Just then he stumbled over something solid, yet yielding. Groping about his feet, he recoiled in horror. It was the face of a man! In the starlight he finally made out the body, and saw that it was not one of his party.
Again Dick called out Sandy’s name, but only the echo of his voice from the yawning cavern answered him.
Dick’s head was clearing now. He thought swiftly and concluded his companions must have gone into the cavern in search of Walter MacClaren. He turned in and groped his way along, calling every now and then. Once he thought he heard a shout and stopped, but all was silent.
He had a few matches in his pocket and he drew one out and lighted it. He found himself in a large cave, evidently formed by the erosion of water. The roof of the cavern was some six feet higher than his head. Where he was standing there seemed but one passage.
“Well, I can’t get lost if there’s only the main passage,” Dick decided, and started on boldly, feeling his way in the blackness.
The cavern slanted downward slightly, and leading forward fairly straight, Dick made good time, though he tested every bit of footing to make certain he did not step off into a hole, or run into an obstruction.
Presently he could hear running water, and as the sound grew louder, he lighted another match. There was no disturbance of air and the flame burned steadily. Dick could see that the cavern branched at this point. Down one passage a swift stream of dark water flowed; the other was dry.
About to take to the cavern that was dry underfoot, Dick heard a shout somewhere in the cave before him. He thrilled as he recognized Sandy’s voice.
“Sandy, Sandy, here I am!” he answered at the top of his lungs, hurrying down the cavern from which he believed the voice had come. Once more he heard Sandy’s shout, but this time it was fainter. Then he heard it no longer.
“There must be tracks if anyone has passed here,” Dick thought, and striking a match, stooped down. Plainly, in the moist floor of the cavern, were the tracks of moccasins. But they were directed both forward and back, and meant very little.