What were they up to? How could she explain to them that she must be above ground to watch for her friends?
“Come!” The girls heard Rosa’s voice coming from the cavern. Terry sat down and putting her feet through the opening, found that they rested on a slippery rock. Getting a foothold she put up a hand for Prim. Slipping and sliding down the slope the two girls found themselves in a strange purple glow. When they reached the first level place, Pedro and Rosa were waiting for them.
Terry stood gazing about her. They were in an enormous cave, lined with crystals, and the sunlight which shone through the opening, caught the facets of the crystals and shot out in flashes of color: red, orange, yellow, blue, indigo, violet, and all the thousands of shades between. It was a gorgeous spectacle. The girls were breathless. They had often read of the crystal caves and wished that they could see one.
Finally Terry turned to her sister. “Would you believe it, Prim? For a few seconds I thought something had happened to us, that we had fallen down and been killed.”
“Killed! What are you talking about, Terry? Have you gone crazy from all this excitement?” cried Prim anxiously.
“I thought—well you see I wondered if this was heaven. It’s so beautiful, it might easily be. Even yet I can hardly believe it’s real,” said Terry with a little catch in her voice. “I want to cry!”
“You cry! That’s a joke! Let me see you do it once!” teased Prim. “It’s not often you feel that way, so go ahead. Don’t let me stop you.”
But Terry did not cry. She turned to Pedro and Rosa and thanked them for bringing her to this wonderful cave.
Sea water rose in the cave and made a lake. Finally as their eyes got used to the darkness below they could see a boat. It was built of woven twigs and covered with skin. A small boy who had followed them into the cave, dived into the dark water and swam to the boat. Others followed and the small craft was soon full of little dark figures. With whoops of delight they paddled the boat wildly about the lake.
“Even savage boys have to show off,” said Prim with a laugh.