"We are pretty well bottled up," admitted Rhoda, coming back from
the entrance, out of which she had tried to peer. She was wet, too.
"The water is a roaring torrent in the bottom of the gully. You can
see it has risen to the mouth of this cave, and is still rising.

"But we need not worry about that. The floor of the cavern inside
is even higher than where we stand. It would take an awfully hard
and an awfully long rain to fill this cavern. And I don't imagine
this will be a second deluge."

Her light laugh cheered them. But it was an experience that none of
them was likely to forget. Rhoda's courage was augmented by the
actions of the ponies. Those intelligent brutes showed no signs of
fear--not even when the mysterious sound was repeated; therefore
the ranch girl was quite sure no harm menaced them.

Time and again the girls ventured through the tunnel. The water did
not rise much higher; but it did not decrease. Nightfall must be
approaching. Bess and Grace both wore wrist watches; but they had
no matches and it was too dark to see the faces of the timepieces.

The girls were growing very hungry; but that was no criterion, for
they had eaten no lunch. Time is bound to drag by very slowly when
people are thrust into such a position as this; it might not be
near supper time after all.

"I do hope we shan't have to stay here over night. Can't we wade
out through the gully, Rhoda?" Grace asked.

"As near as I could judge, the mouth of this cave was about ten