THE BOY SCOUTS AS EXPLORERS
"Oh! Shucks! there she goes again!" exclaimed Bobolink, when the torch
suddenly whiffed out, to leave them in the dark.
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, nodding his head, as if
agreeing with his chum's version.
"And a tomato can with the top cut away," broke in Bobolink, as he
looked, "and a stick in the hole of the cover. Say, Paul, I guess you're
right, because I've seen tramps heating coffee in that style. It wasn't
Ted and his crowd after all; and I guess the old mound builders didn't
have tomato cans to use."
"Or coffee to put in them," laughed Paul, turning the can upside down,
and allowing some dark grains to fall on his palm; at which Bobolink
sniffed, and then threw up both hands as though giving in.
"Shall we go on further?" asked Paul. "I'm ready to leave it to the
rest."
"Sure," declared Jack, without hesitation.
"Count me in on that, Paul," came from Joe, stoutly.
"I'm all to the good," remarked Bobolink; "because, you see, we want to
know what sort of a joint we've got here; and if there's any front door
to the same. We just sort of fell in at the back entrance; which I take
it was hardly the proper thing for decent fellers to do. Skidoo, Paul;
we're on your track!"
For some little time after that they found nothing of interest. The
passage kept winding in and out, in a way that was "some confusing," as
Bobolink said. And since there were other passages branching off the
main stem Paul thought it wise to bring his red chalk into play.
Accordingly, he marked an arrow that always pointed along the right
channel, and was calculated to lead them back to where the balance of
the troop was quartered.
"That's a cinch!" was the way Bobolink greeted this action; and indeed
it seemed that no one could possibly miss the route with such a guide at
hand.
But they had forgotten that light was absolutely necessary in order to
tell the way these arrows pointed. Pretty soon Jack awoke to the fact
that they no longer seemed able to pick up small pieces of wood which
could be used as torches.
"And our supply has nearly run out, too," he added, holding up only one
more piece.
"That looks serious," said Paul; "and perhaps after all our smartness
we're going to get lost in the dark. How many matches in the crowd?"
A hasty search revealed the act that all told they could only muster
nine; for they had been using quite a number.
"That isn't much to count on, if we have to depend on them till we get
back to where we can find wood again," remarked Paul, thoughtfully.
"What shall we do, boys?"
"I'm willing to leave it to you," replied Jack; who suspected that his
chum had an idea of some sort, which he was ready to spring on them.
Both the others agreed with Jack; for they knew that Paul was better
able to grapple with such an emergency than either of them claimed to
be. And besides, it is so nice to have another fellow do all the
thinking at such times.
"Then listen," said the patrol leader; "the fact that we can feel a
draught of air plainly here tells me there must be another opening to
the cave not very far off. If that is the case perhaps we could reach it
easier than go back over all the ground we've covered. What say,
fellows?"
Every boy declared himself in favor of pushing on into the unknown
region that lay before, rather than to take chances trying to retrace
their steps. Perhaps the spirit of adventure lured them on more or less,
for it appeals to almost every lad with red blood in his veins.
"That settles it, then; and we'd better get off at once," remarked Paul,
satisfied that it was all for the best.
The last torch was speedily used. Then they crept along in the dark for
a time, after which one of the matches was struck very carefully, in
order that they might see their surroundings.
"Wow!" exclaimed Bobolink as he found himself looking into what seemed
to be a very deep and black hole; "wasn't it lucky we got the glim going
when we did? I guess I'd dropped into that pit if we'd held off any
longer. My good little angel must have warned me to light up."
After that they were even more careful. None of them felt like taking a
header into such a gulf, since a fall might break limbs, or do even
worse.
"That was my last match!" announced Bobolink, after a while.
"I've got just one more," said Jack, dolefully.
Paul had another, and Joe was completely out. Still there did not seem
to be any end to the passage; and Paul, for the first time, began to
suspect that they had made a serious mistake in deciding to go ahead,
instead of retreating.
"I'm just getting played out, and that's no yarn," announced Bobolink,
who had been limping for some little time, and grunting, as he would
himself have said, "to beat the band."
"Suppose then, you three wait here for me," proposed Paul; "I'll make
my way along further, and try to find out if there is any hope of
finding an opening. I promise to keep one hand on the wall here, so I
can get back again."
They were loth to have him go; but Joe was almost "all in" too, and Jack
thought he ought to stay with the cripples. So Paul crawled away, with
but one match in his possession, and feeling in anything but a cheerful
mood, although he would not discourage his chums by saying a word that
would add to the gloom.
He moved cautiously as he advanced, remembering how ugly that pit had
looked when Bobolink struck his match; and not wishing to find himself
tumbling into such a sink. Just how long he was creeping along in this
way after leaving his chums Paul hardly knew, but he must have covered
quite some distance. And thus far the current of air did not seem to
warrant a belief that an opening was very close by.
He was feeling discouraged, and on the point of giving it up as a bad
job when he tripped over some object that, of course, he had not seen in
the pitch dark. In trying to save himself from falling he upset
something that made quite a clatter as it struck the rocks; when to
Paul's amazement he heard a voice call out:
"Who's that?" and accompanying the words came the scratching of a
match.