Suddenly Percy Simmons gave a cry of triumph.
“Look! See there, Hardware, old boy, isn’t that a crack or fissure5 in the rock?”
“Sure enough,” responded his companion, who had just time to notice the crack in the rock wall of their prison before the light of the match died out.
“Maybe we can get out that way,” sputtered[150] Persimmons, all agog6 at the thought that a means of escape had been opened to them.
“Perhaps we can, but it looks pretty narrow,” responded Hardware dubiously7. “Anyhow, it’s worth trying. Strike another match and we’ll have a good look at it.”
A second inspection8 showed the boys that the fissure, though narrow, was sufficiently9 wide for them to squeeze into in all probability. Although in the event that it grew smaller further on, they would be as badly off as before. Still, as Harry Ware had said, it was worth trying, and the two boys clambered off the body of the unfortunate pony10 and began forcing their way into the fissure. Harry Ware went first and Percy Simmons, who was stouter11, followed close behind.
For a distance of some five feet they managed to forge ahead. But suddenly Persimmons gave a grunt12.
“I’m stuck, Harry, I can’t get any further.”
[151]
“Too bad; I guess we’ll have to turn back,” Hardware started to say, when he gave a cry of delight.
“It’s all right. It broadens out beyond here. Come on, Percy, you can squeeze through alright.”
“I’ll try,” declared the stouter of the two youths valiantly13, and, with a violent effort, he forced himself forward. It cost him almost all the breath in his body, but he succeeded in passing the narrow place and then found himself beside his companion in what appeared to be a much larger space beyond. Another match was struck which revealed the place into which they had forced their way as a circular cave with a dome-like roof from which water dripped in a constant shower.
It was cold and damp and the boys shuddered14 as the water, which was icy cold, pattered about them as if a violent rainstorm was in progress.
“Ugh! What sort of a place have we landed in[152] now, I’d like to know,” muttered Percy Simmons. “Shivering snakes, it’s like a Cave of the Rains, or something of that kind.”
“That’s so. We can’t stay here; it’s like being in a damp ice box. We must find some way out.”
“Where do you suppose we are, anyhow?”
“Evidently in some subterranean15 cavern16 or passage that runs under the hillside.”
“The question is, where does it come out?”
“That’s what we’ll have to see. There must be a way out.”
“Oh, of course,” assented17 Persimmons with suspicious eagerness.
Neither boy dared to admit, even to himself, that it was altogether a possibility that there might not be any way out; in which case they would be in as bad a fix as before. As for waiting at the bottom of the hole down which White-eye had pulled them, it was beginning to grow painfully apparent that they might stand a good[153] chance of remaining there till Doomsday without anyone discovering their whereabouts.
Once more matches were struck and they gazed eagerly about them. They fully18 realized now that it was becoming a matter of life and death to them to find some means of escape from this underground prison into which, through no fault of their own, they had blundered.
But rigidly19 as they inspected their prison, it was some time before they found that on one side of the cavern a low archway in the rock led into what appeared to be another rift20 in the rocky formation underlying21 the mountain side.
“Shall we try it?” asked Hardware as his sixth match fluttered out.
“Unanimous unicorns22, yes!” was the energetic reply. “We can’t stay here, and it’s no use going back.”
“Good, the word is forward, then.”
Hardware, as he spoke23, bent24 low to get under the archway of living rock, which, centuries before,[154] had been tunneled out during some disturbance25 of the earth, and once more the boys found themselves in a narrow rift through which they could barely squeeze.
“Gracious, if this gets any narrower we are stuck for fair,” gasped26 Persimmons, as they shoved and panted through the darkness.
“Don’t think of that; just say to yourself, ‘We’ve got to get out of this,’” urged young Simmons’ companion.
In this way they went forward for some distance further when the rift began to widen once more. Suddenly they collided with a solid wall of rock. It appeared that the rift had come to an end.
“Shivering centipedes, we’re stuck!” groaned27 Persimmons abjectly28.
“Hold on a minute,” counseled his companion, “wait till I strike another match. Thank goodness, we brought a good supply of them.”
“Yes, it’s a lucky thing that Mountain Jim insisted[155] on our filling the match safes. We’d be in an awful fix without them.”
To the huge delight of the boys, the light showed them that the rift branched off in two directions at the point they had reached. They had bumped into the rocky wall that formed the apex29 of the triangle at which the two new passages met the old one.
But now they faced a fresh problem. Which passage would they take? They tossed a coin. Heads would be the right-hand one, tails the left. The coin indicated the right-hand rift and into it, accordingly, they struck off. The floor of the passage appeared to rise abruptly30 and they soon found their further progress blocked by a rocky wall.
“Perishing panhandles, what’ll we do now?” gasped young Simmons.
“Try the other one,” was his companion’s brief response.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
harry
|
|
| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
ware
|
|
| n.(常用复数)商品，货物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
imprisoned
|
|
| 下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
immediate
|
|
| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
fissure
|
|
| n.裂缝；裂伤 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
agog
|
|
| adj.兴奋的，有强烈兴趣的； adv.渴望地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
dubiously
|
|
| adv.可疑地，怀疑地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
inspection
|
|
| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
sufficiently
|
|
| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
pony
|
|
| adj.小型的；n.小马 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
stouter
|
|
| 粗壮的( stout的比较级 )； 结实的； 坚固的； 坚定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
grunt
|
|
| v.嘟哝；作呼噜声；n.呼噜声，嘟哝 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
valiantly
|
|
| adv.勇敢地，英勇地；雄赳赳 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
shuddered
|
|
| v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
subterranean
|
|
| adj.地下的，地表下的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
cavern
|
|
| n.洞穴，大山洞 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
assented
|
|
| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
fully
|
|
| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
rigidly
|
|
| adv.刻板地，僵化地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
rift
|
|
| n.裂口，隙缝，切口；v.裂开，割开，渗入 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
underlying
|
|
| adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
unicorns
|
|
| n.（传说中身体似马的）独角兽( unicorn的名词复数 )；一角鲸；独角兽标记 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
spoke
|
|
| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
bent
|
|
| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
disturbance
|
|
| n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
gasped
|
|
| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
groaned
|
|
| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
abjectly
|
|
| 凄惨地； 绝望地； 糟透地； 悲惨地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
apex
|
|
| n.顶点，最高点 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
abruptly
|
|
| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |