Evening star., 1933-03-26

the time usually required to locate the next
peDble in the chain
Whats the matter Bob?" inquired Keith
sharply.
Il seem to have missed q pebble" came
Bob's answer, after a moment of silence. Back
up little and feel for it, will you?"
Silently they complied With hands that
shook little, the three of them groped all
about them on the cold stone. They backed
up dozen feet. moved forward again, but
no pebble. And then they suddenly realized
that there was wall on one side, and no
stream on the other. They had somehow come
to the end of the narrow ledge along which
they had been travelling.
This passage seems wider than it should
be, as remember it, said Bob, trying desper-
ately to keep his voice calm. But we can't
have gone very far wrong, because the pebbles
were all right up to a minute two ago.
I've been picking them up as we moved along,
so we couldn't possibly get turned around and
mconsciousy follow them back to where the
skeletons are. If We just hunt around little
we are bound to locate the next pebble
THEY redoubled their efforts passing their
hands over every square inch Of the floor
about them. For what seemed like hours no
one broke the silence And now they trembled
not only because of the chilling air and their
wet clothes, but because a terrible fear began
to possess them.
Then Jean uttered hysterical little cry of
relief
Here's pebble" she gasped "Oh thought
we'd never find one again."
Good girl, Jean!" praised Bob. He scrambled
over to her, and fingered the little stone that
she had found. Nov we are bound to locate
another one close BY and that will point our
path for U.s."
But In his own mind Bob was not 50 sure
That pebble did not feel exactly like the chips
he had dropped. Moreover, he felt sure they
should be in passage at this point, and not
In chamber. as they seemed to be. Never
theless, he tried to fight down his fear, and
searched with the others for another pebble.
There was none near by. They spread out
as wide as the rope joining them would permit,
and searched further. The smooth stone floor
had not the trace of a pebble. The cold air
seemed to grow colder, and the impenetrable
darkness even darker. And gradually q hor-
rible realization came to them, and could not
be denied. They were lost-in Lost Cavern.
HE realization was followed by sort of
panic. Spurred on by fear, by the cold that
gripped them, and by the hunger that they all
now began to feel they searched ever more
desperately for those all-important pebbles
lucy CONcIcO every 1QCQ OF the cAamDer CQcy
were in. Their cropping fingers found half
dozen passages leading out, and they tried them
all. But only once did they find small piece
of stone, and it led them nowhere
Finally, after several hours of frantic search
ing, they sank down upon the cold stone floor
of the cave, utterly exhausted Jean was cosra-
geously trying to fight down the sobs that
choked her throat. Keith could taste blood
on his lower lip. where he had been biting it
tn inp And Doh hi toof II
set, felt his self-control slipping closer and
closer to the breaking point, where it would
give way to stark sheer terror. Perhaps only
he realized how large this cavern might be,