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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Cormorant Crag, by George Manville Fenn
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Cormorant Crag
+       A Tale of the Smuggling Days
+
+Author: George Manville Fenn
+
+Illustrator: W. Rainey
+
+Release Date: May 4, 2007 [EBook #21295]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CORMORANT CRAG ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England
+
+
+
+
+
+Cormorant Crag, a Tale of the Smuggling Days, by George Manville Fenn.
+
+_______________________________________________________________________
+
+In this excellent book of smuggling life on the south coast of England,
+dating about 1830, from some of the passing comments made by the author,
+we read of the adventures of two boys living on a small off-shore
+island. One is the son of the local doctor, the other the son of the
+squire, or owner of the land round about.  The boys are friendly with an
+old fisherman called Daygo.  It is thought that he is of Spanish
+descent, from the Armada, but despite his name and appearance, he denies
+it.  He likes taking the boys out fishing, but feeds then a load of
+yarns about the safety of a particular part of the cliffs, saying that
+vessels getting too close to it have been known to disappear.  This is
+actually quite true in a way because there is a huge cave, quite big
+enough to accommodate a small vessel.
+
+The boys borrow Daygo's boat, without his leave, and explore the
+forbidden cave.  Of course they discover all the recently smuggled
+goods.  But a few days later they are in there, having discovered another
+way in by land, and are captured by the smugglers, who are French, and
+kidnapped.  After that there are all sorts of exciting and perilous
+situations, and it looks likely that the boys will not come out of it
+alive.
+
+But they do, of course!  A good read.
+NH
+_______________________________________________________________________
+
+CORMORANT CRAG, A TALE OF THE SMUGGLING DAYS, BY GEORGE MANVILLE FENN.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ONE.
+
+A HOME AT SEA.
+
+"Here, you, Vince!" cried Doctor Burnet, pausing in his surgery with a
+bottle in each hand--one large and the other small, the latter about to
+be filled for the benefit of a patient who believed himself to be very
+ill and felt aggrieved when his medical adviser told him that he would
+be quite well if he did not eat so much.
+
+"Yes, father."
+
+The boy walked up to the surgery door at the end of the long, low
+granite house.
+
+"Upon my word!" cried the Doctor; "it's lucky we have nobody here to see
+you.  No one would ever take you for a gentleman's son."
+
+"Why not, father?"
+
+"Why not, sir!  Look at your trousers and your boots."
+
+Vincent Burnet looked down, and then up in his father's face.
+
+"Trousers a bit tight across the knee," he said deprecatingly.  "The
+cloth gave way."
+
+"And were your boots too tight at the toes, sir?  Look at them."
+
+"They always wear out there," said Vincent; and he once more looked
+down, beyond the great tear across the right knee of his trousers, to
+his boots, whose toes seemed each to have developed a wide mouth, within
+which appeared something which looked like a great grey tongue.
+
+"I don't think this pair were very good leather, father," he said
+apologetically.
+
+"Good leather, sir!  You'd wear them out it they were cast iron.--Ah, my
+dear!"
+
+A pleasant, soft face appeared at the door, and looked anxiously from
+father to son.
+
+"Is anything the matter, Robert?"
+
+"Matter?  Look at this fellow's clothes and boots!"
+
+"Oh, Vince, my dear, how you have torn your trousers again!"
+
+"Torn them again!--the boy's a regular scarecrow!" cried the Doctor.  "I
+will not pay for good things for him to go cliff-climbing and wading and
+burrowing in caves.--Here: what are you going to do?"
+
+"Take him indoors to sew up that slit."
+
+"No!" cried the Doctor, filling up the bottle; and then, making a small
+cork squeak as he screwed it in, "Take your scissors and cut the legs
+off four inches above the knees."
+
+"Robert!" cried Mrs Burnet, in a tone of protest.
+
+"And look here, Vince: you can give up wearing shoes and stockings; they
+are for civilised beings, not for young savages."
+
+"My dear Robert, you are not in earnest?"
+
+"Ah, but I am.  Let him chip and tear his skin: that will grow up again:
+clothes will not."
+
+"All right, father; I shan't mind," said the boy, smiling.  "Save taking
+shoes and stockings off for wading."
+
+"Vincent, my dear!" cried his mother, "how absurd!  You would look nice
+the next time Michael Ladelle came for you."
+
+"He'd do the same, mother.  He always imitates me."
+
+"Yes; you're a nice pair," said the Doctor.  "I never saw such young
+savages."
+
+"You're too hard upon them, Robert," said Mrs Burnet, laying her arm on
+her son's shoulder.  "It does not matter out in this wild place, where
+there is no one to see him but the fishing people; and see what a
+healthy, natural life it is for them."
+
+"Healthy! natural!" cried the Doctor sharply.  "So you want to see him
+grow up into a sort of Peter the Wild Boy, madam?"
+
+"No," said Mrs Burnet, exchanging an affectionate glance with her
+sun-tanned son.  "Peter the Wild Boy did not have a college tutor to
+teach him the classics, did he, Vince?"
+
+"No, mother; he must have been a lucky fellow," said the boy, laughing.
+
+"For shame, Vincent!" cried Mrs Burnet, shaking her head at the boy
+reprovingly.  "You do not mean that."
+
+"I believe he does," said the Doctor angrily.  "I won't have any more of
+it.  He neglects his studies shamefully."
+
+"No, no, indeed, dear," cried Mrs Burnet.  "You don't know how hard he
+works."
+
+"Oh yes, I do: at egging, climbing, fishing, and swimming.  I'll have no
+more of it; he shall go over to some big school in Germany, where
+they'll bring him to his senses."
+
+"I do everything Mr Deane sets me to do, father," said the boy; "and I
+do try hard."
+
+"Yes--to break your neck or drown yourself.  Look here, sir, when are
+you going to pay me my bill?"
+
+"Your bill, father?  I don't know what you mean."
+
+"Surgical attendance in mending your broken leg.  That's been owing two
+years."
+
+"When my ship comes in, father," cried Vince, laughing.
+
+"But, I say, don't send me to a big school, father.  I like being here
+so much."
+
+"Yes: to waste the golden moments of boyhood, sir."
+
+"But I don't, father," cried Vince.  "I really do work hard at
+everything Mr Deane sets me, and get it all done before I go out.  He
+never finds fault."
+
+"Bah!  You're getting too big to think of going out to play with Mike
+Ladelle."
+
+"But you said, father, that you liked to see a fellow work hard at play
+as well as study, and that `all work and no play made Jack a dull boy.'"
+
+"Jack!" cried the Doctor, with his face wrinkling up, as he tried to
+look very severe.  "Yes Jack.  But you're not Jack: he was some common
+fisherman's or miner's boy, not the son of a medical man--a gentleman.
+There, go and dress that wound in his trousers, my dear."
+
+"And you won't send me off to school, father?  I do like private study
+at home so much better!"
+
+"Humph!  I don't know whether you're aware of it, sir, but you've got a
+very foolish, indulgent father, who is spoiling you."
+
+"No, he did not know that," said Mrs Burnet, smiling, as she looked
+from one to the other proudly.  "And it is not true, is it, Vince?"
+
+"No, mother, not a bit of it," cried the boy.
+
+"And I feel sure that father will not send you away if you try hard to
+master all your lessons with Mr Deane."
+
+"Well, it isn't your father who is spoiling you now, Vince," said the
+Doctor.  "There: I'll give you another six months' trial; and, here--
+which way are you going?"
+
+"Round by the south cliff to look for Mike Ladelle."
+
+"Ah, I daresay he's shut up in his father's study hard at work!"
+
+"No, father; I've been up to the house, and they said he had gone out."
+
+"There, go and get mended; and you may as well leave this medicine for
+me at James Carnach's.  It will be ready for you by the time your mother
+has done."
+
+"Yes, father--I'll come," cried the boy; and he hurried out of the
+surgery.
+
+"Ah!" said the Doctor, "you undo all my work by your foolish
+indulgence."
+
+Mrs Burnet smiled.
+
+"I should be very miserable," she said, "if I could feel that all you
+say is true."
+
+"But see what a reckless young rascal he grows."
+
+"No, I cannot see that, dear," replied Mrs Burnet.  "He is a thorough,
+natural boy, and I am glad to find him so fond of outdoor life."
+
+"And not of his studies?"
+
+"He works very hard at them, dear; and I'm sure you want to see him grow
+up manly."
+
+"Of course."
+
+"And not a weak, effeminate lad, always reading books over the fire."
+
+"No, but--"
+
+"Let him go on as he is, dear," said Mrs Burnet gently; "and show him
+that you take an interest in his sports."
+
+"Spoil him more still?"
+
+"No: encourage him in his love of natural history."
+
+"And making the place untidy with his messing about.  I say: by the way,
+have you been at that bottle of acid?"
+
+"I?  No, dear."
+
+"Then he has, for some of his sham experiments."
+
+"Mother!"
+
+"Coming, my dear," cried Mrs Burnet, in answer to the call; and she
+hurried into the house, leaving the Doctor to write out the directions
+upon a label, so that Jemmy Carnach--fisherman when the sea was calm,
+and farmer when it was rough--might not make a mistake when he received
+his bottle of medicine, and take it all at once, though it would not
+have hurt him if he had.
+
+"Nice boy!" muttered the Doctor, as he made a noose in a piece of twine
+and carefully tied the label to the bottle; "but I wish the young plague
+had been a girl."
+
+At that moment Vince was standing with one foot upon a stool, so that
+the knee of his trousers was within easy reach of his mother's busy
+fingers, while the bright needle flashed in and out, and the long slit
+was gradually being reduced in extent.
+
+"Mind, mother! don't sew it to the skin," he said laughingly; and then,
+bending down, he waited his opportunity, and softly kissed the glossy
+hair close to his lips.
+
+"I say, mother," he whispered, "don't have me sent away.  Father doesn't
+mean it, does he?"
+
+"I don't think so, my dear; but he wants to see you try hard to grow
+into a manly, sensible lad."
+
+"Well, that's what I am trying to do."
+
+Mrs Burnet took hold of her son's none too clean hand, turned it over,
+and held up the knuckles, which seemed to have been cracked across, but
+were nearly healed.
+
+"Well, I couldn't help that, mother," protested the boy.  "You wouldn't
+have had me stand still and let young Carnach knock Mike Ladelle about
+without helping him?"
+
+"I don't like fighting, Vince," said Mrs Burnet, with a sigh; "it seems
+to me brutal."
+
+"Well, so it is, mother, when it's a big, strong fellow ill-using a
+small one.  But it can't be brutal for a little one to stick up for
+himself and thrash the big coward, can it?"
+
+"That is a question upon which I cannot pretend to decide, Vince.  You
+had better ask your father."
+
+"Oh, no!  I shan't say anything about it," replied the boy, giving his
+short shock-brown hair a rub.  "I don't like talking about it.  Nearly
+done?"
+
+"Yes, I am fastening off the thread."
+
+There was a snip given directly after by a pair of scissors; Vince gave
+his leg a shake to send the trouser down in its place, and then stooped
+and kissed the sweet, placid face so close to his.
+
+"There," he cried; "don't you tell me I didn't pay you for mending the
+tear."
+
+"Ready, Vince?" said the Doctor, entering with the bottle neatly done up
+in white paper.
+
+"Yes, father."
+
+"Mind, sir! don't break it."
+
+"No, father: all right."
+
+The next minute Vince was trotting sharply down the road towards the
+rough moorland, which he had to partly traverse before turning down a
+narrow track to the cliff edge, where, in a gap, half a dozen
+fishermen's cottages were built, sheltered from the strong south-west
+wind.
+
+"You will not send him away, Robert?" said Mrs Burnet.
+
+"Humph!  Well, no," said the Doctor, wrinkling up his brow; "it would
+seem so dull if he were gone."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWO.
+
+"TWO FOR A PAIR."
+
+"Hullo, Cinder!"
+
+"Hullo, Spoon!"
+
+"Who are you calling Cinder?"
+
+"Who are you calling Spoon?"
+
+"You.  Well, Ladle then, if you don't like Spoon."
+
+"And you have it Scorcher if you like, old Burnet."
+
+"Burnet's a better name than Ladelle."
+
+"Oh, is it!  I don't know so much about that, Vincey.  And it isn't
+pronounced as if it was going into a soup tureen.  You know that well
+enough.  It's a fine old French name."
+
+"Of course I know your finicking way of calling it _Lah Delle_; but, if
+you're English, it's Ladle.  Ha, ha, ha!  Ladle for frog soup, Frenchy."
+
+"You won't be happy till I've punched your head, Vince Burnet."
+
+"Shan't I?  All right, then: make me happy," said Vince to another
+sun-browned lad whom he had just encountered among the furze and
+heather--all gold and purple in the sunny islet where they dwelt--and in
+the most matter-of-fact way he took off his jacket; and then began a
+more difficult task, which made him appear like some peculiar animal
+struggling out of its skin: for he proceeded to drag off the tight blue
+worsted jersey shirt he wore, and, as it was very elastic, it clung to
+his back and shoulders as he pulled it over his head, and, of course,
+rendered him for the moment helpless--a fact of which his companion was
+quite ready to take advantage.
+
+"Want to fight, do you?" he cried: "you shall have it then," and,
+grinning with delight, he sprang upon the other's back, nipping him with
+his knees, and beginning to slap and pummel him heartily.
+
+Vince Burnet made a desperate effort to get free, but the combination of
+his assailant's knees and the jersey effectively imprisoned him, and,
+though he heaved and tossed and jerked himself, he could not dislodge
+the lad, who clung to him like Sinbad's old man of the sea, till he fell
+half exhausted in a thick bed of heather, where he was kept down to
+suffer a kind of roulade of thumps, delivered very heartily upon his
+back as if it were a drum.
+
+"Murder! murder!" cried Vince, in smothered tones, with the jersey over
+his head.
+
+"Yes, I'll give you murder!  I'll give you physic!  How do you like
+that, and that, and that, Doctor?"
+
+Each question was followed by a peculiar double knock on back or ribs.
+
+"Don't like it at all, Mike.  Oh, I say, do leave off!"
+
+"Shan't.  Don't get such a chance every day.  I'll roast your ribs for
+you, my lad."
+
+"No, no: I give in.  I'm done."
+
+"Ah! that sounds as if you didn't feel sure.  As your father says to me
+when I'm sick, I must give you another dose."
+
+"No, no, don't, please," cried Vince: "you hurt."
+
+"Of course I do.  I mean it.  How many times have you hurt me?"
+
+"But it's cowardly to give it to a fellow smothered up like I am."
+
+"'Tisn't cowardly: it's the true art of war.  Get your enemy up in a
+corner where he can't help himself, and then pound him like that, and
+that."
+
+"Oh!--oh!"
+
+"Yes, it is `Oh!'  I never felt any one with such hard, bony ribs
+before; Jemmy Carnach is soft compared to you."
+
+"I say, you're killing me!"
+
+"Am I?  Like to be killed?"
+
+"No.  Oh!  I say, Mike, don't, there's a good fellow!  Let me get up."
+
+"Are you licked?"
+
+"Yes, quite."
+
+"Will you hit me if I let you get up?"
+
+"No, you coward."
+
+_Bang, bang_.
+
+"Oh!  I say, don't!"
+
+"Am I a coward, then?"
+
+"Yes.--Oh!"
+
+"Now am I a coward?"
+
+"No, no.  You're the bravest, best fellow that ever lived."
+
+"Then you own you're beaten?"
+
+"Oh yes, thoroughly.  I say, Mike, I can hardly breathe.  Honour
+bright!"
+
+"Say, you own you're licked, then."
+
+"Yes.  Own I'm licked, and--Ah-h-ah!"
+
+Vince gave a final heave, and with such good effect that his assailant
+was thrown, and by the time he had recovered himself Vince's red face
+was reappearing from the blue jersey, which the boy had tugged down into
+its normal position.
+
+"Oh! won't I serve you out for this some day, Mikey!" he cried, as the
+other stood on his guard, laughing at him.
+
+"You said you were beaten."
+
+"Yes, for to-day; but I can't afford to let you knock me about like
+this.  I say, you did hurt."
+
+"Nonsense!  I could have hit twice as hard as that.  Pull your jersey
+over your head again, and I'll show you."
+
+"Likely!  Never mind, old chap," said Vince, giving himself a shake;
+"I'll save it up for you.  Phew! you have made me hot."
+
+"Do you good," said Mike, imitating his companion by throwing himself
+down at full length upon the elastic heath, to lie gazing at the
+brilliant blue sea, stretching far away to where a patch of amethyst
+here and there on the horizon told of other islands, bathed in the
+glowing sunshine.
+
+The land ended a hundred yards from where the two lads lay as suddenly
+as if it had been cut sharply off, and went down perpendicularly some
+two hundred and fifty feet to where the transparent waves broke softly,
+with hardly a sound, amongst the weedy rocks, all golden-brown with
+fucus, or running quietly over the yellow sand, but which, in a storm,
+came thundering in, like huge banks of water, to smite the face of the
+cliff, fall back and fret, and churn up the weed into balls of froth,
+which flew up, and were carried by the wind right across the island.
+
+"Where's old Deane?" said Vince suddenly.
+
+"Taken a book to go and sit on the rock shelf and read Plutarch.  I say,
+what a lot he does know!"
+
+"No wonder," said Vince, who was parting the heather and peering down
+beneath: "he's always reading.  I wish he was fonder of coming out in a
+boat and fishing or sailing."
+
+"So do I," said Mike.  "We'd make him do the rowing.  Makes us work hard
+enough."
+
+"I don't see why he shouldn't help us," continued Vince.  "Father says a
+man ought to look after his body as well as his brains, so as always to
+be healthy and strong."
+
+"Why did he say that?" said Mike sharply.
+
+"Because it was right," said Vince.  "My father's always right."
+
+"No, he isn't.  He didn't know what was the matter with my dad."
+
+Vince laughed.
+
+"What are you grinning at?"
+
+"What you said.  He knew well enough, only he wouldn't say because he
+did not want to offend your father."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"That he always sat indoors, and didn't take enough exercise."
+
+"Pish!  The Doctor did not know," said Mike sharply, and colouring a
+little; "and I don't believe he wants people to be well."
+
+"Hi!  Look here!" cried Vince excitedly.  "Lizard!"
+
+A little green reptile, looking like a miniature crocodile, disturbed by
+the lad's investigating hands, darted out from beneath the heath into
+the sunshine; and Mike snatched off his cap, and dabbed it over the
+little fugitive with so true an aim that as he held the cap down about
+three inches of the wiry tail remained outside.
+
+"Got him!" cried Mike triumphantly.
+
+"Well, don't hurt it."
+
+"Who's going to hurt it!"
+
+"You are.  Suppose a Brobdig-what-you-may-call-him banged a great cap
+down over you--it would hurt, wouldn't it?"
+
+"Not if I lay still; and there wouldn't be a bit of tail sticking out if
+he did," said Mike laughing.--"I'm not going to hurt you, old chap, but
+to take you home and put you in the conservatory to catch and eat the
+flies and blight.  Come along."
+
+"Where are you going to put him?"
+
+"In my pocket till I go home.  Look here: I'll put my finger on his tail
+and hold him while you lift my cap; then I can catch him with my other
+hand."
+
+"Mind he don't bite."
+
+"Go along!  He can't bite to hurt.  Ready?"
+
+"Yes," said Vince, stretching out his hand.  "Better let him go."
+
+"Yes, because you don't want him.  I do.  Now, no games."
+
+"All right."
+
+"Up with the cap, then."
+
+Vince lifted the cap, and burst out laughing, for it was like some
+conjuring trick--the lizard was gone.
+
+"Why, you never caught it!" he said.
+
+"Yes, I did: you saw its tail.  I've got it under my hand now."
+
+"You've dropped it," cried Vince.  "Lift up."
+
+Mike raised his hand, and there, sure enough, was the lizard's tail,
+writhing like a worm, and apparently as full of life as its late owner,
+but, not being endowed with feet, unable to escape.
+
+"Poor little wretch!" said Vince; "how horrid!  But he has got away."
+
+"Without his tail!"
+
+"Yes; but that will soon grow again."
+
+"Think so?"
+
+"Why, of course it will: just as a crab's or lobster's claw does."
