able to go as fast as Elizabeth. She glanced up and saw Elizabeth disappearing behind an immense boulder. That must be it, she said to herself.
When she got to the boulder Elizabeth was waiting for her. Kathy crouched down in the deep shadow that cast the crevice between the boulder and the face of the embankment in almost total darkness.
“Is this it?” she whispered, and wondered why she was suddenly whispering.
“Almost,” Elizabeth whispered back. “Look.” She pointed to a spot deep within the blackness, and Kathy suddenly realized that it was not a darker shadow, but a small hole in the embankment.
“We aren’t going in there, are we?” she whispered.
“Sure,” Elizabeth whispered back. “Are you scared?”
“No,” Kathy lied, and wondered how much face she would lose if she turned back now. “It’s awfully dark, though, isn’t it?”
“I have a light,” Elizabeth said. She reached into the hole and pulled out the flashlight from its niche behind a rock just inside the mouth of the cave. She clicked it on and shined it into the opening.
“It’s a tunnel,” Kathy whispered. “Where does it go?”
“To the secret place,” Elizabeth said. “Come on.” She crept into the tunnel, and Kathy saw that there was enough room for Elizabeth to crawl along without hitting the roof of the cavern. Swallowing her fear, she followed Elizabeth.
In half a minute they were in the cavern surrounding the shaft. Elizabeth waited for Kathy to emerge from the tunnel, and heard Kathy say, “This is neat.”
“We’re not there yet,” Elizabeth said. “The secret place is down there.” She shined the light into the shaft, and heard Kathy suck in her breath.
“Where does it go?” she breathed.
“Down to the secret place. I have a ladder, see?” Elizabeth directed the beam of the flashlight to the rope ladder, which still hung in the shaft, securely anchored to the rocks on the cavern floor.
“I’ve never climbed one of those before,” Kathy said, wondering if her lack of experience would get her off the hook.
“It’s easy,” Elizabeth said. “Look. I’ll go first, and when I get to the bottom I’ll hold the light for you. It isn’t very far, and you won’t fall. Besides, even if you do, you won’t fall far enough to hurt yourself. I’ve done it lots of times, and there wasn’t anybody to hold the light for me.”
“How did you find this place?” Kathy asked, wanting to delay the moment when she knew she would have to conquer her fear.
“I don’t know. I guess I’ve known about it for a long time. My friend told me.”
“Your friend?”
“Never mind,” Elizabeth said mysteriously. “Come on.” Holding the light, she began climbing down the rope ladder, and in a few seconds she was on the floor of the pit. She shone the light up and saw Kathy’s frightened face peering down at her.
“I can’t see you,” Kathy hissed.
“That’s because I’m behind the light,” Elizabeth hissed back. “Come down.”
Kathy pondered the situation. She was afraid of the shaft, and of going down the ladder, but she didn’t want Elizabeth to know how frightened she was. She glanced back toward the entrance to the tunnel, and the blackness there made up her mind for her. She wasn’t about to try to make her way through the tunnel in the total darkness behind her. She eased herself over the lip of the shaft, and her feet found the ladder. The descent was much easier than she had thought it would be.
“I have some candles,” Elizabeth whispered, keeping the flashlight trained on Kathy’s face. In the glare, Kathy barely saw the flare of the match as Elizabeth struck it Elizabeth put the match to two candles, then snapped the flashlight off. For a moment Kathy couldn’t see anything in the gloom except the twin points of light, and Elizabeth’s face looming in the glow.
“This is spooky,” she said uncertainly. “I’m not sure we should be down here.”
Her eyes began to adjust to the gloom, and she looked around the cavern. There didn’t seem to be much to it—just a large, uneven room with some boulders strewn around. In the middle, some of the boulders had been arranged in a circle, like a table and chairs. Then Kathy saw something behind Elizabeth.
“What’s that?” she asked. Elizabeth stepped aside, and Kathy’s eyes slowly took in the skeleton that was neatly laid out along the wall.
Her scream was cut off by a sharp slap.
“You have to be quiet down here,” Elizabeth said, in a whisper that seemed to