Jack, Walter, and Paul tore away more of the bushes screening the mouth
of the natural cave. As they removed the leafy branches the black hole
was seen to be of large size, fully high enough to permit even a tall
man to enter without stooping, and wide enough to enable three to walk
abreast.
"This is some cave!" exclaimed Jack. "I wonder Mr. Floyd never told us
about it."
"Perhaps he didn't know," suggested Cora. "I wouldn't have seen it, and
I was within a few feet of it, if I hadn't slipped and pulled away the
bush."
"Well, we'll soon see if it amounts to anything," declared Paul, setting
down the pail of berries he was carrying.
"Are you girls coming in with us?" asked Walter, looking at Cora and her
chums who had not advanced.
"I don't know. Shall we?" asked Hazel, looking at her brother.
"I don't want to stay here," said Cora. "Besides, something might happen
to the boys. But how are you going to explore the cave in the dark? And
it is as dark as a bottle of ink in there. Have any of you your
flashlights?"
"We can make a torch of wood," said Jack, when it developed that none of
them had one of the pocket electric lights.
But just as Jack and the others were about to enter the cave the
mutterings of thunder which had been increasing, culminated in such a
clap that the girls, involuntarily placed their hands over their ears.
"Come on! Run for the bungalow!" cried Cora. "Else we'll be caught in a
terrible storm! It's starting to rain now."
Some hot drops hissed down, the prelude to an almost tropical fury of
the elements it seemed.
"We can go into the cave," suggested Paul.
"No!" cried his sister. "You shan't go in there with this storm coming
up. The cave will keep. Come on, let's run!"
She darted off down the side of the mountain, the other girls following.
The boys hesitated a moment, and then, not wishing to desert the girls,
even though the latter ran first, they followed.
"We can come back to the cave to-morrow," said Walter. "It won't run
away. And to explore it well we ought to have the electric lights. Come
on."
Paul and Jack followed him, and they all reached the girls' bungalow
just as the deluge of rain came down.
For an hour or more the storm raged, blinding lightning and deafening
thunder succeeding one another. But the bungalow was snug and safe,
though once, when a tree was struck not far away, the girls screamed in
terror.
That crash, however, seemed to be the culmination of the outburst, for
from then on the rain began to slacken, and the thunder died away in
muttered rumblings and the lightning became paler and paler until it was
only a faint, shimmering light.
Then the dark sky cleared and the sun came out, shining through the
storm-riven clouds and warming the ground and trees which were dripping
from the vigorous bath.
"We got home just in time," commented Cora, as they looked out on the
ceasing storm. "A little longer on the mountain and we would have been
drenched."
"That cave was a find," commented Jack. "I want to see what's in it."
"Probably nothing more than a hole in the side of the mountain,"
commented Bess.
"I wouldn't be too sure of that," voiced Walter. "I wonder if Mr. Floyd
knows anything about it?"
It developed that the caretaker did not, though he said there were
several small mountain caves in that section, and this was probably one
of them that he had not chanced upon.
"Do you think smugglers or pirates might have used it?" asked Hazel,
with a smile.
"Hardly pirates," commented Jack. "Too far from the water. But smugglers
might have done so. We're not so far from the Canadian line."
"All bosh!" declared Paul. "It's probably a garage dating from the stone
age when the early inhabitants used the dinosaur as a jitney!"
They all laughed at his conceit and talked further of the cave and what
they might find in it when they explored it the next day.
Whether it was the severe thunderstorm, or whether it was the
culmination of the happenings of the past few weeks was not made clear,
but it was certain that the girls, even Cora, were more nervous than
they had been at any time yet.
"I--I wish we didn't have to stay here to-night," said Belle when supper
was over, and they sat out on the porch, gazing into the fast-gathering
darkness.
"Why?" asked Cora.
"Because I--I'm afraid. Come now, aren't you?" she challenged.
"Well, I can't say I like all the mysterious happenings," Cora admitted.
"And now that we know there is a cave near us--more than one perhaps--and
that we don't know who--or what--may be in them, why, I can't say it is
the most pleasant vacation we have experienced."
"This bungalow gives me the creeps!" complained Hazel.
"Why not take ours?" suggested Walter. "It's large enough for you to
sleep in, and we'll take this one. Come on, what do you say?"
"No, not to-night anyhow," decided Cora. "We'll keep to our agreement
and stay here. Mrs. Floyd will be here with us."
"And not Mr. Floyd?" asked Belle.
"No, not until later. He has to go to some town meeting I believe, and
will come in around midnight. But nothing has happened in the last few
days--not even a noise."
"I've heard noises," confessed Belle.
"What sort?" Jack inquired.
"Oh, sort of rumbling, trembling noises, and they seemed to be away down
under the ground. I heard one yesterday, when I came back to get my veil
after the others had gone out. It scared me," Belle added.
"I think the waterfall causes those rumbling noises," said Walter.
"We'll have to investigate that to-morrow."
The boys went to their own bungalow, and Mrs. Floyd came in to occupy
the small temporary bedroom. Her husband would be in later, she
explained, confirming Cora's information in that respect. The
thunderstorm had cooled the rather oppressive air and there was a
refreshing breeze blowing as the girls went up to their bedrooms.
Just who awakened first, it would be hard to say. Probably it was Belle,
as she was the lightest sleeper. Cora heard her calling, and at the same
time she was aware of another disturbance.
"Do you hear it?" asked Belle from her room.
"Yes," Cora answered. At the same time she could hear Bess and Hazel
getting up.
The whole bungalow seemed filled with a roaring, trembling noise, and
there was a slight vibration of the building.
"What is it? Oh, what is it?" cried Belle, in hysterical tones.
"I don't know," answered Cora. "But I'm going to find out."
"How?"
"By calling the boys. Mrs. Floyd, are you awake?" Cora demanded, going
to the head of the stairs.
"Yes. That noise awoke me."
"Is Mr. Floyd home?"
"Not yet."
"Then I'm going to telephone for the boys!"