"Then it's a conger, and it's got its tail round a rock."

"May be," said Vince. "Well, congers aren't bad eating."

"B-r-r-ur!" shuddered Mike. "I hate hooking them. Line gets twisted into such a knot. You may cut it up: I shan't."

"Yes, I'll cut him in chunks and fry him when I get him," said Vince. "He's coming, but it isn't a conger. Comes up like a flat fish, only there can't be any here."

"Oh, I don't know," said Mike. "I daresay there's plenty of sand down below."

"Well, it is a flat fish, and a heavy one too," said Vince, as he hauled in cautiously, full of excitement, drawing in foot after foot of his line; and then he cried, with a laugh, "Why, it's a big crab!"

"Then you'll lose it, for certain. 'Tisn't hooked."

"Shall I lose him!" said Vince, with another laugh, as he lifted out his prize for it to come on to the rock with a bang. "Why, he has got the line twisted all round his claw, and—Ah! would you bite! I've got him safe this time, Mike."

Safe enough; for, after the huge claws of the monstrous crab had been carefully tied with a couple of bits of fishing line, it was quite a task to disentangle the creature, which, in its eagerness to seize the bait, had passed the line round and under its curious armoured joints, and in its struggles to escape, made matters worse.

"This is about the finest we've seen, Mike," said Vince. "Well, I'm sorry for him, and we'll try and kill him first; but his fate is to be cooked in his own shell, and delicious he'll be."

"I should like to take him home," said Mike, as he wound up his line.

"So should I; but if either of us did we should be bothered with questions as to where we got it, and we couldn't say. We shall have to cook it and eat it ourselves, Ladle. Come on; we don't want any more fish to-day."

They stepped back over the rocks, and while Mike hung up the lines Vince thrust his prize into the big creel they had close to the place they used for their fire, and then hurried towards the inner cave to fetch the tinder-box and a portion of the wood they had stored up there for firing, as well as the extra provisions they had brought with them that day.

"It strikes me, Mikey, that we're going to have a regular feast," said Vince. "Lucky I caught that fellow!—if I hadn't we should have come short off."

"Hark at him bragging! I say, why didn't you catch a lobster instead?"

Phew! came a soft whistle from the opening into the passage—a whistle softened by its journey through the subterranean place; but sounding pretty loudly in their ears, and as if it had been given by some one half-way through.

"Lobster!" ejaculated Vince excitedly. "Why, there he is coming down."

"Oh, Vince!" cried Mike, "that spoils all. I felt sure he would, after falling in as he did. He saw the hole, and he is searching it."

"Yes, and he'll come right on, feeling sure we're here."

"What shall we do? I know: frighten him."

"Frighten him? How?"

"Go up and stand at the bottom of one of the steep bits, and when he comes up, throw stones at him and groan."

"Bah!" ejaculated Vince contemptuously; "that wouldn't frighten him. He'd know it was us. I say, it's all over with the place now."

"Yes, for he'll tell everybody, and they'll come and find the outer cave with all the treasure in it."

"Yes, that won't do, Ladle. There's no help for it now; there'll be no secret caves. You must tell your father to-night, and he'll take proper possession of the place. If he don't, every one in the island will come and plunder."

"Yes, that's right," said Mike; "but it's a horrible pity. I am sorry. But what shall we do now?"

"There's only one thing I can think of now—yes, two things," whispered Vince: "either go up and stop him, fight for it and not let him come; or hide."

"Hide?" said Mike dubiously.

"Yes, down here in the sand. It's dark enough. We could cover ourselves."

"Or go and hide in the other cave," said Mike. "Yes, we'll get the rope and grapnel, and get up into the great crack, pull the rope up, and we can watch from there."

"That's it," said Vince. "We only want to gain time till Sir Francis knows."

"And your father," said Mike. "Fair play's a jewel, Cinder. Look sharp! Come on!"

They listened in the gloom of the inner cave for a few moments, and then Mike led the way to the opening between the two caves, passing behind the rock, and as he did so he turned to whisper to his companion—

"Perhaps he won't find this way through."

Then he stepped on over the deep, soft sand, and was about to pass through into the outer cavern, when he saw something which made him dart back, to come heavily in collision with Vince; but not until the latter had seen that which startled Mike.

For there, standing in the sand, gazing up at the fissure, was a heavy, thick-set, foreign-looking man, with short black hair, a very brown skin, and wearing glistening gold earrings, each as far across as a half-crown piece. The glance taken by the boys was short enough, but they saw more than that, for they caught sight of a rope hanging down and a man's legs just appearing.

"Vite! vite!" cried the foreign-looking fellow. "Depechez; make you haste, you slow swab you."

There was a growl from above, and something was said, but the boys did not hear what. They heard the beating of their hearts, though, and a choking sensation rose to their throats as they stood in the narrow way between the two caverns, asking themselves the same question—What to do?

For they were between two fires. The caves were in foreign occupation, that was plain enough; and the whistle had not come from young Carnach, but from some one else.

There could be no doubt about it: these were not strangers, but the smuggling crew come to life again after being dead a hundred years, if Mike was right; a crew of the present day, come to see about their stores, if Vince's was the right version.

Whichever it was, they seemed to be quite at home, for a second whistle came chirruping out of the long passage, as the boys hurried into the gloomy inner cave for safety, and this was answered by the Frenchman, who roared:

"Ah, tousan tonderres! Make you cease if I come;" but all the same an answering whistle came from the outer cave.

What to do? Where to hide? They were hemmed in; and it was evident that either the party in the long passage was coming down, and might even now be close to the slope, or the Frenchman and the others were going to him.

It took little time to grasp all this, and almost as little to decide what to do. The boys had but the two courses open to them—to face it out with the foreign-looking man, who seemed to be leader, and his followers; or to hide.

They felt that they dared not do the former then, and on the impulse of the moment, and as if one spirit moved them both, they decided to hide— if they could!

The inner cavern was gloomy enough, and they could only dimly make out the top of the opening above the slope; all below was deep in shadow, for the faint pearly light only bathed the roof. But still they felt sure that if they entered from the upper entrance or from below they must be seen, unless they did one thing—and that was, carried out the idea suggested for hiding from young Carnach.

They had no time for hesitation; and any hope of its being still possible to escape by the upper passage was extinguished by a clinking noise, as of a big hammer upon stone, coming echoing out of the opening, suggestive of some novel kind of work going on up there; so, dashing to the darkest part of the cave—that close down by where the slope came from above—the boys thrust the lanthorn and tinder-box on one side and began to scoop away at the deep, loose sand near the wall. Then, shuffling themselves down something after the fashion of a crab upon the shore, they cast the sand back over their legs and then over their breasts and faces, closing their eyes tightly, and finally shuffling down their arms and hands.

Anywhere else the manoeuvre would have been absurd to a degree; but there, in the gloom of that cavern, there was just a faint chance of any one passing up or down the slope without noticing that they were hiding, while all they could hope for now was that the heavy, dull throb, throb, of their hearts might not be heard.

Vince had covered his face with sand, but a few laboured breathings cleared his nostrils, and one of his ears was fully exposed; and as he lay he longed to do something more to conceal both himself and his companion; but he dared not stir, for the people in the outer cave were moving about, and their leader could be heard in broken English cursing angrily whoever it was that had dared to come down into his cave.

They heard enough to make them lie breathlessly, almost, waiting, while the moments seemed to be terribly prolonged; and at last Vince found himself longing for the time to come when they would be discovered, for he felt that if this terrible suspense were drawn out much longer he must spring up and shout aloud.

Possibly the two lads did not lie there much more than two minutes, but they were to Vince like an hour, before he heard the rough, domineering voice in the outer cavern cry out—

"Now, mes enfans, forvard march!" And there was a dull sound following, as of men's heavily booted feet shuffling and ploughing up the sand.



CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.

TWO BOYS IN A HOBBLE.

Five men, headed by the heavy fellow who spoke in broken English, passed silently before the boys through the soft sand, their figures looking black against the beautiful light which seemed to play on the ceiling of the place. Then the leader stopped, and he gazed sharply round for a few minutes, his eyes seeming to rest for some time upon the sand which the boys had strewed over themselves and burrowed into as far as they could get.

Vince shivered a little, for he felt that it was all over and that they must be seen; but just as he had come to the conclusion that the best thing he could do would be for them to jump up and throw themselves upon the man's mercy, the great broad-shouldered fellow spoke.

"Dere sall not be any mans here. Let us go up and see vat they do—how they get on."

Apparently quite at home in the place, he walked to the foot of the slope, and for the first time saw the rope, and was told that it was not theirs.

"Aha!" he cried, "it vas time to come here and look. En avant!"

He seized the rope, and in spite of his size and weight he went up skilfully enough, the others following as actively as the boys would have mounted; and while Vince and Mike lay perspiring beneath the sand, they heard the next order come from the opening on high.

"Light ze lanthorn," said the Frenchman sharply; and, trembling now lest the light should betray their hiding-place, the boys lay and listened to the nicking of the flint and steel, heard the blowing on the tinder, saw the faint blue gleam of the match, and then the gradually increasing light, as the wood ignited and the candle began to burn; but throwing the rays through into the cavern, they passed over the corner where the boys lay, making it intensely dark by contrast, and they breathed more freely as the dull sound of the closing lanthorn was heard and the Frenchman growled out—

"Vite! vite! I have to lose no time."

People seemed to be doing something more, far in the passage, which evoked the sharply spoken words of their leader; but what it was the boys could not make out, though they heard a strange clinking, as of pieces of iron being struck together, and then there was a loud clang, as if a crowbar or marlinspike had fallen upon the stony floor.

"Ah, bete with the head of an Anglais cochon—pig! You always have ze finger butter. Now, en avant, go on—depechez, make haste."

There was the sound of footsteps, the shuffling over stones, as if the men were not accustomed to the way; and then the light rapidly grew more feeble, and finally died out.

"Phew!" sighed Vince, expiring loudly and blowing away the sand which had trickled about his lips, but not without first more firmly closing his eyes.

"Hist!" whispered Mike; and then he sputtered a little and whispered the one word "Sand."

