"No, no! Marm and me hollered and hollered, but it weren't any good. I 'lowed I weren't afraid to go in there, but marm, she wouldn't let me. She's erbout crazy. You must go with me. It's only a little way, and you can ride up there on your hoss if you want ter." As much as he disliked to lose the time, Little Snap felt that it was his duty to go to the assistance of the bereaved family. There could be no deception in the girl's action. She was too much in earnest for that. "You will go?" "Yes; lead the way." Her face brightened, as with a low exclamation of delight, she bounded away from the road along a faintly defined path leading into the depths of the wilderness. At intervals Little Snap saw the marks of wheel tracks in the sparsely grown sward, and the footprints of oxen's feet occasionally were to be seen. Presently, when he had begun to think he had gone far enough, they entered a clearing in the growth near to the banks of a small stream, which flowed on toward the Greenbrier. On the farther side of this valley the postboy discovered a white-topped wagon drawn up in the shadows of the forest, while a short distance away a pair of cattle lazily clipped the long grass. But he quickly turned from these, as a tall, slatternly-dressed woman of uncertain age advanced swiftly from the base of bluff overlooking the northern side of the opening, saying, in an excited tone: "Yer found one, Tag. I'm so glad yer hev come, sir. It's a desprit fix we air all in." Though her explanation was hardly more easily understood than the girl's had been, Little Snap learned that soon after her family had stopped in the valley for a rest in their journey, her husband had discovered the entrance to a cavern, and curious to know where it led, he had crawled into the opening, but did not return. Growing anxious over his long absence, her oldest boy, man grown, had followed his father, without giving any sign of his fate. In great excitement by this time, the second son had gone after his father and brother, and, like the others, nothing more had been seen or heard of him. "It is terrible!" moaned the woman, wringing her hands. "They must be dead, and I am left here alone in this wilderness with these three little girls. Isn't there anything you can do?" Little Snap had begun to examine the mouth of the cave, but as far as he could look in he could only see the rugged walls of the narrow passage leading gradually downward into the earth until lost in the darkness of the underground retreat. The opening was about two by three feet, and had been concealed by overhanging bushes. "I thought a bad smell kem from th' place," said the woman. "Perhaps they were stifled by gas. I have heard of sich things." "Or been eat up by snakes," said Tag Raggles.