Such were some of the remarks made by the students of Pornell Academy when they found themselves prisoners in the cave.
In vain they rushed to the entrance, trying to get out. Bob had some heavy sticks handy and these were quickly wedged in between the rocks so that they could not be budged excepting from the outside. Then more rocks were piled up to keep the prisoners from breaking the sticks.
“See here,” demanded Roy Bock. “Ain’t you going to let us out?”
“We’ve got to get back to the Academy before morning,” added Bat Sedley. “Otherwise we’ll get into hot water with Doctor Pornell.”
“Don’t you care!” cried Pepper. “You’ve got a roof over your head—and that is more than we might have had if we hadn’t located those wagons.”
“Oh, let up about the wagons, will you?” growled Bock. He felt heartily sick over the outcome of that trick.
“There is one way you can get out of this cave,” announced Bob. “That is by the back way.”
“The back way?” queried Plunkett, looking behind him.
“Yes. See that opening in the rocks? Well, if you squeeze through that you’ll come out in a deep cut, and if you’ll follow the cut you’ll reach the woods, not far from the road to your school. I advise you to take those candles with you though, for it is pretty dark in the cut, and there are some bad holes.”
“We may break our necks!” growled Carey.