He was right when he called the path rough and they had to go very slowly picking their way over rocks some of them as large as a barrel. But they had only a short distance to go and soon the leader stopped and pointed to an opening which appeared as though cut in the wall of stone.
"Now for it," he said, pulling a flashlight from his pocket.
The opening was tall enough for them to walk upright but so narrow that they had to go single file and even then their arms sometimes touched both sides of at the same time.
"Good thing none of us is very fat," Jack chuckled as he followed close at his uncle's heels.
"It's only a step or two farther," Mr. Lakewood said and, a moment later he stopped and threw the light from his flash about a small chamber just in front of where they stood.
Then a great wave of disappointment swept over the boys for the floor of the cave was bare. Not a single oyster shell was to be seen.
"Stung," Jack gasped.
"Looks that way, doesn't it," his uncle said with no trace of disappointment in his voice.
"But where did they go?" Jack asked.
For a moment no one replied and then Bob said: "Well, I've never heard of oysters walking so I reckon we've got to conclude that some one has beaten us to them."