There was no need to say more; the one word expressed his position, and Vince knew all he suffered, for the sand was trickling inside his jersey round the neck, and if he had not raised his head a little it would have been in his eyes, of which he naturally had a horror.

The two boys lay perfectly still in their corner, listening with every sense upon the strain; and for some little time the movements of the men could be heard very plainly, every step, every stone that was dislodged sending its echo whispering along the narrow passage as a voice runs through a speaking tube.

At last all seemed so still that they took heart to whisper to each other.

"What shall we do, Cinder?" said Mike.

"I don't know, unless we go through into the other cave."

"What's the good of that?—they'll come back soon and find us."

"Unless we can hide somewhere among the bales, or right up in the back, where it's dark."

"That might do," said Mike. "But, I say, what have they gone after?"

"To try and find us."

"But they don't know us."

"Well, the people who are using this cave, and they must know of the way up to the top. Ah! that's it."

"Yes; what?" cried Mike excitedly.

"Hist! don't speak so loudly. They've gone up there to loosen some of the stones and block the way, so as to put an end to any one coming down; or else to lay wait and trap us."

Mike drew a long, deep breath; and it sounded like a groan.

"Oh dear!" he said; "whatever shall we do? Perhaps we had better get through into the other cavern. They'll search this thoroughly, perhaps, when they come back; but they mayn't search that."

"That's what I thought," said Vince. "Yes, it's the only thing for us to do, unless we go into the seals' cave and try and hide there."

"Ugh!" said Mike, with a shudder. "Why, it may be horribly deep, and we should have to swim in ever so far in the darkness before we touched bottom; and who knows what a seal would do if it was driven to bay?"

"Better have to fight seals than be caught by these men, Ladle," said Vince. "But we ought to have something to fight the seals with. There's the big stick in the other cavern, and your knife."

"And yours."

"Yes; there's mine," said Vince thoughtfully. "Ah! of course there's the conger club with the gaff hook at the end."

"To be sure. But, oh no, we couldn't do that. It would be horrible to wade or swim into that hole without a light."

"We'd take a light," said Vince.

"Yes, but we'd better try the other cave," said Mike hurriedly. "I feel sure we could hide in the upper part. Draw a sail over us, perhaps: they'd never think we should hide in an open place like that, where they landed."

"Very well, then: come on. Here's the lanthorn and the tinder-box."

Vince secured these from where they lay half buried in the sand; and then, rising quickly out of their irritating beds, and scattering the loose fine dry grit back, they hurried into the outer cave, seized the rope and grapnel, and Mike was swinging it to throw up into the opening, when his arm dropped to his side, and he stood as if paralysed, looking wildly at his companion.

For that had occurred upon which they had not for a moment counted. They had seen the party of men pass them, and it never struck either that this was not all, till they stood beneath the opening in the act of throwing the grapnel. Then, plainly heard, came a boisterous laugh, followed by the murmur of voices.

They looked at each other aghast, as they saw that their escape in that direction was cut off. There was no seeking refuge among the bales, and in despair the grapnel was thrown down in its place; while, in full expectation of seeing more of the smuggler crew come through the fissure, they were hurrying back to the inner cave, when Vince turned and caught up the conger club and the heavy oaken cudgel, holding both out to Mike to take one, and the latter seized the club.

Enemies behind them and enemies in front, they felt almost paralysed by their despair and dread, half expecting to find the party that had ascended already back. But on reaching the dark cave all was perfectly still for a few moments, during which they stood listening.

"Think we could find a better place to hide in here?" said Mike, in a husky whisper.

"No; they had that lanthorn with them."

"But if we shuffle down in the sand again?"

"It's of no use to try it," said Vince sharply. "Once was enough. We must try the seal cave."

"Then why did you come in here?" whispered Mike petulantly.

"Because you were afraid to go into that black hole in the dark."

"And so were you," said Mike angrily.

"That's right, Ladle—so I am," whispered Vince coolly; "and that's why I came in here for the moment, to think whether we could possibly hide."

"Hist! I can hear them coming."

Vince stood listening to the murmur of voices coming out of the opening above them.

"Ever so far back yet," he whispered; and he dropped upon his knees and opened the tinder-box and the lanthorn, which he had placed before him on the sand.

"No, no; don't do that," protested Mike, who was half wild with alarm.

"Can't help it: we must have a light," said Vince; and the cavern began to echo strangely with the nicking of the flint and steel.

"Then come in the other cavern," said Mike, as he stood holding the club and cudgel.

"Don't bother me. Other fellows would hear me there, and the wind blows in."

And all the time he was nicking away, and in his hurry failing to get a spark to drop in the tinder.

"Oh! it's all over," said Mike. "They're close here."

"No, they're not. Ah! that's it at last."

For a spark had settled on the charred linen, and was soon blown into a glow which ignited the brimstone match; but, quick as Vince was in getting it to burn and light the candle, it seemed to both an interminable length of time before he could close the door of the lanthorn and shut the half-burned match in the tinder-box.

This last he was about to hide in a hole he began to scratch in the sand; but on second thoughts he thrust the flat box, with its rattling contents, under his jersey, and caught up the lanthorn, which now feebly lit the cavern.

"Yes," said Vince; "they're pretty close now, for the voices sound very distinct. Come on."

He turned into the narrow passage to enter the outer cave, and they stopped short in horror as they stood in the full light there, for a loud chirruping whistle came suddenly from the fissure before them and up to the left; and it had hardly ceased echoing when it was answered from the inner cave behind them, and was followed by a shout, which sounded as if the men were sliding down the rope and close at hand.

"Not much time to spare," said Vince, in a hurried whisper. "Come on, Ladle." And, lanthorn in hand, the light invisible as he hurried to the mouth of the cave, he stepped into the water, and, wading to the low arch on their right, stooped low and went in, closely followed by Mike; and, as they passed on, with the lanthorn light showing them the dripping walls and root of the place, covered with strange-looking zoophytes, there was a loud flopping, rushing, and splashing, which sent a wave above their knees, and made Mike stop short and seize his companion.

"Only a seal. Come on," said Vince; and he pressed forward, with the water getting deeper instead of more shallow, and a doubt rising in his mind as to whether they would be able to get in far enough to be safe.

"Hist! Quiet!" he whispered, for the sound of voices came to where they stood, and Vince felt that if sound was conveyed in one direction it certainly would be in the other.

"Mustn't say a word, or they'll hear us and be in and fetch us out in no time. Come on, or they'll see the reflection of the light."

"Can't," whispered back Mike faintly. "I've got my boot down a crack, wedged in."

Vince seized him sharply by the shoulder, and Mike nearly fell back into the water; but this acted like a lever, and the boot was wrenched free, just as another whistle was heard and its answer, both sounding strangely near.

Quite certain that if they did not get in farther the reflection from the lanthorn must be seen, Vince waded on, with the water rising from his knees to his thighs, and then, feeling terribly cold, nearly to his waist.

"We mustn't go any farther," said Mike in an excited whisper, "or we shall have to swim."

"Very well, then, we must swim," said Vince, holding the light well up above the water, and looking anxiously along the dark channel ahead, the roof not being two feet above their caps.

Deeper still—the water above their waists—but the cavern went nearly straight on, and Vince was about to open the door and blow out the light, when Mike caught his arm.

"Don't do that," he whispered: "it would be horrible here, with those beasts about. There, you can hear one swimming, and we don't know what else there may be."

"But they'll see the light."

"Well, let them," said Mike desperately. "I'd rather wade out."

"I'll risk it, then," said Vince; and then he drew a breath of relief, for at the end of a couple of yards the depression along which they had passed was changing to a gradual rise of the cavern floor, and the water fell lower and lower, till it was considerably below their waists, and soon after shallow in the extreme.

They went on with mingled feelings, satisfied that they were getting where they would not be discovered, and also into shallow water, that promised soon to rise to dry land; but, on the other hand, they kept having hints that they were driving back living creatures, which made known their presence by wallowing splashes, that echoed strangely along the roof, and made the boys grasp club and cudgel with desperate energy.

To their great joy, now, on looking back they found that they could not see the daylight shining in from the mouth upon the water, and as, in consequence, any one gazing into the cave was not likely to see the dim rays of their lanthorn, the boys paused knee-deep, glad to find that they need go no farther along the narrow channel—one formed, no doubt, by the gradual washing away of some vein of soft felspar or steatite.

"Pretty safe now," whispered Vince.

Plash!

"Ugh!" ejaculated Mike. "What's that?"

"Seal or some big fish," said Vince: "something we've driven in before us."

"I don't want to be a coward, Cinder," whispered Mike; "but if it's a great conger, I don't know what I should do."

"Hit at it," replied Vince. "I should, even if I felt in a regular squirm. But we needn't mind. The things we've driven up before us are sure to be in a horrible flurry, and all they'll think about will be of trying to get away."

"Think so?"

"Why, of course. You don't suppose there are any of the things that old Joe talked about, do you?"

"No, of course that's nonsense; but the congers may be very big and fierce, and isn't this the sort of place they would run up?"

"I dunno. S'pose so," said Vince. "They get in holes of the rocks, of course; but I don't know whether they'd get up such a big, long cave as this. Wonder how far it goes in? Pst!"

Vince grasped his companion's arm tightly, for they were having a proof of the wonderful way in which sound was carried along the surface of the water, especially in a narrow passage such as that in which they had taken refuge.

For all at once the murmur of voices sounded as if it were approaching them, and their hearts seemed to stand still, as they believed that they were being pursued.

But the next minute they knew that the speakers were only standing at the mouth of the cave and looking in, one of the men apparently whispering close to them, and with perfect distinctness:—

"Seals," he said. "I came and listened last time I was here, and you could hear 'em splashing and walloping about in the water. Like to go on in?"

"No," said another voice. "Get 'em up in a corner and they'll show fight as savage as can be; and they can bite too."

"Good polt on the head with a club settles them, though, soon enough."

"Ay, but who's to get to hit at 'em, shut up in a hole where you haven't room to swing your arm? 'sides, they're as quick as lightning, and they'll come right at you."

"What, attack?"

"Nay, I don't say that: p'r'aps it's on'y trying to get away; but if one of they slippery things comes between your legs down you must go."

"Think there's any in now?"

"Bound to say there are. They comes and goes, though. Listen: p'r'aps you'll hear one."

As it happened, just then there was a peculiar splashing and wallowing sound from some distance farther in, and it ended with an echoing report, as if one of the animals had given the surface of the water a heavy blow with its tail.

"No mistake—eh?" said one of the voices.

"Let's get the lanthorn and go in," said one eagerly.

"Nay, you stop wheer you are. Old Jarks is wild enough as it is about some one being here. If he finds any of us larking about, he'll get hitting out or shootin', p'r'aps."

"I say," said another voice—all sounding curiously near, and as if whispering for the two fugitives to hear—"think anybody's been splitting about the place?"

"I d'know. Mebbe. Wonder it arn't been found out before. My hye! I never did see old Jarks in such a wax before. Makes him sputter finely what he does blaze up. I don't b'lieve as he knows then whether he's speaking French or English."

"Well, don't seem as if we're going to ketch whoever it is."

"What! Don't you be in a hurry about that. If old Jarks makes up his mind to do a thing, he'll do it."

"Think he'll stop?"

"Stop? Ay, for a month, but what he'll ketch whoever it is. Bound to say they've been walking off with the silk and lace at a pretty tidy rate."

"They'll be too artful to come again, p'r'aps."

"Ah! that's what some one said about the mice, but they walked into the trap at last."

"What'll he do if he does ketch 'em?"

"Well, there, you know what old Jarks is. He never do stand any nonsense. I should say he'd have a haxiden' with 'em, same as he did with that French douane chap. Pistol might go off, or he might take 'em aboard and drop 'em—"

Murmur, murmur, murmur—and then silence.

The speakers had evidently turned away from the mouth of the seal hole, and the boys did not hear the end of the sentence.

"Oh!" groaned Mike faintly.

"I say, Ladle, if you make a noise like that they'll hear you, and come and fetch us out."

"I couldn't help it. How horrid it sounds!"

"Yes," said Vince very softly, "but he has got to catch us yet. Who's old Jarks? Here, I know: they mean the Frenchman: Jacks—Jacques, don't you see?"

"Yes, I see," said Mike dismally.

"He's the skipper, of course. French skipper with an English crew. They must be a nice set. I say, do you feel cold?"

"Cold? I don't feel as if I had any feet at all."

"We must have some exercise," said Vince grimly; and he uttered a faint chuckling sound. "I say, though, Mike don't be down about it. He's only a Frenchman, and we're English. We're not going to let him catch us, are we?"

"It's horrible," said Mike. "Why, he'll kill us!"

"He hasn't caught us yet, I tell you, lad. Look here: we know everything about the caves now, and we can go anywhere in the dark, can't we?"

"Yes, I suppose so," said Mike dismally.

"Very well, then; we must wait till it's dark, and then creep out and make for the way out."

"Is no way out now: it's either stopped up or watched."

"Well, then, we'll get out by the mouth of the smugglers' cave, and creep up on to the cliffs somewhere."

"Current would wash us away; and if we could get to the cliffs you know we shouldn't be able to climb up. We're not flies."

"Who said we were? Well, you are a cheerful sort of fellow to be with!"

"I don't want to be miserable, Cinder, old chap, but it does seem as if we're in a hole now."

"Seem? Why we are in a hole, and a good long one too," said Vince, laughing softly.

"Ah, I can't see anything to joke about. It's awful—awful! Cinder, we shall never see home again."

"Bah! A deal you know about it, Ladle. That French chap daren't shoot us or drown us. He knows he'd be hung if he did."

"And what good would it do us after he had killed us, if he was hung? I shouldn't mind."

"Well, you are a cheerful old Ladle!" said Vince. "Why don't you cheer up and make it pleasanter for me?"

"Pleasanter?" said Mike. "Oh!"

"Be quiet, and don't be stupid," said Vince. "Look here: don't forget all you've read about chaps playing the hero when they are in great difficulties."

"Who's going to play the hero when he's up to his knees in cold water?" cried Mike bitterly.

"Well, he has a better chance than if he was up to his neck; same as that fellow would have a better chance than one who was out of his depth."

"I say," cried Mike excitedly, "does the tide run up here and fill the cave?"

"No. It was high water when we came in, wasn't it? We never saw it more than half-way up the arch. Now look here, Ladle: we're in a mess."

"As if I didn't know!"

"And we've got to get ourselves out of it, because nobody knows anything about this place or our having come here. Think Lobster will say he has seen us come this way once? He's sure to hear we're missing and that they're looking for us."

"I don't suppose he will," said Mike dismally. "If they came this way they wouldn't find the hole. They'll think we've gone off the cliff and been drowned. What will they say! what will they say!"

These words touched Vince home, and for a few minutes a peculiar feeling overcame him; but the boy had too much good British stuff in him to give way to despair, and he turned angrily upon his companion:

"Look here, Ladle," he said: "if you go on like this I'll punch your head. No nonsense—I will. I don't believe that French skipper dare hurt us, but we won't give him the chance to. We can't see a way out of the hobble yet, but that's nothing. It's a problem, as Mr Deane would say, and we've got to solve it."

"Who can solve problems standing in cold water? My legs are swelling already, same as Jemmy Carnach's did when he was swept out in his boat and nearly swamped, and didn't get back for three days."

"You're right," said Vince. "I can't think with my feet so cold. Let's get into a dry place."

"What, go out?"

"No," said Vince; "we'll go in."



CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.

A STRANGE NIGHT'S LODGING.

Mike shrank from attempting to penetrate farther into the narrow hole; but Vince's determination was contagious, and, in obedience to a jog of the elbow, he followed his companion, as, with the lanthorn held high enough for him to look under, the cudgel in his right-hand, he began to wade on, finding that the passage twisted about a little, very much as the tunnel formed by the stream did—of course following the vein of mineral which had once existed, and had gradually decayed away.

To their great delight, the water, at the end of fifty yards or so, was decidedly shallower; the walls, which had been almost covered with sea anemones, dotted like lumps of reddish green and drab jelly, only showed here, in company with live shells, a few inches above the water, which now, as they waded on, kept for a little distance of the same depth, and then suddenly widened out.

Vince stopped there, and held up the lanthorn, to see the darkness spread all around and the light gleaming from the water, which had spread into a good-sized pool.

"Mind!" cried Mike excitedly: "there's something coming."

He turned to hurry back, but Vince stood firm, with his cudgel raised; and the force of example acted upon Mike, who turned towards him, grasping the conger bat firmly, as the light showed some large creature swimming, attracted by the light.

But the boys did not read it in that way. Their interpretation was that the creature was coming to attack them; and, waiting till it was within reach, Vince suddenly leaned forward and struck at it with all his might.

The blow only fell upon the water, making a sharp splash; for the lad's movement threw the lanthorn forward, and the sudden dart towards the animal of a glaring object was enough. The creature made the water surge and eddy as it struck it with its powerful tail, and went off with a tremendous rush, raising a wave as it went, and sending a great ring around to the sides of the expanded cavern, the noise of the water lapping against the walls being plainly heard.

This incident startled, but at the same time encouraged the lads, for it gave them a feeling of confidence in their own power; but as soon as they recommenced their advance, there was another shock,—something struck against Vince's leg, and in spite of his effort at self-command he uttered a cry.

There was no real cause for alarm, though; and they grasped the fact that the blow was struck by one of a shoal of large fish, or congers, making a rush to escape the enemies who had invaded their solitude, and in the flurry one of them had struck against the first object in its way. "I'm sure they were congers," whispered Mike. "I felt one of them seem to twist round me."

"Never mind: they're gone," replied Vince. "Come on. I fancy there must be a rocky shore farther on, as it's so shallow here, and it's all sand under foot."

"Not all: I've put my feet on rock several times," whispered Mike.

"Well, that doesn't matter. There's plenty of sand. Look out!"

There was a tremendous splashing in front, and the water came surging by them, while they noticed now that the sides of the place were once more closing in as they advanced.

"Shall we go back?" said Vince; for the sudden disturbance in front, evidently the action of large animals, or fish, had acted as a check to him as well as his companion.

Mike was silent for a few moments. Then he said hoarsely: "I'll stick to you, Cinder, and do what you do."

"Then come on," said the boy, who felt a little ashamed of his feeling of dread.

"Can't be sharks, can it?" whispered Mike, as, in addition to the lapping and sucking noises made by the water, there was a peculiar rustling and panting.

"Sharks, in a cave like this? No. They're seals, I'm sure, four or five of them, and they've backed away from us till they've got to the end. Hark! Don't you hear? There is a sort of shore there, and they are crawling about."

He waded forward two or three steps, holding up the light as high as he could; but the feeble rays, half quenched by the thin, dull horn, did not penetrate the gloom, and at last, as the strange noises went on, the boy lowered the lanthorn, opened the door, and turned the light in the direction just before them.

They saw something then, for pairs of eyes gleamed at them out of the darkness, seen vividly for a moment or two, and disappearing, to gleam again, like fiery spots, somewhere else.

Mike wanted to ask if they really were seals; but in spite of a brave effort to be firm, his voice failed him, the surroundings were so strange, and, standing there in the water, he felt so helpless. Every word about the horrors of the Black Scraw told to them by old Daygo came to him with vivid force, and his tongue clove to the roof of his mouth, and there was a sensation as of something moving the roots of his hair.

Then he started, for Vince closed the lanthorn with a snap and said hoarsely:—

"Hit hard, Mike. They must go or we must, and I'm growing desperate."

"Go on?" faltered Mike.

"Yes, and hit at the first one you can reach. They're lying about there, on the dry sand."

His companion's order nerved Mike once more; and, drawing a deep breath, he whispered "All right," though he felt all wrong.

"Don't swing the club, or you may hit me," said Vince. "Strike down, and I'll do the same. Now then, both together, and I'll keep the lanthorn between us. Begin."

They made a rush together through the water, which, after a few steps, grew rapidly shallow; and then they were out upon soft sand, striking at the dim-looking objects just revealed to them by the light; and twice over Vince felt that he had struck something soft, but whether it was seal or sand he could not tell. Violent strokes had resounded from the roof of the echoing cavern, as Mike exerted himself to the utmost, hitting about him wildly in despair, while every few moments there was a loud splashing. Then Mike fell violently forward on to his face, for one of the frightened creatures made a dash for the water. The panting, scuffling, splashing, and wallowing ceased, and Vince held up the light.

"Where are you?" he cried, forgetting the necessity for being silent.

"Here," said Mike, rising into a sitting position on a little bank of coarse sand, which was composed entirely of broken shells.

"Hurt?"

"Yes;—no. I came down very heavily, though."

"Fall over one of the seals?"

"No, it went between my legs, and I couldn't save myself. Well, we've won, and I'm glad we know now they were only seals. It was very stupid, but I got fancying they were goodness knows what horrible creatures."

"So did I," said Vince, with a faint laugh. "Old Joe's water bogies seemed to be all there, with fiery eyes, and I hit at them in a desperate way like. I say, you can't help feeling frightened at a time like this, specially when one of them fastens on you like a dog."

"What!"

"Yes," said Vince quietly, and without a tinge of boasting in his utterances. "I was whacking about at random, when one came at me, and made a sort of snip-snap and got hold, and for a bit it wouldn't leave go; but I whacked away at it as hard as I could, and then it fell gliding down my leg, and the next moment made another grab at me, but its head was too far forward, and it only knocked me sidewise. Such a bang on the thigh: I nearly went down."

"But where are you bitten?" cried Mike excitedly.

"Here," said Vince, laughing, and holding the lanthorn to his side. "Only my jacket, luckily. Look, it tore a piece right out. What strength they've got! I felt it worrying at it, wagging its head like a dog. I say, Mike!"

"Yes."

"I was in a stew. I wasn't sorry when the brute dropped down."

"It's horrible," said Mike.

"Oh, I don't know. I don't feel a bit scared now. I tell you what, though: it has warmed me up. I'm not cold now. How are you?"

"Hot."

"Then let's have a look round."

Raising the lanthorn, the two prisoners cautiously advanced for about twenty feet, and then were stopped by solid rock, forming a sharp angle, where the two walls of the cave met. Their way had been up a slope of deep, shelly sand, which crushed and crunched beneath their feet, these sinking deeply at every step. Then the light was held higher, with the door open; and by degrees they made out that the pool was about fifty or sixty feet broad, and touched the rock-walls everywhere but out by this triangular patch of sand, which was wet enough where the seals crawled out, the hollows here and there showing where one had lain; but up towards the angle it was quite dry, and the walls were perfectly free from zoophyte or weed—ample proof that the water never rose to where they stood.

"Well," said Vince, setting down the lanthorn close to the wall, "we've won the day, the enemy is turned out of its castle, and the next thing, I say, is to get off our wet, cold things."

"I can't take matters so coolly as you do," said Mike bitterly. "I was only thinking of getting away out of this awful place."

"Oh, it isn't so awful now you know the worst of it," said Vince coolly, though a listener might have thought that there was a little peculiarity in his tone. "One couldn't help fancying all sorts of horrors, but when you find there is nothing worse than seals—"

"And horrible congers: I felt them."

"So did I," said Vince; "but I've been thinking since. The congers wouldn't live in a place where seals were. There'd be fights, and perhaps the seals would get the best of them."

"But don't I tell you I felt one swim up against me and lash its great body half round my leg?"

"I believe those were young seals, swimming for their lives to get out to sea. There, take off your wet things and wring them out. I'm going to fill my boots with fine sand. It's not cold in here, and I dare say the things will dry a bit."

"But suppose the seals come back."

"They won't come back while we're here, Ladle—I know that. They're full of curiosity, but as shy as can be. They can see in the dark, and—"

"Dark!" cried Mike.

"To be sure. We mustn't go on burning that candle."

"But—"

"Look here, old chap," said Vince quietly: "there are only about two inches of it left. That wouldn't last long, and I'm sure it's better to put it out and save it for some particular occasion than to burn it now."

"But there's just enough to light us to the mouth of this terrible hole."

"And give ourselves up to old Jarks, as that fellow called him, whose pistol might go off by accident, or who might take us on board his vessel and let us fall overboard."

"That was only what the man said," argued Mike petulantly. "If we go boldly up to this smuggler captain and tell him that we only found out the caves by accident, and that we haven't touched any of the smuggled goods—"

"Pirates!"

"Smuggled."

"You stuck out it was pirates."

"But I didn't believe it then. Well, if we go to him and say that we have always kept the place a secret, and that we'll go on doing so, and swear to it if he likes, he will let us go."

"Go out boldly to him, eh?" said Vince.

"Yes, of course."

"Ah, well, I can't. I don't feel at all bold now. It all went out of me over the fight with the seals. That one which fastened on my jacket finished my courage."

"Now you're talking nonsense," said Mike angrily.

"Very well, then, I'll talk sense. If that captain was an Englishman perhaps we would do as you say; but as he's a Frenchman of bad character, as he must be, I feel as if we can't trust him. No, Ladle, old chap, I mean for us to escape, and the only thing we can do now is to wait till it's dark and then try. We mustn't run any risks of what Mr Jarks might do. Now then, you do as I've done before I put out the light."

"You're not going to put out the light."

"Yes, I am."

"I won't have it. It shall burn as long as I like. Besides, you couldn't light it again."

"Oh yes, I could. I've got the tinder-box, and it has always been too high up to get wet."

"I don't care," said Mike desperately; "it's too horrible to be here in the dark."

"Not half so horrible as to be in the dark not knowing that you could get a light if you wanted to. We could if I put it out. We couldn't if it was all burned."

"I don't care, I say once more—I say it must not be put out."

"And I say," replied Vince, speaking quite good-humouredly, while his companion's voice sounded husky, and as if he were in a rage—"and I say that if you make any more fuss about it I'll put it out now."

As Vince spoke he made a sudden movement, snatched the lanthorn from where it stood by the wall, and tore open the door.

"Now," he cried, catching up a handful of sand, "you come a step nearer, and I'll smother the light with this."

Mike had made a dart to seize the lanthorn, but he paused now.

"You coward!" he cried.

"All right: so I am. I've been in a terrible stew to-day several times, but I'm not such a coward that I'm afraid to put out the light."

Mike turned his back and began to imitate his companion in stripping off his wet lower garments, wringing them thoroughly, and spreading them on the dry sand, with which he, too, filled his saturated boots.

Meanwhile Vince was setting him another example—that of raking out a hole in the softest sand, snuggling down into it and drawing it over him all round till he was covered.

"Not half such nice sand as it is in our cave, Ladle," he said.

There was no answer.

"I say, Ladle, don't I look like a cock bird sitting on the nest while the hen goes out for a walk?"

Still there was no reply, and Mike finished his task with his wet garments.

"Sand's best and softest up here," said Vince, taking out the tinder-box from the breast of his jersey and placing it by the lanthorn.

Mike said nothing, but went to the spot Vince had pointed out, scraped himself a hollow, sat down in it quietly, and dragged the sand round.

"Feels drying, like a cool towel, doesn't it?" said Vince, as if there had been no words between them.

"You can put out the light," said Mike, for answer.

"Hah, yes," replied Vince, taking the lanthorn; "seems a pity, too. But we shan't hurt here. Old Jarks won't think we're in so snug a spot."

Out went the light, Vince closed and fastened the door, and then, settling himself in his sandy nest, he said quietly,—

"Now we shall have to wait for hours before we can start. What shall we do—tell stories?"

Mike made no reply.

"Well, he needn't be so jolly sulky," thought Vince. "I'm sure it's the best thing to do.—Yes, what's that?"

It was a hand stretched out of the darkness, and feeling for his till it could close over it in a tight, firm grip.

"I'm so sorry, Cinder, old chap," came in a low, husky voice. "All this has made me feel half mad."

There was silence then for a few minutes, as the boys sat there in total darkness, hand clasped in hand. Then Vince spoke.

"I know," he said, in a voice which Mike hardly recognised: "I've been feeling something like it, only I managed to stamp it down. But you cheer up, Ladle. You and I ought to be a match for one Frenchman. We're not beaten. We must wait."

"And starve," said Mike bitterly.

"That we won't. We'll try to get right away, but if we can't we must get something to eat and drink."

"But how?"

"Find where those fellows keep theirs, and go after it when it's dark. They won't starve themselves, you may be sure."

Mike tried to withdraw his hand, for fear that Vince should think he was afraid to be in the dark; but his companion's grasp tightened upon it, and he said softly,—

"Don't take your fist away, Ladle; it feels like company, and it's almost as good as a light. I say, don't go to sleep."

"No."

Mike meant to sit and watch and listen for the fancied splash that indicated the return of the seals. But he was tired by exertion and excitement, the cavern was warm and dry, the sand was become pleasantly soft, and all at once he was back in the great garden of the fine old manor-house amongst the flowers and fruit, unconscious of everything else till he suddenly opened his eyes to gaze wonderingly at the thick darkness which closed him in.

Vince had fared the same. Had any one told him that he could sleep under such circumstances, in the darkness of that water den, the dwelling-place of animals which had proved to him that they could upon occasion be desperate and fierce, he would have laughed in his face; but about the same time as his companion he had lurched over sidewise and fallen fast asleep.



CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.

GETTING DEEPER IN THE HOLE.

For some moments Mike sat up, gazing straight before him, dazed, confused, not knowing where he was. Time, space, his life, all seemed to be gone; and all he could grasp was the fact that he was there.

At last, as his brain would not work to help him, he began to try with his ringers, feeling for the information he somehow seemed to crave.

He touched the sand, then a hand, and started from it in horror, for he could not understand why it was there.

By degrees the impression began to dawn upon him that he had been awakened by some noise, but by what sound he could not tell. He could only feel that it was a noise of which he ought to be afraid, till suddenly there was something or somebody splashing or wallowing in the water.

That was enough. The whole tide of thought rushed through him in an instant, and, snatching at the hand, he tugged at it and whispered excitedly,—

"Cinder—Vince!—wake up. They've come back."

"Eh? What's the matter? Come back? What, the smugglers? Don't speak so loud."

"No, no—the seals. Light the lanthorn. Where did you put the club and stick?"

"Stop a moment. What's the matter with you? I've only just dropped asleep. Did you say the seals had come back?"

