“Are there many rooms here, Frank?” he asked.
“Oh, a good many,” answered the boy.
“Have you been in many?”
“I have been around with papa.”
“I should like to go around,” said Ernest. “Suppose we take a little walk.”
The boy was quite ready to accept any suggestion from Ernest. So he took his hand and they went from the main room farther into the cavern.
Ernest found that only the portion near the entrance had been furnished. Beyond there was a large amount of empty space. Here and there a small light revealed trunks and boxes arranged without regard to regularity. These, Ernest conjectured, contained stolen articles which had accumulated during the years in which the dreaded outlaws had been a power and a menace in the neighborhood.
It occurred to him that he would like to open some of these boxes, but the companionship of the boy prevented.
He ventured to ask, however: “What is in those boxes, Frank?”
“I don’t know. Something of papa’s and Uncle John’s.”