They kept asking me about the cave, and I told them all I knew about it, that thousands of bats apparently made it their home, and that the entrance was quite large. That was all I could tell them because I had returned with Sam and Brown without even looking inside. When we arrived at the spot both Andy and Lynn were quite excited. The cave was deep enough so that a rope ladder would be necessary in order to reach the bottom. I had brought back the same rope ladder we had used to extricate poor Sam, so we didn't have to waste time making another. We soon had it securely fastened outside the entrance and then I said, "Well Andy, would you like to go first?" "Heck, no," he replied, backing away. "You just went into one cave and said it was an interesting experience. Why are you afraid to go into this one?" For a moment I thought I had another Sam on my hands. Then I realized he was right, and also that I had instigated this cave hunting party, so why shouldn't I lead the way? If I backed out now, there would be no cave exploration, so, without a further word being said, I began to lower myself into the mouth of the cave. Down, down, down I went. As I looked up I could see two heads peering down at me. They both wanted to make sure I reached the bottom safely. A moment later my feet touched a pile of rock on the floor of the cave. It was so dark that I couldn't see anything except the dim outline of the nearest wall. "How ya' coming?" Andy shouted down at me. "I made it all right," I replied. "Come on down, and bring that torch that is in the back of the wagon. It's black as night down here." Lynn ran to the wagon to get the torch as Andy prepared to come down the ladder. He came down more quickly than I did, probably because I had blazed the way and he knew it was safe. Before I knew it, Lynn had entered the opening and was coming down the ladder. In my excitement I forgot to ask him to remain outside for safety's sake. If the rope ladder should slip or in any way become insecure, we could never have gotten out and would surely have died in the cave. But my attention was certainly not on safety at that moment. I was much too excited about what we would find. We lit the torch, but the cave was so large that the light of our one torch didn't help much. Our first concern was whether or not a bear or some other wild beast might attack us. We searched the floor of the cave for tracks, but not a sign of man or beast did we see. The floor of the cave seemed devoid of any evidence of any walking creature having preceded us into this mammoth underground cavern. Occasionally a bat would sail by, missing us by inches. With the dim light of the torch we looked around and were struck speechless by the immensity of the great cave. We inched along over the floor of the cave which at times was rocky and difficult. We encountered large boulders and had to climb over them. "What do you make of it?" asked Andy