ntire troop had been
safely housed.

Wallace being one of the first to arrive, had busied himself looking
around while the balance of his comrades were making the descent.

Finding some bits of dry wood handy he started a little blaze. This
served two purposes, for while it dissipated the dense darkness that
surrounded them, at the same time it seemed to give the drenched and
shivering lads a trifle of new courage.

"See if you can find more wood, fellows," Wallace observed, knowing that
if thus employed the scouts were less apt to grow despondent over their
discouraging condition.

As the boy scouts began to feel more comfortable, their spirits
commenced to go upward again, just as the mercury in a thermometer rises
with the coming of heat.

"We're a lucky lot, I tell you, fellows, to stumble on such a fine snug
hole in the nick of time!" declared Tom Betts, as he rubbed his hands
together, before giving his place in the front rank to another scout
less favored, and still shivering.

Some of the scouts were so utterly exhausted that presently, when they
began to feel more comfortable, as their clothes dried in a measure,
they gave evidence of drowsiness.

Mr. Gordon made these fellows lie down in a heap, and try to sleep. They
would secure a certain degree of warmth by contact with their mates.

But there were others of just a contrary mind, who had never been more
wideawake in their lives than just then. Sleep was the last thing they
thought about.

"I wonder where this cave leads to?" remarked Bobolink, after more than
an hour had elapsed.

Paul was interested, of course. Anything that bordered on mystery at
all, always had a peculiar fascination for him. And Jack was pretty much
of the same mind.

"If we could only get a few torches together," the former observed in
answer to Bobolink's remark, "I'd just like to take a little trip
around, and see what lies back there. Some of us have gone fifty feet
and more, looking for more wood; and there was no back wall to the
place. Perhaps it might have another entrance; and I'd just like to know
whether any other fellows ever did camp in here. If we found the ashes
of a fire we'd know for certain."

"Let's go!" suggested Bobolink, ready for any lark.

"But how about the torches?" continued the cautious Jack; "I wouldn't
like to get lost in such a twisting hole in the ground. That might turn
out to be worse than lying out there in the storm."

"Oh! we can g