The boys found this tunnel descend gradually: sometimes it was narrow and low, sometimes wide and encumbered with fallen fragments of rock; still, it was airy, and they were able to pass on, till they concluded they must have walked half a mile. They were then so desponding that they thought of turning back, but at length a glimmering of light satisfied them that there must be another outlet, and they took courage to proceed, till they reached a matted thicket of brushwood through which they forced their way, and then had the pleasure of seeing the sky above their heads, though they were still in a very narrow gully. It seemed to be the dry bed of a rivulet, choked up with stones and torn-up bushes. Before them rose another line of bush-covered mountains, but not so lofty or precipitous as those they had left behind.
"Is it worth while," said Hugh, "to drag the whole party through that gloomy subterranean passage, to bring them into this glen, which seems perfectly barren and lifeless? I am of opinion that we were better in our old forest."
"Wait for my decision," said Gerald, springing up the side of the opposite mountains, regardless of the rending of his light blouse, and his scratched hands; and before long he stood on the summit.
"This will do for us capitally," he cried out. "Wide plains below, but an awkward step down to them. Jack will have to cut a staircase again."
This account of the country satisfied Arthur, and they hastened back at once to relieve the anxiety of their friends, whom they found in a state of great alarm. The cries of the savages had gradually approached so near to them, that Margaret induced Wilkins and Jack to close the opening by which they had entered with a large piece of rock. Then they had heard voices close to the rocks, and Baldabella, who was now able to speak many English words, said--"Many bad black fellows! much bad! see white man foot-walk.--Black fellow come--slow, slow--catch all--eat master--eat miss--eat old Jin--eat Nakinna--all! all!"
It was with much difficulty they restrained the cries of Ruth, when she comprehended that she was in danger of being eaten; and though Mr. Mayburn doubted and disputed the existence of cannibalism in Australia, Wilkins and Jack succeeded in inducing the whole family to move on in the track of the pioneers, rather than risk the danger of discovery at the mouth of the cave.