Part 38 (1/2)

Sam was willing, and soon Tom was balancing himself as best he could.

He felt around with care, Sam moving from point to point as directed.

”Here is a sharp rock; I think I can pull myself up on that,” said Tom. He tried with all of his strength and went up off Sam's shoulders.

Then the youngest Rover heard him crawling around the wet flooring carefully.

When Tom felt fairly safe he brought out his waterproof match safe and lit a match. Then one of the torches was picked up and he lit that, but kept it partly sheltered, fearing another attack from the bats.

By the aid of the torch, Sam was able to reach a sharp rock quite low down in the well hole, and when Tom gave him a hand he came up with ease. Both saw that the pa.s.sage ended at the hole and hurried back to the main chamber of the cave.

”That's the time that right was not right,” said Sam, wringing the water from his trousers, while Tom did the same. ”Let us try the left after this.”

”I trust we don't get left by it,” added Sam.

The pa.s.sageway was small and winding, but fairly level. There were several sharp rocks to pa.s.s and then Tom gave a cry.

”I see a light ahead!”

”It must be an opening, Tam.”

”Exactly what I think.”

Both hurried forward. As they did this, the opening appeared to grow larger and they saw a number of bushes ahead of them. They pushed these aside and saw beyond a clear stretch of the bay and to the northward the house they had built. The opening was twenty or thirty feet above the beach and hidden in the rocks and bushes.

”This is a short cut to the beach from the flagstaff,” said Sam. ”I wish we had put up the flag. Then we could carry the news of the cave to the others.”

”Let us hurry back, Sam. It won't take so very long to put up the flag, with the tree still standing.”

When they reached the gully they were careful that no further mishaps should befall them. Having picked up the flag they hoisted it once more, stars down, and then went back through the cave to the beach.

As they had imagined, the others were greatly interested in the news.

All left the house and visited the place. The girls did not go any further than the main chamber, but the captain, d.i.c.k, and old Jerry made a complete investigation, taking care not to fall into the well-hole or any other unsafe place.

”As the boys say, this cave may come in very handy some time,” said Captain Blossom. ”In case of a very heavy wind storm it would be a good place for shelter.”

”Why couldn't the sailors, Lesher, and Baxter live here?” asked d.i.c.k.

”We don't want them, and it will save them the trouble of building a house, in case they don't want to live on the wreck.”

”No, I advise that we tell them nothing about the cave,” said Tom.

”If we should have a fight and get the worst of it, we could hide here and they wouldn't be able to find us very readily.”

”Do you think it will get as far as that?” asked Dora, and her face showed she was much disturbed.

”I hope not, Dora,” said d.i.c.k. ”But you must remember that we have had some pretty sharp quarrels already.”

”I think Tom is right,” came from Sam. ”We'll not tell the others anything about the cave. If they don't want to live on the wreck, they can build a house or two, just as we did.”

On returning to the sh.o.r.e of the bay, Captain Blossom and Tom went on a hunt along the beach and presently discovered the rowboat that had overturned with them during the storm.