Ford salvaged what he could of Gary's work over the next few days, and pushed the tunnel deeper into the cliff.
There wasn't an abundance of timber in this desert area, and certainly nothing strong enough to hold up the roof of the deep cave being dug.
Thankfully, after a certain point, it did become clearing out debris rather than digging anew, though Gary had certainly tried to do the latter.
The main problem lay in the fact that the original tunnel was incredibly narrow. The original people down here had likely been reduced to turning sideways and squeezing through parts of it, which was fine for spelunkers, but difficult for diggers.
After all, every shovelful and rock that was loosened had to be brought back out again.
Instead of painstakingly breaking the rocks into pieces small enough to fit, Gary had elected to widen the gap.
A sound strategy, when you have the materials to make sure the area stays as stable as it should.