"Yes: there, don't you hear them?"

"No," said Vince, after a few moments' pause, "I can't hear anything. Can you?"

"I can't now," said Mike, in a hoarse whisper; "but they woke me by splashing, and then I roused you."

"Been dreaming, perhaps," said Vince. "I suppose we must have both dropped asleep for a few minutes. Never mind, we can keep awake better now, and—Hullo!"

"What is it?"

"Here: look out, Mike—look out!"

There was no time to look out, no means of doing so in the darkness, and after all no need. Vince had placed his hand upon something hairy and moist, and let it stay there, as he wondered what it was, till that which he had felt grasped the fact that the touch was an unaccustomed one, and a monstrous seal started up, threw out its head and began to shuffle rapidly away from where it had been asleep. The alarm was taken by half a dozen more, and by the time the two boys were afoot and had seized their weapons—splash, splash, splash!—the heavy creatures had plunged back into the pool from which they had crawled to sleep, and by the whispering and lapping of the water on the walled sides of the cave the boys knew that the curious beasts were swimming rapidly away towards the mouth.

"Nice damp sort of bedfellows," said Vince, laughing merrily. "I say, Mike, I'm all right. I don't know, though—I can't feel my legs very well. Yes, they're all right."

"What do you mean?" said Mike. "I meant they haven't eaten any part of you, have they?"

"Don't talk stuff," said Mike, rather pettishly. "How could we be so foolish as to go to sleep?"

"No foolishness about it," said Vince quietly. "We were tired, and it was dark, and we dropped off. I say, I'm hungry. Think we've been to sleep long?"

"I don't know. Perhaps. There's only one way to find out: go to the mouth of the hole."

"Yes—that's the only way," said Vince; "and now the use of the candle comes in. I don't know, though: it seems a pity to light the last bit. Shall we go and see?"

Mike suppressed a shiver of dread, and said firmly,—"Yes."

Another point arose, and that was as to whether they should put on their clothes again.

It seemed a pity to do so and again get them wet; but both felt repugnant to attempting to wade back without them, and they began to feel about, half in dread lest the seals which had visited them in the night should have chosen their clothes for a sleeping place.

They were, however, just as they had been left, and, to the astonishment of both, they were nearly dry.

"Why, Mike," cried Vince, "we must have slept for hours and hours."

"We can't. The cave's warm, I suppose, and that accounts for it. How are your trousers getting on?"

"Oh, right enough, only they're very gritty. Glad to get into them, though."

In a very short time they were dressed, and it being decided that they would not return here if it were possible to avoid it, the lanthorn and tinder-box were taken, and they made up their minds to make the venture of wading back in the dark.

Mike was rather disposed to fight against it, but he yielded to his companion's reasoning when he pointed out that before long they would be able to see the light, and their lanthorn would be superfluous.

Vince rose, and starting with the cudgel outstretched before him, he stepped down into the water and began to wade.

His first shot for the opening in front proved a failure, for he touched the wall across the pool, but finding which way it trended he was not long in reaching the place where it gradually narrowed like a funnel— their voices helping, for as they spoke in whispers the echoes came back from closer and closer, the water deepened a little, and then Vince was able to extend the cudgel and touch the wall on either side.

Once only did he feel that they must have entered some side passage, and he stopped short with the old feeling of horror coming over him as the thought suggested the possibility of their wandering away utterly and hopelessly lost in some fearful labyrinth, where they would struggle vainly until they dropped down, worn out by their exertions, to perish in the water through which they waded.

"What's the matter?" said Mike, in a quick, sharp whisper; and Vince remained silent, not daring to speak, for fear that his companion should detect his thoughts by the tremor he felt sure that there would be in his voice.

"Do you hear? Why don't you speak?" said Mike. "Don't play tricks here in the dark."

"I'm not playing tricks," replied Vince roughly, after making an effort to overcome his emotion. "I'm leading, and I must think. Are we going right?"

"You ought to know. I trusted to you," said Mike anxiously, "and you wouldn't light the candle."

"Yes, it is all right," said Vince; and, mastering the feeling of scare that had come over him, he passed his hand along the wall, feeling the slimy cold sea anemones and the peculiar clinging touch of their tentacles. Then he pressed steadily on, till all at once there was a faint dawning of light. They turned one of the bends, and the dawn, became bright rays, which rapidly increased as they softly waded along, being careful now to speak to each other in whispers, and to disturb the water as little as possible; till at last there in the front was the low arch of the cave, framing a patch of sunny rock dotted with grey gulls, and an exultant sensation filled Vince's breast, making him ready to shout aloud.

The sensation of delight was checked by feeling Mike's hand suddenly upon his shoulder tugging him back, and at the same moment he saw the reason. For there, in the opening, evidently standing up to his shoulders in water, was some one gazing straight into the narrow cavern, and Vince felt that they must have been heard and a sentry placed there to watch for their coming out.

"But it is impossible for him to see us," thought Vince; and he stood there pondering on what it would be best to do, while a feeling of hope cheered him with the idea that perhaps after all they had not been heard, and that it was by mere accident that the man was gazing in.

The next moment he felt again ready to utter an exultant cry, for there was a sudden movement of the watching head, a dive down, and the water rose and fell, distinctly seen against the light.

"Bother those old seals!" he said: "they're always doing something to scare us. I really thought it was a man."

"Looked just like it," said Mike, making a panting sound, as if he had been holding his breath till he had been nearly suffocated.

"That chap must have been able to see us though we are in the dark. What wonderful eyes they have!"

"Perhaps the light shines on us a little," replied Mike.

"Very likely; but it's curious what animals can do. I wonder at their coming and lying down so near us."

"That was because we lay so still, I suppose. But we oughtn't to talk."

"No; come along: but what are we going to do? We shan't be able to stand in the water very long."

They waded very slowly on, hardly disturbing the surface, and straining their ears to catch the slightest sound; but the faint roar of the currents playing among the rocks, and the screams and querulous cries of the sea-birds which flew to and fro across the mouth of the cavern were all they could hear.

They were pretty close to the entrance now, but they hesitated to go farther, and remained very silent and watchful, till a thought suddenly struck Vince, who placed his lips close to Mike's ear.

"I say," he said, "oughtn't it to be this evening?"

"Of course."

"Then it isn't. It's to-morrow morning."

"Nonsense!"

"Well, I mean it's morning, and we've slept all night."

"Vince!"

"It is, lad. Look—the sun can't have been up very long; and oh, Mike, what a state they must have been in at home about us!"

Mike uttered a faint groan.

"It's horrid!" continued Vince passionately. "What shall we do?"

Mike was silent for a few minutes, and then said sadly,—"They won't have slept all night."

"No," said Vince wildly; "and they've been wandering about the place with people searching for us. Mike, it's of no use, we mustn't try to hide any longer. That Jarks daren't hurt us, and we had better go out boldly."

"Think so?"

"Yes. You see, we can't stay here standing in the water, and if we go back to the sand in there—"

Mike shuddered. "I can't go back there," he said.

"That's just how I feel," said Vince, speaking in a low, excited tone. "I didn't say much, but I couldn't help being horribly frightened."

"It was enough to scare anybody there in the dark, not knowing what might happen to us next," sighed Mike. "We can't go back. If we do we should soon starve. Think we could go to the mouth here and wade out, and then swim to that opening we saw?"

"No," said Vince decidedly, as he recalled the aspect of the turbulent cove from where he sat astride the stone; "no man could swim there, and I don't believe that a small boat could live in those boiling waters."

"Then we must go boldly out," said Mike. "Who's this fellow? He has no right to come here. Why, my father would punish him severely for daring to do it!"

"If he could catch him, Ladle, old fellow. But the man knows it, and that's what frightens me—I mean, makes me fidgety about it. But we must go."

"There is one chance, though," said Mike eagerly: "he may have taken fright and gone with all his smuggled stuff."

"Of course he may," said Vince eagerly. "Why, here are we fidgeting ourselves about nothing. While we've been sleeping in this seal cavern, he has had his men working away to carry off all that stuff to his ship. Poor old Ladle! He won't even get enough silk to make his mother a dress. Well, are you ready?" he continued, with forced gaiety. "I'm hungry and thirsty, and my poor feet feel like ice."

Mike hesitated.

"We must go," said Vince, changing his tone again. "Mike, old chap, it's too horrid to think of them at home. Come on."

Mike did not speak, but gave a sharp nod; and, summoning all their resolution, and trying hard to force themselves to believe that the smugglers had gone, they waded carefully on, now breathing more freely as they reached the mouth, with the bright light of morning shining full in to where they were, and sending a thrill of hope through every fibre and vein.

They paused, but only for a few minutes; and then, after a sign to Mike, Vince took another step or two, and leaned forward till he could peer round the side of the low arch and scan the interior of the outer cave.

Then, slowly drawing back, after a couple of minutes' searching examination, he spoke to Mike in a whisper.

"There isn't a sign of anybody," he said; "and I can't hear a sound. Come on, and let's risk it."

Their pulses beat high as, bracing themselves together, they stepped right from the low archway, moving very cautiously, so as to gaze out as far as they could command at the cove.

They fully expected to see some good-sized vessel lying there, or at least a large boat; but there were the sea-birds and the hurrying waters—nothing more. "They must have gone," whispered Vince. "Unless they are where we can't see—round by their cave."

"I believe they've gone," said Vince; and they stepped in on to the soft, loose sand, to find everything belonging to them untouched. Then, gaining confidence, Mike stepped boldly inward, right up to the right-hand corner beneath the fissure, and stood listening, but there was not a sound.

"Right," he whispered, as he stepped back: "they have gone."

But the boy's heart beat faster as he led the way now to the entrance of the inner cave; for there was the possibility of the passage being blocked, and, another thing, it was early morning, and the smugglers might be sleeping still in the soft sand.

Vince whispered his fears, and then, going first, he passed into the narrow passage without a sound, and stole cautiously along it till he could crane his head round and look.

For some moments he could see nothing, but by degrees his eyes grew accustomed to the soft gloom, and the walls and roof and sandy floor gradually stood out before his eyes, and the next minute, to his great joy, he could see the rope running up into the dark archway and disappearing there.

