lessly.

Rick turned on his own light to supplement the dim beam of Scotty's.
Blackness yawned at the top of the slide!

Scotty was first through the hole, but Rick was right behind him. They
emerged in a continuation of the tunnel, but on a higher level. Their
lights showed that the tunnel continued.

They followed it for perhaps fifty feet, and found themselves in a cross
tunnel in which their tunnel ended.

Scotty looked at Rick in the beam of the flashlight.

"We're somewhere," he said. "But where?"

Rick grinned. There was a definite breeze blowing, and he knew the
outside and safety were not far away. "We're in the mine, under the same
old hill. Soon as we find the source of that breeze, I'll identify our
position within two feet."

Scotty returned the grin. "What are we waiting for? Let's go!"

CHAPTER XVIII

The First Fact

Rick said, "Hold it a minute. Which way do we go? If we assume the
tunnel we came out of was fairly constant in direction, we should turn
right to come out on the side of the hill where we saw the Frostola man
a while ago. If we turn left, we go deeper into the hill."

Both boys saw the implication the moment the words left Rick's lips.
"Right it is," Rick added quickly. "First thing we have to do is see if
there really is a way out."

They turned right into the cross tunnel, and met the breeze head on. So
long as they followed the direction of the breeze, they were approaching
the outside air.

Within a hundred feet they saw a glimmer of daylight and broke into a
run. The glimmer became an opening, irregular in shape, but obviously
big enough for an entrance.

"We made it!" Rick exulted. "Let's get a good look at that sunshine!"

"Careful," Scotty cautioned. "We'll have to let our eyes adjust fully or
the glare will hurt. Besides, it may not be a good idea to go barging
out into the open. Might be some ghosts hanging around."

"You're right. Anyway, let's take a brief look. What's blocking the
opening?"

As they approached he saw that it was the trunk of a fallen tree,
festooned with blackberry bushes. When they looked through the entrance,
blinking in the light, they saw that the tree wasn't really a block,
because there was plenty of room to crawl out of the tunnel.

"That trunk makes a mighty good shield," Scotty said thoughtfully. "Bet
this entrance is invisible ten feet away, except from the air!"

"And I'll add my own bet, that the entrance is very close