+
+"Hullo, young gentlemen!" said a gruff voice, and a thick-set, elderly
+man stopped short to look down upon them, his grim, deeply-lined brown
+face twisted up into a smile as he took off an old sealskin cap and
+began to softly polish his bald head, which was surrounded by a thick
+hedge of shaggy grey hair, but paused for a moment to give one spot a
+rub with his great rough, gnarled knuckles.  His hands were enormous,
+and looked as if they had grown into the form most suitable for grasping
+a pair of oars to tug a boat against a heavy sea.
+
+His dress was exceedingly simple, consisting of a coarsely-knitted blue
+jersey shirt that might have been the great-grandfather of the one Vince
+wore; and a pair of trousers, of a kind of drab drugget, so thick that
+they would certainly have stood up by themselves, and so cut that they
+came nearly up to the man's armpits, and covered his back and chest,
+while the braces he wore were short in the extreme.  To finish the
+description of an individual who played a very important part in the
+lives of the two island boys, he had on a heavy pair of fisherman's
+boots, which might have been drawn up over his knees, but now hung
+clumsily about his ankles, like those of smugglers in a penny picture,
+as he stood looking down grimly, and slowly resettled his sealskin cap
+upon his head.
+
+"What are you two a-doing of?" he asked.  "Nothing," said Mike shortly.
+
+"And what brings you round here?"
+
+"I've been taking Jemmy Carnach a bottle of physic; and we came round,"
+cried Vince.  "Why?"
+
+"Taking Jemmy Carnach a bottle of physic," said the old fellow, with a
+low, curious laugh, which sounded as if an accident had happened to the
+works of a wooden clock.  "He's mighty fond o' making himself doctor's
+bills.  I'd ha' cured him if he'd come to me."
+
+"What would you have given him, Daygo?"
+
+"Give him?" said the man, rubbing his great brown eagle-beak nose with a
+finger that would have grated nutmeg easily: "I'd ha' give him a mug o'
+water out of a tar tub, and a lotion o' rope's end, and made him dance
+for half an hour.  He'd ha' been `quite well thank ye' to-morrow
+morning."
+
+Vince laughed.
+
+"Ay, that's what's the matter with him, young gentleman.  A man who
+can't ketch lobsters and sell 'em like a Christian, but must take 'em
+home, and byle 'em, and then sit and eat till you can see his eyes
+standing out of his head like the fish he wolfs, desarves to be ill.
+Well, I must be off and see what luck I've had."
+
+"Come on, Mike," cried Vince, springing up--an order which his companion
+obeyed with alacrity.
+
+The old fellow frowned and stared.
+
+"And where may you be going?" he asked.
+
+"Along with you," said Vince promptly.
+
+"Where?"
+
+"You said you were going out to look at your lobster-pots and nets,
+didn't you?"
+
+"Nay, ne'er a word like it," growled the man.
+
+"Yes, you did," cried Mike.  "You said you were going to see what luck
+you'd had."
+
+"Ay, so I did; but that might mean masheroons or taters growing, or
+rabbit in a trap aside the cliff."
+
+"Yes," said Vince, laughing merrily; "or a bit of timber, or a sea
+chest, or a tub washed up among the rocks, mightn't it, Mike?  Only
+fancy old Joe Daygo going mushrooming!"
+
+"You're a nice sarcy one as ever I see," said the man, with another of
+his wooden-wheel laughs.  "I like masheroons as well as any man."
+
+"Yes, but you don't go hunting for them," said Vince; "and you never
+grow potatoes; and as for setting a trap for a rabbit--not you."
+
+"You're fine and cunning, youngster," said the man, with a grim look;
+and his keen, clear eyes gazed searchingly at the lad from under his
+shaggy brows.
+
+"Sit on the cliff with your old glass," said Vince, "when you're not
+fishing or selling your lobsters and crabs.  He don't eat them himself,
+does he, Mike?"
+
+"No.  My father says he makes more of his fish than any one, or he
+wouldn't be the richest man on the island."
+
+The old man scowled darkly.
+
+"Oh!  Sir Francis said that, did he?"
+
+"Yes, I heard him," cried Vince; "and my father said you couldn't help
+being well off, for your place was your own, and it didn't cost you
+anything to live, so you couldn't help saving."
+
+A great hand came down clap on the lad's shoulder, and it seemed for the
+moment as if he were wearing an epaulette made out of a crab, while the
+gripping effect was similar, for the boy winced.
+
+"I say, gently, please: my shoulder isn't made of wood."
+
+"No, I won't hurt you, boy," growled the old fellow; "but your father's
+a man as talks sense, and I won't forget it.  I'll be took bad some day,
+and give him a job, just to be neighbourly."
+
+"Ha, ha!" laughed Vince.
+
+"What's the matter?" growled the old man, frowning.
+
+"You talking of having father if you were ill.  Why, you'd be obliged
+to."
+
+"Nay.  If I were bad I dessay I should get better if I curled up and
+went to sleep."
+
+"Send for me, Joe Daygo," cried Mike merrily, "and I'll bring Vince
+Burnet.  We'll give you a mug of water out of a tar-barrel, and make you
+dance with the rope's end."
+
+"Nay, nay, nay! don't you try to be funny, young Ladle."
+
+"_Ladelle_!" shouted the boy angrily.
+
+"Oh, very well, boy.  Only don't you try to be funny: young doctor
+here's best at that."
+
+All the same, though, the great heavy fellow broke into another fit of
+wooden chuckling, nodded to both, and turned to go, but back on the
+track by which he had come.
+
+Vince gave Mike a merry look, and they sprang after him, and the man
+faced round.
+
+"What now?"
+
+"We're coming out with you, Joe Daygo."
+
+"Nay; I don't want no boys along o' me."
+
+"Oh yes, you do," said Vince.  "I say--do take us, and we'll row all the
+time."
+
+"I don't want no one to row me.  I've got my sail."
+
+"All right, then; we'll manage the sail, and you can steer."
+
+"Nay; I don't want to be capsized."
+
+"Who's going to capsize you?  I say, do take us."
+
+The man scowled at them both, and filed his sharp, aquiline nose with a
+rough finger as if hesitating; then, swinging himself round, he strode
+off in his great boots, which crushed down heather and furze like a pair
+of mine stamps.  But he uttered the words which sent a thrill through
+the boys' hearts--and those words were:
+
+"Come on!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THREE.
+
+A DAY AT SEA.
+
+Daygo's big boots crushed something beside the heather and little tufts
+of fine golden gorse; for as they went along a slope the sweet aromatic
+scent of wild thyme floated to the boys' nostrils; and the bees,
+startled from their quest for honey, darted to right and left, with a
+low, humming noise, which was the treble, in Nature's music, to the
+soft, low bass which came in a deep whisper from over the cliff to the
+right.  And as the boys drew in long, deep draughts of the pure, fresh
+air which bathed their island home, their eyes were full of that happy
+light which spoke volumes of how they were in the full tide of true
+enjoyment of life in their brightest days.
+
+They could not have expressed what they felt--perhaps they were
+unconscious of the fact: that knowledge was only to come later on, in
+the lookings-back of maturity; but they knew that the moor about them
+seemed beautiful, and there was a keen enjoyment of everything upon
+which their eyes rested, whether it was the purple and golden-green
+slope, or the wondrous lights upon the ever-changing sea.
+
+"Hi! look!  There goes a mag," cried Mike, as one of the brilliantly
+plumed birds rose suddenly from among some grey crags, and went off in
+its peculiar flight, the white of its breast of the purest, and the sun
+glancing from the purple, gold and green upon its wings and lengthy
+tail.
+
+"Hooray!--another--and another--and another!" cried Vince, who the next
+moment passed from the enjoyment of the beautiful in nature to the
+grotesque; for he covered his lips with one hand to smother a laugh, and
+pointed with the other to a huge square patch of drugget laboriously
+stitched upon the back of the solid-looking trousers to strengthen them
+for sitting upon the thwart of a boat, a rock, or a bush of furze,
+which, when so guarded against, makes a pleasantly elastic seat.
+
+But Vince's companion did not find it so easy to control his mirth; for,
+as he gazed at the gigantic trousers in motion along the slope, their
+appearance seemed so comic, in conjunction with Vince's mirthful face,
+that he burst into a hearty laugh.
+
+Vince gave him a heavy punch in the ribs, which was intended to mean:
+"Now you've done it: he won't let us come!"
+
+But old Daygo did not look round; he only shook his head and shouted:
+
+"Won't do, young Ladle--_Ladelle_: you're thinking about the tar water,
+but you can't be so funny as he."
+
+The boys exchanged glances, but did not try to explain; neither speaking
+till, to their surprise, the man turned suddenly to his right, and made
+for a huge buttress which ran out some fifty feet from the rugged edge
+of the cliff and ended in a soft patch of sheep-nibbled, velvet grass,
+upon which lay, partly buried, a couple of long iron guns, while the
+remains of a breastwork of stone guarded the edge of the cliff.
+
+"I say! where are you going?" cried Vince.
+
+"Eh?  Here," said the man, sitting down astride of one of the old
+cannon.  "Think I was going to pitch you off?"
+
+"No," said Vince coolly, as he went close to the edge and looked down at
+the deeply-coloured purple, almost black, water at the foot of the
+cliff, where there was not an inch of strand.  "Wouldn't much matter if
+you did: it's awfully deep there, and no rocks.  I could swim."
+
+"Swim?  Wheer?" said the man sharply.  "No man could swim far there.
+T'reble currents and deep holes, where the tide runs into and sucks you
+down if it don't take you out to sea.  Nobody's safe there."
+
+"Might go all right in a boat," said Vince, still gazing down, attracted
+by the place, where he had often watched before, and noted how the
+cormorants, shags, and rock-doves flew in and out, disappearing beneath
+his feet--for the great buttress overhung the sea, and its face could
+only be seen by those who sailed by.
+
+"Nay, nay; no one goes in a boat along here, boy.  There, I'm going to
+fill my pipe and light it, and then we'll go.  Which o' you's got a
+sun-glass?"
+
+"I have," said Vince quickly.
+
+"Let's have it, then: save me nicking about with my flint and steel."
+
+The rough black pipe was filled, and the convex lens held so that the
+sun's rays were brought to a focus on the tobacco, which dried rapidly,
+crisped up, and soon began to smoke, when a few draws ignited the whole
+surface, and the man began to puff slowly and regularly as he handed
+back the glass.
+
+"It's nothing a boy could do," he said, with one of his fierce, grim
+looks, "so don't you two get a-glowering at a pipe like that."
+
+"Get out!" said Vince quickly.  "I wasn't thinking about that.  I was
+wondering who first found out that you could get fire from the sun."
+
+"Some chap as had a spy-glass," said the old fellow, "and unscrewed the
+bottom same as I do when I wants a light.  Might ha' fired one o' these
+here with a glass if you put a bit o' tinder in the touch-hole."
+
+"Yes," said Vince, "if the French had come."
+
+"Tchah!" ejaculated the man contemptuously: "all fools who put the guns
+about the island!  No Frenchies couldn't ha' come and landed here.
+Wants some one as knows every rock to sail a small boat, let alone a
+ship o' war.  All gone to pieces on the rocks if they'd tried."
+
+"Same as the old Spaniards did with the Armada," said Vince.
+
+"Spannles!  Did they come?"
+
+"To be sure they did, and got wrecked and beaten and sunk, and all
+sorts."
+
+"Sarve 'em right for being such fools as to come without a man aboard as
+knowed the rocks and currents and tides.  Dessay I could ha' showed 'em;
+on'y there's nowhere for 'em to harbour."
+
+"You'd better not try, if ever they want to come again," cried Vince,
+with animation.  "Father says you are a Spaniard."
+
+"Me?" cried the man, starting.  "Not me.  I'm English, flesh and bone."
+
+"No: father says Spanish."
+
+"Your father knows something about salts and senny," growled the old
+fellow, "but I know more about Joe Daygo o' the Crag than any man going.
+English right down to my boots."
+
+"No: Spanish descent, father says," persisted Vince.  "He says he goes
+by your face and your name."
+
+"What does he mean?" said the man fiercely.  "Good a face as his'n!"
+
+"And principally by your nose.  He says it's a regular Spanish one."
+
+"He don't know what he's talking about," growled the old man, rubbing
+the feature in question.  "How can it be Spanish when all the rest of
+me's English?"
+
+"It's the shape," continued Vince; while Mike lay on his back, listened,
+and stared up at the grey gulls which went sailing round between him and
+the vividly blue sky.  "He says there isn't another nose in the island a
+bit like it."
+
+"Tell him he'd better leave my nose alone.  But he is right there: there
+arn't a nose like it--they're all round or stunted, or turn t'other way
+up."
+
+"Then he says your name Daygo's only a corruption of Diego, which is
+Spanish for James."
+
+"Yah!  It's Daygo--Joe Daygo--and not James at all.  He's thinking about
+Jemmy Carnach."
+
+"And he says he feels sure your people came over with the Spanish
+Armada, and you're descended from some sailor, named Diego, who was
+wrecked."
+
+"You tell your father to mix his physic," grumbled the man
+sourly.--"Here, are you two going to stop here talking all day?"
+
+"No," cried Mike, springing up, his example being followed by Vince, who
+was riding on the breech of the other gun.
+
+"Then come on," growled the man, who made off now at a tremendous rate.
+Away over furze, and up and down over sunny slopes, where the
+fallow-chats rose, showing their white tail coverts; in and out among
+bare patches of granite, which rose above the great clumps of gorse; and
+still on, till all before them was sea.  Then he began to rapidly
+descend a gully, where everything that was green was left behind, and
+they were between two vast walls of rock, almost shut-in by a natural
+breakwater stretching across, half covered by the sea and sand.  Below
+them, in a natural pool, lay a boat which might have been built and
+launched to sail upon the tiny dock of stone; for there was apparently
+no communication with the sea, so well was it shut off from where, as
+the bare and worn masses of grey rock showed, the waves must come
+thundering in when the west wind blew.
+
+Old Daygo went clumping down in his heavy boots, and the boys followed,
+soon to reach where stones as big as cheeses lay in a long slope,
+whither they had been hurled by the storms, and were rolled over till
+they were smooth and roughly round as the pebbles in a stream.  Next
+they had to mount a great barrier, which now hid the boat, and then
+descended to its side, where it lay in the pool, only about twice as big
+as itself, but which proved now to be the widening out of a huge crack
+in the granite rocks, and zigzagged along to the sea, full of clear
+water at all times, and forming a sheltered canal to the tiny dock.
+
+"Some on 'em 'd like to have that bit o' harbour," said the man, with a
+grin which showed his great white teeth; "but it's mine, and always will
+be.  Jump in."
+
+The boys obeyed, and the man fetched a boat-hook with a very sharp, keen
+point, from where it hung, in company with some well-tarred ropes, nets,
+and other fishing-gear, in a sheltered nook amongst the rocks, and then
+joined them, and began to push the boat along the narrow waterway.
+
+At the first wave sent rippling outward by the movement of the boat,
+there was a rush and splash a dozen yards in front, as a shoal of
+good-sized fish darted seaward, some in their hurry leaping right out of
+the water, to fall in again with a plunge, which scared the rest in
+their flight.
+
+The boys sprang up excitedly, and Daygo nodded.
+
+"Ay," he said, "if we'd knowed they was there, we might ha' crep along
+the rocks and dropped a net acrost, and then caught the lot."
+
+"Mullet, weren't they?" said Vince.
+
+"Yes: grey ones," said Mike, shading his eyes, and following the wave
+made by the retiring shoal.
+
+"Ay--grey mullet, come up to see if there was anything to eat.  Smelt
+where I'd been cleaning fish and throwing it into the water."
+
+The boat went on after the shoal of fish, in and out along the great
+jagged rift leading seaward, their way seeming to be barred by a
+towering pyramid of rock partly detached from the main island, while the
+sides of the fault grew higher and higher till they closed in overhead,
+forming a roughly-arched tunnel, nearly dark; but as soon as they were
+well in, the light shining through the end and displaying a framed
+picture of lustrous sea glittering in the sunlight, of which enough was
+reflected to show that the sides of the tunnel-like cavern were dotted
+with limpets, and the soft, knob-shaped, contracted forms of sea
+anemones that, below the surface, would have displayed tentacles of
+every tint, studded, as it were, with gems.
+
+The roof a few feet above their heads echoed, and every word spoken went
+whispering along, while the iron point and hook of the implement old
+Daygo used gave forth a loud, hollow, sounding click as it was struck
+upon side or roof from time to time.
+
+"I say," cried Vince suddenly, "we never tried for a conger along here,
+Mike."
+
+"No good," growled Daygo.
+
+"Why?" said Vince, argumentatively.  "Looks just the place for them:
+it's dark and deep."
+
+"Ay, so it is, boy; and I daresay there arn't so many of they mullet
+gone back to sea as come up the hole."
+
+"Then there are congers here?"
+
+"Ay, big uns, too; but the bottom's all covered with rocks, and there's
+holes all along for the eels to run in, and when you hook 'em they twist
+in, and you only lose your line."
+
+He gave the boat a vigorous shove, and it glided out into the light once
+more, a hundred yards from the cliff, but with the rugged pyramid of
+granite through which they had passed towering up behind them, and its
+many shelves dotted with sea-birds lazily sunning themselves and
+stretching out their wings to dry.
+
+A few flew up, uttering peculiar cries, as the boat darted out of the
+dark arch beneath them; but, for the most part, they merely looked down
+and took no further notice--the boat and its little crew being too
+familiar an object to excite their fear, especially as its occupants did
+not land, and the egg-time was at an end.
+
+"Now, then, up with the mast, lads!" said the old man; and cleverly
+enough the boys stepped the little spar by thrusting its end through a
+hole in the forward thwart and down into a socket fixed in the inner
+part of the keel.  Then the stays were hooked on, hauled taut, and up
+went the little lug-sail smartly enough, the patch of brown tanned
+canvas filling at once, and sending the boat gliding gently along over
+the rocks which showed clearly deep down through the crystal sea.
+
+"Soon know how to manage a boat yourselves," said the old man grimly, as
+he thrust an oar over the stern and used it to steer.
+
+"Manage a boat ourselves!" cried Mike.  "I should think we could--eh,
+Vince?"
+
+"Should think you could!" said the old man laughing.  "Ah! you think you
+could, but you can't.  Why, I hardly know how yet, after trying for
+fifty year.  Wants some larning, boys, when tide's low, and the rocks
+are bobbing up and down ready to make holes in the bottom.  Don't you
+two be too sure, and don't you never go along here far without me."
+
+The boys said nothing; but they felt the truth of the man's words as he
+steered them in and out among the jagged masses of granite, around which
+the glassy currents glided, now covering them from sight, now leaving
+bare their weed-hung, broken-out fangs; while on their left, as they
+steered north toward a huge projection, which ran right out on the far
+side of a little bay, the perpendicular cliffs rose up grey and grand,
+defended by buttresses formed by masses that had fallen, and pierced
+every here and there by caverns, into which the water ran and rushed
+with strange, hollow, whispering noises and slaps and gurglings, as if
+there were peculiar creatures far up in the darkness resenting being
+disturbed.
+
+Every now and then the sea, as it heaved and sank, laid bare some
+rounded mass covered with long, hanging sea-weed, which parted on the
+top and hung down on either side, giving the stone the appearance of
+some strange, long-haired sea monster, which had just thrust its head
+above the surface to gaze at the boat, and once this was so near that
+Mike shrank from it as it peered over the thwart, the boat almost
+grating against the side.
+
+"Wasn't that too close?" said Vince quickly.
+
+"Nay," said the old man quietly: "if you didn't go close to that rock,
+you'd go on the sharp rock to starboard.  There's only just room to
+pass."
+
+A minute later, as the two lads, were gazing in at the gloomy portals of
+a water-floored cave, in and out of which birds were flying, a dexterous
+turn of the oar sent the boat quickly round, head to wind, the sail
+flapped over their heads, and Vince seized the boat-hook without being
+told, and, reaching over the side, hooked towards him a couple of
+good-sized pieces of blackened cork, through which a rope had been
+passed and knotted to prevent its return.
+
+This rope Mike seized, hauled upon it, drawing the boat along, till it
+was right over something heavy, which, on being dragged to the surface,
+proved to be a great beehive-shaped, cage-like basket, weighted with
+stones, and provided with a funnel-like entrance at the top.
