“And we have enough left from our lunch to make quite a respectable supper. Well, it’s perfectly useless to think of going on to-night, I can see that; the sorrel can’t endure it for one thing and the storm would overtake us before we were halfway down the mountain. We’ve got to camp out for the night—”
“But where?” inquired Talitha, looking around in bewilderment. How bleak and lonely the mountains looked, how shadowy they were growing already!
“There, there, girls, we’re not going to worry,” Miss Howard said cheerfully, noticing the troubled faces. “I’ve discovered that this is the very place where we were caught in a heavy rain storm when I was out on extension work with Professor and Mrs. Denny, and we found such a nice place to spend the night. If I’m not mistaken I can go right to it—” A snowflake struck Miss Howard’s cheek, another and another. “We haven’t any time to spare. Come on and don’t lose sight of me for a minute.”
“Wait, please, Miss Howard,” called Martin. “Tally must ride Jack and I’ll lead the sorrel.” He helped his sister mount, and then the teacher turned her horse toward the farthest side of the cove, the others following. Martin saw one rider after another disappear, for the moment, over the edge of the slope as though they had mysteriously slipped from sight. He went on with a shamefaced feeling that he was not the one to find shelter for the little company—he was older than Abner. But as well as he knew the caves and passages around Goose Creek, these were strange to him; he had never once thought of the possibility of some time needing shelter among them. Although there was no way to help himself he felt very uncomfortable. He pulled his hat brim low to shade his eyes—the snow was coming faster—and watched the last of the straggling line that in spite of his efforts was getting farther and farther away, winding down around huge boulders and clusters of laurel and pine. Miss Howard had been the first to vanish, now Talitha on the submissive Jack was also out of sight. He urged his reluctant beast forward, several times nearly missing his footing.
Miss Howard had not been mistaken. As her friends said, her bump of location was well developed. Just as the dusk and the storm were closing down upon them, she led her followers into a narrow passageway between rocky walls, and stopped at the large, black mouth of a cave.
“Here we are,” she called back. “Where are your matches? I’d like to see if the place is already inhabited.”
“I have some.” Abner sprang to the ground, handed the mule’s rein to Talitha, and came to the teacher’s side.
“Feel on the ground just inside the cave and find me some dry twigs or splinters, if you can; we must be careful of the matches.”
The boy fumbled about on his knees for a moment. “Here are some and they feel real tinder-y, too. Let me go ahead.” Abner struck a match and applied it carefully to the pine twigs he had bunched. It made a fine torch, revealing what at first appeared to be a small cave, but which gradually widened as they went on to one of considerable dimensions.
Several times the boy stopped to renew his torch. Fortunately there was plenty of material—a litter of pine, balsam, and fir boughs, as though the place had been recently occupied. There were no signs of the presence of wild animals as the young woman had secretly feared, but suddenly Abner stopped in astonishment. He instantly recognized the dark object at the farther end of the cave and shivered, remembering certain events of his boyhood days.