Nothing more: no sound of heavy breathing but his own—no trace of danger whatever.

He drew back again and placed his lips to his companion's ear.

"It's all right," he whispered; "they must have gone. Shall we step back and go to the far cave and see?"

"No," said Mike decisively. "Home."

"Yes: home!" said Vince. "Come on."

Leading once more, he stepped into the cavern, whose interior now grew plainer and plainer to their accustomed eyes, and, crossing at once to the bottom of the slope, he seized the rope and gave it a sharp tug.

"Will you go first?" he whispered.

"I don't mind," replied Mike. "No,—you;" and Vince tightened the rope again, feeling that in a very short time they would be able to set the anxieties of all at rest.

"Father won't be so angry when he knows," thought the boy; and, hanging there to the rope, he was about half-way up when he let go and dropped to the sand, for a figure suddenly appeared in the dark opening over his head, and before he could recover from his astonishment a piercingly shrill whistle rang through the inner cave.



CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.

TRAPPED BIRDS.

"Quick back to the seal hole!" whispered Vince; and the boys darted to the dark passage leading to the outer cave, and then stopped short, for the way was blocked by a man with a drawn cutlass, and two others were running up, while another was in the act of sliding down a rope from the fissure.

Directly after, thud, thud, thud came the sound of men dropping down into the inner cave, and in another moment there was a rude thrust from behind which drove Mike against Vince, and the two boys were forced onward through the opening to the outer cave, the man with the cutlass giving way sufficiently to let them enter, but presenting the point at Vince's chest, while one of his comrades performed the same menacing act for Mike, the other two taking up a position to right and left, and effectually cutting off escape.

The next instant the figure of the big, broad-chested leader came out into the light, and upon the boys facing round to him his features were pretty well fixed upon their brains as they noted his smooth, deeply-lined brown face, black curly hair streaked with grey, dark, piercing eyes and the pair of large gold earrings in his well-formed ears. "Aha!" he cried, showing his white teeth, "bonjour, mes amis. Good-a-morning, my young friends. I hope you sal have sleep vairy vell in my hotel. Come along vis me: ze brearkfas is all vaiting."

This address, in a merry, bantering tone, so different from the fierce burst of abuse which he anticipated, rather took Vince aback; and he was the more staggered when the man held out his hand naturally enough, which Vince gripped, Mike doing precisely the same.

"Dat is good, vairy good," said the man, while his followers looked on. "You vill boze introduce yourself. You are—?"

He looked hard at Mike.

"Michael Ladelle," said the owner of the name.

"And you sall be—?"

"Vincent Burnet."

"Aha, yaas. I introduce myself—Capitaine Jacques Lebrun, at your sairvice, and ze brearkfas vait. You are vairy moshe ready?"

"Yes," said Vince boldly; "I want my breakfast very badly."

"Aha, yaas; and votre ami, he vill vant his. You do not runs avay?"

"Not till after breakfast," said Vince, smiling.

"No? Dat is good. You are von brave. Zen ve vill put avay ze carving knife and not have out ze pistol. En avant! You know ze vay to ze salle-a-manger. You talk ze Francais, bose of you. Aha?"

"I can understand that," said Vince. "So can he. N'est-ce pas, Mike?"

A short nod was given in response, and the French captain clapped them both on the shoulders, gripping them firmly and urging them along.

"It is good," he said. "I am so bien aise to see my younger friend. Up vis you!"

"Come along, Mike," said Vince, in a low voice; "it's all right."

Mike did not seem to think so, but he followed Vince up the rope into the fissure, after one of the armed men; the captain came next, and he kept on talking in his bantering tone as they crept along the awkward rift.

"Vairy clever; vairy good!" he cried. "I see you know ze vay. It is magnifique. You see, I find I have visitor, and zey do not know ven ze dejeuner is pret, so I am oblige to make one leetle—vat you call it—trap-springe, and catch ze leetle bird."

A rope was ready at the other end of the fissure, and as Vince dropped down it was into the presence of half a dozen more men, while in the rapid glance that he cast round, the boy saw that a boat was drawn up on the sand and a fire of wood was burning close down to the water's edge. Vince noticed, too, that one of the men who followed stopped back by the rope, with his drawn cutlass carried military fashion; and his action gave a pretty good proof that everything had been carefully planned beforehand in connection with the "trap-springe," as the Frenchman called it.

Preparations had already been made for breakfast, one of the men acting as cook; and in a short time kegs were stood on end round a beautifully clean white tablecloth spread upon the soft sand; excellent coffee, good bread-and-butter, and fried mackerel were placed before them, and the French captain presided.

The boys felt exceedingly nervous and uncomfortable, for they could see plainly enough that their captor was playing with them, and acting a part. They knew, too, that they were prisoners, and shivers of remorse ran through them as the thought of the anxious ones at home kept troubling them; but there was a masterfulness about their fierce young appetites, sharpened to a maddening desire by long fasting, which, after the first choking mouthful or two, would not be gainsaid; and they soon set to work voraciously, while the captain ate as heartily, and his men, all but the sentry, gathered together by themselves to make their breakfast alone.

"Brava!" cried the captain, helping them liberally to the capital breakfast before them: "I can you not tell how vairy glad I am to see my young amis. My table has not been so honour before."

At last the meal was at end, and the captain clapped his hands for the things to be cleared away, a couple of the men leaping up and performing this task with quite military alacrity.

The boys exchanged glances, and, without communicating one with the other, rose together; while the captain raised his eyebrows.

"Aha!" he said: "you vant somesings else?"

"Only to say thank you for our good breakfast, and to tell you that we are now going home."

"Going home?" said the captain grimly. "Aha, you sink so. Yaas, perhaps you are right. You Anglais call it going home—a la mort— to die."

"No, we don't," said Vince sharply. "We mean going home. We have been out all night."

"Aha, yaas; and the bon papa and mamma know vere you have come?"

"No," replied Vince quickly; "no one knows of this but us."

"Vraiment?" said the captain, and he looked searchingly at Mike. "No one knows but my young friend?"

"No," said Mike. "We found the cave by accident; we fell into the way that leads down, and kept it a secret."

"Good boy; but you can keep secret?"

"Yes," said Mike; "of course."

"Aha! so can I," said the captain, laughing boisterously. "Suppose I send you home my vay, eh? No one know ze vay to ze cavern."

"I don't understand you," said Mike sturdily.

"Ma foi! vy should you understand? I send you home, and nobody know nosings. Les gens—ze peoples—look for you; they do not find you, and zey say—Aha, pauvres garcons, zey go and make a falls off ze cliff, and ve nevaire see them any more!"

Mike turned pale; Vince laughed.

"He does not mean it, Mike," said the boy. "We know better than that, Captain Jacques."

"Aha, you are so clever a boy. You vill explain how you know all ze better zan me, le Capitaine Lebrun."

"There's nothing to explain," said Vince sturdily. "You don't suppose we believe you would kill us because we came down here,—here, where we have business to come, but you have not?"

"Aha! c'est comme ca—it is like zat, my friend? You may come here, and I must not?"

"Of course," said Vince. "This land belongs to his father, and you have no right to put smuggled things here."

"Aha! you sink it ees like zat, eh, mon ami? Ve sall see. You vill put yourselves down to sit."

"No, thank you," said Vince. "We must go now."

"To fetch ze peoples to come and fight and be killed?"

"No," said Vince; "we will not say a word about where we have been."

"But we must, Vince," said Mike. "They will ask us; and what are we to say?"

"To be certain, my friend—of course," said the captain, showing his teeth. "You see it is so. Zey vill ask vere you go all night, and you vill say to see le Capitaine Lebrun and his cargo of silk and lace and glove and scent bottaile and ze spice; and vat zen?"

Vince had no answer ready.

"You do not speak, my friend. Zen I vill. I cannot spare you to go and speak like zat. Nobodies must know that I have my leetle place to hide here. No, I cannot spare you. You will not go back chez vous—to your place vere you live. You understand?"

Vince looked at the man very hard, and he nodded, and went on:

"I am glad to see you bose. I make myself very glad of vat you call you compagnie. But I do not ask you to come; and so I say you go back nevaire more."

"You don't mean that!" said Vince, with a laugh that was very artificial.

"Aha! I do not mean? You vill see I mean. I sall see you vill sit down."

"No," said Vince firmly. "I am not frightened, and I insist upon going now."

"It is so? How you go?"

"Out by the passage yonder."

"Faith of a good man, no. I say to myselfs, 'People have come down zere, and it muss not be,' so ze place is stop up vis big stone—so big you nevaire move zem. But zere's ze ozaire vay."

"Well, we will go the other way," said Vince firmly. "Ready, Mike?"

"Yes, I'm ready," said Mike, pressing to his side.

"You know ze ozaire vay, my young friend?" said the captain.

"No: how do you go?"

"You take a boat, and a good pilot. You have ze good boat and pilot?"

"No," said Vince, who had hard work to be calm, with a great fear coming over him like a cloud; "but you will set us ashore, please."

The captain laughed in a peculiar way, and he was about to speak, when one of his men came up and said something.

"Aha!" he cried, "but it is good. You go, my young friends, and stay behind my cargo zere. You vill not come till I say you sall."

He pointed to the upper part of the cavern, but Vince said firmly:

"We cannot stay any longer, sir. We must go now."

The captain turned upon him savagely, and the next moment a couple of the men had seized the boys and run them up behind the pile of bales, and then stood on either side, with drawn cutlasses, to act as guards.

"What are we to do, Vince?" said Mike.

"I don't know. It seems like nonsense, and playing with us; but we are prisoners, and—Who's that?"

They both listened in wonder, for they heard their names mentioned angrily by the captain, who was speaking threateningly to some one who replied in a tone that they recognised directly.

"Aha! you lie to me. Ve sall see. Here, you two boy, come here, vite—vite!"

The guards made way for them, and followed just behind, as they marched back to where the captain was seated, with old Daygo standing before him.

The old man gave each of them a peculiar look, and then turned to the captain again.

"Now zen," cried that individual, "you 'ave seen zis man. Him you know?"

"Yes," said Vince; "of course we do."

"Aha! ze old friend. And he tell you of ze cavern and ze smuggling, and how you find ze vay here?"

