We decided to do just that. A day was decided upon and the necessary preparations and precautions were made. Of course, we had no idea of what lay ahead of us, nor how far our journey would take us, and I reasoned therefore that it would be better to carry too much with us than too little.
First of all I rounded up all the available lanterns that weren't otherwise in use. Then I got all of the candles we had, a supply of matches, and all of the cord in the cave. We had a lot of cord because it was the cord we used to sew the guano sacks.
We also carried a supply of food, for we meant to really go a great distance. Of course no one had to go, but most of the men wanted to see what mysterious wonders lay beyond the site of our immediate guano operation.
Fortunately there were a couple of men who didn't seem interested, preferring to remain outside. This was all right with me, for if any unforeseen emergency should arise, we could depend upon them to send for help.
We decided how long we would be gone, and I told them that if we were not back by a certain time, they were to organize a search party and come looking for us.
I told them that we would light the candles and place them at intervals along the way, and also we would string the cord along the entire distance, both methods being used in order that we could easily and quickly find our way back, as well as to assist a rescue party in following our trail should such prove necessary.
With all of these precautions being made, the suspense of our undertaking grew, and the men were quite excited and eager to get started, yet I was in no hurry to proceed until I was sure everything was in readiness, for although we were to be gone only a matter of hours, no one knew what lay ahead and I preferred to be well prepared for any emergency.
So, at our appointed hour our journey of exploration began—the first journey into the Big Cave—the first time Man had ever set eyes on its matchless wonders. How little we knew then that in the years that would follow millions of others would enter this cave to view the beauty and grandeur that Nature had been in the process of creating for countless centuries.
At times the going was pretty slow due to the uneven floor of the cave. Big boulders often had to be moved to one side, and when they were too heavy or were too well lodged in the floor to permit moving, we had to climb over them.
Generally the direction of travel was downward as the Big Cave seemed to go deeper into the earth. We were going in a westerly direction and the cave seemed to take on a maze of large connected rooms.