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the passage.
    â€œWhoa!”
    It was a surreal experience as Jack felt himself gaining momentum. Kicking his feet against the sides of the tunnel, he tried to stop, but it seemed like the mud was everywhere. Limbs flailing, the two of them slammed into Ben, who was also struggling to keep himself from falling.
    The chain reaction sent all three racing down a chute without a sled. Suddenly the tunnel dropped away sharply beneath them, and they plummeted nearly straight down for an endless moment through solid darkness.

Chapter 05
    Jack plunged into a dark pool of frigid water. The cold tore through him like icy razors slicing his skin as he struggled to keep his thoughts from scattering into panic. He could feel gravel and rocks beneath his feet, but he was in water up to his waist and the cold was nearly overwhelming.
    A light blinked on in the darkness, and Jack could make out Ben’s large frame standing a few yards off clutching one of the flashlights.
    Now Jack saw the pit was maybe fifteen or twenty feet across. Smooth rock walls loomed on all sides, and water cascaded from above in a steady stream. There was no place to climb up out of the cold. It looked to Jack like they had fallen into the bottom of a well.
    â€œThis is just great.” Rudy’s frantic voice sounded from the shadows behind Jack. “What are we gonna do now?”
    â€œDon’t panic, for one thing,” came Ben’s gruff reply. “Get your ropes off.”
    Jack untied the rope from his waist and fumbled beneath the water for his own flashlight. He could feel his teeth chattering. “Wh-where are we?”
    Ben was scanning the walls. “Looks like some kind of pit.”
    Jack found his light and peered up at the ledge. He spotted the tunnel they had fallen from about twenty feet up. A grim realization was beginning to set into his mind. He looked at Rudy and could tell he’d come to the same conclusion.
    â€œW-we can’t climb back up that w-way,” he said.
    â€œCheck your packs,” Ben said. “Make sure we have everything.”
    Jack swung his pack around and inspected its contents. His minicam was moist but not ruined; his canvas pack had obviously protected it during the initial fall into the water. He slipped the camera back into its nylon case and zipped it tight. It wasn’t waterproof, but hopefully it would stay dry enough. Although from the look of their predicament, the fate of his video equipment hardly seemed important anymore.
    He continued struggling to keep his mind off his father, but he couldn’t help wondering if he had fallen down this shaft as well and died alone here in the dark. He shuddered at the thought of stumbling across his father’s bones somewhere under the water.
    â€œW-we’re gonna freeze down here.” Rudy shivered.
    â€œShut up!” Ben’s voice took on an irritated edge. “Quit talking like that. Just keep looking for a way out.”
    Jack pointed his light back up at the ledge. “Do you think if we boosted Rudy, he could climb back up?”
    Rudy shook his head, shivering. “It’s too high.”
    Ben shone his beam on the streamlets of water pouring down from the darkness overhead. “The shaft isn’t filling with water, so it’s got to be going somewhere.”
    Jack nodded. “Another tunnel?”
    â€œProbably underwater somewhere.” Ben began searching the perimeter of the shaft. “There’s gotta be an outlet.”
    Then Jack got an idea. He unzipped his pack, unwrapped one of his granola bars, and set the plastic wrapper on the water like a tiny canoe. It spun in the eddies and swirls but soon began drifting toward one of the walls. As if drawn by an invisible thread.
    He looked up at Ben. “What do you think?”
    Ben didn’t reply. His stern, leathery countenance seemed fixated on the wrapper as it picked up speed. In moments it bounced into the smooth rock wall