Dick Sand then thought that Bat had succeeded in passing outside when the black emerged.
"Well!" exclaimed Dick Sand.
"The hole is stopped up by rubbish!" replied Bat, as soon as he could take breath.
"Stopped up!" repeated Tom.
"Yes," replied Bat.

"The water has probably diluted the clay.

I have felt around the walls with my hand.

There is no longer any hole." Dick Sand shook his head.

His companions and he were hermetically sequestered in this cone, perhaps submerged by the water.
"If there is no longer any hole," then said Hercules, "we must make one." "Wait," replied the young novice, stopping Hercules, who, hatchet in hand, was preparing to dive.
Dick Sand reflected for a few moments, and then he said: "We are going to proceed in another manner.