their horses' feet, the occasional fall of a
dead branch or the rattle of loose stones and the tinkle of the stream,
the only sounds were those of the boys' voices.

"This place sort of gives me the creeps!" remarked Nort with a little
shiver and a backward glance. "We might as well have called it a
Pirate Den as what we did."

"It is sort of dismal," assented Bud. "But I guess we aren't going to
find out anything here, so we might as well turn back in a little
while."

"Say after the next turn," suggested Dick, indicating a place where the
defile swung around a shoulder of bare rock.

"Suits me," came from Bud.

They reached the big rock, swung around the narrowest section of the
defile they had yet encountered and, a moment later, made a discovery
which filled them with surprise.

Burrowing into the side of the gorge, just beyond the sharp turn, was a
cave with an arched opening. At first glance it looked as if it had
been cut by the hand of man, but it evidently had been made by the
erosion of water through many centuries.

"Jumping flapjacks!" cried Nort, pointing to the cave. "Do you see
that?"

"Why not?" chuckled his brother. "It's big enough to be seen."

"But did you know it was there?"

"I didn't," put in Bud. "Though that's nothing, for this is the first
time we've ever been here. But dad said this was a wilder and
different country than back home, and caves aren't anything unusual."

"No," assented Nort, "and I s'pose I might have expected to find one or
more in these hills. But it sort of startled me. Wonder if there's
anything in it?"

"Meaning bears, wildcats or other such varmints?" inquired Dick with a
laugh.

"Yes," said Nort. "Or maybe rustlers might have hung out in there."

"The only way to find out is to go in and have a look," suggested Bud.
And, urging on their steeds, which they had, involuntarily, pulled to a
halt, they were soon at the cave entrance. It was big enough to give
passage to a man on horseback--at least for a little distance within,
but the boys did not think it would be safe to guide their ponies into
the cavern. They were not certain of the footing.

Dismounting, then, at the opening, and tethering their horses, the
three boys entered the dark hole, not without some trepidation. For it
was very dark; the outside light, which was not strong on account of
the darkness of the defile, only penetrating a short distance inside
the cavern.

Their foots