+
+"Nothing!" cried Mike; and the lobster-pot was allowed to sink back into
+the deep water among the rocks as soon as it had been examined to see if
+it contained bait.
+
+Then there was another short run, and a fresh examination of one of
+these trap-like creels, with better success; for a good-sized lobster
+was found to be inside, and, after two or three attempts, Vince seized
+it across the back, and drew it out as it flicked its tail sharply, and
+vainly sought to take hold of its aggressor with its formidable,
+pincer-armed claws.
+
+Old Daygo hooked the lobster towards him with the toe of his boot,
+clapped it between his knees, and cleverly tied its claws with pieces of
+spun yarn before dropping the captive into a locker in the stern, half
+full of water, which was admitted through holes in the side.
+
+A couple more lobster-pots were tried, without success, as the boat
+glided along by the side of the great granite cliffs, where the many
+black cormorants, which made the shelves and points their home, gave
+ample reason for the solitary island, far out among the rushing waters
+of the fierce currents, to be named Cormorant Crag by all who sailed
+that way, and avoided as the most dangerous rock-bound place off the
+coast.
+
+Then came a change, the boat being steered to a channel which ran
+between a mighty mass of piled-up granite and the cliffs.  This gap was
+about forty yards wide, and the pent-up waters rushed through, eddying
+and rippling, and taking the boat along at a rapid rate.  But Daygo
+steered close enough in to enable him to throw the little grapnel in the
+bottom of the boat on to the rocks nearest the cliffs.  The iron caught
+at once, the line was checked and fastened, and the boat, swung now in
+the swift race close to a little keg, from which ran a row of corks,
+anchored in a calmer place across the tide.
+
+"Down with the lug!" growled the old man.  His crew lowered the sail
+quickly, and stowed it out of their way, for the chief feature of the
+little trip was close at hand.  Old Daygo went forward now, shaking his
+head at the boys' progress of hauling in the trawl-net line themselves.
+
+"Ay," he said; "you can take out the fish if there be any."  And he
+methodically dragged the net, which had been stretched like so many
+walls of meshes overnight right across the swift waters of the tide,
+having been down long enough for the ebb and flow both to pass through
+it, with the consequence that, if fish had passed that way, they would
+have been pocketed or become netted among the meshes from either side.
+But a good deal of the net was dragged into the boat before the
+glittering scales of a fish were seen.
+
+"Red mullet!" cried Vince, as he pounced upon two small ones, looking as
+if clothed in mother-o'-pearl, speckled and stained with scarlet.
+
+These were taken out and thrown into the locker, with the result that
+the lobster flipped its tail and splashed about furiously.  But by this
+time there was a golden gleam in the net drawn aboard; taking his turn,
+Mike dragged out a grotesque-looking, big-headed John Dory, all
+golden-green upon its sides, and bearing the two dark marks, as if a
+giant finger and thumb had been imprinted upon it.  This, too, with its
+great eyes staring, and wide mouth gaping feebly, was thrown into the
+locker.
+
+Then old Daygo began to growl and mutter: for the meshes showed the
+heads only of a fine pair of red mullet, the whole of the bodies having
+been eaten away; and a minute later up came the cause, in the shape of a
+long, grey, eely-looking fish, which writhed and struggled violently to
+get free, but only entangled itself the more tightly.
+
+"Nay, nay! let me come," cried the old man, as he saw the boys whip out
+their knives.  "I don't want my net cut to pieces; I'll do it myself."
+
+He threw the portion of the net containing the captive on one side in
+the bottom of the boat, and hauled in the rest, which contained nothing
+but a sickly green, mottled-looking wrasse of about a couple of pounds
+weight.  Then the lines, cords, and anchors were got on board, and,
+leaving the boat to drift with the sharp current which carried it
+onward, the old man drew a long, sharp-pointed knife from its sheath,
+and cautiously turned over portions of the net.
+
+"Oh, murder!" said Mike.
+
+"Well, how many poor fish has it murdered?" said Vince.  "Mind it don't
+pike you, Joe!" he shouted.
+
+"I'm a-goin' to, my lad; and you mind, too, when you ketches one.
+They'll drive their pike at times right through a thick leather boot;
+and the place don't heal kindly afterward.  Ha! now I've got you," he
+muttered, as, getting one foot well down over the keen spine with which
+the fish was armed, and which it was striking to right and left, he held
+down the head, and, carefully avoiding the threads of the net, stabbed
+it first right through, and then dexterously divided the backbone just
+at its junction with the skull, before, with the fish writhing feebly,
+he gradually shook it clear of the net, and stood looking viciously down
+at his captive.
+
+"Won't eat no more mullet right up to the head, will he, lads?"
+
+"No; he has had his last meal," replied Vince, turning the fish over and
+displaying its ugly mouth.  "Now, if it was six feet long instead of
+four, you'd call it a shark."
+
+"Nay, I shouldn't; and he would be a dog-fish still.  Well, he's eat a
+many in his time.  Now his time's come, and something'll eat him.  Hyste
+the sail."
+
+The dog-fish--a very large one of its kind--was thrown overboard, the
+sail hoisted, and the boat began to glide onward toward the semicircular
+bay into which they were drifting, with the huge, massive promontory
+straight ahead.  Then the oar was pressed down, and the boat began to
+curve round.
+
+"Hi! stop!  Don't go back yet!" cried Vince.
+
+"Eh?  Why not?  No more lobster-pots down."
+
+"I want to sail across the bay, and get round by the Scraw."
+
+"What!" cried the old man, looking at him fiercely.  "You want to go
+there?  Well!"
+
+He turned his eyes upon Mike, who encountered the fierce gaze, and said,
+coolly enough:
+
+"Well, all right; I want to go too.  I've only seen the place at a
+distance."
+
+"Ay, and that's all you will ever see on it, 'less you get wings like
+one o' they shags," said the old man, pointing solemnly at a great black
+bird sunning itself upon an outlying rock.  "They've seen it, p'r'aps;
+and you may go and lie off, if you're keerful, and see it with a
+spy-glass."
+
+"And climb along to the edge of the cliff, and look over?" said Vince.
+
+"What!" cried Daygo, with a look of horror.  "Nay, don't you never try
+to do that, lad; you'd be sure to fall, and down you'd go into the sea,
+where it's all by ling and whizzing and whirling round.  You'd be sucked
+down at once among the rocks, and never come up again.  Ah! it's a
+horful place in there for 'bout quarter of a mile.  I've knowed boats--
+big uns, too--sailed by people as knowed no better, gone too near, and
+then it's all over with 'em.  They gets sucked in, and away they go.
+You never hear of 'em again--not so much as a plank ever comes out!"
+
+"What becomes of them, then?" said Vince, looking at the rugged old
+fellow curiously.
+
+"Chawed up," was the laconic reply, as the old fellow shaded his brow,
+and gazed long and anxiously beyond the headland they were leaving on
+their left.
+
+"But I want to see what it's like," said Mike.
+
+"Ay, and so has lots o' lads, and men, too, afore you, youngster," said
+the old man solemnly; "and want's had to be their master.  It arn't to
+be done."
+
+"Well, look here," continued Mike, for Vince sat very thoughtfully
+looking from one to the other as if he had something on his mind: "steer
+as close in as it's safe, and let's have a look, then."
+
+"Do what?" roared the old man fiercely.
+
+"Steer as close in as it's safe," repeated Mike.  "We want to go, don't
+we, Vince?"
+
+The lad nodded.
+
+"Don't I tell you it's not safe nowhere?  It's my belief, boys, as
+there's some'at 'orrid about that there place.  I don't say as there is,
+mind you; but I can't help thinking as there's things below as lays hold
+o' the keel of a boat and runs it into the curren' as soon as you goes
+anywhere near--and then it's all over with you, for you never get back.
+Your boat's rooshed round and round as soon as you get clost in, and
+she's washed up again the rocks all in shivers, and down they goes, just
+as if you tied a little 'baccy-box at the end of a string, and turned it
+round and round, and kep' hitting it again the stones."
+
+"Oh!  I don't believe about your things under water doing that," said
+Mike--"only currents and cross currents: do you, Cinder?"
+
+Vince did not answer, but sat gazing beyond the great headland, looking
+very thoughtful.
+
+"Ah, my lad! it's all very well for you to talk," said the old man
+solemnly; "but you don't know what there is in the wast deep, nor I
+don't neither.  I've heerd orful noises come up from out of the Scraw
+when the wind's been blowing ashore, and the roarings and moanings and
+groanings as come up over the cliffs have been t'reble."
+
+"Yes, but it isn't blowing now," said Mike: "take us in a bit, just
+round the point."
+
+"Nay," said the old man, shaking his head; "I won't say I won't, a-cause
+I could never face your fathers and mothers again, for I should never
+have the chance.  I'm getting an old 'un now, and it wouldn't matter so
+much about me, though I have made up my mind to live to 'bout a hunderd.
+I'm a-thinking about you two lads, as is only sixteen or so."
+
+"Vince is only fifteen," said Mike quickly, as if snatching at the
+chance of proving his seniority.
+
+"On'y fifteen!" cried the old man.  "Think o' that now--on'y fifteen and
+you sixteen, which means as you've both got 'bout seventy or eighty
+years more to live if you behave yourselves."
+
+"Oh, gently!" cried Mike; but Vince did not speak.
+
+"And do you think I'm a-going to cut your young lives short all that
+much?  Nay.  My name's Joe Daygo, and I'm English, and I won't do that.
+If I'd been what you two young fellows said--a Spannle--it might be
+different, but it arn't.  There--let's get back; and one on you can have
+the lobster, and t'other the Dory and mullet."
+
+"Then you won't take us round by the Scraw?"
+
+"Right, my lad; I won't."
+
+"Then I tell you what: Vince Burnet and I'll get a boat, and have a look
+for ourselves.  You're not afraid of things catching hold of the keel,
+are you, Cinder?"
+
+"No," said the lad quietly, "I don't think I am."
+
+"Well, I've warned you both; so don't you blame me if you don't come
+back," growled the old man.
+
+"Why, how can we if we don't come back?" cried Mike merrily.
+
+The old man shook his head, and sat gazing straight before him from
+under his shaggy brows, steering carefully, as the boat now had to make
+zigzag tacks among the rocks which dotted the surface away from the
+cliffs.  Then, in answer to a question from his companion, Vince shook
+off his fit of thoughtfulness, and sat chatting about the various
+objects they saw, principally about the caves they passed, some of which
+were low, arched places, excavated by the sea, whose entrances now stood
+out clear, now were covered by a wave which came back foaming from the
+compressed air it had shut-in.  Then the conversation turned upon the
+birds, familiar enough to them, but always fresh and new.  All along the
+face of these vast cliffs, and upon the outlying rocks, was a grand
+place for the study of sea-fowl.  They were quite unmolested, save at
+nesting-time, and then interfered with but little.  This was one of
+their strongholds, and, as the boat glided along back, the two lads set
+themselves to see how many kinds they passed.  There were the two kinds
+of cormorant, both long, blackish-green birds, the one distinctive from
+the other by the clear white, egg-shaped marks on its sides close to the
+tail; rows of little sea-parrots, as they are familiarly called--the
+puffins, with their triangular bills; the terns, with their swallow-like
+flight; and gulls innumerable--black-headed, black-backed, the common
+grey, and the beautiful, delicately-plumaged kittiwakes, sailing round
+and round in the most effortless way, as if all they needed to do were
+to balance themselves upon widespread wing, and then go onward wherever
+they willed.
+
+There was plenty to see and hear round Cormorant Crag as the boat sailed
+on over the crystal water, till the archway was reached in the pyramid
+of granite, when down went the sail, and the boat was thrust onward by
+means of the hitcher, the tide having risen so high that in places the
+boys had to bend down.  Then once more they were in the long, canal-like
+zigzag, and soon after in the dock, where they loyally helped the old
+man carry up and spread the trammel net to dry, and turned to go.
+
+"Here! stop a minute, youngsters," cried Daygo.
+
+"What for?"
+
+"Arn't got your bit o' fish."
+
+"Oh, I don't want to take it, Joe," said Vince.  "You've had bad luck
+to-day."
+
+"Never you mind about that, my lad.  I get lots o' fish, and I'm dead on
+some hammaneggs to-night.  I said you two was to have that fish and
+lobster; so which is it to be?  Who says lobster?"
+
+Nobody said lobster, and the boys laughed.
+
+"Well, if you two won't speak out like men, I must do it myself.  Am I
+to divide the take, or are you?"
+
+"You give us what you like, Joe," said Vince, who made up his mind to
+ask his mother for a pot of jam as a return present, knowing as he did
+that the old man had a sweet tooth.
+
+"Right, then; I will," cried Daygo, rolling up his jersey sleeve, and
+thrusting a massive arm into the locker, out of which he drew the fish,
+the boat's stem having been lifted so that the water had run out.
+"There, look here: Doctor Burnet said as lobsters were undo-gestible
+things, so you'd better take that there one home with you, Ladle.  You
+take the fish, Squire Burnet; your mar likes 'em fresh, as I well know."
+
+Mike took the lobster; and the old fellow took a little willow creel
+from where it was wedged in a granite crevice, laid some sea-weed at the
+bottom, and then packed in the fish.
+
+"Thankye, Daygo," said Mike.  "Shall I pay you for it?"
+
+"If you wants to be bad friends, lad," said the old man gruffly.
+
+"Much obliged, Joe," said Vince.  "My mother will be so pleased!"
+
+"Ah! and you're a lucky one to have such a mother," growled the great
+fellow.  "Wish I had."
+
+This brought a roar of laughter from the lads, and Daygo looked fiercely
+from one to the other; then the bearing of his remark began to dawn upon
+him, and his countenance relaxed into a grim smile.
+
+"Ah!  I didn't see," he grumbled out.  "Yes, I do look a nice sorter
+youngster to have a mother to wash my face, don't I?  But here, I say,"
+he continued sternly, "you two didn't mean it about getting a boat and
+trying to see the Scraw, did you?"
+
+"Yes, to be sure," said Mike sharply.
+
+"Then look here!" cried the old man, bringing his great doubled fist
+down into his left palm, with the result that there was a loud crack as
+of a mallet falling upon a board; "I've give you both fair warning, and
+you'd better take it.  You don't know what may come to you if you try
+it.  I tell you, once for all, that you can't get to see it from the
+sea, and you can't get to see it from the shore.  Nobody never has, and
+nobody never can, and come back 'llve, as that there Johnny Dor'."
+
+"I don't believe any one's had the pluck to try," said Mike stoutly.
+
+"Ah! you're a unbelievin' young rip," growled Daygo fiercely.  "But
+lookye here: you don't want to upset my lady your mother, Ladle, and you
+don't--"
+
+"Look here, Joe Daygo, if you call me Ladle again I'll kick you!" cried
+Mike hotly.
+
+"Nay, don't, lad--not yet, till you've practysed a bit on the rocks,
+'cause you might hurten your toes.  Look here, young Physic: you don't
+want to go and break your poor mother's heart, do you?"
+
+"Of course not," said Vince.
+
+"Then don't you go, my lad--don't you go.  There--better be off, both on
+you.  Weather's hot, and fish won't keep.  Tell 'em to put some salt in
+the pot with that lobster, Ladle; and you'd better have your fish cooked
+to-night, Doctor."
+
+Vince turned round and nodded; but the ladle was sticking in Mike's
+throat, and he stalked on without making a sign.
+
+Daygo stood watching till the lads had climbed up out of his sight, and
+then he went and sat down on a block of granite, and began to rasp his
+nose on both sides with his rough, fishy finger, as if engaged in
+sharpening the edge of a feature which was sharp enough as it was; and
+as he rasped, he looked straight before him at the great rugged cliff.
+But he was not thinking of it in the least; his thoughts were half a
+mile away, at the most precipitous part of the coast--a spot avoided by
+shore-goer and seaman alike, from the ill name it bore, and the dangers
+said to attend those who ventured to go near, either climbing or in a
+boat.
+
+"Nay," he said at last; "they won't go now."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOUR.
+
+CINDER HAS DISCOVERY ON THE BRAIN.
+
+"What are you thinking about, Cinder?" said Mike one day, when they were
+out together, after a long, hard morning's work up at the Ladelles, over
+algebra and Latin, with the tutor who was resident at the Mount, the
+Doctor sharing, however, in the cost.  "You seem to have been so moony
+and stupid lately."
+
+"Have I?" said Vince starting.
+
+"Yes, always going into brown studies.  I know: you can't recollect that
+problem in Euclid."
+
+"What, the forty-seventh?  Why, that's the one I recollect best.
+Guess!"
+
+"What you were thinking about?"
+
+Vince nodded.
+
+"Give it up," said Mike.
+
+"The Scraw."
+
+"What about it?  That it's guarded by water goblins and sea serpents and
+things, as old Joe calls them?"
+
+"No," said Vince quietly: "I've been thinking about it ever since we
+were out with him that day in the boat."
+
+"Well, and what do you think?" said Mike, who while he talked was trying
+how far he could jerk the flat pieces of oyster-shell, of which there
+were plenty near, off the cliff; but with all his skill--and he could
+throw far--they seemed, in the immensity around, as if they dropped
+close to the cliff foot.
+
+"I think, as I thought that day, that old Joe doesn't want us to go
+there."
+
+Mike was about to throw another shell, but he faced round at this with
+his curiosity roused.
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Ah! that's what I want to know; and I can't think of any reason why he
+shouldn't want us to go there.  It seems so queer."
+
+"Yes, it does seem queer," assented Mike.
+
+"Of course the fishermen believe in all kinds of old women's tales about
+ghosts and goblins, and ill-wishing and that sort of nonsense, just as
+the women do about old Mother Remming's being a witch; but old Joe
+always seemed to me to be such a hard, solid old chap, who would laugh
+at a story about the fairies coming in the night and drying any one's
+cow."
+
+"Well, I always thought something of that sort; but what he says must be
+right about the horrible currents among the rocks."
+
+"Yes; there are fierce currents, I suppose, at some times of the tide."
+
+"Well, that means it's dangerous."
+
+"Of course it is, sometimes; but I'm not going to believe all he said."
+
+"Nobody's ever been there."
+
+"Indeed!"
+
+"Oh yes, that's right," said Mike.  "I've often heard the men talk about
+what an awful place it was, and say they wouldn't go on any account."
+
+"And did that scare you?"
+
+"Well, I don't think it did, because I always felt afterwards that I
+should like to climb somewhere along there till I could look over down
+to the sea.  But of course you couldn't do it."
+
+"I don't know," said Vince; "I should like to try."
+
+"But after what old Joe Daygo said, you couldn't go there in a boat."
+
+"Couldn't you?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Then how is it that old Joe himself can go?"
+
+Mike dropped down on the cliff turf beside his companion and stared at
+him.  "He never did go!"
+
+"Yes, he did, for I was up on the Gull Cliff one day watching the birds,
+and I saw Joe go creeping round underneath in the boat, and sail across
+the bay, and then about the great point right in towards the Scraw."
+
+"You mean it, Cinder?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"It wasn't fancy?"
+
+"No; I'm sure."
+
+"Then there is some reason why he doesn't want us there.  I say!"
+
+"Well?"
+
+"Let's go and see."
+
+"You'd be afraid."
+
+"No; I wouldn't if you wouldn't."
+
+"I'll go if you will."
+
+"Then we will.  But how?  Boat?"
+
+"No; I say let's have a rope and try if we can't climb round by the
+cliff.  It will be a jolly good adventure, and I keep feeling more and
+more as if I wanted to know what it all means."
+
+"Then we will, and I'm ready to begin whenever you are.  Why, we may
+find a valley of gold."
+
+"Or get a bad tumble."
+
+"We'll risk that."
+
+"Then let's set to and make our plans."
+
+The boys ceased speaking, and became very thoughtful; and, as if to
+sharpen their ideas, each took out his knife--a long-hafted jack knife
+such as a sailor uses, fastened by a lanyard to his waist.  There was
+rather a rivalry between them as to which had the biggest,
+longest-bladed and sharpest knife--a point that was never decided; and
+the blades had rather a hard time of it, for they were constantly being
+opened and whetted so as to maintain a razor edge.
