Somebody had painted above it, “Fat Man’s Agony.”
“Don’t worry me a bit,” said Peanut.
“Quick, let’s get through, and watch Mamma come out,” cried Alice.
Art and the pink girl had disappeared into the hole already, Art going first. Alice lay down on her stomach and began to wriggle through after them, Peanut following. The guide remained behind to help the rest. The passage was on an incline, leading upward, and it seemed very long. It was certainly very dark. But they emerged presently (the tunnel coming out four feet above the ground, so one had to do quite an acrobatic stunt to gain his feet, if he was coming head foremost), and found Art and the pink girl waiting for them at the mouth of a cave.
Behind them they could hear the screams and laughter of the rest, and Mamma’s voice exclaiming, “I never can get through there, I tell you!”
Alice put her face to the hole and shouted back, “Come on, Mamma, we’ll pull you through if you stick!”
Then she looked at her feet. “Gee, Grace,” she called to the pink girl, “I’m soaked up to my knees!”
“I was soaked up to my neck two days ago,” Peanut laughed. “You’ll dry. Anyhow, we can build a fire when we get out, and you can take off your wet things, and sit with your little pink tootsies to the blaze.”
Alice, with a laugh, gave him a slap on the cheek.
“Why, Alice!” exclaimed the pink girl, shocked.