“Do you suppose Bart came this way?” Judy finally asked. “Couldn’t he have taken any number of branch-offs?”
“The branch-offs are dead-end streets, so to speak,” replied the captain. “If I know that lad, we’ll find him at the siphon, or we’ll not find him this voyage. Tired?”
“My legs feel sort of cramped,” Judy confessed, ashamed of her weariness. “But I’m all right.”
“We’re nearing the end,” the captain encouraged the girls. “The last few yards are the hardest. Then we’ll bring up at the siphon.”
“And if Bart isn’t there?” asked Judy.
The old captain did not answer. He gazed thoughtfully at his sturdy boots, tested his light briefly on the limestone wall, and then signaled that he was ready to resume the descent.
Not far beyond the point where they had rested, the three explorers came to a chamber so large that it seemed to have no surrounding walls.
At its entrance, Captain Hager hesitated, seemingly reluctant to go on.
“If we continue to the siphon, we must cross this chamber, with no wall to guide us,” he explained. “Beyond, in the darkness, there is a single narrow passageway leading on. If we hit the target, we’ll soon be at the end of the cave. If we miss, we may spend hours, trying to grope our way. We’ll be like a ship wallowing without chart or compass. Unless you have plenty of nerve—”
“We have,” Judy said resolutely. “We’ve come so far now, we can’t turn back without learning whether or not Bart is in the cave.”