+
+But, probably from not being expert, these razor-like edges were not
+maintained, and this was partly due to the selection of the sharpener
+upon which they were whetted.  The sole of a boot is no doubt suitable,
+but not when it contains nails, which was the case with those worn by
+the lads.  The rail of a gate is harmless, while a smooth piece of slate
+makes a moderately good enough soft hone.  But when it comes to rubbing
+a blade upon a piece of gneiss, quartz crystal, or granite, the result
+is most unsatisfactory, the edge of the knife being prone to look like a
+very bad imitation of a miniature saw.
+
+From force of habit each lad on opening his knife looked round for
+something upon which to give his knife a whet; but up there on the soft
+turf of a cliff slope whetstones were scarce.  Down below on the
+wave-washed strand boulders and pebbles were plentiful enough, and in
+addition there was the rock; but from where they were it was a good
+quarter of a mile to the nearest place where a descent could be safely
+made.  But the next moment Mike found an oyster-shell, upon which he
+began diligently to rub his blade; while, failing this, Vince pulled his
+foot across his knee, vigorously stropped his knife on the sole of his
+boot, and gave a finishing touch to the edge by passing it to and fro
+upon the palm of his hand.
+
+This done, each looked out for something to cut, where there was for
+some distance round nothing but grass.  This Vince began to shave off
+gently, with Mike watching him for a few moments; but the pursuit seemed
+to him too trivial, and, after wrinkling up his forehead for a few
+moments as if perplexed, an idea struck him, and he began to score the
+soft turf in regular lines, as if it were a loin of pork, but with this
+difference, that when he had made about a dozen strokes he commenced
+cutting between the marks, and sloping his blade so that he carved out
+the turf, leaving a series of ridges and furrows as he went on.
+
+This was on his part an ingenious enough way of using the blade, out on
+an island cliff on a glorious sunny day; but at the end of a minute it
+became as monotonous as it was purposeless, and Vince shut his knife
+with a snap, after carefully wiping the blade; while Mike, who had been
+blunting the point of his by bringing it in contact with the granite,
+which, where they were, only lay three or four inches beneath the velvet
+turf, followed suit, after seeing that his knife point would need a good
+grinding before he could consider it to be in a satisfactory state.
+
+"Well," said Mike, after they had looked at each other for a few
+moments, "how are we going to make our plans?"
+
+"I dunno," replied Vince.  "Yes, I do.  You can't make plans here.
+Let's go and see what the place is like."
+
+"No; that's wrong," said Mike, wrinkling his forehead again.  "A general
+always makes his plans of how he'll attack a country before he starts,
+and takes what is necessary with him."
+
+"Yes, but then he has maps of the country, and knows what he will want.
+We have no maps; but we've got the country, so I say let's go and see
+first--reconnoitre."
+
+"Very well," said Mike, rising slowly.
+
+"Don't seem very ready," said Vince.  "Not scared about it, are you?"
+
+"No, I don't think so," replied Mike thoughtfully; "only doesn't it seem
+rather--rather queer to go to a place that is strange, and where you
+don't know what there may be?"
+
+"Of course it does," said Vince frankly; "and I am just a little like
+that.  I suppose it's what the men here all feel, and it keeps them
+away."
+
+"Yes, that's it," said Mike eagerly.
+
+"But then, you know, they believe lots of things that we laugh at.
+There isn't a man or boy here in Crag would go and sit in the churchyard
+on a dark night."
+
+"Well, you wouldn't either," said Mike.
+
+"No, I suppose not," said Vince thoughtfully.  "I don't think I believe
+in ghosts--I'm sure I don't; and I know that if I saw anything I should
+feel it was some one trying to frighten us.  But I shouldn't like to go
+and sit in a churchyard in the dark, because--because--"
+
+"You'd be afraid," said Mike, with a laugh.
+
+"Yes, I should be afraid, but not as you mean," said the lad.  "I should
+feel that it was doing a mocking, boasting sort of thing toward the dead
+people who were all lying asleep there."
+
+"Dead," interposed Mike.
+
+"No: father says asleep--quietly asleep, after being in pain and
+sickness, or being tired out from growing very old."
+
+Mike looked at him curiously, and they were both silent for a few
+moments, till Mike said quickly:--
+
+"I say, though, don't it seem queer to you that we've been here all our
+lives, and grown as old as we are, without ever going to the top of the
+cliff here and looking down into the Scraw?"
+
+"Yes, that's just what I've been thinking ever since old Joe talked to
+us as he did.  But I don't know that it is queer."
+
+"Well, I do," said Mike: "it's very queer."
+
+"No, it isn't.  Ever since we can remember everybody has said that you
+can't get there, because nobody could climb up; and then while we were
+little we always heard people talk almost in a whisper about it, as if
+it were something that oughtn't to be named; and so of course we didn't
+think for ourselves, and took all they said as being right.  But you
+know there may be whirlpools and holes and black caverns and sharp
+rocks, and I dare say there are regular monsters of congers down in the
+deep places that have never been disturbed."
+
+"And sharks."
+
+"No, I don't think there would be sharks.  They live out in the open sea
+more, where it's not so rough."
+
+"I say, how big have we ever seen a conger?"
+
+"Why, that one Carnach brought in and said he'd had a terrible fight
+with: don't you remember?"
+
+"Yes, I remember; he caught it on a dark thunderstormy day, and said
+when he hooked it first, baiting with a pilchard, it came so easy that
+he thought it was a little one, and swam up every time he slackened his
+line till he got it close to the top.  But when he went to hook it in
+with his gaff he fell back over the thwart, because as soon as it saw
+him it opened its mouth and came over the gunwale with a rush, and
+hunted him round the boat till he hit it over the head with his little
+axe."
+
+"Yes, I remember," said Vince, taking up the narrative; "and then he
+said they had a terrible fight, for it twisted its tail round his leg
+and struck at him, getting hold of his tarpaulin coat with its teeth and
+holding on till he got the blade of the axe into the cut he had made and
+sawed away till he got through the backbone.  Oh yes, we heard him tell
+the story lots of times about how strong it was, and how it bruised his
+leg where it hit him with its tail, and how he was beginning to feel
+that, in spite of its head being nearly off, it seemed as if it would
+finish him, when all at once it dropped down in the bottom of the boat
+and only just heaved about.  I used to believe it all, but he always
+puts more and more to it whenever he tells the tale.  I don't believe it
+now."
+
+"But it was a monster."
+
+"Yes: two inches short of seven feet long, and as big round as a
+cod-fish; and I don't see why there mayn't be some twice as big in the
+Scraw.  But I'm not going to believe in there being anything else, Mike;
+and we're going to see."
+
+"Nothing horrid living in the caves?"
+
+"Bogies and mermen and Goblin Jacks?  No: stuff!"
+
+"But up the cliff: you don't think there's anything there that makes it
+so that you can't go?  I mean--"
+
+"Dragons like father has in that old Latin book about Switzerland?"
+
+"Yes; you've got pictures of them,--horrid things with wings, that lived
+in the mountains and passes."
+
+"All gammon!" cried Vince.  "People used to believe in all kinds of
+nonsense--magicians, and fiery serpents and dragons, and things that we
+laugh about now.  There, one can't help feeling a bit shrinky, after all
+we've heard and been frightened with by people ever since we were little
+bits of chaps; but I mean to go.  There's nothing worse about the Scraw
+than there is about other dangerous places."
+
+"Ah! you say so now because it's broad daylight and the sun shines, but
+you'd talk differently if it was dark as pitch."
+
+"Shouldn't go if it was dark as pitch, because we shouldn't know where
+we were going.  I say, you're not going to turn tail?"
+
+"No," said Mike, "I'll go with you; but one can't help feeling a bit
+shrinky.  I'm ready: come on."
+
+"Let's seem as if we were not going, then," said Vince.
+
+"We shan't see anybody if we go round by the Dolmen," said Mike.  "There
+isn't a cottage after you pass the one on the Crusy common."
+
+"And nobody lives in that now."
+
+"Why?" said Mike quickly.  "Think they saw anything?  It's nearest to
+the Scraw Cliff."
+
+"See anything?  No.  But they used to feel--the wind.  Why, it's the
+highest part of Crag Island!  Come along."
+
+"One minute," said Mike.  "You said you thought old Joe didn't want us
+to go there."
+
+"Yes," said Vince.
+
+"Well, wasn't it because in his rough, surly way he likes us, and didn't
+want us to get hurt?"
+
+"Perhaps!" said Vince laconically.
+
+"Well, there couldn't be any other reason."
+
+"Yes, there could.  It might be a splendid place for fishing, and for
+ormers and queens and oysters, and he don't want any one else to find it
+out."
+
+"Yes, it might be that," said Mike; and he set his teeth and looked as
+if he were going upon some desperate venture from which he might never
+return alive.
+
+Vince looked a little uneasy too, but there was determination plainly
+written on his countenance as the two lads, after a glance round to see
+if they were observed, made off together; over the stony cliff.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIVE.
+
+WHILE THE RAVEN CROAKED.
+
+It was getting well on in the afternoon, but they had hours of daylight
+before them for their task.  To reach the spot would have been a trifle
+if they had possessed the wings of the grey gull which floated softly
+overhead as if watching them.  A few minutes would have sufficed; for,
+as the boys had often laughingly said when at home in the centre of the
+island, where Sir Francis Ladelle's sheltered manor-house stood, near
+the Doctor's long granite cottage among the scattered dwellings of the
+fisher-farmers of the place, they could not have walked two miles in any
+direction without tumbling into the sea.  But to reach the mighty cliffs
+overhanging the Scraw was not an easy task.
+
+The way they chose was along the eastern side of the island, close to
+the sea, where from north point to south point the place was
+inaccessible, there being only three places practicable for a landing,
+and these lying on the west and south.  There the mighty storm-waves had
+battered the granite crags for centuries, undermining them in soft veins
+till huge masses had fallen again and again, making openings which had
+been enlarged till there was one long cove; the fissure where they had
+taken boat with old Daygo; and another spot farther to the south.
+
+The lads had not gone far before they curved suddenly to their left, and
+struggled through one of the patches of woodland that beautified the
+island.  This was of oak trees and ilex, dwarfed by their position,
+tortured into every form of gnarled elbow and crookedness by the sea
+wind, and seldom visited save by the boys, who knew it as a famous spot
+for rabbits.
+
+It was hard work getting through this dwarf-oak scrub, but they
+struggled on, descending now into a steep ravine quite in the
+uninhabited part of the island, and feeling that they might talk and
+shout as they pleased--for they were not likely to be heard.  But they
+were very quiet, and when hawk or magpie was started, or an old nest
+seen, they instinctively called each other's attention to it in a
+whisper.
+
+After a time they were clear of the sombre wood, and had to commence
+another fight in the hollow of the slope they had to climb, for here the
+brambles and furze grew in their greatest luxuriance, and had woven so
+sturdy a hedge that it was next to impossible to get through.
+
+Perseverance, and a brave indifference to thorns, carried them along;
+and at the end of half an hour they were at the bottom of a gigantic
+precipice of tumbled-together masses of granite, suggesting that they
+were at the beginning of the huge promontory which jutted out into the
+sea, and round which Daygo had refused to take them; the beautiful
+little rounded bay which they had skirted being to their right; and
+forward toward the north, and lying away to their left, being the
+situation of the unknown region always spoken of with bated breath, and
+called The Scraw.
+
+The lads stopped now, hot, panting and scratched, to stand gazing
+upward.
+
+"Tired?" said Mike.
+
+"Yes.  No," replied Vince.  "Come on."
+
+But Mike did not move.  He stood looking before him at the rugged masses
+of granite, grey with lichen and surrounded by brambles, reaching up and
+up like a gigantic sloping wall that had fallen in ruins.
+
+Vince had begun to climb, and had mounted a few feet, but not hearing
+his companion following, he turned back to look.
+
+"Why don't you come on?" he cried.
+
+"I was thinking that we can never get up there."
+
+"Not if you stand still at the bottom," said Vince, laughing; and his
+cheery way acted upon Mike's spirits directly, for he began to follow.
+It was strange, though, that the laugh which had raised the spirits of
+one depressed those of the other; for Vince felt as if it was wrong to
+laugh there in that wild solitude, and he started violently as something
+rushed from beneath his feet and bounded off to their right.
+
+"Only a rabbit," said Mike, recovering from his own start.  "But I say,
+Cinder, I never thought that there could be such a wild place as this in
+the island.  Oh! what's that?"
+
+They were climbing slowly towards a tall ragged pinnacle of granite,
+which rose up some ten or fifteen feet by itself, when all at once a
+great black bird hopped into sight, looking gigantic against the sky,
+gazed down in a one-sided way, and began to utter a series of hoarse
+croaks, which sounded like the barkings of a dog.
+
+"Only a raven," said Vince quickly.  "Why, I say, Mike, this must be
+where that pair we have seen build every year!  We must find the nest,
+and get a young one or two to bring up."
+
+"Doesn't look as if he'd let us," said Mike, peering round with his eyes
+for a stone that he could pick up and hurl at the bird.  But, though
+stone was in plenty, it was in masses that might be calculated by
+hundredweights and tons.
+
+They climbed on slowly, one helping the other over the hardest bits; the
+faults and rifts between the blocks of granite, which in places were as
+regular as if they had been built up, afforded them foothold; but their
+way took them to the left, by the raven, which gave another bark or two,
+hopped from the stony pinnacle upon which it had remained perched,
+spread its wings, and, after a few flaps to right and then to left, rose
+to the broken ridge above their heads, hovered for a moment, and then,
+half closing its wings, dived down out of sight.
+
+"Pretty close to the top," cried Vince breathlessly; and he paused to
+wipe his streaming face before making a fresh start, bearing more and
+more to the left, and finding how solitary a spot they had reached--one
+so wild that it seemed as if it had never been trodden by the foot of
+man.
+
+They both paused again when not many feet from the summit of the slope,
+their climb having been made so much longer by its laborious nature; and
+as they stopped, the action of both was the same: they gazed about them
+nervously, startled by the utter loneliness and desolation of the spot,
+which might have been far away in some Eastern desert, instead of close
+to the cliffs and commons about which they had played for years.
+
+Granite blocks and boulders everywhere, save that in places there was a
+patch of white heather, ling, or golden starry ragwort; and in spite of
+their determination the desire was strong upon them to turn and hurry
+back.  But for either to have proposed this would have been equivalent
+to showing the white feather; and for fear that Vince should for a
+moment fancy that he was ready to shirk the task, Mike said roughly,
+"Come on," and continued the climbing, reaching the top first, and
+stretching out his hand, which was grasped by Vince, who pulled himself
+up and sank down by his companion's side to gaze in wonder from the
+rugged ridge they had won.
+
+It was not like the edge of a cliff, but a thorough ridge, steep as the
+roof of an old-fashioned house, down to where, some fifty feet below
+them, the slope ended and the precipice began.
+
+It was rugged enough, but as far as they could see to right or left
+there was no way out: they were hemmed in by huge weathered blocks of
+granite and the sea.  There was the way back, of course; but the desire
+upon both now was to go forward, for the curiosity which had been
+growing fast ever since they started was now culminating, and they were
+eager to penetrate the mystery of the place.
+
+"What are we going to do next?" said Mike.  "See if we can't get down to
+the shore, of course;" and Vince seated himself between two rugged,
+tempest-worn points of rock, and had a long, searching look beyond the
+edge of the precipice below him.
+
+First he swept the high barrier of detached rock which stretched before
+him two hundred yards or so distant, and apparently shutting in a nearly
+circular pool; for he and his companion were at the head of a deep
+indentation, the stern granite cliffs curving out to right and left, and
+seeming to touch the rocky barrier, which swarmed with birds on every
+shelf and ledge, large patches looking perfectly white.
+
+"Seems like a lake," said Mike suddenly, just as Vince was thinking the
+same thing.
+
+"Yes, but it can't be," said Vince.  "Look down there to the left, how
+the tide's rushing in.  Looks as if a boat couldn't live in it a
+moment."
+
+"And if the tide rushes in boiling like that, there must be a way out.
+Think there's a great hole right through under the island?"
+
+"No; it looks deep and still there at the other end of the rocks, and--
+yes, you can see from here if you stand up.  Why, Ladle, old chap, it is
+running."
+
+Vince had risen, taken hold of one of the jagged pieces of rock, stepped
+on to a point, and was gazing down to his left at the pent-in sea, which
+was rushing through a narrow opening between two towering rocks,
+foaming, boiling, and with the waves leaping over each other, as if
+forced out by some gigantic power, but evidently hidden from the side of
+the sea by the great barrier stretched before them.
+
+"I can't see anything," said Mike.
+
+"Climb up a bit.  Here--up above me."
+
+Mike began to climb the rugged granite, and had just reached a position
+from whence he could stretch over and see the exit of the pent-in
+currents which glided round the little cove or bay, one strongly
+resembling the water-filled crater of some extinct volcano, when his
+left foot slipped from the little projection upon which he stood, and,
+in spite of the frantic snatch he made to save himself, he fell heavily
+upon Vince, driving him outward, while he himself dropped within the
+ridge, and for the moment it seemed as if Vince was to be sent rolling
+down the steep slope and over the edge of the precipice.
+
+But the boy instinctively threw out his hands to clutch at anything to
+stop his downward progress, and his right came in contact with Mike's
+leg, gripping the trouser desperately, and the next moment he was
+hanging at the full extent of his arm upon the slope, his back against
+the rock, staring outward over the barrier at the sea, while Mike was
+also on his back, but head downward, with his knees bent over the strait
+ridge upon which they had so lately been standing.
+
+For quite a minute they lay motionless, too much unnerved by the shock
+to attempt to alter their positions; while Vince felt that if the cloth
+by which he held so desperately gave way, nothing could save him, and he
+must go down headlong to the unseen dangers below.
+
+There was another danger, too, for which he waited with his heart
+beating painfully.  At any moment he felt that he might drag his
+companion over to destruction, and the thought flashed through his
+brain, ought he to leave go?
+
+This idea stirred him to action, and he made a vain effort to find rest
+for his heels; but they only glided over the rock, try how he would to
+find one of the little shelf-like openings formed between the blocks,
+which often lay like huge courses of quarried stone.
+
+Then, as he hung there breathing heavily, he found his voice:
+
+"Mike!" he shouted; and the answer came in a smothered tone from the
+other slope of the steep ridge.
+
+"Hullo!"
+
+"Can you help me?"
+
+"No: can't move; if I do you'll pull me over."
+
+There was a terrible silence for what seemed to be minutes, but they
+were moments of the briefest, before Vince spoke again.
+
+"Can you hold on?"
+
+Silence, broken by a peculiar rustling, and then Mike said: "I think so.
+I've got my hand wedged in a crack; but I can't hold on long with my
+head down like this.  Look sharp!  Climb up."
+
+"Look sharp--climb up!" muttered Vince, as, raising his left hand, which
+had been holding on to a projection in the rock at his side, he reached
+up, and, trying desperately, he managed to get hold of the doubled-over
+fold at the bottom of his companion's trouser, cramping his fingers over
+it, and getting a second good hold.
+
+It does not seem much to read, but it took a good deal of his force out
+of him, and he lay still, panting.
+
+"Pray look sharp," came from the other side.
+
+"Yes.  Hold on," cried Vince, as a horrible sensation began creeping
+through him, which he felt was preparatory to losing his nerve and
+falling: "I'm going to turn over."
+
+"No, no--don't," came faintly.  "I can't hold on."
+
+"You must!" shouted Vince fiercely.  "Now!"
+
+Clutching desperately at the frail cloth, he gave himself a violent
+wrench and rolled himself right over upon his face, searching quickly
+with his toes for some support, and feeling them glide over the surface
+again and again, till a peculiar sensation of blindness began to attack
+him.  Then a thrill of satisfaction ran through his nerves, for one boot
+toe glided into the fault between two blocks, and the tension upon his
+muscles was at once relieved.
+
+"I can't help it," came faintly to his ears.  "You're dragging me over.
+Help! help!"
+
+_Croak_! came in a hoarse, barking note, and the great raven floated
+across them not a dozen feet above their heads.
