"Maybe, lad. But wot if some o' these rocks should shift? They'd squash ye as flat as a flapjack!"

"I didn't think of that."

"I don't believe it is very safe in here," said Dave. "This cave must have been formed by that landslide, and, if so, perhaps the dirt and rocks haven't finished settling yet. I don't want any rocks to come down on my head!"

"Nor on any of us!" added the senator's son.

"I've got an idee thet we are a-comin' to another openin'," remarked Abe Blower, a few minutes later, after they had made a sharp turn to the right.

"Why so?" asked Roger.

"I kin feel some fresh air from somewhere."

"I feel it too," returned Dave. "Doesn't it come from overhead?"

"Mebbe, lad; although I thought it was ahead."

"Here is that stream of water!" cried Roger, as they made another turn.

"But we can't get at it," he added, somewhat disappointedly.

"Why?"

"It's down below the split in the rocks. Look!"

He held up his torch so they could look down into something of a sharp-edged basin of rocks. A dozen feet below they could see the water pouring from one hole in the rocks and disappearing farther on.

Nearly an hour had been spent in walking and crawling around the big cave. They had had several narrow escapes from pitfalls and were moving with caution.

"Maybe we had better go back," suggested Roger.

"I was thinkin' thet myself," answered Abe Blower. "Nothin' much in here, so far as I kin see. We might come back later an' have another look--if we don't discover thet lost mine elsewhere," he added.

"You are sure this is the right district?" asked Dave.

"Oh, yes, the lost Landslide Mine can't be very far away," was the old miner's reply.

They turned back, heading, as they thought, for the opening by which they had entered. On and on they walked, occasionally slipping and sliding where the rocks sloped. Then they came to a spot where there was a wide crevice to cross.

"My gracious, did we jump over that when we came this way?" queried the senator's son, as all gazed at the wide opening, which was of unknown depth.

"We certainly did not!" declared Abe Blower.

"Then we have come the wrong way!" put in Dave, quickly.

"It sure looks like it, lad."

"If that's the case, we'll have to go back!" came from Roger. He looked around them and his face paled a trifle. "Oh, do you think we are lost?"

"If we are not, we are next door to it," was Abe Blower's serious answer.

CHAPTER XXIV

SEARCHING FOR THE LANDSLIDE MINE

Lost underground!

It was a terrible condition of affairs to contemplate, and for an instant Dave's heart almost stopped beating and something like a chill swept down his backbone. What if they should be unable to find their way out of the rocky cave?

"We'll have to go back," said Abe Blower, in a low voice, after a pause, in which the three of the party had gazed around at the walls of the cavern and at each other. "An' we don't want to lose no time nuther,"

added the old miner.

"No, for the others will be wondering what has become of us," put in Roger.

"It ain't thet so much, lad, it's the torches--they won't last forever."

All gazed at the lights and saw that the old miner was right. The first ones they had lit had burnt out and the remaining lot were more than half consumed.

Without further words they turned around, in an endeavor to retrace their steps to the point where they had made a false turn. Abe Blower led the way and the boys followed, all keeping their eyes wide open, to make certain that nothing of importance might escape them.

On and on they went, seeing one spot after another that looked familiar.

They even pa.s.sed the spot where Dave had thrown away the end of his first torch. The bit of wood was still smoking.

"Here's the split in the cave, I think," said the old miner, at last.

They had reached a spot where the cavern widened out into a large, circular opening. From this point could be seen several other openings.

Evidently they had taken the wrong pa.s.sageway.

"But which is the right one?" questioned Roger. "They all look alike to me."

"Look putty much alike to me, too," returned Abe Blower. "If only I had thought to put down a few chalk marks!" he sighed.

Dave said nothing but went around to the various openings, examining all with care by the light of his torch.

"I believe this is the one we came in by," he announced, a few minutes later.

"What makes you think so?" asked his chum.

"Do you see that curiously-shaped rock over there? Well, I remember seeing that as we came along--it reminded me of a giant's face. Now, you can't see that rock that way only from here."

"Perhaps you are right, Dave. I must confess I am all mixed up," and Roger sighed.

"We can try it for a little distance," said Abe Blower. "Then, if we won't see anything we remember seem' before, we can come back to this place."

"But our torches----" began the senator's son.