It was very early in the afternoon.The boys knew that they would have enough time to go to the bush, where their tins were hidden and fetch them back to the cave. Perhaps they could carry one sac between themselves.  
" We would better go now " said Jack" we will have to keep a sharp look out for those men because they were gonna have a jolly good look around and we don't want them to spot us. Now are you sure you girls will be alright.
" Quite alright" said Clara lazily. She was rather glad that she wouldn't have to go all the way back and drag a heavy sac back to the cave . She laid down on the moss.
Jack hung his field glasses on his shoulder. They might come in handy, when trying to spot a men far off. So the boys slid through the green frond of ferns. Jack called back to the girls, raising his voice extremely high
" If you happen to spot anyone near here, remember to untie the string that ties back these ferns. Ok?Then they will swing back and the cave will be completely hidden. Jenny please see that Lili doesn't follow us."
  Jenny had Lili on her shoulder, where Jack had just put her. She put her hand around the birds ankle and held her. Lili knew that she was not supposed to go with the boys, so she gave a dismal squak.
  " What a pity. What a pity!" She said gloomily.
Jenny held her till the boys were out of sight.Then she lowered her hand and Lili flew off her shoulder and out of the cave. She perched on a rock, looking for Jack.
" Poor Lili, Poor Lili!!" She said and cracked her beak grumpily.
  She flew back into the cave . Clara was fast asleep on the moss, her mouth open.Lili flew over and put her head on one side, looking at Clara's open mouth. Then she clucked a bit of moss with her beak.
"Lili don't you dare put that moss in Clara's mouth" cried out Jenny, knowing the mischievous bird. " you are a very bad bird."
   "Blow your nose" said Lili crossly and flew to the back of the cave.Jenny kept a sharp eye on her. She didn't trust the bird in such a mood.
The sun poured into the cave. It was getting a bit hot now. So Jenny thought that it would be a good idea to untie the fronds and let them swing back in place, to keep out the sun. So she pulled at the string Jack had shown her and at once the cave was lost in dim twilight, rather exciting to be in.
Clara was still fast asleep. Jenny laid down on her tummy, listening to the muffled sound of the waterfall. Sundenly she remembered Lili and called out for her. " Lili, where are you Lili?"
  There was no reply from Lili. Jenny tried to make out where she was. She must be still sulking because the boys hadn't taken her with them.
  "Lili come over here" she yelled once again" come and talk to me Lili."
   When there was no reply from the parrot, not even a squak, Jenny became worried. Even if Lili was sulking, she always talked back when someone was talking with her.
Jenny peered to the back of the cave. No Lili there.She then looked over the ledge on which their goods were placed. Still no Lili there.
  Well, where was she then? She hadn't flown out from in between the fronds, that was certain. She must be somewhere inside the cave. On the rocky ledge, a torch had been placed by the boys. Jenny felt for it and took it into her hand. She switched it on and flashed it around the cave. Lili was no where to be seen. She was not even perched up in the roof of the cave.How mysterious!
  Jenny was quite alarmed now. She woke up Clara, who sat up rubbing her eyes.
  "What's the matter?" She asked" I was having such a lovely nap."
   " I can't find Lili" told the little girl" I have looked everywhere for her."
  " Don't be silly, she has probably gone out of the cave, after Jack." Said Clara sleepily.She laid down again and yawned . Jenny shook her.
  " You are not to go to sleep again, Clara. I tell you Lili was here a while agao at the back of the cave and now she's gone.Absolutely vanished."
   " Well, let her. She will come back alright. Now let me sleep." Clara told her while lying down again.
  Jenny didn't like to say anymore. Clara could act pretty fierce when she was sleepy.The little girl sighed and wished the boys would get back soon. What had happened to Lili?
  She got up and walked to the back of the cave. The rock was folded on itself and behind the rock was a space. She looked cautiously into the dark space, expecting to see Lili hiding there, ready to cry " Bo" as she sometimes did when she was in mood of mischiev.
  But Lili wasn't there either. Jenny flashed her torch up and down the little hidden corner and suddenly her torch came to a stop focussed on on place. Why there's a hole here. Well, this must be where Lili has gone.  She clambered up the whole which was shoulder high. It was just big enough for her to squeeze through. She expected to drop down into another cave, but she didn't . The whole went upwards slightly a round, narrow tunnel. Jenny felt sure Lili must have vanished into that dark tunnel.
