"No, I don't see how we could," muttered Jack, as he looked around him, the place being well lighted by Dick's flash. "Hello! I see what the trouble is, and now I know what the noise was."
"Well?" asked Percival.
"Some of the rocks have fallen in, Dick. That was what made the noise. Here is our rope. We are in the right place, therefore. The way up is closed, however. Or, at any rate, it is closed here, but I don't believe——"
"The rocks were not loose, were they, Jack?"
"I did not notice that they were, and there has been no rain to send them down. They must have been loose, however. How else could they have tumbled in?"
"I don't know, unless some one took a bar or a pole, and sent them down that way."
"Nonsense, Dick! Who would do that?"
"I know plenty who would do it. Who pushed you into the ravine, back at Hilltop at the risk of your life?"
"Yes, but there is no one around, and no one knew where we were going. You don't suspect little Jesse W., do you?"
"No, indeed," said Percival, with a hearty laugh, "but some one has seen us go down here, and they have thrown down the rocks to make it harder for us to get out."