Randy did not reply but instead shot his light ahead into the darkness. Ted saw before them a huge cave entrance.
“Gosh, do you suppose that’s the den of some wild animal?” Ted asked.
“I don’t know,” Randy answered in a quivery voice. “It seems like a good place to stay if it isn’t.”
Jill had joined them by now. She too had taken some of the load of the spare oxygen cartridges.
“Are we going into that spooky place?” Jill asked.
“We can go up to it carefully and shine our light in,” Ted said. “But we’d better be ready to run if something comes charging out! I wish I had that gun now!”
Jill hung back as Randy and Ted moved stealthily forward toward the black cavern entrance. Randy had his light shining directly into it all the time they were moving. When they were at the threshold of the cave, they got a good view of the interior.
“It’s not deep at all!” Ted said. “It just goes back a little way.”
“It looks deserted too,” Randy added. “Seems safe to me. What do you think, Ted?”
“Let’s go inside and see if there’s anything lying around,” Ted suggested. “If it’s a den, there ought to be bones and things.”