The torches soon became necessary for the passage sloped abruptly downward from the portal. The smoky light showed them that they were in a sort of corridor, seemingly hewn out of the rock. It was about ten feet in width and some eight or nine in height. The floor was worn almost concave by the constant tread of the feet that had passed and repassed in the bygone ages.
For some distance the sloping passage ran on, and then they suddenly found themselves in a vaulted chamber where their footsteps rang echoingly. Great stalactites hung from the roof glittering whitely as the torch light fell upon them.
“This is magnificent!” breathed the professor, “a wonderland of science.” His voice, raised a little in his enthusiasm, went booming and reverberating hollowly through the place. From the remotest corners there came rumbling back echo-like the last words of his exclamation.
“I guess we had better not talk so loud,” said Ralph, shivering a bit at this uncanny manifestation.
“No, somebody might hear you,” scoffed Walt, who was putting on an air of great assurance. Suddenly he emitted a yell and jumped about four feet. Something had crept up behind him in the darkness and laid a cold hand on the back of his neck. It was Coyote Pete who had noted the boy’s arrogance and wanted to give him a lesson. After that Walt was as quiet as a lamb.
Pressing forward, their torches showed them the entrance to another dark passage on the other side of the vaulted chamber.
“Shall we keep on?” asked the professor of his young charges.
“By all means, so far as I am concerned,” was Jack’s reply. “I don’t know about Walt, though,” he added a trifle maliciously.
“Oh, I’m all right. Don’t worry about me,” the ranch lad assured him.