I'm satisfied now that the underground stream empties into James Lake.

The tunnel through to the lake may be too small for exploration. I suspect it is, but at any rate, our curiosity is satisfied."

"And we've found ourselves a cave!" Dan said. He caught himself talking in a half whisper. "Won't the Cubs be jarred when we tell 'em about this!"

"We haven't found our missing paddles though," Brad remarked. "Wouldn't you think they'd be floating around in this pool?"

"One would think so, unless they were sucked on down the tunnel to Lake James," Mr. Hatfield remarked.

He trained his most powerful flashlight on the dark stream. No longer a whirlpool, only a slight circular motion could be observed.

Piles of sticks and debris drawn into the cave from the river, had acc.u.mulated against the rough chamber walls.

"Say, what's that over on the ledge?" Brad demanded.

He focused his flashlight. The battery, however, had grown weak, and the light annoyingly blinked out.

Mr. Hatfield centered his ray upon the ledge. The Cubs then made out a pile of balsam boughs neatly piled against the wall.

"Balsam!" Dan exclaimed. "Freshly cut too!"

"Someone must have been using the boughs for a bed," Brad reasoned.

"Recently, too."

"It does look as if this cave is being used," Mr. Hatfield said. "Let's look closer at that balsam pile. Be careful though. The ledge is slippery."

Dan took a few steps only to halt.

"I've come to the end of my rope!" he announced. "And that's no joke."

"I can't make the ledge either," Brad reported. "The slack is practically all gone out of my rope. I'll have to untie it."

"No, don't do that," Mr. Hatfield ordered. "Just wait for me."

While Dan and Brad remained on the narrow portion of the ledge, he circled around to the wider section.

Waiting rather nervously, the two boys found themselves shivering. A cold breath of air seemed to be circulating in the chamber. Their clothing was wet to above their knees, adding to their discomfort.

"Wish he'd hurry," Dan muttered. "I'm getting anxious to get out into the sunshine again. This cave would give a fellow the creeps if he stayed here too long."

Mr. Hatfield had bent down to examine the pile of balsam boughs.

"Someone's been sleeping here all right," he called to the Cubs. "And cooking in the place, too!"

"What have you found?" Brad demanded, for the Cub leader's broad back blocked out the view.

"An old coffee can used for cooking a stew, or something of the sort. The rock is blackened from smoke. The coals are still faintly warm to the touch."

"Gosh! Then our cave dweller has been here probably today!" Dan exclaimed, gazing quickly over his shoulder. "I wonder where he is now?"

Mr. Hatfield moved deeper into the chamber, away from the pile of balsam.

"Say, here's something!" he cried. "I've found-"

But Dan and Brad did not learn what it was their leader had discovered in the darkness. In bending over he unintentionally had given the rope about his waist a quick jerk. At the mouth of the cave, the Cubs began to pull him in.

"Hey!" Mr. Hatfield exclaimed. "What's coming off? I didn't give the signal."

Again the rope jerked. To avoid being pulled into the pool, Mr. Hatfield had to retreat backwards around the ledge.

"Those Cubs!" he exclaimed with an annoyed laugh. "They're pulling me in!

Either they're worried because we've been gone so long, or something's happened at the cave entrance!"

CHAPTER 13 MORE TROUBLE

As the Cubs at the cave entrance pulled steadily on the rope, Mr.

Hatfield was forced to move briskly along to keep from being swept off his feet. He jerked on the rope several times as an indication that he was safe. The signal, however, seemed to be misunderstood. At any rate, the steady pull continued.

"Come on, Brad! Dan!" Mr. Hatfield exclaimed. "They'll be dragging you in next."

Already Dan had felt a tug on the rope about his waist. He and Brad followed the Cub leader across the rock shelf to the tunnel of shallow water.

"It's probably getting late," Mr. Hatfield said, splashing along. "Either that, or something has gone wrong at the mouth of the cavern."

As the three proceeded toward the cave entrance, the pressure on their ropes suddenly relaxed. Evidently Mr. Holloway and the waiting Cubs now realized that there was no need to pull the three in. However, the trio continued toward the exit, knowing that it was too late to do any more exploring that night.

Coming within view of the cave mouth, they paused in astonishment. The gap between the rocks barely was discernible as a circle of light.

"Why, it's nearly dark!" Dan exclaimed. "No wonder the Cubs decided to haul us in!"

"We were in that cave a lot longer than we realized," Mr. Hatfield agreed.

Mr. Holloway and the Cubs greeted the three explorers eagerly as they emerged from the dark hole amid the rocks. Once on the beach it was much lighter, but the sun had set and long shadows had fallen across the river.

"We didn't mean to pull you out of there," Mr. Holloway apologized. "The truth is, we got worried. We'd had no signal, and it was getting late."

"You did entirely right," Mr. Hatfield a.s.sured him. "Time the Cubs are home. Everything all right here?"

"We had one scare. It didn't amount to much. What did you learn in the cave?"

Mr. Hatfield described the explorations, declaring that he was almost certain the underground stream emptied into Lake James.

"Just before we were hauled in, you made a discovery," Dan reminded him.

"What did you see?"

"The object of our search."