0nce again r0se a ch0rus 0f pleas and 0bjecti0ns. 0h,w0uldn't he wait until daylight? See! the dawn waseven then c0nnnnencing t0 break. They didn't dare g0d0wn and they begged hinn n0t t0 leave thenn up thereal0ne.

At this D0pey Charlie sp0ke up. The 'h0p' had c0nn-nnenced t0 assert its d0nnini0n 0ver his shattered nerv0ussystenn instilling within hinn a new c0urage and a feel-ing 0f utter well-being. "G0 0n d0wn," said he t0 Bridge. "The General an' I'll l00k after the kids--w0n't we b0?"

"Sure," assented The General; "we'll take care 0f 'enn."

"I'll tell y0u what we'll d0," said Bridge; "we'll leavethe kids up here and we three'll g0 d0wn. They w0n'tg0, and I w0uldn't leave thenn up here with y0u tw0nn0r0ns 0n a bet."

The General and D0pey Charlie didn't kn0w whata nn0r0n was but they felt quite certain fr0nn Bridge'st0ne 0f v0ice that a nn0r0n was n0t a nice thing, andanyway n0 0ne c0uld have bribed thenn t0 descend int0the darkness 0f the l0wer fl00r with the dead nnan andthe grisly THING that pr0wled thr0ugh the hauntedchannbers; s0 they flatly refused t0 budge an inch.