brought nothing but desolation and despair.

"This must be the source of the lava flow when the whale's hump is in
eruption," said Drew in a toneless voice.

"I suppose so," said Ruth in a voice that for dreariness was a replica
of his own. "Do you think it's possible for us to get around it in any
way, Allen?"

"Not a chance in the world," answered Drew. "You can see that the
passage we followed ends at the brink of the crater. From there on,
there's just a wall of solid rock. The only thing left for us to do is
to get back to the place where the cave split into three parts."

They retraced their steps with hearts that grew heavier at every step.
The passage that had seemed most promising had yielded nothing but
bitter disappointment. Only two other chances remained, and who could
tell that they led anywhere but to death?

At the juncture of the passageways, they hesitated for a moment only.
There was absolutely nothing to indicate that they should take one of
the remaining two paths rather than the other. Impenetrable blackness
covered both.

"Which shall it be, Ruth?" asked Drew.

"You do the choosing, Allen," Ruth responded.

At a venture he took the one leading to the left, but had not proceeded
more than a hundred feet when he stopped abruptly on the very brink of
a chasm that spanned the entire width of the passage-way. There was no
ledge however narrow to furnish a foothold along its sides. Once more
they were absolutely blocked.

Drew checked a groan and Ruth stifled something suspiciously like a
sob. The tension under which they were was fast reaching the breaking
point.

"Never mind," said Drew, stoutly recovering himself. "There's luck in
odd numbers and the third time we win."

"First the worst, second the same, last the best of all the game,"
responded Ruth with an attempt at heartiness.

Again they went back and took the only way remaining. Upon the ending
of that passage their life or death depended.

But as they advanced steadily and no barrier interfered, their spirits
rose. Then suddenly they cried aloud in their joy, for on turning a
sharp bend in the path a rush of air almost extinguished the torch that
Drew was carrying.

A hundred feet ahead was an opening thickly covered with bushes, but
large enough to admit of forcing a passage!

Ruth dropped her load of surplus torches. Drew, grasping her arm,
hurried her along. He forced the bushes apart and pushed her through