10 The Light at the End of the Tunnel

Chapter 10 THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL The river dragged them through the cold darkness. "Cheese Louise!" said Judy. "Put on your flashlight, Andrew! There could be a humongous waterfall ahead and we wouldn't even know it!" "Um, I think the batteries are dead," said Andrew. He was silent for a moment. "But maybe the Stone Age people can save us." "Huh?" said Judy. "I picked up pieces of their firestones," said Andrew. "I can use them to light a fire." "We don't have anything to burn," said Judy.

"We can use the bug leg with the glowworm web as a torch," said Andrew. He picked it up off the bottom of the bug boat and passed it back to Judy. "Hang on to this," he said. "Not a bad idea, Bug-Brain," said Judy. She waved her hands in the darkness until she felt the bug leg and grabbed it. Andrew pulled the tiny firestones out of his pocket. meep… "Gotta hit one stone against other stone," said Thudd. Andrew slammed one piece against the other. Nothing happened. He smashed them together hard. Still nothing. He kept on trying. Suddenly a few tiny flashes of yellow-orange light curved into the air. "Woo-hoo!" yelled Andrew. "We've got sparks!" Andrew felt around and took the bug leg from Judy. He braced it between his knees, then smacked the stones hard. Sparks flew high! Ffffft… WHOOOOSH!

A ball of fire bigger than a beach ball leapt up from the water! "AAAAAAAAAH!" screamed Judy. "YEOOOOW!" hollered Andrew, jumping as though a Tyrannosaurus had come up behind him. Quick as a lightning flash, the ball of fire disappeared. But the torch was lit! "What was that?" asked Judy. meep… "Like swamp fire," said Thudd. "Gas come up from under ground." "Woofers!" said Andrew. "This torch seems kind of dangerous, but it will keep away the salamanders." meep… "Fish, too," said Thudd. "And we can see where we're going," said Judy. They sat silently as the boat bobbed along. Andrew was thinking how good the heat of the torch felt when he saw a lump rising ahead of them. A rock was sticking out of the water and they were speeding straight at it!

Klick! Their bug boat slammed into the rock. Water sloshed over the sides of the boat and soaked the Dubbles. ch… ch… ch… Judy shivered. "The water's so cold." "Hold the torch," said Andrew to Judy. "I'll get us out of here." Andrew picked up the other bug leg and used it to push them off the rock and back into the river. The river was getting faster and rougher. And Andrew could see more rocks sticking up ahead. meep… "When river got lotsa big rocks," said Thudd, "water go fast, fast, fast around rocks. Places in river that got lotsa rocks and fast water called rapids."

As Andrew scanned the river for rocks, he thought he saw something else. He squinted. Am I seeing spots? he thought. Or is that a dot of light out there? But the dot was getting bigger and brighter. "There's light ahead!" said Andrew.

"Humph," Judy grumped. "Probably just some more stupid glowworms." But soon they could see the craggy opening. Through it they could see the rising sun!