NUGGET DISCOVERS A LIGHT
The half-burned match fell from Ned's trembling fingers, and went out on
the sand. Then there was silence for nearly a minute--a terrible,
oppressive silence.
It was broken by a sharp cry from Nugget that echoed far through the
cavern. He seized Ned by one arm and clung to him, trembling from head
to foot.
"Is there no hope?" he wailed pitifully. "Must we stay in this awful
place until we die? I can't stand it, Ned, indeed I can't. Oh! do
something quick, won't you?"
Ned was at a loss to reply. His own heart was full of misery and
despair. What word of comfort could he give his companion? Would it be
wise to give him any--to excite hopes that might never be realized?
He put his arm about Nugget, and this seemed to comfort the lad a
little.
"We will surely find a way to escape, Ned?" he asked in a calmer tone.
"Don't you think so?"
"It shan't be our fault if we don't," returned Ned. "You must be brave,
Nugget--brave and patient. We are worn out and exhausted now, and must
have rest before we can do anything more."
"I was awfully tired a minute ago," said Nugget, "but I feel now as
though I could push on all day if I was sure of finding the way out of
this cavern. Do you think we will have to go all the way back--to the
place we entered by, I mean?"
"I hope that won't be necessary," replied Ned. "The simple truth is that
we have blundered into a side passage, that has no outlet. It can't be
very long since we got off the right track, for I remember the current
against my legs. We will go back after a while and find the turning."
"In this pitch darkness?" exclaimed Nugget.
"We will feel our way along the wall," said Ned, "and if the canoes are
in the road we'll abandon them. We won't start now though. Sit down and
take a good rest. You will need it."
Nugget obediently climbed into his canoe, and Ned did the same. For a
long while they sat thus, side by side, without speaking. Ned's courage
was almost at the breaking point. In spite of his sanguine words he felt
that the chance were terribly adverse. Without a ray of light to guide
them it would be a difficult matter to find the main channel of the
stream again, and follow it to the outlet which must certainly exist.
There was danger of falling into deep holes, of striking sharp rocks, or
blundering into other side passages with which the cavern was doubtless
honeycombed.
Oppressed with such sad reflections Ned let the time go by unheeded,
and at length, through very fatigue, he fell into a kind of doze. How
long he remained thus he did not know, but he was suddenly roused to
consciousness by a shrill cry from Nugget:
"Look, Ned, a light! a light!"
Ned first believed that his companion was either dreaming or in
delirium, but when he glanced along the passage he saw a yellow
flickering glare, and outlined against it a tall black figure.
"It's a man with a torch," cried Ned hoarsely.
"And he's going away from us," exclaimed Nugget, "call him, quick!"
The boys made the cavern ring with loud shouts, and when a quick
response came they were almost frantic with joy.
The torch was motionless for an instant. Then it came nearer and nearer,
casting a ruddy light on the slimy walls of the passage, until the boys
could see plainly the tall bearded man who carried it.
"Found at last!" exclaimed the stranger in a cheery voice as he waded
out on the beach. "This will be good news for them other chaps."
"Are our friends safe?" cried Ned eagerly. "Did they escape the flood?"
"Yes," replied the man. "Didn't even get wet or lose their canoes. Come
right along now, an' I'll take you to them. I wouldn't let them enter
the cavern for fear of accidents. This ain't the time to explain things.
All that will come later. My name is Jonas Packer, an' I'm the man what
blowed that horn this morning when I seen you chaps down on the creek."
In view of Mr. Packer's evident anxiety to get out of the cavern as soon
as possible the boys repressed their desire to ask more questions. Pain
and fatigue were forgotten as they entered the water and pushed the
canoes back along the passage. While their guide preceded them, holding
the blazing torch over his head.
Five minutes later they reached the main channel, and turning a sharp
angle found themselves in swiftly running water once more.
"This is where you boys got astray, I reckon," said Mr. Packer. "It's
good you sung out when you did, because I was going right on to the
front end of the cavern. I didn't think about this side pocket at the
time."
"Are we near the rear end?" inquired Ned.
"Purty close," was the reassuring reply. "You'll know when you come to
it."
For half an hour longer the boys pushed on through the narrow winding
passage, finding the stream as rugged and full of difficulties as it had
been earlier in the day. With Mr. Packer's aid, however, they readily
skirted the deep pools and pulled the canoes over the obstructing ledges
and shallows.
Then, somewhat to their consternation, they saw a jagged wall of rock
towering before them. This was undoubtedly the termination of the
cavern, but where was the outlet?
"Hold this over your head and stay right here," said Mr. Packer,
handing Ned the torch. "I'll be with you in a minute."
He waded toward the wall, pulling the canoes after him, until the water
was above his waist. Then, one at a time, he shot the canoes into a
long, low crevice at the base of the cliff, and they vanished with a
grating noise.
He waded back to the boys and led them to a narrow strip of sand on the
right of the passage. Without a word he climbed nimbly up the rocks and
entered a circular hole where the space was so contracted that Ned and
Nugget had to bend almost double and hold their arms in front of them.
They made several sharp turns, slipped down a slide of moist, sticky
clay--and emerged suddenly into the warm, sultry air of the outer world.
A glad cry fell from the boys' lips. A few yards distant lay the surface
of the creek, and in the angle formed by the shore and a rocky hillside
that fell sheer to the water, was a snowy tent, and a campfire behind
it, and two slim figures standing in the flame light. The next instant
the Jolly Rovers were united, and with joy too deep for words they
clasped hands.
Mr. Packer slipped quietly away, and jumping into a boat paddled after
the two canoes which had emerged from under the cliff a moment before,
and were now sliding swiftly down stream.