Though, of course, he did not know it, the noise was occasioned by the falling rock dislodged by Hunt and his followers.
“Wonder what that was?” thought the boy, little guessing the real cause.
“If we were in the west I should think it was an earthquake. But I never heard of any in the Adirondacks.”
Before long he gained a point in the passage where he knew he should have seen a disc of daylight ahead of him. Puzzled by its absence, the boy pushed on. Every minute he expected to see the light, but the darkness continued to prevail. Sorely perplexed, he took a few steps more, when he was abruptly confronted by a mass of solid rock. The passage appeared to have terminated.
It was several moments before the meaning of this conveyed itself to the boy’s mind. When he mastered the situation it was with a sense of shock that for an instant almost deprived him of his senses.
Recovering his wits he lost no time in communicating his alarming intelligence. Incidentally, the cause of the noise he had heard was abundantly explained.
It required but a brief examination by the major, to make known the full extent of their calamity.
“We are walled in,” he said hoarsely.
“Is there no hope of escape?” gasped the professor. The boys were too much overcome to speak.
The major shook his head. Unconsciously he repeated Tubby’s words.