“No lightning ever comes in here,” said Farmer Joel. “Why, if lightning came in there couldn’t be any ice. The lightning would melt the ice, and it hasn’t done that. I’ll show you a big pile of it back in the cave. Of course no lightning ever comes in here! Don’t be afraid.” The thunder was not so loud now, and as no lightning could be seen because the Bunkers were far back in the dark cave, the two smallest children stopped their crying. “Is there really ice in here?” asked Russ. “It feels so,” said Rose, with a little shiver. “Yes, there’s ice here,” went on the farmer. “It comes every year, and stays until after the Fourth of July. Come, I’ll show you.” Lighting a match and setting ablaze a stick he picked up from the dry floor of the cave in the rocks, Farmer Joel led the way toward the back of the dark hole. The blazing stick gave light like a torch. It grew colder and colder the deeper they went into the cave, and Mrs. Bunker, with a little shiver, exclaimed: “It is cold in here!” “We won’t stay very long,” said Mr. Todd. “I’ll just show the children the pile of ice and then we’ll go back to the front part of the cave where the air is warmer. This shower will soon be over and we can go outside again.” They walked on a little farther and suddenly Rose cried: “Oh, I see it! I see a big pile of ice!” The light from Farmer Joel’s blazing stick glittered on a sparkling mass of ice and snow in the deepest, darkest part of the cave. “Is it real?” asked Mun Bun. “Touch it and see,” advised his father. Mun Bun put his little hand on the sparkling pile. He drew it quickly back with a murmur of wonder. “Oh, it’s terribly cold!” he exclaimed. “It’s real ice, all right,” laughed Farmer Joel. “How does it get in here?” Russ asked. “There is a hole in the roof of the cave—the roof that is made of rocks,” explained the farmer. “You can see where some water is pouring in now from the rain.” The children looked and saw drops falling on top of the pile of ice. “Not as much water comes in here in the summer as in winter,” explained Farmer Joel; “for now the holes in the rocky roof are filled with bushes and leaves. But in the winter, when the leaves dry out, there is quite an opening. Rain and melted snow runs in and it is so cold here that a big, solid chunk of ice is frozen.” “But what makes it stay here when summer comes?” asked Rose. “Because the warm sun cannot shine inside the cave to melt the ice,” explained her father. “That’s right,” added Farmer Joel. “Some years we can come here even in the middle of August and chop out chunks of ice.” “I should think you could make ice cream,” said Russ. “Sometimes we do,” replied Mr. Todd. “Oh, could we do that now?” cried Rose eagerly. “We haven’t any freezer nor the things to make ice cream with,” objected her mother. “Couldn’t we take some of the ice home in the wagon?” Russ wanted to know. “Yes, you could do that,” said Farmer Joel kindly.