amp from
spray and leakage.

"Well, Nugget, we must make the best of it," he said. "All we can do is
to push on in the dark. Is that the last match?"

"One left," answered Nugget dolefully, and heaved a long sigh.

"Don't use it, then. It may come in handy later on. The situation is not
as bad as it looks. We can stick close together and push the canoes
ahead of us. In that way we won't run any risk of striking the wall. Of
course we can't move very rapidly, but our getting out of the cavern is
only a question of time."

"I hope it won't take long," said Nugget. "A day or two of this would
drive me mad."

Just then the match he was holding burnt to the end and fell in the
water. He restored the box to Ned, and taking hold of the canoes at the
stern ends, they moved slowly through the darkness.

No words can adequately describe the suffering and thoughts of the two
lads during the next hour. Nugget could not repress an occasional
complaint, and even the stout hearted Ned felt at times as though he
must cry out.

The fate of Clay and Randy weighed almost as heavily upon him as his own
misfortunes. He knew their chance of escape had been very slight, and he
feared they had not been able to take advantage of it. Little wonder
then that he looked forward with almost equal dread and joy to reaching
the end of the cavern.

That ordeal, however, promised to be long delayed. It was a painfully
laborious task to accomplish even a snail-like progress through the dark
passage.

What lay before them the boys could only imagine, and they constantly
feared some calamity. It was impossible to keep the canoes straight.
They veered to right and left, striking the rocky sides of the channel,
which actually seemed to be growing narrower.

Every few moments they stuck fast on a shoal or submerged reef, and then
Ned had to feel his way to the front with his paddle, and dislodge them
by main force. The water was of variable depth, and half a dozen times
the boys suddenly plunged breast deep into a hole, but fortunately did
not let go of the canoes.

At the end of an hour the situation was unchanged. As yet not a ray of
light was visible ahead. Ned cheered his companion with hopeful words,
and both struggled on and on, straining their eyes through the gloom to
catch the first glimpse of light.

They felt that their powers of endurance would soon be spent. They were
intensely weary, and chilled to the bone by their dripping clot