“I tell you—the boys must be coming back by this time. You go meet them while we finish picking these grapes and when they come we’ll explore the thing. Cut some big sticks and bring them along, Carol.” Alice had hardly finished speaking before Carol was off.
Fifteen minutes later the boys were heard hallooing below them. They came swarming through the thicket excited and breathless.
“Bully for Chicken Little Jane!” cheered Sherm when they got the facts. “Here, Carol, give me your knife and I’ll hack away some of these vines.”
The boys cleared a way in a jiffy, letting in a stream of light at the same time so they could see more of the hole.
“I bet you ’tis!”
“Geewhillikens, I wonder how big it is!”
“Alice says somebody has been in there—they have too—see there!”
“Here boys, go slow. Light a match and throw it in and see how much you can see,” Alice counselled.
The match illuminated only a little way and a lone chipmunk darted out. It was certainly a cave but apparently empty as they heard no further movement.
The boys tied a half dozen matches on the end of a stick and thrust it in. This improvised torch worked beautifully. The cave was only a small affair about three feet one way and five the other—not high enough for Carol to stand upright. It was so hung with cobwebs they could not see into the corners clearly. The floor was partly covered with dead leaves that had drifted in and were fast decaying into mold.