ack. "Hi! Sam,
do you think I need a shower bath? I'm wet enough already." And Tom
commenced to brush the water from his face.

"I didn't mean to let it slip," answered Sam. "But say----"

What Sam was going to say further will never be known, for just then he
felt himself slipping down into some sort of a hole. He tried to leap
back, and made a clutch at Tom's legs, and the next instant both rolled
over and over and shot downward, out of the daylight into utter
darkness.

They were taken so completely by surprise that neither said a word. Over
and over they went, a shower of dirt, sticks and dead leaves coming
after them. Then they brought up on a big pile of decayed leaves and lay
there, the breath all but knocked out of them.

"Wha--what--where are we?" gasped Sam, when he felt able to speak.

"Say, is thi--this a ne--new shoot-the--the--chutes?" asked Tom who was
bound to have his fun no matter what occurred.

"Are you hurt?"

"I don't think I am, but I reckon my liver turned over about ten times.
How about you?"

"Shook up, that's all," answered Sam, after rising to his feet. "Say, we
came down in a hurry, didn't we?"

"Yes, and got no return ticket either." Tom looked upward. "Gracious!
the top of this hole is about fifty feet away! We are lucky that we
didn't break our necks!"

"Now we are down here, the question is, How do we get out, Tom?"

"Don't ask me any conundrums."

"We've got to get out somehow."

"Unless we want to stay here and save the expense of a cemetery lot."

"Tom!"

"Oh, I know it's no joke, Sam. But what is there to do? Here's a hole at
least fifty feet deep and the sides are almost perpendicular. Do you
think we can climb up? I am afraid, if we try it, we'll end by breaking
our necks."

"It certainly is steep," answered the youngest brother, looking upward.
"Say!" he added, suddenly, "do you suppose Dick went down in some such
hole as this?"

"Perhaps; where there is one hole there may be more. If he went down let
us hope he didn't get killed."

As well as they were able, the two boys gazed around them. The hole was
irregular in form, but about fifteen feet in diameter. One side was of
rough rocks and the other dirt and tree roots. At the top the
treacherous bushes overhung all sides of the opening, partly concealing
the yawning pit below.

"The rain is coming in pretty lively," was Sam's comment, presently. "I
wonder if there is any danger of this hole filling up wit