“Well, boys, you did a good job of getting lost while you were at it,” grimly remarked Tinny, when they were safe at the top.
“Yes, we sure did!” admitted Jerry. “What time is it?”
“Almost midnight. We’ve been hunting for you since sunset. One of the miners said you started for here, but there are so many places in Echo Canyon where you might have been we didn’t know where to look.”
“I remembered this old hole,” observed Bill Cromley. “A partner of mine once got in and nearly died of thirst and starvation before we got him out. So I suggested at last that we look here.”
“And a good thing we did,” said Tinny. “Well, after this, boys, don’t go into a place unless you know the way out. And now I expect you’re hungry, aren’t you?”
“Oh, boy!” breathed Bob, but it sufficiently expressed the sentiments of the others.
Professor Snodgrass, eager and anxious, had come with Tinny, Cromley and some of the miners to the rescue. As soon as he found that the boys were safe, the little scientist inquired:
“Did you see any toads or lizards down in that pit? It ought to be a good place for them.”
“It was so dark, soon after we fell in, that we couldn’t see,” Jerry replied.