The floor was smooth, though irregular. The mouth opening upon the waterfall was about ten feet wide, but the passage narrowed somewhat further in. Here it made a sharp turn to the right, and Hal followed the passage a hundred feet, when he was stopped by a wall of earth and rocks. There was no further exploration to make, for this was the end of the cave.
Hal flashed his lantern all around and above, but could find nothing more of particular interest, except the general formation of the cave. He was not certain that he could see the ceiling. At one place particularly there seemed to be a black void above.
The right wall of this part of the cave slanted upward like the side of a steep hill. Moreover, this side was jagged and irregular, so that Hal was certain he could climb up some distance. The other side hung over like a huge cliff, slanting at the same angle.
“This looks like a big crevice in the rocks,” mused the boy as he gazed up and around him. “I wish some more of the boys were here with lanterns. I’d like to hunt till I found something worth coming here for. It looks like a shame to have such an adventure as this and find nothing.
“Oh, yes,” he suddenly remembered; “there’s the bag of souvenirs. I haven’t examined them yet. I’ll go back and see what they are.”
So he turned to the mouth of the cave and set the lantern down on the floor, while he stooped over and untied the string around the opening of the leather bag. Pulling it apart, Hal was soon fingering a curious collection of many sorts of stones and quartz, some of which shone brilliantly in the light of the lantern.
“My! they look as if they might be worth a fortune,” exclaimed the boy as he picked up one after another and examined them eagerly, “for Mr. Miles said he wouldn’t take a thousand dollars for them.”
As he had nothing else to do, Hal continued to examine the curios for some time, becoming more and more impressed with their novelty. Some of them evidently had been altered in shape by the hand of man, particularly a few that looked like Indian amulets, and Hal was convinced that the collector had visited some deserted pueblos or cliff houses.
“Dr. Byrd said Mr. Miles had spent some time in the mountains,” he mused: “and I bet he can tell some interesting stories of the places he’s been in. When he gets well enough to be around, I’m going to ask him to tell us all about his adventures. He must have had some with that airship in the mountains.”
Hal’s meditations and his interest in the contents of the leather bag were interrupted finally by the reappearance of lights approaching along the river bank. He drew the string tight around the receptacle and tied it. Then he awaited the approach of his rescuers.