+
+"All right!" cried Vince.  "I can manage now."  And he felt about with
+his other foot, found a projection, and having now two resting-places
+for his feet, one higher than the other, he cautiously drew himself up,
+inch by inch, till his chin was level with his hands, when, taking a
+deep, long breath, he forced his toe well against the rock, trusting to
+a slight projection; and, calling to Mike to try and hold on, he made a
+quick snatch with one hand at the lad's leg a foot higher, but failed to
+get a good grasp, his hand gliding down the leg, and Mike uttered a wild
+cry.
+
+For a moment Vince felt that he must fall, but in his desperation his
+teeth closed on the cloth beneath him, checking his downward progress;
+and as his feet scraped over the rock in his efforts to find fresh hold,
+he found his cliff-climbing had borne its fruits by hardening the
+muscles of his arms.  How he hardly knew, he managed to get hand over
+hand upon Mike's leg, till he drew himself above the ridge, and in his
+last effort he fell over, dragging his companion with him, so that they
+rolled together down the inner slope twenty or thirty feet, till a block
+checked their progress.
+
+Just then, as they lay scratched and panting, there was a darkening of
+the air, the soft whishing of wings, and the raven dropped on the big
+pinnacle close at hand, to utter its hoarse, barking croak as it gazed
+wickedly at them with first one and then the other eye.
+
+"Ha! ha! ha!" laughed Mike, in a peculiarly hysterical tone; "wouldn't
+you like it?  But not this time, old fellow.  Oh, don't I wish I had a
+stone!"
+
+The same memory had come to both, as they lay breathless and exhausted,
+of seeing this bird or one of its relatives rise from below the cliff
+edge one day as they approached; and, looking down, they saw upon a
+ledge, where it had fallen, a dead lamb, upon which the great ill-omened
+bird had been making a meal.
+
+"Hurt?" said Vince at last, as he sat up and examined his clothes for
+tears.
+
+"Hurt! why, of course I am.  I gave my head such a whack against one of
+the stones.--Are you?"
+
+"No," said Vince, making an effort to laugh at the danger from which he
+had escaped.  "I say, though, your trousers are made of better cloth
+than mine."
+
+"Trousers!" said Mike sourly: "you've nearly torn the flesh off my
+bones.  You did get hold of a bit of skin with your teeth, only I
+flinched and got it away.  I say, though--"
+
+"Well?  What?" said Vince; for the other stopped.  "That's the way down
+to the Scraw; but you needn't have been in such a hurry to go."
+
+Vince shuddered in spite of his self-control.  "I wonder," he said
+softly, "whether it's deep water underneath or rocks?"
+
+"I don't know that it matters," was the reply.  "If it had been water
+you couldn't have swum in such a whirlpool as it seems to be.  So you
+might just as well have been killed on the rocks.  But oh!  I say
+Cinder, don't talk about it."
+
+The boy's face grew convulsed, and he looked so horrified that Vince
+cried eagerly--
+
+"Here, I say, don't take it like that.  It was not so bad as we thought.
+It wouldn't have happened if you'd held tight instead of blundering on
+to me."
+
+"Let's talk about something else," said Mike, trying to master his
+feelings.
+
+"All right.  About that cove.  You see the water comes rushing in at one
+side and goes out at the other, and I daresay when the tide turns it
+goes the other way.  I should like to get right down to it, so as to see
+the water close to."
+
+Mike shuddered.  "You won't try again, will you?" he said.
+
+"Try again?  Yes.  Why not?  Why, we might come a million times and
+never slip again."
+
+"Yes," said Mike, but rather shrinkingly.  "Shall we go back home now?"
+
+"No; not till we've had another good look down at the place.  Here--hi!
+you be off, or next time we come we'll bring a gun."
+
+_Croak_! said the raven, and it took flight--not, however, at the words,
+but from the cap sent skimming up at it where it perched watching them.
+
+"Come on," cried Vince; and his companion sprang up as if ashamed of his
+weakness.
+
+Then together they climbed back to the scene of their adventure, and had
+a good look down at the shut-in cove, calmly reconnoitring the danger
+through which one of them had passed; and, after gazing long at the
+entrance and place of exit of the tides, they climbed along the ridge
+for some distance to the right, and then back and away to the left, but
+they could see nothing more--nothing but the rock-bound bay shut-in from
+the sea, and whose shore, if there was any, remained hidden from their
+sight by the projecting edge of cliff at the bottom of the slope below
+them.
+
+"There," said Vince at last,--"I know how I feel."
+
+"So do I," said Mike: "that we've had all our trouble for nothing."
+
+"No, I don't; I feel as if I shan't be satisfied till I've been right
+down there and seen what it's like."
+
+"But we can't get there.  Nobody could go in a boat."
+
+"Perhaps not.  We must climb down."
+
+Mike suppressed a shudder.  "Can't be done," he said.
+
+"How do we know till we've looked right down over the edge?"
+
+"Must bring a rope, then?"
+
+"Of course, and one hold it while the other creeps to the edge and looks
+over."
+
+Mike nodded, and they began to retrace their steps, talking thoughtfully
+as they went.
+
+"Shall you say anything about our--accident?" asked Mike at last.
+
+"No: only frighten my mother."
+
+"Nor yet about the Scraw, and what we're going to try and do?"
+
+"No: what's the good?  Let's find what there is to see first.  I say,
+Cinder, it will be as good as going to a foreign country seeking
+adventures.  Who knows what we may find?"
+
+"Raven's nest, for one thing."
+
+"Yes, I expect that chap has got his wife and young ones somewhere about
+here.  How about a rope?  Have you got one at home?"
+
+"Yes; but so have you."
+
+"I'm not very fond of ours," said Vince thoughtfully.  "It's a long time
+since it was new, and we don't want to have any accidents.  You bring a
+coil of new rope from your boat-shed: we'll take care of it.  And, I
+tell you what, I'll bring that little crowbar of ours next time, and a
+big hammer, so as to drive the bar into some crack.  It will be better
+than holding the rope."
+
+The talk of their future plans lasted till it was nearly time to part,
+and they were just arranging for their hour of meeting on the next day
+when they came suddenly upon old Daygo, at the corner of the lane
+leading down to his comfortable cottage.
+
+"Art'noon," he said, with a nod, and fixing his eyes upon each of them
+searchingly.  "Having a walk?"
+
+"Yes," said Vince carelessly.  "When are you going to take us fishing
+again?"
+
+"Oh! one o' these fine days, my lads; but you're getting to be quite men
+now, and must think more about your books.  Been on the cliffs?"
+
+"Yes," said Vince.  "Come on, Mike: it's tea-time."
+
+The boys walked on in silence for some moments, and then Vince spoke.
+
+"I say, Mike, do you think he's watching us?"
+
+"No," said Mike shortly.  "You fancy he is, because you've got some
+cock-and-bull notion that he don't want us to go to the Scraw."
+
+"Perhaps so," said Vince thoughtfully; "but I can't help it.  I do think
+so."
+
+"Well, suppose he does; he said what was right: it is a horribly
+dangerous place, and all the people keep away from it because they've
+got ideas like his."
+
+"Maybe," said Vince, with his brow all in puckers.  "But never mind;
+we'll go and see."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIX.
+
+HAUNTED BY THE SCRAW.
+
+The weather interfered with the prosecution of the boys' adventure for a
+week, and during that time, what with wind and rain, they had nothing to
+tempt them to the cliff but the sight of a large French three-masted
+lugger or _chasse-maree_, which was driven by the gale and currents
+dangerously near the Crag: so near, in fact, that old Daygo and nearly
+every fisherman in the place hung about the cliffs in full expectation
+of seeing the unfortunate vessel strike upon one or other of the rocks
+and go to pieces, when all on board must have inevitably been drowned,
+the height of the sea making it madness to attempt to launch a boat.
+
+But, to the relief of all, the swift vessel was so cleverly managed that
+she finally crept through an extremely dangerous passage, and then,
+catching a cross current, was borne right out to where she could weather
+the northern point of the island, and disappeared into the haze.
+
+"There, young gentlemen," said old Daygo in a stentorian voice, "that's
+seamanship!  But she'd no business to come so near the Crag in weather
+like this.  Wouldn't ha' like to be aboard o' she just now, would you?"
+
+"No," said Vince; "nor you neither?"
+
+"Hey?  Why, that's just what I've been a-wishing these two hours past,
+my lad.  I could ha' took her out o' danger long enough before; but them
+Frenchies don't know our island like I do.  Why, I feel sometimes as if
+I could smell where the rocks are, and I could steer a boat by touch,
+like, even if it was black as the inside of a tar-barrel in the middle
+of the night."
+
+It sounded like empty boasting, but the words were seriously received by
+the rough men around.
+
+"Ay, ay," said one fat, heavy-looking fellow; "Joe Daygo knows.  I
+wouldn't ha' been aboard her fer no money."
+
+"Been thinking you'd eat no more byled lobster--eh, Jemmy Carnach?" said
+Daygo, with a hoarse laugh; and the man gave him a surly look and
+sauntered away.
+
+"I say," said Mike, as soon as the lads were alone; "old Joe is really a
+good sort of fellow after all.  He seemed a deal more troubled about
+that French boat than any one else."
+
+"Yes; and I suppose he is a clever pilot, and knows all about the
+currents and the rocks; but I don't quite understand about his being so
+well off."
+
+Mike began to whistle, and said nothing for a few moments.
+
+"I don't see why he shouldn't be well off," he said; "he's getting old,
+and he's very mean, and never spends money upon himself."
+
+Vince nodded, and remained silent.
+
+Then came a lovely morning after the week's bad weather, and Vincent was
+just starting for Sir Francis Ladelle's rather unwillingly, to join Mike
+for the day's studies, when there was a cheery whistle outside and his
+fellow-pupil appeared.
+
+"I say!" he cried, "father said it was a shame for us to lose such a
+fine day, and he told Mr Deane to give us a holiday."
+
+"Eh?  What's that?" cried the Doctor.  "Here, I'm off up to the house to
+put a stop to that.  I'm not going to pay half that tutor's expenses if
+this sort of idleness is to be encouraged."
+
+Mike looked aghast.
+
+"It's all right," said Vince merrily; "father doesn't mean it."
+
+"Oh, don't I!" cried the Doctor, frowning.
+
+"No: does he, mother?"
+
+Mrs Burnet smiled and shook her head.
+
+"Here, you boys, don't get into any mischief."
+
+"No, father," said Vince, and the next minute they were outside.
+
+"Scraw?" said Vincent; and his companion nodded unwillingly, as the boy
+thought, but he changed his opinion the next moment.
+
+"I've got the hammer and bar ready, and a small rope; but we must have
+yours."
+
+"Yes, of course."
+
+"Well, run back and get it, and meet me out by the Dolmen."
+
+"Brought it," said Mike: "tucked it under a furze bush out on the
+common."
+
+Vince's face lit up with eagerness, and the pair were about to start
+when they saw old Daygo in the distance, and they turned back, went into
+the house, and waited till he had gone by.
+
+Giving the fisherman time to get well out of sight, they sallied forth,
+and went to where the coil of rope was hidden--a thin, strong line that
+would have borne a couple of men hanging on its end--and as soon as this
+was brought out, and a glance round taken to make sure they were not
+watched, Mike cried--
+
+"But what about the hammer and bar?"
+
+Vince opened his jersey to show the head of the hammer on one side, the
+crowbar on the other, snugly tucked in the waistband of his trousers.
+
+"Well done! that's capital!" cried Mike.  And the two lads went off in
+the direction of the Scraw, but in a zigzag fashion, as if their
+intentions were entirely different; and this at Vince's wish, for he had
+a strong impression that old Daygo was keeping an eye upon their
+movements, though Mike laughed at the idea.
+
+"I don't feel nervous about it now, do you?" said Vince, as soon as they
+were well under cover of the rugged ground.
+
+"No; but I don't like to think about that ugly slip you had," said Mike
+thoughtfully.
+
+"I didn't have an ugly slip: you knocked me over."
+
+"Oh, well, I couldn't help it, could I? and I did hold on till you got
+out of it."
+
+"Never mind that now," said Vince; "let's think about what we are going
+to do.  There'll be no danger so long as we are careful--and I mean to
+be, very, and so I tell you.  Wonder whether we shall see our black
+friend?  I say, didn't it seem as if it was on the look-out for us to
+have a bad accident?"
+
+"No: seemed as if it was on the look-out to keep us from finding its
+nest."
+
+They chatted away merrily enough till they had nearly reached the chaos
+of tumbled-together rocks, when, in spite of the bright sunshine and
+blue sky overhead, the wildness of the place once more impressed them
+unpleasantly, and, instead of the cheery conversation and banter in
+which they had indulged, they became quiet, only speaking at intervals,
+and then in quite a low tone.
+
+The bottom of the steep, rough slope was reached, and they paused to
+consider their plans.  They had come out some fifty yards from where
+they made their former ascent to the ridge, for it was marked by the
+jagged sugar-loaf upon which the raven had perched.  But the sloping
+wall of granite where they were presented just about the same aspect as
+that portion where they had struggled up before, and there was no reason
+for making a detour over very difficult ground, cumbered with huge
+blocks that must have fallen from above, and tangled in the hollows
+between with brambles; so they determined to climb from where they
+stood, and began at once, each selecting his own route, with the
+understanding that a pyramidal block eighty or ninety feet above their
+heads should be the meeting-place.
+
+"Come on, then," cried Mike.  "First up!"
+
+"No, no," said Vince.  "This must be done steadily.  We shall want to be
+cool and fresh for anything we may have to do.  One of us is sure to be
+obliged to go down by the rope."
+
+"Very well," said Mike; and they commenced the ascent, each feeling the
+wisdom of the plan adopted, the climb being difficult enough, though
+there was not the slightest danger.
+
+They were glad enough to rest and wipe their brows as they stood by the
+rough block, and upon which they found they could easily climb; but
+there was nothing more to see than at their former visit, save that the
+rocks looked far more rough, both at the torrent-like entrance and the
+narrow opening on their right, while even from the height at which they
+stood it was plain to see that the circular cove was in a violent state
+of ebullition.
+
+But here, close in, was the slope which ran down towards the sea--very
+similar in character to that by which they had ascended, only that it
+was, as it were, chopped off short.  In fact, they seemed to be on the
+summit of a stony ridge of granite mountains, one side of which had been
+nearly all gnawed away by the sea.
+
+"Don't seem much choice of where to go down," said Vince, after a long
+scrutiny to right and left.  "Shall we try here?"
+
+"Just as well as anywhere else," said Mike.  "Only what is it we are
+going to do?  If it means creeping down with a rope round one, and then
+going over the edge to play chicken at the end of a roasting-jack, I
+feel as if I'd rather not."
+
+"It means going carefully down to the edge and looking over first,"
+replied Vince.  "It may only be a place where we can get down easily
+enough."
+
+"Or it may be a place where we can't," said Mike.  "All right: I'll go,
+if you like."
+
+"No: I'll go first," said Vince.  And he drew out his hammer and
+crowbar; but a block of granite close by stood up so much like a thick,
+blunt post that there seemed to be no need for the crowbar to be driven
+in; so, making one end fast round the block with a well-tried mooring
+knot--one which old Daygo had taught them might be depended upon for
+securing a boat--they calculated how much rope would be necessary to
+well reach the bottom of the broken-off slope, and at the end of this
+the line was knotted round Vince's chest and he prepared to descend.
+
+"Ease it away gently, so that I'm not checked," said the lad, as Mike
+took hold close to him and knelt down ready to pay the rope out and so
+as to be able to tighten his grasp at any moment if there was a slip.
+
+"Right!  I'll mind; and you'll be all right: you can't fall."
+
+"I know," was the reply; and trusting to his companion, while
+strengthened by the knowledge that at the very worst he must be brought
+up short by the granite block, Vince gave a sharp look downward, and,
+selecting a spot at the edge a little to his right for the point to make
+for, he turned his face to the slope and began to descend, carefully
+picking hand and foothold and helped by the steady strain upon the rope
+which was kept up by Mike, who watched every movement breathlessly, his
+eyes fixed upon his companion's head, and ready to respond to every
+order which was uttered.
+
+Vince went down as calmly and deliberately as if the level ground were
+just below him till he was about two-thirds of the way, when he could
+not help giving a start, for Mike suddenly exclaimed:
+
+"Here's that old raven coming!"
+
+"Where?"
+
+"Off to my right--in a hurry.  You must be somewhere near the nest."
+
+Vince hesitated for a few moments, for the thought occurred to him that
+the bird might make a swoop at him, as he had read of eagles acting
+under similar circumstances; but the next moment he had thought of what
+power there would be in the blow of a fist striking a bird in full
+career, and knowing full well that it must be fatal to the raven, he
+continued to descend, with the bird flying by some fifty feet overhead
+and uttering its hoarse croak.
+
+"Lower away a little more," said Vince, as he drew nearer the edge of
+what might either be a precipice or an easy slope for aught he could
+tell.
+
+"I'll lower," was the reply; "but I want to feel you well."
+
+"That's right.  I must have rope enough to move quite freely."
+
+"Yes, that's all very well; but I don't feel as if I could haul you up
+if you slipped over the edge."
+
+"Who's going to ask you to?" said Vince.  "I should try and climb,
+shouldn't I?  If you keep me tight like that I can't get down."
+
+"Are you all right?" said Mike anxiously, for he was by far the more
+nervous of the two.
+
+"Right?--yes; but I feel like a cow tethered to a picket, so that I
+can't reach the bit of grass sward.  Now then, lower away."
+
+Mike obeyed, with the palms of his hands growing very moist, as his
+companion drew closer to the brink.
+
+"Lower away!" cried Vince.
+
+"No: that's close enough," said Mike decidedly.  "Look from where you
+are, and come back.  Now then, what can you see?"
+
+"A bit of moss and a patch of sea-pink just under my nose.  Don't be so
+stupid!  How am I to look over the edge if you hold me tight up like
+this?  Ah!"
+
+"What is it?" cried Mike, holding on to the rope with all his might, and
+keeping it resting on the rock, over which it had slowly glided.
+
+"Only a loose stone gave way under my feet, and went down."
+
+He remained silent, waiting to hear the fragment rebound and strike
+somewhere, but he listened in vain.  The fall of the stone, however, had
+its effect, for a wild chorus of whistling and screaming arose, and an
+eddy of wings came up as a perfect cloud of white and grey birds rose
+into sight, and were spread to right and left.
+
+"Hadn't you better come back now?" said Mike anxiously.
+
+"If I do it will be to make you come down instead.  Why, you're worse
+than I am, Mike!  Now then, lower away!  I only want about a fathom
+more, and then you may hold on tight."
+
+"Very well, then," said the lad: "I'll give you just six feet, and not a
+bit more.  Then you shall come up."
+
+"Say seven," cried Vince merrily.
+
+"No: six.  That's what you said; so make much of it."
+
+"Lower away, then!" cried Vince; and he carefully descended, after a
+glance over his left shoulder, creeping cautiously down, and edging to
+his left till he was just over the block at the edge which he had marked
+out for his goal.
+
+"That's four feet, mind!" cried Mike: "only two more."
+
+"Good little boy!" said Vince merrily.  "Four and two do make six.  I'll
+tell Mr Deane to-morrow.  He was grumbling the other day about the
+muddle you made over your algebra."
+
+"You look after your climbing, and never mind my algebra," said Mike
+huskily.
+
+"Now, Mikey!" cried Vince; "hold on--tight as you can."
+
+"Yes.  Don't you want the other two feet?"
+
+"Of course I do; but I'm going to turn over."
+
+"No, no, I say--don't!" cried Mike.  "Do think where you are!  Have a
+good look, and then come up."
+
+"Here, I say, you'd better come down instead of me.  I can't see out of
+the back of my head if you can.  Now, no nonsense.  This is what I want
+to do: I'm going to turn over, with my back to the cliff, and then
+shuffle down that other two feet, with my legs on each side of that
+piece of stone."
+
+"But it's at the very edge," said Mike.  "Good boy again!  How well you
+can see, Ladle!  It is just at the edge; and, once I'm there, I can see
+down either way."
+
+"But it isn't safe, Cinder.  I can't help being anxious.  Suppose the
+stone's loose, and gives way?"
+
+"Why, then it will fall down and frighten more birds.  Now then, don't
+fidget.  If the stone goes, you'd still hold on by the rope, and I
+should be left sitting there all the same.  I shouldn't do it if I
+didn't feel that I could.  I'm not a bit nervous, so hold on."
+
+"Very well," said Mike breathlessly: "I've got you."