"No, not a word," said Vince stoutly. "But I can see now why you wouldn't bring us round by the Black Scraw, Joe."

"Aha! ze vairy old friend. It is Joe!" said the captain fiercely.

"Well, why not?" said Vince quickly. "Old Joe has taken us in his boat scores of times fishing and sailing."

"And told you of ze goods here in my cavern?"

"Not a word," said Vince.

"I do not believe," said the captain.

"'Course I never told 'em," growled Daygo. "I dunno how they come here. I watched 'em times enough, and when I couldn't watch I set a boy to see wheer they went. I couldn't do no more, Capen."

The Frenchman looked at them all in turn fiercely, and then he fixed his eyes on old Daygo again.

"And ze peoples up above, zey are look for zem—ze boy?"

"I dunno," said Daygo. "I didn't know they were here, and I dunno how they come. Dropt down with a rope, young gen'lemen?"

"No, zay come anozaire vay, my friend. It is good luck for you I do not find zey know how of you. But sink no one on ze island know?"

"I dunno," said Daygo. "They don't know from me."

"You can go," said the captain sharply, and the old fisherman thrust his hands very deeply down in the pockets of his huge trousers and was turning slowly away when Mike cried:

"Stop!"

Daygo turned slowly back, and the captain watched the boy with his dark eyes glittering as he sat facing the light.

"Are you going back home?" cried Mike.

"Ay, m'lad, when the skipper's done with me."

"Then never mind what he says: you go straight to the Mount and tell my father everything, and that we are kept here like prisoners."

"Nay, young gen'leman," said Daygo, rolling his head slowly from side to side, "I warnt you both agen it over and over agen, when you 'most downed on your knees, a-beggin' and a-prayin' of me to bring you round by the Scraw; but I never would, now would I, Master Vince?"

"No, you old scoundrel!" cried Vince hotly. "I can see now: because you're a smuggler too."

Old Daygo chuckled.

"Didn't I tell you both never to think about it, because there was awful currents and things as dragged boats under, and that it was as dangerous as it could be? Now speak up like a man, Master Vince, and let Capen Jarks hear the truth."

"Truth!" said Vince scornfully; "do you call that truth, telling us both a pack of lies, when you must have been coming here often yourself?"

"Eh? Well, s'pose I did, young gen'leman: it was on my lorful business, and you fun out fer yourselves as it's no place for boys like you."

"Look here," said Vince fiercely: "you've got to do what Michael Ladelle says, and to tell my father too."

"Nay, my lad; that arn't no lorful business of mine."

"Do you mean to say that you will not tell?"

"Ay, my lad: I'm sorry for you both, proper lads as you are; but you would come, and it's no fault o' mine."

"You Joe," cried Vince angrily: "if you do not warn them above where we are, you'll never be able to live on the island again, and you'll be severely punished."

"Who's to tell agen me?" said the old man sharply.

"Why, I shall, and Mike here, of course."

"When?" said Daygo, in a peculiar tone of voice.

"As soon as ever we get back; and you'll be punished. I suppose Captain Jacques here will have sailed away."

"Soon as you get back, eh, young gen'lemen? Did Capen Jarks say as he was going to send you home?"

"No," said Vince; "but he will have to soon."

"I'm sorry for you, my lads—sorry for you," growled Daygo; and a chill ran through both the boys, as they saw the Frenchman looking at them in a very peculiar way. "Sorry—yes, lads, but I did my best fer you, and so good-bye."

"No, no," cried Mike excitedly; "don't go and leave us, Joe. Tell the captain here that if we say we'll promise not to speak to any one about the place we'll keep our words."

Daygo shook his head.

"It's o' no use for me to say nothin', Master Mike: he's master here, and does what he likes. You hadn't no business to come a-shovin' yourself into his place."

"It is not his place," cried Mike indignantly; "it is my father's property."

"I arn't got no time to argufy about that, my lad. He says it's his, and all this here stuff as you sees is his too. Here, I must be off, or I shall lose this high tide and be shut-in."

"No, no, Joe—stop!" cried Mike. "I'll—"

"Hold your tongue, Ladle," whispered Vince. "Don't do that; they'll think we're regular cowards. Here you, Joe Daygo, if you go away and don't give notice to Sir Francis or my father about our being kept here by this man—"

"Say the Capen or the skipper, my lad," growled Daygo. "Makes him orkard if he hears people speak dis-speckful of him."

"Pooh!" exclaimed Vince hotly. "I say, you know what the consequences will be."

"Yes, my lad; they won't never know what become of you."

Vince winced, in spite of his determination to be firm, on hearing the cold-blooded way in which the old fisherman talked, but he spoke out boldly.

"Do you mean to say he will dare to keep us here?"

"Yes, my lad, or take you away with him, or get rid of you somehow. You see he's capen and got his crew, and can do just what he likes."

"No, he can't," said Vince; "the law will not let him."

"Bless your 'art, Master Vince, he don't take no notice o' no law. But I hope he won't drownd you both, 'cause you see we've been friendly like. P'r'aps he'll on'y ship you off to Bottonny Bay, or one o' they tother-end-o'-the-world places, where you can't never come back to tell no tales."

"I don't believe it: he dare not. Don't take any notice, Mike; he's only saying this to scare us, and we're not going to be scared."

"Now, mon ami," cried the captain, "you vill not get out if you do not depart zis minute. I cannot spare to have you drowned. I sall sail to-night, and you vill be here ready?"

"Ay, ay, I'll be here," growled Daygo.

"Then you are coming back?" said Vince quickly.

"That's so, Master Vince. How's he going to get the Belle-Marie out without me to pilot him? Yes, I'm comin' back to-night, my lad; and I hope I shall see you agen."

He said these last words in a whisper, which sent a chill through the lads, for that he was serious there could be no doubt.

By this time two men were down by the boat, that was now half in the water, which had risen till she was rocking sidewise to and fro; and smartly enough the old fisherman turned and trotted over the sand to join in thrusting the boat out, and then sprang in.

This was too much for Mike, who made a sudden dash after him.

"Come on, Vince," he cried; and the boy followed, but only to catch hold of his companion as he clung to the bows of the boat.

"Don't I don't do that, Mike," cried Vince; "you couldn't get away."

Three men who had rushed after them, and were about to seize the prisoners, refrained as soon as they saw Vince's action; and the boat with old Daygo on board glided out among the rocks, and then passed off out of sight, round the left buttress of the cavern mouth.

This was enough: Mike turned furiously upon Vince and struck him, sending him staggering backward over the thick sand; and, unable to keep his balance, the lad came down in a sitting position.

"You coward!" cried Mike: "if it hadn't been for you we might have got away."

"Coward, am I?" cried Vince, as he sprang up and dashed at his assailant, with fists clenched and everything forgotten now but the blow. He did not strike out, though, in return, for an arm was thrown across his chest and a gruff voice growled out,—

"Are we to let 'em have it out, Capen Jarks?"

"No; mais I sink zey might have von leetle rights. Non, non, non! You do not vant to fight now, mes enfans; you have somesings else to sink. You feel like a big coward?"

"No, I don't," said Vince, to whom the words were addressed: "I'll let him see if you'll make this man let go."

"Non, non, non!" said the captain, raising his hand to tug at one of the rings in his ears. "You do not vant to fight. Let me see."

He began to feel the muscles of Vince's arms, and nodded as if with satisfaction.

"It seem a pity to finish off a boy like you. I sink you vould make a good sailor and a fine smugglaire on my sheep. Perhaps I sall not kill you."

"Bah!" cried Vince, looking him full in the face. "Do you think I'm such a little child as to be frightened by what you say?"

"Leetle schile? Non, non. Vous etes un brave garcon—a big, brave boy. Zere, you sall not fight like you Anglais bouledogues, and vat you call ze game coq. You comprends, mon enfant."

"Then you'd better take him away," cried Vince, who was effervescing with wrath against his companion.

"Aha, yaas," said the Frenchman, grinning. "You sink I better tie you up like ze dogue. But, faith of a man, you fly at von and anozaire I sall—"

He drew a small pistol out of his breast, and, giving both lads a significant look,—

"Zere," he continued, "I sall not chain you bose up. You can run about and help vis ze crew. I only say to you ze passage is block up vis big stone, ze hole vere ze seal live is no good—ze rock hang over ze wrong vay. You try to climb, and you are not ze leetler mouche—fly. You fall and die; and if you essay to svim, ze sharp tide take you avay to drown. Go and svim if you like: I sall not have ze pain to drown you. But, my faith! vy do I tell you all zis? You bose know zat you cannot get avay now ze passage is stop up vis stone, and I stop him vis a man who has sword and pistol as vell. Go and help ze men."

He walked away, leaving the boys together, carefully avoiding each other's eyes, as they felt that they were prisoners indeed, and wondered what was to be their fate.

Vince took a few turns up and down upon the sand with his hands deep in his pockets. Mike seated himself upon the keg he had occupied over his breakfast, for in their frame of mind they both resented being ordered to go and help the men; but at that time the worst pang of all seemed to be caused by the fact that, just at the moment when they wanted each other's help and counsel, with the strength of mind given by the feeling that they were together, they were separated by the unfortunate conduct of one.



CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.

THE PIRATE CAPTAIN OF THEIR DREAMS.

The walk did Vince good, for the action given to his muscles carried off the sensation which made his fists clench from time to time in his pockets and itch to be delivering blows wherever he could make them light on his companion's person.

He did not notice that he was ploughing a rut in the sand by going regularly to and fro, for he was thinking deeply about their position; and as he thought, the dread that the captain's words had inspired, endorsed as they were by Daygo's, began to fade away, till he found himself half contemptuously saying to himself that he should like to catch the skipper at it—it meaning something indefinite that might mean something worse, but in all probability keeping them prisoners till he had got away all his stores of smuggled goods.

Then, as the rut in the sand grew deeper from the regular tramp up and down, Vince's thoughts flitted from the trouble felt by his mother, who must be terribly anxious, to his companion, whose back was towards him, and who with elbows on knees had bent down to rest his chin upon his hands.

