complained of wanting to sleep, and it was all we could do to
keep him moving. I walked on one side of him, holding his arm, while
Wryburn, another of the party, supported him on the other side. Brad
walked in front, carefully scanning the walls of the tunnel for signs of
an opening.

"After we had gone a considerable distance in this manner, we heard a
faint roaring sound, that grew constantly louder as we pushed forward.

"It sounds like water," said Wryburn. "We must be coming to a
subterranean river."

"We had little doubt that this theory was correct, and pressed forward
with renewed hope. At any rate, we had the assurance that the tunnel
would not end in a blank wall, as we had feared, and so force us to
retrace our footsteps.

"We were held back badly by Bob, though, who, by now, had become almost
helpless. We were forced practically to carry him, and he seemed to have
lost consciousness.

"All things have an end, however, and at last we stood on the bank of the
underground river. It was two or three hundred feet wide, and raced
along with a very powerful current. By this time you may be sure we were
very thirsty, as well as hungry, and the cold water satisfied one craving
if not the other. After we had drunk our fill we set to work dressing
Bob's wounded hand as well as we could, which is not saying much. He
seemed to be in a sort of coma, from which we were unable to arouse him."

"After we had made him as comfortable as possible we discussed plans of
escape. I was of the opinion that our best course would be to follow the
river in the hope of its emerging into the open at some point. There
seemed to be no objection to this from my companions, so after a short
rest we started out. First, we improvised a rude stretcher for Bob, and
took turns carrying it."

"At the spot where we had first come upon it, the river was edged with a
little strip of coarse gravel, but, as we progressed, this became
narrower and narrower, and the river seemed to be running with even
greater velocity than before. At last the strip of beach disappeared
altogether, and we had no choice but to enter the water. We splashed
along wearily, and hope burned lower and lower in our breasts. To add to
our troubles, our stock of torches was almost exhausted, and we were
forced to burn only one at a time, to make them last longer.

"The walls between which the stream now ran got closer and closer
together, with the result th