moved swiftly about for an instant and
then dropped out of view. It was a moment before either boy spoke.

"That's some of Tommy's foolishness!" Will declared.

George repeated the Beaver call several times, but no answer came.

"That's a searchlight, anyway!" insisted Will. "And I don't believe
these ginks in the mines have electric searchlights to lug around with
them!"

Will unshipped an oar and struck the water with the flat of the blade
several times, exerting his whole strength.

"Keep it up!" advised George. "That sounds exactly like a beaver's
tail connecting with the surface of a stream!"

"Yes, keep it up!" cried a voice out of the darkness. "Keep it up,
and perhaps some beaver'll come along and build a dam to get you out
of that mess you're in! You're always getting into trouble, you two!"

"You've got your nerve with you!" exclaimed Willy, half-angrily.
"Here you go out in the night and get lost, and we come out after you,
and the mine gets flooded, and we get tied up between the solid wall
and a bend in the passage, and then you blame us for getting into
trouble!"