Reaching the base of the mountain they gazed up.
"Yes, those are cave dwellings," declared Kris Kringle. "And they are still closed. Probably they haven't been opened in two hundred years."
"I'd hate to live there and have to go home in a dark night," mused Chunky.
"Yes, how did they get to their houses?" wondered the other boys.
"The question is, how are we going to get near enough to explore them? How shall we get up there, Mr. Guide?" asked the Professor.
"We'll find a way. We shall have to climb the mountain, first."
All hands began clambering up the rocks. To do so they were obliged to follow along the base of the mountain for some distance before they found a place that they could climb.
Reaching the top, the guide examined their surroundings carefully.
"See those little projections of rock slanting down toward the shelf?" he asked.
"Yes."