"That's why we'll have to wait for morning before we try to explore what lies inside the mountain," replied Frank. "You mean we'll have to lay in some torches, so as to see our way--is that the idea, Frank?" "A whole lot of faggots that will burn, but not too fast," the other answered, having already mapped out this part of the scheme. "You can understand what a pickle we'd be up against, wandering around in an unknown cavern with our last torch flickering to its wind-up." "That would be tough, I own up, Frank; I hope it doesn't come along. But we sure do seem to get our feet in a heap of stirring happenings. It's like jumping out of the frying pan into the fire with us these days. But say, when do we eat, I'd like to know?" Frank chuckled as he went on to say: "Finished the last crumb of our lunch at noon, you remember." At the words his companion in trouble emitted a groan and began to rub the pit of his stomach sympathetically. "But wait till you hear how manna seems to come down to us, as it did to the Children of Israel in the Arabian desert long years ago. Look over yonder, Lanky. What do you see, boy? Tell me!" Lanky looked, started, and rubbed his eyes, half suspecting that he must be "seeing things" that had no actual foundation. "Frank-- Why, say, it er--looks like a deer!" he exclaimed. "It is a deer--caught in the big jam and killed clean by that rock covering its head. A young buck in the bargain, I'd say, and just begging to be cut into slices for two hungry fellows' supper." "Lead me to it, Frank!" ejaculated Lanky, as he drew his hunting-knife. "Talk to me about favorites of fortune, we're sure the luckiest fellows west of the old Mississippi. Venison for supper--plenty of it for a whole week--and thrown in front of us like that!" snapping his fingers. "Whoopee! what's the use worrying when things come tumbling along by themselves?" So the two boys settled down to making camp then and there. Frank started his fire, with a vast abundance of fine fuel to be had for the picking up, while Lanky undertook to skin the deer. He then cut off steak and chops until Frank warned him they were only two in the mess, and not a whole regiment. As evening drew near they sat down to enjoy a fine spread, cooked in genuine hunters' style, with no limit to anything save their own capacity. The sky cleared as they sat there, and it was difficult for them to realize that only a few hours before all nature seemed to be reeling and rocking and being turned upside-down in a vast convulsion. Morning arrived, and after a good breakfast they cooked quite a lot of the venison, to carry along with them in their exploration of the promising cave back of the jaws of the wide fissure. Next they fashioned a pile of inflammable torches by the aid of Lanky's handy little camp hatchet, which he always carried attached to his belt and had often found valuable for use in emergencies like the present.