+
+"Ready?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+Vincent Burnet did not hesitate, but, with a quick movement, turned
+himself right over, dragging heavily upon the rope, though, and making
+his companion draw in his breath through his closed teeth with a hissing
+sound.
+
+"There I am," said Vince coolly.  "I could slip down into the place if I
+liked, but I won't try; so just ease the rope, inch by inch, as I
+shuffle myself lower.  That's the way.  Easy as kiss my hand.  A little
+more, and a little more, and there we are.  Why, Mike, old chap, it's
+just like sitting in a saddle--only it's so hard."
+
+"Are your legs right over the side?"
+
+"Yes, and the wind's blowing up the legs of my trousers like anything.
+Oh! you can't think what a sharp draught there is."
+
+"Never mind the draught."
+
+"No use to," said Vince.
+
+"Oh, I say, do have a good look down, and then come up again.  Now,
+then: does the cliff slope from where you are?"
+
+"Yes, right down to the water."
+
+"Steeply?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Could we climb down?"
+
+"Yes, if we were flies: Mike, old chap, it's just awful!"
+
+"What!" cried Mike breathlessly.
+
+"Yes: that's it--awful," said Vince quietly, as he rested his hands on
+the block he bestrode, and looked over to his left.  "It slopes down;
+but the wrong way.  It goes right in as far as I can see, and--Yes, it
+does just the same on the other side.  If I were to go down now I should
+plump right into black water, that's boiling up and racing along like it
+does where there's a rocky bottom, I do wish you were here to see."
+
+"I don't," whispered Mike.  "There--that'll do," he continued aloud.
+"Come up."
+
+"Wait a bit.  I must see a little more, now I am here.  I say, it's
+awful!--it's grand!  The rocks, as far as I can see, are as smooth as
+can be, and all sorts of colours, just as if they were often breaking
+away.  Some are dark and some are browny and lavender, and there's one
+great patch, all glittering grey granite, looking as new as new."
+
+"Yes, it must be very beautiful; but come back."
+
+"Don't you be in such a hurry," said Vince.  "You won't catch me sitting
+here again.  I'll let you down if you like, but once is quite enough for
+me.  I want to have a good look, though, so as to tell you all about it
+before I do come, for, on second thoughts, I shan't lower you down
+here--it's too horrid.  I say: wherever I can see there are thousands of
+birds, but there are not many places where they can sit.  I can see one
+raven, too--there are two of them sailing about just under me, with
+their backs shining in the sun.  Oh, Mike: look at the cormorants!  I
+never knew there were so many about the island.  Big gulls, and puffins,
+and terns, and--I say, what a cloud of pigeons flying right out from
+under me: Why, there must be a cavern going right in.  Hold tight!  I
+want to lean out more to try and see."
+
+"No!" shrieked out Mike.  "Don't--don't!  It's a hundred times worse
+kneeling here and seeing you than doing it oneself."
+
+"But I only want to see if there is a cave."
+
+"If the pigeons keep flying out there must be."
+
+"Well, there they go, and here are some more coming, and they've flown
+right in somewhere, so I suppose there is.  Want to hear any more about
+the place?"
+
+"No, no.  Come up now."
+
+"All right, old chap; then I will, after one more look round and down
+below.  The water is wild, though, and the rocks are grand; but old Joe
+is as right as can be: it's a terrible place, and unless any one likes
+to hang at the end of a three-hundred-feet rope he cannot get to the
+bottom here nor anywhere else along this cliff.  It's just three parts
+of a round, and goes in all of a hollow below, where I am.  There--
+that's all; and now I'm coming up."
+
+"Hah!" ejaculated Mike, in a tone full of thankfulness; and as Vince
+shuffled himself a little way--not much, for there was not room--the
+rope tightened about his chest, giving him so strong a support that he
+leaned back, pressed his hands down on either side of him to steady
+himself, and drew up one leg till he could plant his heel on the stone
+where he had been seated.  A steady draw up of the other leg, and it was
+beside its fellow; then, getting well hold of the nearest projections on
+either side, he shouted up to his companion to haul hard--shouted,
+though in the immensity of the place his words, like those which had
+preceded them, sounded weak and more like whispers.
+
+"Right!" said Mike; and then he uttered a wild cry, for as Vince thrust
+with feet and hands together, straightening himself out, the rope
+tightened at the same moment, and then the lad hung motionless against
+the slope.
+
+The rain and frost had been hard at work upon the edge of that
+precipice, as its sharply gnawed-off edge showed and the huge stone
+which the venturous lad had stridden was only waiting for the sharp
+thrust which it had received, for with a dull crack it was separated
+from the side, with an enormous mass beneath it, and went rushing down,
+leaving a jagged curve, as if the piece had been bitten out, just below
+the lad's feet.
+
+Vince did not stir even to feel for a place to plant his hands, but
+remained motionless for some moments.  Then there was a dull splash
+echoed from the barrier rock which shut-in the cove, and the rushing
+sound of wings, as the startled birds rose in clouds from their
+resting-places all around.
+
+At last the full sense of his perilous position came to the boy, and
+with it his coolness; and he grasped the rock as well as he could, and
+called up to his companion.
+
+"Grip hard, Ladle!" he cried.  "I'm going to try and turn face to you."
+
+There was no reply; but a thrill seemed to come down the fibres of the
+rope, and the strain upon the boy's chest to increase.
+
+It was no easy task, for it was hard to find a resting-place on either
+side of the gap for his feet; but, full of trust in Mike's hold of the
+rope, and strengthened by the knowledge that it was secured to the
+granite block as well, Vince gave himself a quick writhe, and turned
+upon his face.  Then, after a scrambling slip or two, his toes found a
+ledge, as his hands already had, and he climbed steadily up.
+
+That task was not difficult, for the foothold was easy to select, the
+rope tightening still, and giving him steady help, while the distance,
+long as it had taken him to descend, was only short.
+
+In another minute he was over the ridge, looking down on Mike, who,
+instead of hauling in the rope as he came up, had let himself glide down
+like a counterpoise, and as soon as he saw his companion in safety, he
+drew himself in a crouching position and stared up with his lips apart.
+
+"It's all right," said Vince huskily.  "Why, your face is white as
+white, and your hair's all wet."
+
+"Yes," gasped Mike hysterically, "and so's yours.  Oh, Cinder, old chap,
+I thought you had gone!  Let's get away from this horrid place.  Old
+Joe's right: there is something terrible about it after all."
+
+"Wait a bit," said Vince, rather feebly, as he too crouched down upon a
+piece of rock.  "I don't feel as if I could move much for a bit.  I am
+so stiff and weak, and this rope's cut into my chest.  Yes: old Joe's
+right; there's no getting down there.  But it was awfully grand, Ladle,
+and I should have liked you to see it."
+
+"And do you want to lower me down?" said Mike fiercely.
+
+"No!" cried Vince sharply.  "I wouldn't have you feel what I felt when
+that stone broke off and left me hanging there for all the riches in the
+world!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVEN.
+
+THE PANGS OF COLD PUDDING.
+
+"A burnt child fears the fire."  So says the old proverb; and therefore
+it was quite reasonable for a couple of big lads to feel a certain
+sensation of shrinking when they talked about their adventure while
+trying to investigate the mysteries surrounding the portion of Crag, or
+Cormorant Island, as it was called, known as the Scraw.
+
+For they did talk about it a great deal.  Then, too, Vince had some
+_very_ unpleasant dreams about hanging over a tremendous gulf.  One
+night in particular he was especially bad.
+
+It happened in this way: Mike came over to the Doctor's cottage one
+evening after tea--though this was no novelty, for he was always coming
+over to the cottage after tea, when Vince was not going over to Sir
+Francis Ladelle's quaint, semi-fortified house, which had stood there
+for hundreds of years, being repaired by its various occupants, but very
+little altered.  In fact, when the little island was for sale, many
+years before this story commences, and the baronet became the purchaser,
+he was so pleased with the old place that he determined to keep up the
+traditions of the past, in spite of low ceilings, dark windows, and what
+Mike described to Vince as "the jolly old ghosts," which, being
+interpreted, meant rats.
+
+So Mike came over one evening, after Vince had eaten a tremendous meal,
+and the two lads went out for a stroll to the cliff edge, where there
+was always something to see, returning after dusk by the light of the
+moon and glowworms, of which there were abundance.  Then Vince had to
+see Mike up to the gates of the old house; and, to make things straight,
+Mike said he would walk back a few yards with him, the few yards being
+so elastic that they stretched out to five hundred, more or less.
+
+At last Vince reached home and had his supper, which had been put out
+for him, and when he had finished, found that the sea air and exercise
+had made him ravenous.
+
+"I must have something else to eat," he said to himself, and he was
+going into the parlour to speak upon this important subject to Mrs
+Burnet; but as he reached the door he could hear her pleasant voice, and
+he knew what was going on, though he could not see through the panels.
+For the picture rose plainly before his mind's eye of his father lying
+back in his easy chair, tired out with his round of the island and
+gardening, while by the light of a pair of mould candles--
+
+_What_?  You don't know what mould candles are?  The happier you!
+People did fifty years ago, and they were largely used by those who
+could not afford wax or spermaceti; and they did what Vince heard the
+Doctor do from time to time--took up the old-fashioned, scissor-like
+snuffers from their plated tray, snuffed the candles, and laid them back
+with a sharp click.  And let me tell you that there was an art in
+snuffing a candle which required practice and a steady hand.  For if you
+of the present generation of boys who live in the days of gas, electric
+lights, spirit lamps, and candles ingeniously made after the analytical
+experiments of chemists on a material very different from the
+old-fashioned Russian tallow--if you, I say, were to try and snuff an
+old candle, the chances are that you would either cut the cotton wick
+too much or too little, if you did not snuff the light out.  After a
+time these sources of light would grow lengthy of black, burnt wick, a
+curious mushroomy, sooty portion would grow on the top, and the flame of
+the candle would become dull yellow and smoky.  Then, if you cut too
+little off, the light would not be much improved; if you cut too low
+down, it was worse; if lower still, you put the light out.  But the
+skilful hand every few minutes cut to the happy medium, as the Doctor
+did, and the light burned up fairly white and clear; so that, according
+to the custom at the cottage, Mrs Burnet could see well to continue
+reading aloud to her weary husband, this being his one great enjoyment
+in the calm life on the island.
+
+Now, it seems rather hard on Vince to keep him waiting hungrily at the
+door while the writer of this little history of boy life runs away from
+his narrative to begin prattling in print about candles; but what has
+preceded these lines on light, and the allusion to chemistry, does ask
+for a little explanation, for many of you who read will say, What can
+chemistry have to do with tallow candles?
+
+A great deal.  I daresay you have read a little chemistry, or heard
+lectures thereon.  Many of you may have been bitten by the desire to try
+a little yourselves, as I was, and tried making hydrogen and oxygen
+gases, burning phosphorus, watch-spring and sulphur in the latter; and
+even tried to turn the salts of metals back into the metals themselves.
+But that by the way.  Let us return to the candle--such a one as Vince
+had left burning, smoking and smelling unpleasantly, in the flat brass
+candlestick upon the little hall table, for it was time he was off to
+bed.  Now, the chemists took the candle, and pulled it to pieces, just
+as the candle-makers took the loose, fluffy cotton wick metaphorically
+to pieces, and constructed another by plaiting the cotton strands
+together and making a thin, light wick, which, as it burned, had a
+tendency to curl over to the side of the conical flame where the point
+of the wick touched the air and burned more freely--so freely, in fact,
+from getting more oxygen from the air than the other part, as to burn
+all away, and never need snuffing.  That is the kind of wick you use in
+your candles to-day; and the snuffers have gone into curiosity cases in
+museums along with the clumsy tinder-boxes of the past.
+
+But that is to do with the wick, though I daresay some chemist or
+student of combustion gave the first hint to the maker about how to
+contrive the burning away of the unpleasant snuff.
+
+Let us go back to the candle itself, or rather to the tallow of which it
+was made.
+
+Now, your analytical chemist is about the most inquisitive person under
+the sun.  Bluebeard's wife was a baby to him.  Why, your A C would have
+pulled the Blue Chamber all to bits, and the key too, so as to see what
+they were made of.  He is always taking something to pieces.  For
+instance, quite lately gas tar was gas tar, and we knew that it was
+black and sticky, good for palings and horribly bad for our clothes,
+when, on hot, sunny days, we climbed over the said palings.  But, all at
+once, the A C took gas tar in hand to see what it was made of, and the
+result is--what?  I must not keep Vince and you waiting to tell all--in
+fact, I don't know, but may suggest a little.  Gas tar now means
+brilliant aniline dyes, and sweet scents, and flavours that we cannot
+tell from pears and almonds, and ammonia and carbolic preparations good
+for the destruction of disease germs.  But when the A C attacked the
+tallow of the candle he astonished us more.
+
+For, so to speak, he took the tallow, and he said to himself, Now,
+here's tallow--an unpleasant animal fat: let's see what it is made of.
+
+Years ago I should have at once told him that it was grease, obtained by
+melting down the soft parts of an animal.  But the A C would have said
+to me: Exactly; but what is the grease made of?
+
+Then he began making tests and analysing, with the result that out of
+candle fat he distilled a beautifully clear white, intensely sweet
+fluid, and made a name for it: glycerine, from the Greek for "sweet,"
+for which, as Captain Cuttle would have said, consult your lexicon.
+
+Then our friend the chemist tested the glycerine, and tried if it would
+burn; but it would not burn in the least, and he naturally enough said,
+Well, that stuff is no good for candles, so it may be extracted from the
+tallow.  To make a long dissertation short, that was done at once, and
+the result was that, instead of the new tallow candles being soft, they
+were found to be hard, and to burn more clearly.  Then chemicals were
+added, and they became harder still, and were called composites.
+
+That was the beginning of the improvements, which subject I must carry
+no further, but return to our hungry lad, who, hearing the reading going
+on, would not interrupt his mother, but took up his candle and went to
+the larder to investigate for himself.
+
+There was bread and butter, and bread and cheese, and a small piece of
+mutton--but this last was raw; and Vince was about to turn to the bread
+and cheese when his eyes lighted upon a wedge of cold apple dumpling,
+which he seized upon as the very thing, bore off to his bedroom, after
+putting his head in at the parlour door to say good-night, ate with the
+greatest of gusto, and then, thoroughly drowsy, tumbled into bed.
+
+The next minute, as it seemed most vividly to Vince, the new rope that
+Mike took with them to the tempest-torn ridge above the Scraw was
+cutting into his chest and compressing it so that he could hardly
+breathe.  But he would not complain, for fear his companion should think
+it was because he was too cowardly to go on down that steep slope of
+thirty or forty feet to look over the edge of the precipice.  So he went
+on lower and lower, suffering horribly, but more and more determined to
+go on; and as he went the rope stretched out, and the slope lengthened,
+till he seemed to have descended for hours.  Flocks of ravens came down,
+flapping their wings about him and making dashes with their great beaks
+at his eyes; while stones were loosened, rattled down into the gulf and
+startled clouds upon clouds of birds, which came circling up, their
+wings beating the air, till there was a noise like thunder.
+
+Down to the stone at last; and upon this he sat astride, gazing at the
+vast gulf below, where the cove spread out farther than eye could reach,
+while the waters rushed by him like many cataracts of Niagara rolled
+into one.  At last Mike's voice came to him, in imploring tones,
+sounding distant, strange and familiar, begging him to come up; and he
+drew himself up once more, and, with the rope tightening, gave that
+great thrust with his heels which sent the block upon which he had
+ridden falling down and down, as if for ever, into space, while he hung
+motionless, with the line compressing his chest so that he could not
+breathe.  He could not struggle, he could not even stir--only hang there
+suffocating, till his senses were leaving him fast, and a burning light
+flashed into his eyes.  Then the rope parted, the terrible tension about
+his chest was relieved, and he began falling more and more swiftly, with
+a pleasant feeling of restfulness, till a voice said loudly:
+
+"Vince, Vince!  What is it, boy?  Wake up!"
+
+Vince not only woke up, but sat up, staring at his father and mother,
+who were standing in their dressing-gowns on either side of his bed.
+
+"He must have something coming on," said Mrs Burnet anxiously.
+
+"Coming on!" said the Doctor, feeling the boy's temples and then his
+wrist; next, transferring his hand to where he could feel the pulsation
+of the heart, "Nightmare!" he cried.
+
+"What's the matter?" said Vince confusedly.  "Fire?"
+
+"Any one would have thought so, and that you were being scorched, making
+all that groaning and outcry.  What's the matter with you?"
+
+"Nothing," said Vince, whose dreaming was all hidden now by a mental
+haze.  "Is anybody ill, then?"
+
+"I'm afraid you are, my dear," said Mrs Burnet anxiously; and she laid
+her cool hand upon her son's forehead.  "His head is very hot and wet,
+dear," she added to the Doctor.
+
+"Yes, I know," he said gruffly.  "Here, Vince!"
+
+"Yes, father."
+
+"What did you have for your supper?"
+
+"Oh! only a couple of slices of bread and butter, with a little jam on,"
+said Mrs Burnet hastily.  "I cut it for him myself."
+
+"Nothing else?" said the Doctor.
+
+"No, dear."
+
+"Yes, I did, mother," said Vince, whose head was growing clearer now.
+"I was so hungry I went into the larder and got that piece of cold
+pudding."
+
+"Wurrrh!" roared the Doctor, uttering a peculiar growling sound, and, to
+the astonishment of mother and son, he caught up the pillow and gave
+Vince a bang with it which knocked him back on the bolster.  "Cold
+pudding!" he cried.  "Here! try a shoe-sole to-morrow night, and see if
+you can digest that.  Come to bed, my dear.  Look here, Vince: tell Mr
+Deane to give you some lessons in natural history, and then you'll learn
+that you are not an ostrich, but a boy."
+
+The next minute Vince was in the dark, but not before Mrs Burnet had
+managed to bend down and kiss him, accompanying it with one of those
+tender good-nights which he never forgot to the very last.
+
+But Vince felt hot and angry with what had passed.
+
+"I wish father hadn't hit me," he muttered.  "He never did before.  I
+don't like it; and he seemed so cross.  I wonder whether he did feel
+angry."
+
+Vince lay for some minutes puzzling his not quite clear brain as to
+whether his father was angry or pretending.  There was the dull murmur
+of voices from the next room, as if a conversation were going on, but he
+could not tell whether his mother was taking his part or no.  Then, all
+at once, there came an unmistakable "Ha, ha, ha!" in the Doctor's gruff
+voice, and that settled it.
+
+"He couldn't have been cross," thought Vince, "or he wouldn't laugh like
+that.  And it was only the pillow after all."
+
+Two minutes later the boy was asleep, and breathing gently without
+dreams, and so soundly that he did not hear the handle of the door creak
+softly, nor a light step on the floor.  Neither did he hear a voice say:
+"Asleep, Vince?" nor feel a hand upon his forehead, nor two soft, warm
+lips take their place as a gentle voice whispered: "God bless my darling
+boy!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHT.
+
+A RANDOM SHOT.
+
+"How about the cold pudding?"
+
+"Look here, Ladle, if you say any more about that it means a fight."
+
+"Ha, ha!  Poor old Cinder riding the nightmare, and dreaming about the
+Scraw!  Wish I'd been sleeping at the cottage that night.  I'd have woke
+you up: I'd have given you cold pig!"
+
+"Lucky for you that you weren't," said Vince.  "I'd have given you
+something, my lad.  But, I say, Ladle, drop it.  I wouldn't have told
+you about that if I'd known you were always going to fire it off at me."
+
+"Well it does seem so comic for a fellow to go stuffing himself with
+cold pudding, and then begin dreaming he was hanging at the end of our
+rope."
+
+"Look here," said Vince sharply, "if you'd felt what I did that day,
+though I didn't say much, I'll be bound to say you'd have dreamed of it
+after."
+
+"I felt bad enough," said Mike, suddenly growing serious, as they walked
+together over the heathery land, unwittingly taking the direction of the
+scene of their adventure; "and I don't mind telling you, Cinder, that
+I've woke up four nights since with a start, fancying I was trying to
+hold the rope, and it kept slipping through my fingers.  Ugh! it was
+very horrid."
