Bobolink sometimes carried the light when the splinter of wood Paul had
held burned to its finish. He was not as careful as he might be, and
consequently twice already had they been compelled to stop and use a
precious match in order to renew the illumination.

"You want to be more careful, Bobolink," remarked Paul, as he applied a
match to the still smouldering torch his companion carried.

"I was trying to keep from trouble," grumbled the one who had been at
fault; "but something just seemed to snuff it out. Did anybody hear a
sound like a dog growling right then?"

"Oh! my, what do you mean, Bobolink?" asked Joe; "you're just trying to
scare us, and you know it. 'Taint fair either. I felt a draught of air,
and that was what puffed your light out. There ain't any wild animals in
here, are there, Paul?"

"I don't think so," replied Paul, smiling at Joe's alarm; "because you
can nearly always smell the den of a fox or a wildcat. Now, what are you
staring at, Bobolink?"

"Look there, what d'ye call that, fellows?" demanded the torchbearer,
pointing ahead to where the little light just managed to win out against
the gloom.

"Been a fire in here, that's sure," observed Jack, eagerly advancing.

In another minute all of them were bending over a flattened heap of
ashes, undoubtedly the remains of some fire made by unknown people who
had occupied the cave.

"Wonder whether they were tramps, or thieves?" Bobolink was saying.

"Perhaps neither," remarked Paul, who was looking closely about him,
with the intention of allowing nothing of moment to escape his gaze.

"Huh! then you think perhaps that Ted Slavin and his crowd might have
made this fire; is that it, Paul?" asked Bobolink, quite satisfied to
have another do his thinking for him.

"Well, hardly, because these ashes have been here a long time, perhaps
several years, for all we know," remarked Paul.

"Go back a little further, Paul, and say the mound builders left 'em,"
chuckled the doubting Bobolink, who always had to be shown.

"Look for yourselves. You know what fresh ashes are like. These have
settled down a long time. If it was outdoors now, the rains would have
washed them away; but sheltered in this cave they've just blown about by
the current of air. And see here why I know no boy sat beside this
fire," and while speaking Paul walked over to pick up several things his
quick eye had discovered.

"An old shoe, and a big one at that!" said Jack, nodd