And then they heard the men coming into the cave outside. Matches were struck - and the passage that led to their cave was found!
“Look here, Tom,” said a voice. “Here’s what looks like a passage - shall we see where it goes?”
“We’d better, I suppose,” said a voice. And then there came the sound of footsteps down the blocked-up passage!
The End of the Search
The children sat in the inner cave as though they were turned into stone. They did not even blink their eyes. It seemed almost as if they did not even breathe! But how their hearts thumped! Jack thought that everyone must hear his heart beating, even the searchers outside, it bumped against his ribs so hard.
The children could hear the sound of someone fumbling his way along the narrow passage. He found it a tight squeeze, by his groanings and grumblings. He came right up to the place where the children had piled rocks, stones, and earth to block up the passage.
“I say!” the man called back to the others, “the passage ends here in what looks like loose rocks. Shall I try to force my way through - pull the rocks to see if they are just a fall from the roof?”
“No!” cried another man. “If you can’t get through, the children couldn’t! This is a wild-goose chase - we’ll never find the children in these caves. Come back, Tom.”
The man turned himself round with difficulty and began to squeeze back - and at that very moment a dreadful thing happened!
Daisy the cow let out a terrific moo!