*****
You've hiked through Snake Canyon once before while visiting your Uncle Howard at Red Creek Ranch, but you never noticed any cave entrance.  It looks as though a recent rock slide has uncovered it.

Though the late afternoon sun is striking the opening of the cave, the interior remains in total darkness.  You step inside a few feet, trying to get an idea of how big it is.  As your eyes become used to the dark, you see what looks like a tunnel ahead, dimly lit by some kind of phosphorescent material on its walls.  The tunnel walls are smooth, as if they were shaped by running water.  After twenty feet or so, the tunnel curves.  You wonder where it leads.  You venture in a bit further, but you feel nervous being alone in such a strange place.  You turn and hurry out.

A thunderstorm may be coming, judging by how dark it looks outside.  Suddenly you realize the sun has long since set, and the landscape is lit only by the pale light of the full moon.  You must have fallen asleep and woken up hours later.  But then you remember something even more strange.  Just last evening, the moon was only a slim crescent in the sky.

You wonder how long you've been in the cave.  You are not hungry.  You don't feel you have been sleeping.  you wonder whether to try to walk back home by moonlight or whether to wait for dawn, rather than risk losing your footing on the steep and rocky trail.

[If you decide to start back home, turn to page 4.]

As you start walking back toward the ranch, you notice the trail seems very different than you remember it, though of course moonlight can play tricks on your eyes.  But you suddenly realize you are not walking on the trail at all, but on what seems to be a dried-up river bed.  You hurry back to the cave entrance.  You look around you and realize the whole landscape has changed.  While you were in the cave, torrents of water have washed out the trail; yet there is not so much as a puddle left.  You shiver.  It is cold, much colder than it should be at this time of year.  You take a jacket out of your backpack and put it on, but you are still freezing.

At least the world about you seems brighter.  It's getting light in the east.  The sun will soon be up.  You look at your watch.  It has run down, though you wound it only a few hours ago.  Nothing seems to make sense anymore.

You know you should get back to the ranch as quickly as possible, yet somehow you feel the only way to change things back to the way there were is to re-enter the cave.

[If you go back into the cave, turn to page 10.]

You walk into the interior of the strange cavern, then wait while your eyes become accustomed to the dim, amber light.  Gradually you can make out the two tunnels.  One curves downward to the right; the other leads upward to the left.

It occurs to you that the one leading down may go to the past and the one leading up may go to the future.

[If you take the tunnel leading to the right, turn to page 61.]

You follow the tunnel downward a short distance, suddenly you are sliding. Your head strikes something and your are knocked unconscious.

When you wake up, you find yourself by a small lake, bordered by woods. A boy about twelve years old is fishing nearby, but there is no one else in sight. You go up and introduce yourself, hoping you can find out what year it is without sounding crazy.

Fortunately, the boy is friendly and good-natured. He tells you his name is Nick Tyler and that he lives on Birch Street. He works in his father's business making candles and soap -- the best in the Colonies, he says.

[If you try to make up a believable story, turn to page 106.]

You do your best to make up a story about how your ran away from home, but Nick sees that you are not telling the truth. While you're talking, he packs up his fishing gear, says goodbye, and walks off.

Once he is out of sight, you start down the road, and, after a mile or so, reach a settled area. While you are standing near a church, wondering what to do next, a constable approaches and asks where you're from. This time you try to explain what really happened. After listening awhile, he arrests you for disorderly conduct and locks you up in the local jail.

Later in the day, a big, stupid-looking guard comes to bring you a ration of soup and bread. He is fascinated by your strange clothes and by the rumors he has heard about you. After opening the door to your cell, he hands you your food and stands back and looks at you curiously.

"They say you're in league with the devil," he says. "Is it so?"

[If you try to run past the guard and escape, turn to page 111.]

The guard is too startled, and maybe even too afraid, to stop you as you dart past him and out of the jail house. You run down the street as fast as you can. As you stop to catch your breath, a thin, bearded man driving a coach pulls up next to you.

"You seem to be having some trouble," he calls out. "Can I be of help?"

Too tired to make up any story, you begin to tell him everything that has happened to you. He is very excited by your story and invites you to a local tavern, where you have your first good meal since you left Red Creek Ranch. Your host hardly eats anything. He looks pale and seems to have a bad cough.

When you finish recounting your tale, he says, "It is strange that we have met. I have tuberculosis, and no doctor in Boston can help me. My only hope is to reach a future time."

"I think it's my only hope too," you say.

"If we help each other, I think we can find our way back to your time -- my new time," he replies.

The two of you shake on it and set out on your quest the next day at sunrise.

Together, you are successful in finding your way to the present time. Your friend from the past is cured with the help of modern medicines and later becomes a history teacher who is known throughout the country for his amazing knowledge of life in colonial America.

The End