Of
course the boys assented eagerly, but as it was found that only
Frank and Harry were expert canoeists, it was agreed that the others
should fish from the bank while the two young leaders trolled their
lines from a native built craft. This canoe was kept at the falls--to
which they tramped the two miles overland by a narrow trail.
The falls were a magnificent sight. From a dark red rock, fully two
hundred feet in height, a great volume of water poured its roaring
current into a boiling pool below. The cliffs shot up sheer on all
sides and were covered at the bottom with luxuriant green growth
like seaweed, while higher up, ferns, as big as rose-bushes at home,
and trees of a hundred varieties clung wherever they could find a
root-hold. As the party arrived at the top of the ravine and gazed
down, the uproar of the water was so terrific as to render any
speech inaudible. M. Desplaines, who led the party, pointed to a
hole in the rocks and a second later vanished into it.
At first, consternation seized on the boys who thought that an
accident had happened, but seeing not hearing Professor Wiseman's
reassuring laugh and noticing him plunge after M. Desplaines, the
boys rightly concluded that the aperture was a subterranean entrance
to the foot of the falls.
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