   " Lili" she yelled and flashed her torch infront of her." Where are you, idiot? Come back."
  Still no sound came from the bird. Jenny squeezed herself through the tunnel, wondering how long would it carry on.It was almost round as a pipe. Maybe water had made it's way through it, at one time. But it was quite dry now. She could not hear any sound of the waterfall once she was inside the tunnel. It was very quite there.
  " Lili" she yelled again and again.
  Clara heard a scream in her sleep and woke up with a jump. She sat up but this time Jenny was not in the cave with her.Now it was her turn to feel scared. She remembered that Jenny had said that Lili had suddenly disappeared. Now it seemed as if Jenny had too. The fronds were hanging over the enterance. Jenny would not have pushed out through them without telling her that she was going out.
  She examined the cave well. Oh God, what had happened to Jenny and Lili?
She heard another yell, sounding muffled and distant. She went to the back of the cave and discovered the hidden space. She fetched another torch and shone it up and down.She stared in amazement when she saw two shoes sticking out of a round hole.
She tugged at Jenny's ankles and yelled at her. " Jenny what are you doimg? Where are you going? What's up that hole?
  Jenny, who had now come back to the enterance yelled" I don't know. I found it by accident. I think Lili went up it. Shall i go up and see if i can find her? You come too."
   "Alright" said Clara " Go on up."
Jenny wriggled further up the pipe like tunnel. It suddenly widened out and by the light of her torch she saw below her another cave but a vast one this time.
  She managed to get out of the hole and had a look around at the cave. It was more like an underground hall. It's roof was very high indeed. From somewhere in it's dim vastness came a mornful voice
   "What a pity. What a pity."
   " Lili, so here you are" and then listened in antonishment to the echo that sounded immediately.
   " Here, here, here, are here, are here, are here" cried out the echoes repeating themselves in a strange and wierd manner.
  "Hurry up Clara" cried Jenny not liking the echoes at all.
  "Up, Clara, Clara, Clara" called the  echoes at once. Lili flew over to Jenny, frightened with so many voices. Whatever could they all be?
    "Lili, Lili, Lili" called the echoes. The parrot shivered and gazed all around,trying to see who called her. She suddenly gave a loud squawk.
    At once a score of squawks sounded all around as if the cave was filled with hundreds of parrots. Lili was simply astounded.  Could there be so many birds that she couldn't see?
Clara had just know reached the cave . "What an enormous place? " she said.
  "Place , place, place" shouted the echoes.
    " Everything we say is repeated here. " said Jenny. "It's wierd"
  "Weird, weird, weird" cried the echoes.
"Well, let's whisper then" said Clara, whispering herself. The cave was at once filled with mysterious whispers, which scared the girls even more than the repeated shouts they had heard. They clutched onto one another.Then Clara recovered herself.
  "It's only the echoes." She said" you often get them in enormous caves like this. I wonder if anyone has ever been here before."
  "Never, i should think" said Jenny, flashing her torch all around."Think about it. We must be treading in a place where no one has ever trodden before.
" Let's explore the cave a bit" said Clara " not that there seems much to see but we might as well do something while we are waiting for the boys."
  So they walked slowly around the dark cave, their footsteps being a hundred times repeated by the echoes. Once when Clara sneezed the girls were really frightened by the enormous explosive sound that came from all around the cave.
  "Oh, don't sneeze again Clara" said the little girl " It's really awful to hear the echoes sneezing. Even worse then hearing them squawk like Lili."
They had gone almost all around the cave when they came to a passage leading out of it, a high narrow passage between two walls of rocks.
  " Look at that" said Clara surprised. " A passage, do you suppose it leads anywhere? "
   "It might" said Jenny and her eyes beamed" Don't forget Clara that those men are after some treasure. We don't know what kind but it's just possible it might be hidden somewhere in these mountains."
  "Let's follow the passage then" said Clara" Lili come along. We don't want to leve you behind. "
  Lili flew to her shoulder. In silence, the two girls entered, the narrow rocky passage, their torches gleaming in front f them. What were they gonna find now?