John motioned to the Chief, and the latter sternly commanded John to bring forth the Korinos. John said a few words to Uraso and Muro, and also invited the boys to accompany them.
"I suppose you are all armed?" said John.
The boys and the chiefs had come well prepared, so this point was taken care of.
"But where are the lights?" asked George.
"I have them," said John, "but we shall not use them now, for reasons which will be explained later." Together they entered the cave, the darkness of which was appalling. After going in fully a hundred and fifty feet, John stopped and said: "It would have been a sign of weakness to go in with a light. When we have gone far enough to be free from the mouth of the cave, we can use our flash lights. For the present we shall move on to ascertain whether the Korinos are provided with lights,[p. 118] which will show where they are, and we may thus be guided to them."
The distance traveled must have been fully a thousand feet, when John again spoke: "I shall now throw the light directly ahead, and you must keep your eyes open to detect anything moving."
The light flashed, and was then moved slowly to the left, until it reached a cove at the extreme eastern side, where there was an evident assemblage of articles, not a hundred feet in advance of them, but there was not a sign of living beings within the scope of the light beams.
The company moved over to the spot indicated. A moment's examination satisfied them that it was really the abode of the Korinos, but they had disappeared.
The debris, the half eaten portions of food, some still warm, were sufficient to indicate that they had fled, but where? Uraso, Muro and John, all three, flashed their lights, and, after examining the walls critically, Muro was the first to find the opening from the chamber in which they were standing.
The outlet from the chamber was to the north, and toward it the explorers ran hurriedly, and passed along the contracted path, which soon turned to the left. After following its many windings, and scrambling over the broken and rocky floor, they saw ahead a streak of daylight, which gladdened the hearts of the boys.