“You see—I told you we’d better go back. Come on.” Florence turned around and started toward the entrance. When she had gone only a few steps she noticed that Jo Ann was not following her. Looking back, she saw her leaning over, examining the pile of debris and fallen stones.
“Look! The tunnel’s almost blocked by this cave-in!” Jo Ann called. “There’s only a small opening left over here on one side.”
“Well, we can’t go any farther, so let’s get out before it caves in some more,” insisted Florence.
“I don’t believe there’s any danger of that. Look at the dust on these stones. They’ve been here for years and years. Maybe a cannon ball shattered this part of the tunnel in one of the wars.”
“Maybe so, but I’ll feel better when we get away from here.” A moment later she cried out in alarm on seeing Jo Ann climb up toward the hole. “Jo, you mustn’t crawl in there!”
“Why not? I want to see if this is the end of the tunnel. There isn’t any danger. These stones are solid. See, I’ve felt every one of them.” Jo Ann pushed first one stone, then another, to show that there was no danger of their slipping; then with her flashlight ahead of her she thrust her head and shoulders into the opening.
To her disappointment she could see only a short distance. Eager to see as far as possible, she wriggled carefully over the jagged stones, farther into the opening, and held her flashlight at arm’s length.
“Oh, this is nothing but a little cave-in!” she called back in a muffled tone. “The tunnel goes on a long way. There’s no sign of the end of it. Let’s crawl on through.”
“No indeed, I’m not going in that hole,” Florence replied promptly. “And you’d better get out right a——”
A muffled shriek from Jo Ann broke into her sentence. “Oh, I’ve dropped my flashlight on the other side! Now I’ve—” she stopped to cough violently—“I’ve got to crawl through—and get it.”