"Then good-bye."
"No, no, don"t go! Don"t go!" begged Tad.
"Say you won"t tell on her, Mr. Phipps. Don"t you see--"
"All right, girl, I"ll promise to keep your secret."
"You"d better," retorted the girl.
"How did you know we were here?" asked Mr. Phipps.
"I didn"t. I heard about the explosion, so I came in here to see if my cave had been harmed any."
"You knew we were right under it, then?"
"Of course. How stupid you are!"
"Where is your cave?"
"I"m in it."
"Yes, I understand that, but where?"
"You ask too many questions."
"Say, young lady, can you find a rope that will reach down to us?"
asked Tad, who had been turning over a plan in his mind.
"I guess."
"Please do so then. And hurry, won"t you?"
"You will ask no questions?"
"Certainly not!"
"You won"t try to find out anything about my cave?"
"No, no, of course not," answered Mr. Phipps impatiently.
"And you will do as I tell you?"
"Yes."
"All right. I"ll be back in a minute."
Mr. Phipps sat down nonplussed. "I never was so mixed up in my life,"
he grumbled. "I can"t understand it at all. How did she ever get there?"
"She says it"s a cave," suggested Tad.
"But I know of no caves about here."
Tad shrugged his shoulders. That there was one and through it a prospect of their being liberated from their unpleasant and perilous position, was enough for him to know.
"h.e.l.lo," shouted the girl after a few minutes.
"Yes, did you get the rope?" called Tad excitedly.
"Uh-huh."
"Then drop the end of it down."
A heavy coil hit Tad on the top of his head, nearly knocking him down.
He scrambled from under while from above there sounded a peal of merry laughter.
"I don"t care, so long as we have the rope," laughed the boy.
"Can you fasten the end of the rope to something up there?"
"No."
"Oh, pshaw! that"s too bad," grumbled the boy. "But wait a minute."
Striking a match and shading his eyes with one hand, he peered up to the hole in the rocks. He noted a long narrowing crevice extending back from the main opening.
"I"ll tell you what to do."
"Yes."
"Draw the rope into that crack as far as it will go, then tie a knot in the rope so it cannot slip through. I"ll climb up--"
"You couldn"t get up here. The end of the crack is too far from the place you see. Hold on, here"s another crack just like it, right here in the rocks by me. I"ll fix it. You all promise not to tell on me?"
insisted the girl.
"Yes, yes, yes, we promise. We"ll promise anything just now," laughed Ned.
An interval of silence followed while the girl was adjusting the end of the rope. Then she called down to them:
"All ready?" asked Tad.
"Yes, try it."
Tad grasped the rope, and swinging himself clear of the floor, jounced up and down several times.
"I guess it will hold. I"ll go up first to see that the rope is secure; then the rest of you can follow me up."
"Why, I couldn"t climb that rope to save my life," objected Mr.
Phipps.