Page:The Boy Land Boomer.djvu/37

Rh He had not far to go in this fashion. Twenty feet beyond the cavern became so large that he could stand up with ease. He flashed the light above his head.

"By jove! a miniature Mammoth Cave of Kentucky!" burst from his lips.

On he went until a bend in the formation of the cavern was gained. Here the stream of water disappeared under a pile of loose stones, and the opening became less than six feet in height.

"Checked!" he muttered, and his face fell. It looked as if he would have to go back the way he had come.

Again he raised his light and gazed about him with more care than ever.

The loose rocks soon caught his attention, and, setting down the lantern, he began to pull away first at one and then another.

The last turned back, he saw another opening, evidently leading upward.

"This must lead to the open air" he began, when a grinding of stone caught his ears. In a twinkle a veritable shower of rocks came down around his head. He was knocked flat and almost covered.

For fully ten minutes he lay gasping for breath. The blood was flowing from a wound on his cheek, and it was a wonder that he had not been killed.

"In the future I'll have more care," he groaned, as,