“Hurray!” yelled Phil and Dick, and were answered by a welcoming shout from Tom. The friends raced toward each other, and in a few moments were laughing and pounding each other joyously.
Tom, it turned out, had stopped to struggle with a refractory shoelace, and when he had finally got it fixed had run after his two friends, expecting to catch up with them at once. When he saw no sign of them, however, he knew that he must have taken a wrong turn, and had about given himself up for lost when he heard the distant report of Phil’s revolver.
“Well, let’s get out of this, quick,” said Phil, when Tom had finished. “This place is hoodooed, and the sooner we’re out in the sunshine again the better I’ll like it.”
But this was not so easily to be accomplished. While searching for Tom, the others had been so anxious over him that they had failed to take careful note of their route, and now, after half an hour of wandering in the endless passages, they were forced to admit that they were hopelessly lost.
When this fact became apparent to them, they stopped and held a council.
“Fellows, we seem to be in a pretty bad fix,” said Phil. “If you have any ideas for getting out, now’s the time to say so.”
“Search me,” said Tom, shaking his head. “All I can see is, to keep going and trust to luck to come out somewhere before we starve to death.”
“Shucks!” exclaimed Phil, “that’s no kind of an idea. Can’t you think of anything better, Dick?”
“Well, I don’t know,” returned his friend, slowly. “I’ve noticed there’s a slight draught through these passages, and it must come from some opening into the outer world. I think that if, at every fork, we turn in the direction that the wind is coming from, that we may land out somewhere. How does that strike you?”
“I was thinking the same thing,” nodded Phil. “We were careless to get in this fix without having anything with us to eat. I’m half starved already.”
“I’m about nine-tenths starved,” lamented Tom. “I was never so hungry in my life.”
They started on again, following Dick’s suggestion. At some of the forks, however, they found that a draught blew up every one, so that they were no better off than before. The air was dark and chilly, too, and in spite of the exercise they were chilled to the bone. They kept doggedly on, but were almost ready to give up hope, when Phil stopped and listened.
