Down came the pick, crashed through a shell of rock, and sank out of sight, except a few inches of handle.
“You’ve hit it, sure!” exclaimed Mr. Anderson. “Make the hole a little bigger, so that we can see in.”
Max did so, knocking off the edges until Len could put head and arms in, whereupon he reported that he could neither touch nor see the further side.
Drawing back, the hole was again enlarged, and Max tossed in a stone, which was heard to roll downward a long distance.
The whole party was now excited in no small degree. Taking the superintendent’s candle in addition to his own, Mr. Anderson crept inside the aperture, cautiously descended a short incline, closely followed by the others, and soon reached a level bottom. The adventurers now found themselves in a large natural chamber—the interior, in fact, of an extensive cavity like those of a lesser size which have been described. The flickering rays of their lamps and candles let them see that overhead was a dome-like ceiling, seamed with bright streaks of galena, and interspersed, in a sort of rude fresco, with
THE FAIRY CAVE.
Silver Caves, [Page 202.]
brown carbonates of lead, greenish chlorides of silver and pure white talc. At several points in this remarkable chamber small openings appeared, apparently leading to similar chambers beyond and above.