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Show the burrow angled down to open as that cave I'd noted in the side of the wall. Rains had washed the burrow so that it was fairly roomy. Here was a sort of chute that didn't seem toe steep. I thought it would take me down to the bottom so that I could inspect the well where the sides had caved enough to make shallow, shadowy chanters. There I might find redmen's relics, adventure. So I let myself down feet first into the burrow. The angle was steeper than I'd guessed.,I slid faster than I planned. Another factor I'd not figured on: the height between the burrow and the well bottom was about twice what I had guessed when I looked down from the top. Standing on the bottom, I could look up the burrow but I couldn't get back into it. The well bottom was loose sand. I tried piling it up but it made poor footing. When I jumped for the hole I could find nothing to take hold of-I bumped my head and slid back into the well, with loss of some skin. The well was shaped like a pot that was larger at the bottom and middle part than it was at the top. I shouted hoping to attract my parents or my sister. No answer. My voice sounded muffled even to me in that cavity with the overhanging edge. The well appeared much deeper from down below than it had seemed from the top. More shouts. Still no answer. I began to feel the way biblical Joseph must have felt when his brothers deserted him in a well. But Bible stories didn't interest me then. My own story was all that counted with me. At first I tried to he manly and fearless. But soon-let's face it-I panicked. I ran around the pit like a mouse that had slid down the spout into a kettle and couldn't get back. That was the situation El Vera found me in. She'd heard a faint cry or two but she lingered to help Ramona face one of her crises before coming to investigate. When she saw her young brother running around in a circle at the well bottom like a caged squirrel, she broke out laughing. In fact she collapsed to her knees, convulsed with mirth on the edge of the pit with enough force to send showers of sand down on me. |