much higher than a stable door.

"Here we are!" shouted the Western girl, and by the echoing of her
voice Nan knew that Rhoda must be in a much larger cavern than this
passage.

The others pressed on. The ponies' hoofs rang upon solid rock. The
roaring of the tornado changed to a lower key as they went on. From
somewhere light enough entered for Nan to begin to distinguish
objects in the cave.

The horses stamped and whinnied to each other. Nan's pinto snuggled
his nose into her palm. The animal's satisfaction in having got
into this refuge encouraged the girl.

"Well, I guess we're all right in here," she said aloud. "The
ponies seem to like it."

"Cheerful Grigg!" scoffed Bess. "My! I never thought I'd live to
see the time that I should be glad to take refuge in a bears' den."

"O-o-oh, don't!" begged Grace.

"Don't be a goosie," said Bess. "The bear won't hear us. He must be
dead a long time now, if he hasn't been heard of since Rhoda was
born."

"Well, you know, bears hibernate," ventured Grace Mason. "They go
to sleep and don't wake up, sometimes, for ever and ever so long."