The opening on one side of the gully was an irregular one, and beyond this was a large cave having several chambers. All was pitch dark in the inner chambers, and they lit some brushwood to give them light. Then a regular fire was started, which did much toward making the surroundings warmer and more cheerful.
Dan Baxter and his friends were hungry, and lost no time in preparing a meal. Tom and Sam were led to one side of an inner chamber, and the rope fastened to their hands was bound tightly to the protruding roots of a tree.
"Now, don't you attempt to escape," said Baxter. "If you do—well, you'll wish you hadn't, that's all."
And then he rejoined his companions in the outer chamber, leaving poor Tom and Sam to their misery.
CHAPTER XXII.
JASPER GRINDER TRIES TO MAKE TERMS.
"Well, Tom, this looks as if we had put our foot into it," was Sam's comment, delivered in a whisper.
"Don't despair, Sam," said his brother cheerfully. "We have been in worse holes, remember, and always managed to escape with a whole skin."