Vince was a little surprised at himself, and rather disposed to think that he was weak; for somehow all the hot blood had gone out of his arms and fists, which were now perfectly cool, and felt no longer any desire to fly about as if charged with pugno-electricity, which required discharging by being brought into contact with Mike's chest or head.

"Poor old Ladle!" he found himself thinking: "what a temper he was in! But it was too bad to hit out like that, when what I did was to help him. But there, he didn't know."

Vince was pretty close to his fellow-prisoner now; but he had to turn sharply round and walk away.

"Glad I didn't hit him again, because if I had we should have had a big fight and I should have knocked him about horribly and beaten him well, and I don't want to. I'm such a stupid when I get fighting: I never feel hurt—only as if I must keep on hitting; and then all those sailor fellows would have been looking on and grinning at us. Glad we didn't fight."

Then Vince began to think again of their position, which he told himself was very horrible, but not half so bad as that of the people at both their homes, where, only a mile or two away from where they were, the greatest trouble and agony must reign.

"And us all the time with nothing the matter with us, and sitting down as we did and eating such a breakfast! Seems so unfeeling; only I felt half-starved, and when I began I could think of nothing else.—Such nonsense! he's not going to kill us, or he wouldn't have given us anything to eat. Here, I can't go on like this."

Vince stopped his walk to and fro at the end of the beaten-out track in the sand, and turned off to stand behind Mike, who must have heard him come, but did not make the slightest movement.

Then there was silence, broken by the voice of the French captain giving his orders to his men, who were evidently rearranging the stores ready for removal.

"I say, Mike," said Vince at last.

No answer.

"Michael."

Still no movement. "Mr Michael Ladelle."

Vince might have been speaking to the tub upon which his fellow-prisoner was seated, for all the movement made.

"Michael Ladelle, Esquire, of the Mount," said Vince; and there was a good-humoured look in his eyes, which twinkled merrily; but the other did not stir.

"Ladle, then," cried Vince; but without effect,—Mike was still gazing at the sand before him.

"I say, don't be such a sulky old Punch. Why don't you speak? I want to talk to you about getting away. Mike—Ladle—I say, you did hurt when you hit out at me. I shall have to pay you that back!"

No answer.

"Look here: aren't you going to say you're sorry for it and shake hands?"

Vince waited for a while and then burst out impatiently,—

"Look here, if you don't speak I'll kick the tub over and let you down."

All in vain: Mike did not move, and Vince began to grow impatient.

"Here, I say," he cried, "I know I'm a bit of a beast sometimes, but you can't say I'm sulky. I did nothing; and if it was I, you know I'd have owned I was in the wrong and held out my fist—open; not like you did, to knock a fellow down."

Another pause, and Vince exclaimed,—

"Well, I am—"

He did not say what, but stood with extended arm.

"I say, Mikey," he said softly, "I know you haven't got any eyes in the back of your head, so I may as well tell you. I'm holding out my hand for a shake, and my arm's beginning to ache."

"Don't—don't!" said Mike now, in a low voice, full of the misery the lad felt. "I feel as if you were jumping on me for what I did."

"Do you? Well, I'm not going to jump on you. Come, I have got you to speak at last, and there's an end of it. I say, Ladle, it's too stupid for us two to be out now, when we want to talk about how we're stuck here."

"I feel as if I can't speak to you," said Mike huskily.

"More stupid you. Didn't I tell you it's all over now? You were in a passion, and so was I. Now you're not in a passion, no more am I; so that's all over. You heard what the pirate captain said about us?"

"Yes," said Mike dolefully.

"Well, he and old Joe—Here, Ladle: I'm going to kick old Joe. I don't care about his being old and grey. A wicked old sneak!—I'll kick him, first chance I get, for leaving us in the lurch; but that isn't what I was going to say. Here, why don't you turn round and sit up? Don't let those beggars think we're afraid of them. I won't be,—see if I am."

Mike slowly changed his position, turning round and sitting up.

"Now, then, that's better," said Vince. "What was I going to say? Oh! I know. The pirate captain and old Joe wanted to make us believe that we were to be taken out to sea, to walk the plank or be hung or shot or something."

"Joe said something about Botany Bay and sending us there."

"No, he didn't; he said Bottonny, and there is no such place. He couldn't do it, and he couldn't keep us prisoners here."

"He might kill us."

"No, he mightn't. Bah! what a silly old Ladle you are! He couldn't. People don't do such things now, only in stories. I tell you what I believe."

"What?" said Mike, for Vince paused as if to think.

"Well, I believe he feels that his old smuggler's cave is done for now we've found out the way down to it, so he's going to clear it out and start another somewhere else. He means to keep us prisoners till the last keg's on board, and as soon as this is done he'll go to his boat and take his hat off to us and tell us we may have the caverns all to ourselves."

"Think so?" said Mike, looking up at his companion for the first time.

"Yes, I believe that's it, Ladle; and if it wasn't for knowing how miserable they must be over yonder I should rather like all this—that is, if you're going to play fair and not get hitting out when we ought to be the best of friends."

"Don't—don't, Cinder: I can't bear it," groaned Mike, letting his head drop in his hands. "I hurt myself a hundred times more than I hurt you."

"Oh, did you! Ha! ha!" cried Vince. "Come, I like that: why, I shall have a bruise as big as the top of my hat! Oh, I say, Ladle, old chap, don't—don't talk like that! It's all right. You thought I was fighting against you. Sit up. Some of the beggars will see."

Mike sat up with his face twitching, and kept his back to the upper part of the cavern.

"That's better. Well, I say I should really like it if it wasn't for them at home. I call it a really good, jolly adventure, such as you read of in books. Now, what we've got to do is to wait till they're asleep, cut off all their heads with their own cutlasses, seize the boat, row off to the lugger, wait till old Joe comes back, and then spike him with the points of cutlasses till he pilots us out safely. Then we've got to sail home as prize crew of the lugger, which would be ours. Stop! there's something we haven't done."

Mike stared.

"Old Joe. As soon as we're out of the dangerous passages we've got to batten him down in the hold, and that's the end of the adventure."

"How can you go on like that?" said Mike piteously. "Making fun of it all, when we're so miserable."

"That's why: just to cheer us up a bit, and set us thinking about what's next to do."

"I can't think," said Mike. "It's a pity we didn't stop in the seal hole."

"Stop there? We should have felt nice by now. Why, our legs would be all swollen, and we should be so hungry that—Here, I say, Ladle, you wouldn't have been safe. I wonder how you'd taste?"

"I say, do be serious, Cinder. It's too horrible to laugh at it."

"Well, so it is, old chap, but I am thinking hard all the time, yet I can't see any way out of it. I know we could swim almost like seals; but look at the water out there,—we couldn't do anything in it."

"No, we should be sucked down in five minutes."

"Yes. The old pirate knows it, too, and that's why he leaves us alone. I say, he does look like a pirate, though, doesn't he? with that pistol, and the rings in his ears."

"Oh! I never saw a pirate, only on those pictures we tried to paint. But what about the cliffs?"

"No good. They're either straight up and down or overhanging. We couldn't do it."

"We might get over the other side and make signals."

"Yes; there is something in that. But don't you think we might get away by the passage? The sentry may go to sleep."

"No good," said Mike bitterly. "Those fellows daren't."

"S'pose not," said Vince thoughtfully. "Old Jarks is the sort of chap to wake 'em up with his pistol. It's of no use yet, Ladle; the idea hasn't come. Yes, it has! Why can't we wait our chance and seize the boat and get it off? We could manage."

"Hush!" whispered Mike.

The warning was needed, for the captain came from the back of the stack of packages, and marched down towards where they were.



CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN.

WHAT WILL HE DO WITH US?

"Aha!" he cried. "So you sall not try to escape any more?"

"No," said Vince coolly, looking the speaker full in the face. "I say, what time do you have dinner?"

The Frenchman stared at him for a few moments fiercely, and then burst into a boisterous fit of laughter.

"You are a drole de garcon" he said. "You are again hungry?"

"I shall be by the time it's ready. But, I say, captain, how much longer are you going to keep us here?"

"Aha!" he said, with a shrug of the shoulders and a peculiar gesticulation with his hand, as if he were throwing something away, while he looked at them both sidewise through his half-closed eyes: "You are fatigue so soon? You vant to go somevere else?"

"We want to go home."

"Good leetler boy: he vant to go home. But not yet, mes amis. You give the good capitain all zis pains to move his cargo, and you vill not help."

"Oh, I'm ready enough to help," said Vince. "So's he; but they will be very anxious about us at home."

"Ta ta ta ta ta!" cried the captain. "Vy, you sink so mosh of your selfs. Ze bon papa vill say to la maman, 'Ah! ma chere, dose boy go and tomble zem selfs off ze cliff;' and ze maman sall wipe her eye and say, 'pauvre garcon—poor boy, it is vat I expect.'"

"And instead of that," said Vince, "you are going to send us home, and then they will not be fidgeting any more."

"Aha! you sink so. Vell, ve sall see. So I go to be vairy busy, and it is better zat you two do not fight any more. So come vis me."

"Where?" said Vince suspiciously.

"Vere? Oh! you sall see, mon brave, vairy soon."

The boys exchanged glances, but feeling that it was hopeless to resist, they followed the captain down to where the boat was lying, just as she had returned a few minutes before, without Daygo.

The men in her were just keeping her afloat, but they ran her stern on to the sand as they saw the captain coming, and one of them leaped out to hold her steady.

"In vis you!" said the captain sharply.

"All right, Mike," whispered Vince. "Come on, and don't seem to mind."

He set the example by putting one foot on the gunwale and springing in lightly. Mike followed, and then the captain; while the man standing ankle-deep in the water waited till they were seated, and then, giving the boat a good thrust out, sprang on the stern, and climbed in as they glided over the transparent water, stepping forward quickly to seize an oar, and pulling sharply with his companion.

The boys gazed eagerly upward as soon as they were clear of the great overhanging archway, and saw the impossibility of escape by any cliff-climbing; for the mighty rocks were at least twenty feet out of the perpendicular, leaning over towards the little bay, whose waters were running, eddying and boiling like a whirlpool as they raced along, seizing the boat's head and seeming about to drag her right along towards a jagged cluster of rocks, standing just above the surface, and amidst which the current raged and foamed furiously.