“Maybe Snap has spotted an elevator,” said Whopper, with a grin.  “If so, Snap, press the button by all means.”

“I don’t think this is any laughing matter,” said the leader of the gun club.

“No more do I,” answered Shep, quickly.  “The sooner we get out of this hole the better.”

“We are moving again!” ejaculated Giant, and all felt that he was right.  The whole mass of brushwood floated off on something of an underground stream, carrying the boys with it.  The movement continued for a distance of at least two hundred feet and then the bushes became stationary.

As it was still pitch dark around them, Snap lit a match and set fire to a dry bush.  By the light, they saw they were in a hollow that was not unlike a cave in the mountain.  At their feet ran the stream that had carried them forward, disappearing under some overhanging rocks.  On all sides were rocks and dirt, with here and there a decayed tree root, showing that they were not very far under the earth’s surface.

“Here’s an adventure,” was Shep’s comment.  “We must be careful, or we’ll bring down that dirt above us and be buried alive.”

“We are about buried alive now,” said Giant.  “I’d give a good bit to be out of this hole.”

Stepping from the brushwood, the boys made their way to the dirt and rocks beyond.  By this time each had a kind of a torch, so the place was fairly well lighted.

Walking back a distance, they saw where the smoke curled to—–­through the shaft down which they had fallen so unceremoniously.  But the top of the shaft was hidden from their view.

“I don’t know how we are going to get up that,” was Shep’s comment, after looking the ground over.  “If we try it we may bring all the dirt and rocks down on our heads.”

“Just my idea of it,” answered Snap.  “Let us try to find some other way out.”

They walked back and forth in the cave and then, by common consent, sat down on some flat rocks to consider the situation.

Nobody felt like joking, for all felt the seriousness of the situation.

“That water must come to the surface somewhere,” said Snap.  “But it may be a good distance from here.”

As they were wet to the knees, one after another got down in the stream and examined the rocks.  Some thought they saw daylight under the water beyond the rocks, but nobody was sure.

“If it wasn’t so cold a fellow could take a dive and find out,” said Shep.  “But I don’t want a dive in such water as that,” and the others agreed with him.

It was noontime and Whopper suggested that they have something to eat.

“I am willing,” said Snap.  “But don’t eat too much.  There is no telling how long we’ll have to remain down here.”

So they ate sparingly, and washed the meal down with water from the underground stream, which was as pure as it was cold.

The afternoon was passed in looking around the cave.  All they found of interest were the bones of several wild animals.