“Well, sit up and have some grub,” invited Sam. “I kept the beans warm for you.”
“Thanks,” murmured Rick.
Fortunately Uncle Tod and Sam were too much occupied, in talking about a promising prospect they had discovered that day, to pay great attention to the boys, and so the men did not closely question Rick and Chot.
The two boys did not sleep as soundly nor as easily that night as they had on other nights since coming to Lost River camp. The reason was they were thinking too much about what might lie in that dark and mysterious hole they had uncovered.
However, youth does not need very much sleep to refresh it, and what Rick and Chot obtained was enough to make them as fresh as daisies next morning. They were up, if not exactly with the lark, very shortly following that bird famed for early rising, and after breakfast Uncle Tod said:
“Boys, Sam and I are going off prospecting. It’s in a hard place, or we’d ask you to come along. I don’t like to leave you here at the camp, but—”
“Oh, we don’t mind,” Rick was quick to say. “We’ll go off by ourselves and have some fun.”
“All right,” agreed Uncle Tod, “but be careful, and take Ruddy with you. That dog knows a lot.”
“He sure does,” assented Rick.
Matters were turning out just as he and Chot hoped they would. The boys and dog could take what supplies and food they needed and spend all day exploring the mysterious tunnel.