Page:Old ninety-nine's cave.djvu/64

 rivulets flowed down the mountain above, but one in particular, after a swift rush from the very summit, dropped down into the earth under Point Wawanda. Placing his ear to the earth Hernando could hear a roar as of underground waters and knew that they must have passed through some cavern or cleft far down in the mountain. Carefully taking his bearings, they were found to accord exactly with the description of the marks and locations described by Benny. Hernando felt assured that somewhere near was the cave and one of considerable extent. Directly in front of him rose a cliff over one hundred feet in height. Scaling this, the young man looked westward towards the Laurels. "Ah," he said, aloud, holding his nose at a crevice in the rocks, "one mystery is explained to my satisfaction: gas. So, 'no one that has ever seen it has been able in daylight to find whence it arose,'" he laughed. "If all instances were as harmless as this one what a delightful place to live in this dreary old world would be." He descended to his former position for a closer inspection of the cliff.