“I don’t see what there is to be afraid of,” remarked Chot. “If it isn’t animals, and the water itself doesn’t nearly fill the tunnel, what can it be?”
“I wish I knew,” sighed Uncle Tod. “It’s like looking for something you don’t know about and in the dark at that—for these lanterns don’t give much light. But, as I said, I wouldn’t have brought you boys out here except I believed you might happen to think of some things Sam and I couldn’t. You boys are smart, and so is Ruddy. I trust a dog where I wouldn’t a man, in sensing danger.”
“That’s right!” cried Chot. “’Member the broken bridge, Rick?”
“I should say I did,” and when they repeated this story in detail to Uncle Tod—for they had barely mentioned it before—the old miner exclaimed:
“There! What’d I tell you? Ruddy is what we got to depend on. He’ll give us warning of danger, and I might as well say that what I fear worst is getting lost in here or tumbling down some deep hole. So mind your steps, boys! We have ropes to help us in case we take a tumble, but watch out just the same.”
Thus warned the boys stepped cautiously enough, and Ruddy, too, seemed filled with a wholesome respect for the place, as he did not rush about blindly, nosing here and there as he did out in the open. He kept close to his friends, going only a little way ahead, and not out of range of the glimmer of the lanterns. And then, looking back, he would wait for the party to come up to him.
“Ruddy knows his business,” said Uncle Tod. “I thought of him first shot when I saw what had occurred here, and that’s why I wanted you to bring him, Rick. Two boys and a dog are equal to any mystery that ever happened.”
They were now fairly within the long, winding cavern or tunnel that led under the mountain and served as a course for Lost River when that stream condescended to be found. Just now no one knew where the river had hidden itself, though it was reasonable to suppose that it followed the general law of water and ran down hill. In that case it must either be flowing under the feet of the explorers, perhaps a mile or more below them, or it was off to their left or right, more or less underground.
There are underground rivers in many parts of the world, and they are always more or less of a mystery. I, myself, have explored some of them, and have been puzzled, as nearly everyone has, over the strange behavior of the streams. They appear on top of the earth, and then suddenly dip down into a gorge that they have worn away, often through solid rock. Then they disappear beneath the surface of the earth, to appear miles farther on, having gone through passages never seen by mortal eyes.
Often it cannot be said whether the reappearing river is the same one you start to trace, or another that has taken its place underground. It is all guess work, and as such is very fascinating.