re you going to do?" Darry demanded, looking up.

"I'm going to watch, right here, while you go forward and find
Tom and Dan. Bring them here, and then we'll decide what ought
to be done."

"That's rather slow," hot-headed Darry objected.

"It is, and a heap safer," Dick contended. "Hot-foot it after
Tom and Dan. I'll stay right here and see to it that the mouth
of the cave doesn't run away. Start---at once, Darry, please!
Don't let us waste time."

Knowing how stubborn Dick could be when he knew that he was wholly
right, Dave lost no time in argument. He sprinted away, and presently
Dick heard faint echoes of Darry's signaling, "hoo-hoo!"

A few minutes later the trio came up at a dog trot.

Not one of them spoke, as all had lost their breath in their haste.
Tom, now in the lead, dashed up to where Dick stood on guard
a few yards away from the bushes.

"Over there," nodded Dick, pointing to the bushes.

Tom and Dan pulled the bushes aside curiously.

"If we're going into that cave we may as well cut the bushes down,"
murmured Reade, producing a pocket knife. "Any objections, Chief?"

"No," smiled Dick, "and I'm not the Big Chief, either. Cut the
bushes down, if you want. Move over, and I'll give you some help."

Within a short time the bushes had been cut down close to the
ground, revealing an irregular shaped opening in the cave. This
aperture was about three feet high and some five feet in width.

"Did you bring that pocket flash lamp, Tom?" asked Dick suddenly.

"Thank goodness, I did," replied Reade, producing the lamp.

Dick took it and crawled a few feet into the hole.

"There's water all along on the floor here," he called, "but just
a dribble. Come in here and you'll find that you can stand up."

It needed no urging to induce the other boys to follow. Then
they stood up, in almost complete darkness, save when the flashlight
showed them their surroundings.

Some parts of the cave rose to a height of perhaps sixteen feet.
Twelve feet was about the average height. From what the boys
could see as they moved along, the cave extended for some sixty
feet.

"I don't believe there's anyone in here except ourselves," muttered
Darry in disgust, peering all around him. "In that case, we are
wasting our time in this cave. Phew! How cold it is in here!"

"And well it might be," laughed Dick. "Do you see that mass just
ahead of us?"

"What is it?" asked Dan. "Flash the light on it."