"It's queer we haven't seen anything of him to-day," said Dick. "He must be in the cave somewhere."
"There are so many branches we can easily keep apart," said Don. "It is like the branches of a great tree lying flat underground."
"And we are like ants looking for the right branch," laughed Bob.
"I feel it in my bones that we have the right branch here," put in Robert Menden.
"An' I feel thet way myself," added old Jacob. "I think we'll have thet treasure in forty-eight hours, or sooner."
Both torches had burnt low, and now they lit fresh ones, which threw a brighter light on all sides. They were moving along in a row when the Englishman called a sudden halt.
"There is a wide crack in the rocks ahead," he declared. "Look out that somebody doesn't tumble into it."
"Does it lead to the lower caves?" asked Dick.
"I'm sure I don't know, Dick. We can throw down a stone and see."
Robert Menden was about to look around for a suitable stone, when a cry from Bob caught his ears.