"Now we're all right, are we, Ruth?" cried Tom.
"I remember this place," the girl of the Red Mill replied. "I couldn't be mistaken. Now you take the lantern, Tom, and lead on."
They pursued the tunnel to its very end. There it branched again and Ruth boldly took the right hand passage. Whether it was right, or no, she proposed to attack it firmly.
After a time Tom exclaimed: "Hullo, Ruthie! do you really think this is right?"
"What do you mean?"
He held up the lantern in silence. Ruth and Ralph crowded forward to look over his shoulders.
There was a heap of rubbish and earth half-filling the tunnel. It had not fallen from the roof, although neither that nor the sides of the tunnel were of solid rock.
"You never came through this place, Ruth!" exclaimed Ralph, in that "I-told-you-so" tone that is so hard to bear.
"I—I didn't see this place—no," admitted Ruth.
"Of course you didn't!" declared Ralph, crossly. "Why! it's right up against the end of the tunnel."