"Shall we go in now?" asked Nestor.
"Sure!" replied Shaw. "We may find a well in there!"
"Or a soda fountain, or a modern filter," grinned Jimmie.
"How would they ever get a well down through this mountain?"
"Water in wells comes from elevations before it gravitates to
the bottom of the holes from which we pump it," Shaw declared,
in defense of his suggestion. "There may be a reservoir here
somewhere."
"How far is this cavern floor from the surface above it?" asked
Harry Stevens, with a judicial air.
"About four hundred feet," was the reply. "We must be about that
distance from the highest point here."
"Then there is no reason why there should not be a reservoir above
us," said Harry. "Water would filter through these rocks, all right."
The boys passed on in a southwesterly direction to the end of the
tunnel, which was about fifty feet from the opening. Here they
found a chamber about 10x16 feet in size. At the south side of
this chamber was a trough-shaped place cut in the rock, and
through this a small rivulet of water ran.
"I knew the people who built this shop wouldn't put in their time
where no water could be procured," declared Fenton. "Why, this is
simply fort, a mountain residence, where valley people came in
time of war and secreted themselves. If we could read the
hieroglyphics on the walls, we would be able to write a history
of their troubles."
"Were they the real thing in cave-dwellers?" asked Jack, who was
not noted for his studious habits, and who depended on his
companions for a knowledge of the countries he visited as a
member of the Black Bear Patrol.
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