“If we only had a light!” wailed Don. “We’re likely to break our necks or get drowned if we go on without one.”
“You just wait a second!” Clay announced, gleefully. “I’ve got a few matches in a water-tight case! Why didn’t I think of them before? I’ve carried them with me ever since we left Chicago, and never found use for them until now. Now, suppose I’ve lost the case!”
There was a moment of suspense, and then the boy’s searching hand came upon the smooth metal of the match case. There was a chance that the matches would be worthless, because of the long time they had been kept, but the boy opened the case and struck one.
A blue flame sprang up, sizzled, wound around the pine stick, and went out. It was clear that no match flame could live in that breeze unless better protected. Clay opened his wet coat and struck another. This one, protected by the coat and the body of the boy, flamed up.
Then, with the stick burning brightly, Clay pushed it ahead, shielding it with his hands as much as possible. At his feet he saw a current of water disappearing into a hole in the bottom of the passage. Beyond that point they would be obliged to wade!
“This accounts for the passage being dry below,” Clay said. “And it indicates that there’s a passage under this one. The old cliff is honey-combed with water-bores, I guess!”
The traveling was more difficult now, but the boys kept on, sloshing through water up to their ankles. At last they saw a speck of light some distance ahead, and gradually the passage widened out. The water, however, grew deeper under their feet as they advanced toward the light.
“This is a blooming river, that’s what it is!” Don shouted. “If we had a line we might catch fish in it!”
“I’ll be swimming in a minute!” Clay called back. “I’m up to my waist now! And the current is strong enough to lift me off my feet.”
The pitch of the passage was now greater than before, and the water the lads were wading in came down with a rush. When they got to the entrance they were obliged to cling to the wall to avoid being carried back into the subterranean passage.