Page:The Boy Land Boomer.djvu/36

28 him. If he falls into the clutches of some of our land agents they'll swindle him out of every cent of his fortune. I must give him and the boy the tip when I get the chance." The great scout laughed softly. "When I get the chance is good. I reckon I had best pull myself out of this man-trap first."

He made a careful investigation of the rocks. At no point was there anything which gave promise of a footing to the top.

"In a pocket and no error," he mused. "I wonder if I've got to stay here like a bull-croaker at the bottom of a well?"

The rain had formed a long pool between the slanting rocks. He threw a chip into this pool and saw that it drifted slowly off between two scrub bushes growing partly under a shelving rock.

With the light he made an inspection of the locality, and a cry of surprise escaped him. Beyond the bushes was the opening to an irregular, but apparently large cavern.

The stream flowed along one side of the flooring to this opening.

"Must be some sort of an outlet beyond," he mused. "I'll try it and see," and in a moment more he was in side of the cavern and crawling along on hands and knees.