“Suthin’ wuth while,” responded the trapper; “jest hear this, will ye?” and he tapped the wall a second time.
“Varmints!” ejaculated Vic, “it’s holler!”
“In course it is, an’ thar’s a cave t’other side. Maybe thar’s an openin’ out on’t tew. Ye see, the wall is limestone, I s’pose. What d’ye think o’ thet?”
“Whar’s my knife?” replied Vic, rather irrelevantly. “Let’s dig.”
All three fell to work resolutely. The limestone crumbled away under their knives slowly but surely; slowly but surely the cavity grew, till in fifteen minutes the point of Vic’s knife went through with a plunge to the other side. This was a fresh stimulus, and the knives flew fast. In a few moments, during which no one spoke, an opening sufficiently large to admit a man’s head was made; then Wild Nat took the torch and thrust it through the hole, and by its light anxiously surveyed the cavity. It was a room, about fifteen feet in length, and of an oval shape. The trapper only waited to take a hasty survey of the place, and then fell to work again with renewed energy. In fifteen minutes more, under their united efforts, the hole was sufficiently large to allow them to pass through.
“We won’t bother to tell Kent and the little ’un, till we see ef our molasses ain’t all soap,” said Wild Nat, as he crawled into the room, followed by the others. Seeing that there was an outlet to the room, the explorers did not wait to examine it, but hurried forward into the passage. It was a narrow, winding corridor, with damp, moldy walls, which terminated in a series of small caves opening one into the other by means of small openings at a little distance from the floor.
The party gave a brief glance to each successive room as they passed through, and soon reached the fifth and last one of the series. Here they found another narrow passage, differing from the other only in the fact that they appeared to be steadily ascending.
“Best tew keep purty still,” said Vic, in reply to some remark of Scip’s; “thar’s no knowin’ how clus we may be tew the painted devils outside. Ef we’re only fortunate enough tew— Varmints, thar’s a glimmer of daylight!”
The little party hurried forward, keeping as still as possible, and soon reached the opening. A faint ray, only, of light entered, and Vic dropped beside the hole, and placing his head as near as possible, listened attentively.
“Silent as the grave,” he said, after a moment. “I guess we’re quite a ways from the mouth of t’other cave.”