+
+He laid his hand on Vince's shoulder, and his companion followed his
+example, both walking along very silently for a few minutes before Vince
+said quietly:
+
+"I say, you won't grin if I tell you something?"
+
+"No: honour bright."
+
+"Well, let's see: it was last Thursday week we went, wasn't it?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I've been thinking about it ever since."
+
+"So have I: not about the rope business, you know, but about that place.
+It's just as if something was always making me want to go."
+
+Vince let his hand drop, shook himself free, and faced his companion.
+
+"But that's just how I feel," he said.  "I keep on thinking about it and
+wanting to go."
+
+"Not to try and get down with a rope?" said Mike excitedly.
+
+"Brrrr!  No!" exclaimed Vince, with a shudder.  "I don't say I wouldn't
+go down with a rope from the cliffs if it was to help some poor chaps
+who were wrecked and drowning, because that would seem to be right, I
+suppose, and what one would expect any fellow to do for one if being
+drowned.  Why, you'd go down then, Ladle."
+
+"I d'know.  I shouldn't like to; but when one got excited with seeing a
+wreck, perhaps I should try."
+
+"There wouldn't be any perhaps about it, Ladle," said Vince gravely.
+"Something comes over people then.  It's the sort of thing that makes
+men go out in lifeboats, or swim off through the waves with ropes, or,
+as I've read, go into burning houses to get people out."
+
+Mike nodded, and they went on very thoughtful and dreamy over the purple
+heather and amongst the golden furze till they reached the edge of the
+scrub oak wood, where they stopped short and looked in each other's eyes
+again.
+
+"What do you say? shall we go and have another look at the place?"
+
+"I feel as if I should like to," replied Mike; "and at the same time I'm
+a bit shrinky.  You won't do anything risky, will you?"
+
+"That I just won't," said Vince decisively.
+
+"Then come on."
+
+They plunged into the wood eagerly, and being more accustomed to the way
+they got along more easily; and decided as they walked that they would
+go to the southern end of the slope and then try and get up to have a
+look over the ridge from there, while afterwards they would make their
+way along the landward side of the jagged serrations of weather-worn
+granite points right to the northern end if they could get so far, and
+return at the bottom of the slope.
+
+"That'll be more than any one in the Crag has ever done," said Vince,
+"and some day we'll bring Mr Deane, and see what he'll say to it."
+
+Little more was said, but, being of one mind, they steadily went on
+fighting their way through the difficulties which beset them on all
+sides, till, hot, weary and breathless, they neared the slope some
+considerable distance from the spot where they had approached it first.
+Then, after a short rest, they climbed up, over and among the fallen
+rocks, with nothing more to startle them than the rush of a rabbit or
+two, which went scuttling away.
+
+Half-way up they saw a couple of those fast disappearing birds, the
+red-legged choughs, and startled a few jackdaws, which went off shouting
+at them, Mike said; and then the top was won, and they had a long survey
+of the cove from another point of view.
+
+But there was nothing fresh to see; all beneath them was entirely hid
+from view, and though they looked again and again as they continued
+their course along the ridge their patience and toil were not rewarded,
+for, save that they were from different standpoints, the views they
+obtained of the rocks and rushing waters were the same.
+
+They continued along the ridge by slow climbing for a considerable
+distance, and then as if moved by the same spirit they stopped and
+looked at each other.
+
+"I say," said Mike, "it don't seem any good to go any farther."
+
+"No," was the reply, given in a very decisive tone.  "The only way to
+see that place down below is to get there in a boat."
+
+"And old Joe Daygo says it's not right to go, and we should never get
+back; so we shall never see it."
+
+"I don't believe that," said Vince shortly.
+
+"Well, I don't want to, but it seems as if he's right, and the more one
+looks the more one believes in him."
+
+"I don't," said Vince.  "The more I look the more I seem to want to go
+and have a thorough good search, and I can't help thinking he knows
+why."
+
+"Shall we try him again?"
+
+Vince thoughtfully shook his head, as he gazed down once more from
+between two pieces of granite that the storms of centuries had carved
+till they seemed to have been set upon edge.
+
+"Might offer him some money."
+
+"I don't believe he'd like it, and you know Jemmy Carnach once said
+that, though he always dressed so shabbily and never spent anything, he
+always was well off."
+
+"Well, then, what are we to do?  I want to see the place worse than
+ever.  It looks so tempting, and as if there's no knowing what we might
+find."
+
+"I don't think we should find anything about it but that it would be a
+good place for fishing.  It must be if no one ever goes there.  Why,
+Ladle, all the holes among the rocks must swarm with lobsters, and the
+congers must be as big as serpents."
+
+Mike nodded.
+
+"But how are we to get there to fish for them?"
+
+"Don't know, unless we try it ourselves with a boat."
+
+"Would you risk it?"
+
+Vince did not answer for a few moments, but stood clinging to the rock,
+gazing down and searchingly examining the opening through which the tide
+poured.
+
+"I'm not sure yet," he said; "but I begin to think I would.  That narrow
+passage would look wider when you were right in it, and the way to do it
+would be to come in when the tide was high,--there wouldn't be so much
+rushing and tumbling about of the water then; and the way to get out
+again would be at high water too."
+
+"But that would mean staying till the tide had gone down and come up
+again--hours and hours."
+
+"Yes," said Vince, "that would be the way; but it would want ever so
+much thinking about first."
+
+"Yes," replied Mike; "it would want ever so much thinking about first.
+Ready to go back?"
+
+"May as well," said Vince; and he stepped down, after a farewell look
+down at the sheltered cove, fully realising the fact that any one
+passing it a short distance from the shore would take the barrier of
+rocks which shut it in for the continuation of the cliffs on either
+side; and as the place had a terrible reputation for dangerous reefs and
+currents, in addition to the superstitious inventions of the people of
+the Crag, it seemed highly probable that it had never been approached
+unless by the unfortunate crew of some doomed vessel which had been
+battered to pieces and sunk unseen and unheard.
+
+"Shall I go first?" said Vince.
+
+"Yes: you lead."
+
+"Mean to go along among the bushes at the bottom, or would you like to
+slope down at once?"
+
+"Oh, we'll go back the way we said, only we shan't have done as much as
+we promised ourselves."
+
+Vince started off down the slope, and upon reaching the trough-like
+depression at the bottom he began to work his way in and out among the
+fallen blocks, leaping the hollows wherever there was safe landing on
+the other side.  At times he had to stop to extricate himself from the
+brambles, but on the whole he got along pretty well till their way was
+barred by a deeper rift than they had yet encountered, out of which the
+brambles and ferns grew luxuriantly.
+
+The easier plan seemed to be to go round one end or the other; but it
+only appeared to be the simpler plan, for on trying to put it to the
+test it soon proved itself to be the harder, promising as it did a long,
+toilsome climb, whichever end they took.
+
+"Jump it," said Mike: "there's a good landing-place on the other side."
+
+"Yes, but if I don't reach it I shall get a nice scratching.  Look at
+that blackthorn covered with brambles."
+
+"Oh, never mind a few thorns," said Mike, grinning.  "I'll pick them all
+out for you with a packing needle."
+
+"Thankye," said Vince, eyeing the rift he had to clear: "you'll have
+enough to do to pick out your own thorns, for if I go down I'm sure you
+will.  Stand aside and let's have a good start."
+
+There was no running, for it was a standing jump from one rugged block
+to another a little lower; and after taking a good swing with both arms,
+the lad launched himself forward, drawing his feet well up, clearing the
+mass of tangled bushes below, and just reaching the other side with his
+toes.
+
+An inch or two more would have been sufficient; as it was, he had not
+leaped quite far enough, for his boots grated and scratched down the
+side facing him, the bushes below checked him slightly, and he tried to
+save himself with his hands and clung to the rough block for a few
+moments.  Then, to Mike's great amusement, he slipped suddenly lower,
+right in among the brambles which grew from out of a rift, and looked
+matted enough together to support him as he hung now by his hands.
+
+"Scramble up, Cinder!" cried Mike.  "You are a jumper!"
+
+"Wait till you try it, my lad," was the reply; and then, "Must drop and
+climb out at the end."
+
+As Vince spoke his hands glided from their hold, and he dropped out of
+sight among the bushes, and at the same moment, to Mike's horror, there
+was the rushing noise of falling stones, increasing to quite an
+avalanche, and sounding hollow, echoing, and strange, as if descending
+to a terrific depth.
+
+Mike's heart seemed to stand still as he craned forward, gazing at the
+slight opening in the brambles which his companion had made; and as he
+listened intently he tried hard to speak, but his mouth felt dry, and
+not a word would come.
+
+It was horrible.  They had both imagined that they were about to leap
+over a hollow between some masses of stone, probably two, perhaps three
+feet deep; but the bushes and brambles which had rooted in the sides had
+effectually masked what was evidently a deep chasm, penetrating to some
+unknown distance in the bowels of the earth.
+
+What to do?  Run for help, or try to get down?
+
+Before Mike could decide, in his fear and excitement, which, he drew his
+breath heavily, with a gasp of relief, for a voice sounding hollow and
+strange came up through the bushes and ferns.
+
+"Mike!"
+
+"Yes.  Hullo, are you hurt?"
+
+"Bit scratched," came up.
+
+"How far are you down?  Tell me what to do.  Shall I go for a rope?"
+
+"Steady!" came up: "don't ask so much at once.  Not down very far.  I
+can see the light, and it's all of a slope here, but awful lower down.
+Did you hear the stones go with a rush?"
+
+"Yes, yes; but Vince, old chap, tell me how I am to help you."
+
+"I can't: I don't know.  I think I can climb out, only I hardly like to
+stir for fear of a slip.  Here goes, though.  I can't stay like this."
+
+Mike stood gazing down at the bushes, trembling with anxiety as he heard
+a rustling and scraping sound beneath, which made him long to speak and
+ask questions about how his companion got on, but he feared to do so
+lest he should take his attention from the work he had on hand.  Then
+came the rattle of a falling stone going slowly down, as if there were a
+good, steady slope; and the boy listened for its plunge into water far
+beneath, but the falling of the stone ceased to be heard, while the
+rustling and scraping sound made by the climber increased.  Then all at
+once the bushes began to move and a hand appeared at the far end.
+
+"Take care! pray take care!" cried Mike.  "Don't--pray don't slip back!"
+
+"Oh, it's all right now," said Vince, to the watcher's great relief.
+"It's all of a slope here, as if it had once been a place where water
+ran down.  Wait a moment till I get out my knife."
+
+There was a pause, during which Mike climbed round to the end where
+Vince was trying to get out; and he was there by the time his companion
+began hacking at the brambles with his big knife, first his arm
+appearing and soon after his head, as he chopped away, getting himself
+free, and seizing the hand extended to him from where Mike knelt and
+reached down.
+
+"Hah!" cried Vince, as he climbed on to one of the rugged blocks, "that
+wasn't nice.  It slopes down from here, so that where I fell through I
+must have dropped a dozen feet; but I came down standing, and then fell
+this way on my hands and stopped myself from sliding, when a lot of
+stones that had been waiting for a touch went down."
+
+"But are you hurt?" cried Mike anxiously.
+
+"Not much: bit bruised, I suppose.  But I say, isn't it rum?  There must
+have been water running to make a place like that.  It must have come
+all along the bottom, where we've been creeping, and run down here,
+eating its way, like your father and mine were talking about one
+evening."
+
+"I'd forgotten," said Mike.  "But if it ran down there, where did it go
+to?"
+
+"Down to the sea, of course, and--I say, Mike, don't you see?" cried
+Vince excitedly.
+
+"See?  See what?" said the lad, staring.
+
+"What I said."
+
+"How could any one see what you said!" cried Mike, ready enough to laugh
+now that his companion was out of danger.
+
+"Oh, don't be stupid at a time like this!" grumbled Vince excitedly.
+"Once water begins to eat away, it goes on eating a channel for itself,
+like it does at the waterfall over the other side of the island.  Well,
+this must have cut itself a way along.  It's quite a big, sloping
+passage, and it must go down to the shore.  Can't you see now?"
+
+"I don't know.  Do you mean that hole leads down to the shore?"
+
+"Yes, or into some cavern like the great holes where the stream runs out
+into the sea."
+
+"Then it would be a way down into the Black Scraw?" cried Mike
+excitedly.
+
+"Of course it would.  Why, Mikey, we've found out what we were looking
+for!"
+
+"You mean you tumbled upon it," said Mike, laughing.
+
+"Tumbled into it," cried Vince, whose face was flushed with eagerness.
+"Come on down, and let's have a look if I'm not right."
+
+"What, down there?"
+
+"Yes, of course."
+
+"But isn't it dark?"
+
+"Black enough lower down; but you can see the top part, because the
+light shines through all these brambles and thorns."
+
+"But hadn't we better wait till I've got a lanthorn and the rope?"
+
+"Why, of course, before we try to explore it; but we might go and look a
+little way.  You're not afraid?"
+
+"No, I don't think I'm afraid," said Mike.
+
+"Then come on."
+
+Without a moment's hesitation Vince began to lower himself down where he
+had so lately emerged, and Mike followed; but in a few minutes they had
+decided that they could do nothing without a light.  All they could make
+out was that there was a rugged slope, very steep and winding, going
+right away in the direction of the sea.  They picked up the loose stones
+beneath their feet, and threw them into the darkness, and listened to
+hear them go bounding down, striking the sides and floor; but there
+seemed to be no precipitous fall, and at last, thoroughly satisfied with
+their discovery, they climbed back into daylight, and sat down on the
+stones to rest and think.
+
+"I've got it!" said Mike suddenly.  "It isn't what you think."
+
+"What is it, then?"
+
+"An old mine, where they bored for lead in the old, old days."
+
+"No," said Vince stubbornly, "it's what I say--the channel of an old
+stream; and you'll see."
+
+"So will you, my lad, when we bring a lanthorn.  I say you'll find the
+walls sparkling with what-you-may-call-it--you know--that glittering
+lead ore, same as we've got specimens of in the cabinet at home."
+
+"No," said Vince; "you'll find that it'll be all smooth, worn granite at
+the sides, where the water has been running for hundreds of years."
+
+"Till it all ran away.  Very well, then: let's go back at once and get a
+lanthorn and the rope."
+
+Vince laughed.  "We've got to get home first, and by the time we've done
+that we shan't want to make another journey to-day; but I say to-morrow
+afternoon, directly after dinner.  Are you willing?"
+
+"Of course."
+
+"And you'll bring the rope?"
+
+"To be sure; and you the crowbar and hammer?"
+
+Vince promised, and sat there very thoughtful, as he gazed down at the
+hacked-away brambles.
+
+"Let's put these away or throw them down," he said.
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because if Old Daygo came along here, he'd see that some one had found
+a way down into the Scraw."
+
+"Daygo!  What nonsense!  I don't believe he ever was along here in his
+life."
+
+"Perhaps not; but he may come now, if he sees us spying about.  I'm sure
+he watches us."
+
+"And I'm sure you've got a lot of nonsense in your nut about the old
+chap.  Now then, shall we go?"
+
+"Yes; I'm willing.  Think we can find it again?"
+
+"Easily," said Mike.  "Look up yonder: we can take those two pieces of
+rock up on the ridge for our bearings.  They stand as two ends of the
+base A B, as Mr Deane would say, and if you draw lines from them they
+will meet here at this point, C.  This hole's C, and we can't mistake
+it."
+
+"No.  But look here: this is better still.  Look at that bit of a crag
+split like a bishop's mitre."
+
+"Yes: I see."
+
+"We've got to get this laid-down rock in a line with it, and there are
+our bearings; we can't be wrong then."
+
+"No," cried Mike.  "Who wouldn't know how to take his bearings when he's
+out, and wants to mark a spot!  Now then, is it lay our heads for home?"
+
+It was a long while before either of them slept that night for thinking
+of their discovery, and when they did drop off, the dark, tunnel-like
+place was reproduced in their dreams.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINE.
+
+STUDY VERSUS DISCOVERY.
+
+"Dear, dear, dear, dear!" in a tone full of reproach, and then a series
+of those peculiar sounds made by the tongue, and generally written
+"tut-tut-tut-tut!" for want of a better way--for it is like trying to
+express on paper the sound of a Bosjesman's _click cluck_ or the crowing
+of a cock.
+
+The speaker was Mr Humphrey Deane--a tall, pale, gentlemanly-looking
+young university man, who, for reasons connected with his health, had
+arranged with Sir Francis Ladelle and the Doctor to come and stay at the
+Mount, where he was to have a comfortable home and the Doctor's
+attendance, a moderate stipend, and, in exchange, to help on the two
+lads in their studies every morning, the rest of the day being his own.
+
+The plan had worked admirably; for Mr Deane was an earnest, able man,
+with a great love of learning, and always ready to display a warm
+friendship for boy or man who possessed similar tastes.  The lads liked
+him: he was always firm, but kindly; and he possessed that wonderful
+power of imparting the knowledge he possessed, never seeming at a loss
+for means to explain some puzzling expression in classic lore, or
+mathematical problem, so as to impress it strongly upon his pupil's
+mind.
+
+The morning he uttered the words at the beginning of this chapter he was
+seated with the two boys in the long, low library at the Mount, whose
+heavy windows looked out upon a great, thick, closely-cropped yew hedge,
+which made the room dark and gloomy, for it completely shut off all view
+of the western sea, though at the same time it sheltered the house from
+the tremendous gales which swept over the island from time to time.
+
+It was the morning after the discovery in so unpleasant a manner of the
+hole at the foot of the slope, and their projected visit of
+investigation in the afternoon so filled the lads' heads that there did
+not seem to be any room for study; and, in consequence, after patiently
+bearing the absence of mind and inattention of his pupils for a long
+time, the tutor began to be fidgety and, in spite of his placid nature,
+annoyed.
+
+The Latin reading and rendering went on horribly, and the mathematics
+worse.  Vince tried hard; but as soon as he began to write down _a_ +
+_b_--_c_ = the square root of _x_, his mind wandered away to the rocks
+over the Black Scraw.  For that root of _x_ was so suggestive: _x_
+represented the unknown quantity, and the Black Scraw was the unknown
+quantity of which he wanted to get to the root; and, over and over
+again, when the tutor turned to him, it was to find the boy, pen in
+hand, but with the ink in it dried up, while he sat gazing straight
+before him at imaginary grottoes and caverns, lit up by lanthorns which
+cast the black shadows of two explorers behind them on the
+water-smoothed granite floor.
+
+But this did not apply only to Vince, for Mike was acting in a similar
+way; and at the end of an hour Mr Deane could bear it no longer, for it
+had happened at a time when he was not so well as usual, and it required
+a strong effort of will to be patient with the inattentive lads when
+suffering pain.
+
+And so it was that at last he uttered the "dear dears" and "tut tuts,"
+and roused the two boys from their dreams about what they would see in
+the afternoon.
+
+"Are you unwell, Vincent Burnet?" he said.
+
+"Unwell, sir?--oh no!" said the lad, colouring a little.
+
+"You seem so strange in your manner this morning; and Michael Ladelle
+here is the same.  I hope you are not both sickening for something."
+
+"Oh, I'm quite well, sir," said Mike hurriedly.  "Perhaps it's the
+weather."
+
+"Perhaps it is," said Mr Deane drily.  "Now, pray get on with those
+problems."
+
+"Yes, of course," cried Vince; and he began to work away most
+industriously, till, as the tutor was resting his head upon his hand and
+looking down at the paper upon which he was himself working out the
+problem he had set the boys, so as to be able to show them, step by
+step, how it was best done, Mike scribbled something on a scrap, shut it
+in a book, and passed it to Vince, after glancing across the table and
+then giving him a nudge.
+
+Vince glanced across too; but Mr Deane was apparently intent upon the
+problem, his delicate right-hand guiding the new quill pen, and forming
+a long series of beautifully formed characters which were always looked
+upon by the boys with envy and surprise.
+
+Vince opened the book at the scrap of paper and read:
+
+"I say: let's tell old Deane, and make him go with us."
+
+Vince turned the paper over and wrote:
+
+"What for?  He'd spoil it all.  Want to knock all the fun out of our
+discovery?"
+
+The scrap was shut up in the book and pushed back to the sender; the
+work continued, and then came another nudge and the book once more, with
+a fresh scrap of paper stuck in.
+
+"I say, I can't get on a bit for thinking about the Black Scraw."
