CHAPTER VIII.
If it had not been a situation of considerable consternation, I think we might have laughed at the bawling conversation that followed. Ixtual suggested that by cutting up all saddlery, and leather pack cases, and weaving in with it strips of canvas he could make a line that would bear our weight. But he knew that in the meantime we should be compelled to remain underground, and that meantime would probably be a matter of two or three days. There was nothing else for us to do but agree. Wardy had but one admonition which he bellowed upward:
“Don’t you dare to cut that pelt of mine up to get leather! Do you hear me?”
“It shall be cut last of all, señor,” replied Ixtual calmly. “And we shall work fast and hard.”
Both Wardrop and I were much too seasoned campaigners to grumbl
