"I did not notice that they were, and there has been no rain to send them
down. They must have been loose, however. How else could they have tumbled
in?"

"I don't know, unless some one took a bar or a pole, and sent them down
that way."

"Nonsense, Dick! Who would do that?"

"I know plenty who would do it. Who pushed you into the ravine, back at
Hilltop at the risk of your life?"

"Yes, but there is no one around, and no one knew where we were going. You
don't suspect little Jesse W., do you?"

"No, indeed," said Percival, with a hearty laugh, "but some one has seen
us go down here, and they have thrown down the rocks to make it harder for
us to get out."

"It does not seem likely, Dick," said Jack in a doubting tone. "There was
no one about, and we are the only ones who know the place. We said nothing
about it, and young Smith will keep quiet. Come, that is hardly worth
thinking of. Let us see how we can get out. There must be some way."

Dick turned his light this way and that, and Jack lighted a match, saying
with a significant chuckle:

"That is all very well, but this is better for our purpose. Watch!"

The flame presently began to flicker, and indicated the presence of a