"I don't say I think so," I said; "only there's a kind of a passageway that goes into the hills there. It starts in the cave. None of us ever followed it, because it's so dark and wet. A fellow found an old musket stock there once."
"What do you say?" he called; "there's no time to lose, that's sure. Shall I try it? It would take an hour to flood this pesky old hole, even if I could stop up the passage."
Then all of a sudden I knew why he had told me to be ready with the paddle. It was so I could open a little trench through the muddy land and start the water flowing into the pit. That way he'd get to the top with Skinny.
"But you can't stop up the passageway," I said. "The water flowed through it and went out somewhere—maybe through the cave and back into the lake. If it's big enough you could do the same. Both of us—"
"Stay where you are," he shouted, "and don't be a fool. Do you suppose I want to carry two fellows through there? One's enough. By heck, I'm going to try it—it's the only thing to do."
"Suppose it shouldn't bring you out anywhere?" I said.
"Suppose it should," he fired back at me.
Then he said, "Now, Blakeley, I'll tell you what to do. I'm going to start through this place with the kid—he's alive, that's the most I can tell you. It must come out somewhere and I'll bank on its coming out where you say. If it doesn't and—"
"Don't talk like that, Bert," I said; "it's got to, if you want it to. What is it you want me to do?"
He said, "I want you to beat it up through the mountains that close in Nick's Valley. That way you'll get to the lake. Don't expect to see Nick's Cove, because it's off the map. When you get to the lake, find somebody. Get over to camp if you can—I don't care how. Maybe the boat we left in the cove is cast up there—you can't tell. Anyway, keep your head and don't get excited. The lake is there. It'll be lower than it was, but all the water below the valley level will be there. Get some people and take them to Rebels' Cave or whatever you call it and just wait."