Chapter XXIII: The Trembling Noise

Jack, Walter, and Paul tore away more of the bushes screening the mouth of the natural cave. As they removed the leafy branches the black hole was seen to be of large size, fully high enough to permit even a tall man to enter without stooping, and wide enough to enable three to walk abreast.

"This is some cave!" exclaimed Jack. "I wonder Mr. Floyd never told us about it."

"Perhaps he didn't know," suggested Cora. "I wouldn't have seen it, and I was within a few feet of it, if I hadn't slipped and pulled away the bush."

"Well, we'll soon see if it amounts to anything," declared Paul, setting down the pail of berries he was carrying.

"Are you girls coming in with us?" asked Walter, looking at Cora and her chums who had not advanced.

"I don't know. Shall we?" asked Hazel, looking at her brother.

"I don't want to stay here," said Cora. "Besides, something might happen to the boys. But how are you going to explore the cave in the dark? And it is as dark as a bottle of ink in there. Have any of you your flashlights?"

"We can make a torch of wood," said Jack, when it developed that none of them had one of the pocket electric lights.

But just as Jack and the others were about to enter the cave the mutterings of thunder which had been increasing, culminated in such a clap that the girls, involuntarily placed their hands over their ears.

"Come on! Run for the bungalow!" cried Cora. "Else we'll be caught in a terrible storm! It's starting to rain now."

Some hot drops hissed down, the prelude to an almost tropical fury of the elements it seemed.

"We can go into the cave," suggested Paul.

"No!" cried his sister. "You shan't go in there with this storm coming up. The cave will keep. Come on, let's run!"

She darted off down the side of the mountain, the other girls following. The boys hesitated a moment, and then, not wishing to desert the girls, even though the latter ran first, they followed.

"We can come back to the cave to-morrow," said Walter. "It won't run away. And to explore it well we ought to have the electric lights. Come on."

Paul and Jack followed him, and they all reached the girls' bungalow just as the deluge of rain came down.

For an hour or more the storm raged, blinding lightning and deafening thunder succeeding one another. But the bungalow was snug and safe, though once, when a tree was struck not far away, the girls screamed in terror.

That crash, however, seemed to be the culmination of the outburst, for from then on the rain began to slacken, and the thunder died away in muttered rumblings and the lightning became paler and paler until it was only a faint, shimmering light.

Then the dark sky cleared and the sun came out, shining through the storm-riven clouds and warming the ground and trees which were dripping from the vigorous bath.

"We got home just in time," commented Cora, as they looked out on the ceasing storm. "A little longer on the mountain and we would have been drenched."

"That cave was a find," commented Jack. "I want to see what's in it."

"Probably nothing more than a hole in the side of the mountain," commented Bess.

"I wouldn't be too sure of that," voiced Walter. "I wonder if Mr. Floyd knows anything about it?"

It developed that the caretaker did not, though he said there were several small mountain caves in that section, and this was probably one of them that he had not chanced upon.

"Do you think smugglers or pirates might have used it?" asked Hazel, with a smile.

"Hardly pirates," commented Jack. "Too far from the water. But smugglers might have done so. We're not so far from the Canadian line."

"All bosh!" declared Paul. "It's probably a garage dating from the stone age when the early inhabitants used the dinosaur as a jitney!"

They all laughed at his conceit and talked further of the cave and what they might find in it when they explored it the next day.

Whether it was the severe thunderstorm, or whether it was the culmination of the happenings of the past few weeks was not made clear, but it was certain that the girls, even Cora, were more nervous than they had been at any time yet.

"I--I wish we didn't have to stay here to-night," said Belle when supper was over, and they sat out on the porch, gazing into the fast-gathering darkness.

"Why?" asked Cora.

"Because I--I'm afraid. Come now, aren't you?" she challenged.

"Well, I can't say I like all the mysterious happenings," Cora admitted. "And now that we know there is a cave near us--more than one perhaps--and that we don't know who--or what--may be in them, why, I can't say it is the most pleasant vacation we have experienced."

"This bungalow gives me the creeps!" complained Hazel.

"Why not take ours?" suggested Walter. "It's large enough for you to sleep in, and we'll take this one. Come on, what do you say?"

"No, not to-night anyhow," decided Cora. "We'll keep to our agreement and stay here. Mrs. Floyd will be here with us."

"And not Mr. Floyd?" asked Belle.

"No, not until later. He has to go to some town meeting I believe, and will come in around midnight. But nothing has happened in the last few days--not even a noise."

"I've heard noises," confessed Belle.

"What sort?" Jack inquired.

"Oh, sort of rumbling, trembling noises, and they seemed to be away down under the ground. I heard one yesterday, when I came back to get my veil after the others had gone out. It scared me," Belle added.

"I think the waterfall causes those rumbling noises," said Walter. "We'll have to investigate that to-morrow."

The boys went to their own bungalow, and Mrs. Floyd came in to occupy the small temporary bedroom. Her husband would be in later, she explained, confirming Cora's information in that respect. The thunderstorm had cooled the rather oppressive air and there was a refreshing breeze blowing as the girls went up to their bedrooms.

Just who awakened first, it would be hard to say. Probably it was Belle, as she was the lightest sleeper. Cora heard her calling, and at the same time she was aware of another disturbance.

"Do you hear it?" asked Belle from her room.

"Yes," Cora answered. At the same time she could hear Bess and Hazel getting up.

The whole bungalow seemed filled with a roaring, trembling noise, and there was a slight vibration of the building.

"What is it? Oh, what is it?" cried Belle, in hysterical tones.

"I don't know," answered Cora. "But I'm going to find out."

"How?"

"By calling the boys. Mrs. Floyd, are you awake?" Cora demanded, going to the head of the stairs.

"Yes. That noise awoke me."

"Is Mr. Floyd home?"

"Not yet."

"Then I'm going to telephone for the boys!"