"Oh! Oh, thank goodness!" gasped Polly. "I shoved the torch ahead! I'd have fallen headlong into this abyss."
"What is it, Poll?"
"A pit ever so wide, and I can't see how deep it goes down. It's right in the tunnel ground, cutting off all further investigations."
"It'll cut off investigations of a wild beast, too, won't it?" asked
Eleanor with relief in her tones.
"Of course—there isn't a chance of anything coming in this way. I can hear water rushing, too, way down at the bottom, and the wind blows up from this pit, so there must be an opening down there where the subterranean river rushes out."
"Maybe this tunnel was a river, once, and emptied down into that pit," ventured Eleanor.
"I don't care if it was! I'm anxious to go back and eat, now that we know the worst," replied Polly.
"We won't need both torches now, Poll, so drop yours in the pit and see how deep it may be," suggested Eleanor.
"All right, but for pity's sake don't let yours go out!"
Polly waited to steady the flame and then dropped the torch. It fell straight down and flared up showing the rocky sides of the pit, then suddenly it "sh-isshed" in water and all was dark once more.