“Yes, and we’re running swifter than before,” put in Sam.
The next instant found them in the tunnel, rushing past great masses of black rocks. Nothing but smoky lamps lit up the car and Mark was gazing at one of these, when of a sudden the train came to such a short stop that everybody was pitched forward.
“We’ve struck something,” cried Darry, as he scrambled up from the floor, to which he had been hurled.
“Is anybody hurt?” came anxiously from Professor Strong, as soon as the shock was over and the car came to a standstill.
“I pinched my hand on the seat,” answered Mark. “But it doesn’t amount to anything.”
The passengers were climbing out of the train, to learn the cause of the sudden stoppage. They found the train hands gathering about the engine and with them was a track-walker who had given them the signal to stop.
“There has been a cave-in ahead, he says,” said Professor Strong, after listening to the track-walker. “If the train hadn’t stopped we might all have been killed.”
The track-walker talked excitedly, in Spanish and in broken English, and some of the party went ahead to inspect the cave-in. A large mass of rocks had fallen and it was easy to see that the track would not be cleared for several hours.
“Now what’s to do?” grumbled Hockley. “I’m sure I don’t want to stay boxed up in this tunnel till they clear that stuff away.”
“I don’t see what else we can do,” answered Sam, “unless we walk all the way back to La Guayra.”