Rick and Chot pulled some of the green stalks and ate the tender inner part that was not as strong as the actual root itself. They also found watercress, but this was not good without salt and they passed it by.
In the woods they discovered sassafras and birch bark, nibbling some of each and they also saw a lone crow which mournfully cawed at them, reminding Rick of the crow Ruddy had once found in the wood disabled, which black bird Rick had taken home and tamed, naming it “Haw Haw.”
Finally the boys emerged from the wood and came to a lonely road, which did not show signs of much travel.
“This must be the road where the cave is,” suggested Chot.
“I guess so,” agreed Rick.
They walked along it for about a quarter of a mile, following the trolley car conductor’s directions, and then turned into a gully, up which, they had been told, was the cave.
And, as they turned into this gully, or gulch the boys saw in the soft earth of the road, the marks of automobile tires.
“Look! Look at that!” cried Chot excitedly.
“They’re just like the tires on Mr. Campbell’s car,” added Rick.
Eagerly they ran on, turning into the rocky and weed-choked road that led from the main highway into the gulch. And they had no more than swung around the turn than they made a strange discovery.