+
+Vince wrote on the back:
+
+"More can I.  Get on with your work, and don't bother."
+
+This was forwarded by library table post, and then there was nothing
+heard but the scratching of the tutor's pen.  But Mike's restlessness
+increased: he fidgeted and shuffled about in his chair, shook the table,
+and tried all kinds of positions to help him in solving his algebraic
+problem, but without avail.  Scrub oaks, ravens and red-legged choughs
+danced before his eyes; great dark holes opened in the rocks, and the
+desire to finish work, get out in the bright sunshine, and run and
+shout, seemed more than he could bear.
+
+At last, to relieve his feelings a little, he took a fresh piece of
+paper, laid it over his pluses and minuses and squares and cubes, and
+then wrote enigmatically:
+
+"Lanthorn and rope."
+
+This he blotted, glanced at the hard-working student across the table,
+and then thrust it sidewise to Vince, who took it, read it, and, turning
+it over, wrote:
+
+"You be hanged!"
+
+He was in the act of blotting it when the pen dropped from Mr Deane's
+fingers; he sat up, and extended his hand as he looked sternly across
+the table.
+
+"Give me that piece of paper, Vincent," he said.
+
+Vince hesitated; but the tutor's eyes gazed firmly into his, and wrong
+yielded to right.
+
+He passed the paper across to Mr Deane, and then nearly jumped out of
+his chair, for Mike gave him a violent kick under the table.
+
+"To be paid with interest," thought Vince.
+
+"Oh! you jolly sneak, to give it up!" thought Mike, as the tutor read
+the paper on both sides.
+
+"I am very sorry," he said, after coughing to clear his voice--"very
+sorry to have to exercise my authority towards you two, who have been
+acting this morning like a pair of inattentive, idle schoolboys; but
+when I undertook to act as your tutor, it was with the full
+understanding that I was to have complete authority over you, and that
+you were both to treat me with proper respect."
+
+The boys sat silent and feeling horribly guilty.  If Humphrey Deane had
+been an overbearing, blustering personage, they might have felt ready to
+resent his words; but the injured tone, the grave, gentle manner of the
+invalid went right home to both, and they listened, with their eyes upon
+their scanty display of work, as the tutor went on.
+
+"You both know," he said, "that my health will not permit of much
+strain, but so long as you both work with me and try your best, it is a
+pleasure to me, and no one could feel more gratification than I do when
+you get on."
+
+"Mr Deane," began Vince.
+
+"One moment, and I have done," continued the tutor.  "You well know that
+I try to make your studies pleasant."
+
+"Yes, sir," said Mike.
+
+"And that when the morning's work is over I am only too glad to join you
+in any amusement or excursion.  I ask you, then, is it fair, when you
+see I am unwell, to make my endeavours to help you a painful toil, from
+your carelessness and inattention?"
+
+"No, Mr Deane," said Vince quickly; "it's too bad, and I'm very sorry.
+There!"
+
+"Thank you, Burnet," said the tutor, smiling.  "It's what I expected
+from your frank, manly nature."
+
+"Oh, and I'm sorry too," said Mike quickly; but he frowned slightly, for
+the speaker had not called him frank and manly.
+
+"I have no more to say," said the tutor, smiling at both in turn; "and I
+suppose I ought to apologise for insisting upon seeing that paper.  I am
+glad to find that it was not of so trifling a nature as I thought for on
+Michael Ladelle's part, though I am sorry that you, Burnet, treated the
+note he passed you in so ribald a way.  `You be hanged!' is hardly a
+gentlemanly way of replying to a historical memorandum or query such as
+this: `Lanthorn and rope.'  Of course, I see the turn your thoughts had
+taken, Michael."
+
+The boys stared at him wonderingly.  While they had been suspecting old
+Joe Daygo of watching them, had Mr Deane been quietly observing them
+unnoticed, and had he divined that they were going to take lanthorn and
+rope that afternoon?
+
+"Of course, history is a grand study," continued the tutor, "and I am
+glad to see that you have a leaning in that direction; but I like to be
+thorough.  When we are having lessons on history let us give our minds
+to it, but when we are treating of algebra let us try to master that.
+There--we will say no more.  I am glad, though, that you recall our
+reading; but try, Michael, to remember some of the other important parts
+of French history, and don't let your mind dwell too much upon the
+horrors of the Revolution.  It is very terrible, all that about the
+excesses of the mob and their mad hatred of the nobility and gentry--_A
+bas les aristocrates_! and their cry, _A la lanterne_!  Yes: very
+terrible those ruthless executions with the lanthorn and the rope.  But
+now, please, I have finished that compound equation.  Pray go on with
+yours."
+
+The two lads bent down now earnestly to their work, and with a little
+help mastered the puzzle which had seemed hopeless a short time before.
+Then the rest of the morning glided away rapidly, and Vince hurried off
+home to his midday dinner, after a word or two about meeting, which was
+to be at the side of the dwarf-oak wood, to which each was to make his
+way so as not to excite attention, and in case, as Vince still believed,
+Daygo really was keeping an eye upon their movements.
+
+"I thought as much," said Vince aloud, as he reached the appointed
+place, with a good-sized creel in his hand, the hammer and crowbar being
+in a belt under his jersey, like a pair of hidden weapons.  "I'd go by
+myself if I had the rope."
+
+"And lanthorn," said Mike, raising his head from where he had been lying
+hidden in a clump of heather.
+
+"Hullo, then!" cried Vince joyously.  "I didn't see you there.  But, I
+say: lanthorn and rope!  I felt as if I must burst out laughing."
+
+"Yes: wasn't it comic?"
+
+"I felt that I must tell him--poor old chap!--and as if I was trying to
+cheat him."
+
+"Oh no, it wasn't that!  We couldn't help him taking the wrong idea.
+I'd have told him at once, only it seems to spoil the fun of the thing
+if everybody knows.  But come on."
+
+"Wait a minute," said Vince, sitting on a stone.  "I want to look all
+round first without seeming to.  Perhaps old Joe's watching us."
+
+"If he is," said Mike sagely, "you won't see him, for he'll be squatted
+down by some block of stone, or in a furze bush.  He's a regular old
+fox.  Let's go on at once.  But where's the lanthorn?"
+
+"Never you mind about the lanthorn: where's the rope?"
+
+"Lying on it.  Now, where's the light?"
+
+"In the creel here," was the reply.  Then without further parley they
+plunged into the wood, and, profiting by former experiences, made their
+way more easily through it into the rocky chaos beyond; threaded their
+way in and out among the blocks, till at last with very little
+difficulty they found their bearings, and, after one or two misses in a
+place where the similarity of the stones and tufts of furze and brambles
+were most confusing, they reached the end of the opening, noted how the
+old watercourse was completely covered in with bramble and fern, and
+then stepped down at once, after a glance upward along the slope and
+ridge, to stand the next minute sheltered from the wind and in the
+semi-darkness.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TEN.
+
+A VENTURESOME JOURNEY.
+
+"Mind how you go," said Mike in a subdued voice, for the darkness and
+reverberation following the kicking of a loose pebble impressed him.
+
+"All right: it's only a stone.  It was just down there that I slipped
+to.  Ahoy!"
+
+He shouted softly, with one hand to his mouth, and his cry seemed to run
+whispering away from them to echo far beneath their feet.
+
+"I say, don't do that," said Mike excitedly.
+
+"Why not?  Nobody could hear."
+
+"No; but it sounds so creepy and queer.  Let's have a light."
+
+It did sound "creepy and queer," for the sounds came from out of the
+unknown, which is the most startling thing in nature, from the fact that
+our busy brains are always ready to dress it up in the most weird way,
+especially if the unknown lies in the dark.
+
+But no more was said, for Vince was busy opening his basket, out of
+which he drew an old-fashioned horn lanthorn and gave it to Mike to
+hold, while he took something else out of the creel, which rattled as it
+was moved.
+
+"Why, you've only brought half a candle," said Mike, who had opened the
+lanthorn, and held it so that the rays which streamed down through the
+brambles overhead fell in its interior.  "What shall we do when that
+burns out?"
+
+"Light one of the pieces I've got in my pockets," said Vince coolly, as
+he sat down on the water-worn granite, and placed a round, flattish tin
+box between his knees.  "Didn't bring a cushion with you, did you?"
+
+"Cushion?  No; what for?"
+
+"One to sit on: this is precious hard."
+
+And then _scratch, scratch_: a rub of a tiny wax match upon the sanded
+side of a box, and a flash of red, dim light followed by a clear white
+flame?
+
+Nothing of the kind: matches of that sort had not been invented fifty or
+sixty years ago.  Whoever wanted a light had to go to work as Vince
+prepared to do, after placing a thin slip of wood sharpened at each end
+and dipped in brimstone ready to hand.  Taking a piece of steel or iron
+bent round so as to form a rough handle to be grasped, while the
+knuckles were guarded by the edge of the steel, this was held over the
+tin box, which was, on the inner lid or press being removed, half full
+of burned cotton ash now forming the tinder that was to catch the
+sparks.
+
+Vince was pretty handy at the task from old experience, and gripping the
+box tightly between his knees he made the hollow, cavernous place echo
+again as he struck the steel in his left hand with a piece of
+sharp-edged flint held in his right.
+
+_Nick, nick, nick, nick_--the nearly forgotten sound that used to rise
+in early morning from the kitchen before a fire could be lit--and _nick,
+nick, nick, nick_ again, here in the narrow opening, where the rays of
+sunshine shot down and made the sparks which flew from flint and steel
+look pale as they shot downward at every stroke the lad gave.
+
+Mike felt nervous at the idea of penetrating the depths below them, and
+to hide this nervousness he chattered, and said the first thing that
+came to his lips in a bantering tone:
+
+"Here! you are a fellow to get a light.  Let me have a try."
+
+But as he spoke one spark fell upon the tinder and seemed to stay, while
+as soon as Vince saw this he bent down and blew, with the result that it
+began to glow and increase in size so much that when the brimstoned
+point of the match was applied to the glowing spot still fanned by the
+breath the curious yellow mineral began to melt, sputter, and then burst
+into a soft blue flame, which was gradually communicated to the wood.
+This burned freely, the candle in the lanthorn was lit, the door shut,
+and the tinder-box with flint and steel closed and smothered out and
+returned to the creel.
+
+"You'd have done it in half the time, of course," said Vince, rising and
+slinging the creel on his back.  "Now then, are you going to carry the
+lanthorn?"
+
+"I may as well, as I've got it," said Mike.
+
+"All right: then you'll have to go first."
+
+Mike felt disposed to alter the arrangement, but he could not for very
+shame.
+
+"You take the rope, then.  But, I say, you needn't carry that creel as
+well," he said.
+
+"I don't want to; but suppose the candle goes out?"
+
+"Oh, you'd better take it," said Mike eagerly.  "Ready?"
+
+"Yes, if you are."
+
+Mike did not feel at all ready, but he held the lanthorn up high and
+took a step or two forward and downward, which left the sunlit part of
+the place behind, and then began cautiously to descend a long rugged
+slope, which was cumbered with stones of all sizes, these having
+evidently fallen from the roof and sides, the true floor of the
+tunnel-like grotto being worn smooth by the rushing water which must at
+one time have swept along, reaching in places nearly to the roof just
+above the boys' heads.
+
+The way was very steep, and winding or rather shooting off here and
+there, after forming a deep, wonderfully rounded hollow, in which in
+several cases huge rounded stones lay as they had been left by the
+torrent, after grinding round and round as if in a mill, smoothing the
+walls of the hollow, and at the same time making themselves spherical
+through being kept in constant motion by the water.  These pot-holes, as
+a geologist would call them, are common enough in torrents, where a
+heavy stone is borne into a whirlpool-like eddy, and goes on grinding
+itself a deeper and deeper bed, the configuration of the rock-walls
+where it lies having prevented its being swept down at the first, while
+every year after it deepens its bed until escape becomes impossible.
+
+Again and again, as they went on, places of this kind were met with;
+while twice over they had to pause at spots where the water must have
+sprung from a shelf ten or a dozen feet down into a basin which it had
+hollowed for itself in the course of time.
+
+Upon the first of these sudden drops presenting itself Mike stopped with
+the lanthorn.
+
+"Here's the end of it," he said.  "Goes down into a sort of bottomless
+pit, black as ink.  Let's go back."
+
+Vince stepped close to his side and gazed down into the black depths
+with a feeling of awe, the place looking the more terrible from the fact
+that the tunnel had narrowed until there was only just room for them to
+stand between the smooth granite walls.
+
+"Looks rather horrid," said Vince.  "Worse than a big well.  Let's see
+how deep it is."
+
+He stepped back and picked up a stone that had fallen from the roof,
+returning to where Mike held up the lanthorn for him to see.
+
+Down went the block of stone, and they prepared themselves to hear it go
+bounding and echoing far away in the bowels of the earth; but it stopped
+instantly with a loud clang, and Vince cried,--
+
+"Why, it isn't deep at all!  I can see it."
+
+A ring or two of the rope was cast loose, passed through the handle of
+the lanthorn, and upon lowering it down block after block presented
+itself sufficient to enable them to descend into what proved to be quite
+a hollow, from which the stream must have leapt into another and again
+into another, each being a fall of only a few feet.  After which there
+was another great pot-hole, like a vast mortar with a handleless pestle
+of rock remaining therein.
+
+Beyond this the water had carved out a rugged trough, steep enough to
+form a slide if they had felt disposed to trust themselves to it, and
+Vince laughingly suggested that they should glide down.
+
+"Only it wouldn't do," he added.  "We can't tell what's at the bottom.
+Might mean a bad fall.  Had enough of it?"
+
+"Yes, ever since we started," replied Mike.
+
+"Then you want to go back?"
+
+"Oh no, I don't," retorted Mike.  "One can't help feeling that one must
+keep on and see where it goes to, even if it does make you turn creepy.
+Doesn't it you?"
+
+"Well, yes, I suppose so," replied Vince thoughtfully; "and I wouldn't
+go on, only it's so easy to climb back, and the air feels fresh and
+sweet, so that except that it's dark there's nothing to mind."
+
+"But suppose the candle went out.  How much is there left?"
+
+As Mike spoke, he opened the door of the lanthorn and looked at the
+light anxiously, but they had not burned an inch.
+
+"We could easily get another light," said Vince; "and we must go on now.
+Here, shall I go down first?"
+
+"No; I'll keep to it," cried Mike.  "I'm not going to have you jeering
+at me afterwards and telling me I was afraid.  But look here, Cinder:
+you can't walk down--it really is too steep."
+
+"Let's try the rope: I'll fasten it, and then you can hold on."
+
+"Nothing to fasten it to."
+
+"Soon get over that," said Vince; and, taking out the iron bar and the
+hammer, he found a crack in the rock directly, into which he drove the
+narrow edge till it was perfectly firm, the roof just overhead echoing
+the blows of the hammer so rapidly that in a short time it sounded as if
+a dozen smiths were at work.
+
+"Stop a moment," cried Mike, as he held the light, and Vince began to
+tie the end of the rope to the strong iron peg he had formed.
+
+"What for?"
+
+"Suppose when we get down we want the rope for another place, what
+should we do if we leave it here?"
+
+Vince took the lanthorn and held it out before him, so that he could
+examine the trough-like slope.
+
+"I shouldn't like to trust myself to slide down here," he said; "but
+there's nothing to prevent our climbing up.  Let's double the rope and
+hook the middle over the bar; then, when we're down, we can pull one end
+and get it free."
+
+This was done, and, tying the lanthorn to his neck by means of his
+kerchief, Mike secured the doubled rope and let himself down, his
+companion soon after seeing him standing some thirty feet lower.
+
+A minute later Vince was by his side, and they looked about them, but
+there was nothing fresh to see.  The roof was only a foot above their
+heads.  The width of the place averaged six or seven feet, and there was
+this to encourage them--no branches occurred to form puzzling
+labyrinths.  If they had been overtaken by darkness there was nothing to
+prevent their feeling their way back into the sunshine.  So, growing
+accustomed to the place, familiarity, if it did not breed contempt, made
+them cooler and more ready to go on descending over similar obstacles to
+those they had previously encountered, till all at once Mike stopped
+short, and held up the lanthorn beneath which he peered.
+
+"What is it?" said Vince anxiously.
+
+"Hark!  What's that?" said Mike, in a whisper full of awe.
+
+A dull rushing sound smote upon their ears, but in a muffled, strange
+way, that puzzled them to make out what it might be.
+
+"I know," said Vince at last: "it's water."
+
+"Think so?" said Mike dubiously.
+
+"Yes.  I've been puzzling ever so long to make out how it was that water
+could have run along here, and for there to be none now, but I see how
+it is.  This was once the channel of the stream, till it ate its way
+down through the rock to a lower one, and that's it we can hear running
+somewhere below."
+
+"Perhaps," said Mike; but his words implied doubt, and, after once more
+examining the candle in the lanthorn, he led on, but very cautiously and
+slowly now, though the passage was easier, and the slope less broken by
+step-like faults in the granite, over which the water must once have
+flowed.
+
+At the end of a dozen yards Mike stopped again, and Vince quite as
+willingly, for the dull rushing sound continued, and they looked at each
+other by the light of the lanthorn.
+
+"How far down are we, do you think?" said Mike.
+
+"I dunno.  Must be a long way below the sea."
+
+Mike nodded, and Vince continued:
+
+"I thought it led down into the Scraw cove, but we must be lower than
+that."
+
+"Yes, ever so much; and it strikes me that we might go on down and down
+for hours.  Haven't we done enough for this time?"
+
+"Well, yes," said Vince, in a hesitating tone; "only I should have liked
+to find out something better than going on and on, just like in one of
+the caverns on the shore stretched out a tremendous way."
+
+"Yes, I should have liked to see something more; but this is a curious
+place.  Old Deane would like to come down here and see those round
+stones in the holes."
+
+"We'll bring him some day," said Vince.  "Well, suppose we'd better go
+back, for it seems to be all like this."
+
+"Can't be all like this, because there's water rushing somewhere down
+below."
+
+"Well, let's go on till we come to the water, and then turn back."
+
+"But if it's very dangerous?"
+
+"We won't go into danger.  You keep the lanthorn well up, so that you
+can see where you go, and then you can stop."
+
+"Suppose you lead now," said Mike: "my arm aches awfully with holding up
+the light."
+
+"All right: I'll go first, then."
+
+"But I'm not afraid to!" cried Mike hastily.
+
+"Well, I am, Ladle," said Vince frankly; "and I shall go very slowly and
+carefully, I can tell you.  Here, you carry the rope and hammer.  Stop a
+minute, though: how's the light?"
+
+He opened the lanthorn door now, and was surprised to see how little the
+candle was burned down, but there was a tremendously long snuff with a
+fungous top.
+
+"I thought it was very dull," he said; and, moistening his fingers, he
+snuffed the candle.--"Now we shall have a better light."
+
+But unfortunately he had moistened his fingers too much, and the result
+was that the shortened wick hissed, sputtered, burned blue, and then
+without further warning went out.
+
+"Oh!" cried Mike, in tones of horror, as they stood there in profound
+darkness.
+
+"Oh!" was echoed along the passage, and prolonged as if in a groan.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ELEVEN.
+
+THE SEA PALACE.
+
+For a few moments neither of the boys spoke, but stood listening to the
+dull roaring sound.  Then Vince started, for he felt himself touched;
+and he nearly uttered a cry of horror, but checked it by setting his
+teeth hard as he grasped the fact that the touch came from Mike's hand,
+which he seized and found to be cold and damp.
+
+"Let's get back--quick, somehow," gasped the lad.
+
+"Yes: come on.  We can feel our way," replied Vince.  "Keep hold of
+hands.  No, that would make it harder.  Here, give me a piece of the
+rope, and I'll put it round my waist, then you can hold on by that and
+follow me.  I think I can recollect exactly how it goes."
+
+"Be quick!" said Mike, in an awe-stricken whisper, as he passed several
+yards of the rope to his companion in misfortune; and this Vince
+fastened round his waist, and then uttered an ejaculation.
+
+"What is it?" cried Mike: "don't say something else is wrong."
+
+"Wrong?  No," cried Vince, whose hands had come in contact with the
+creel: "I forgot the tinder-box."
+
+"Ah!" cried Mike joyfully; and he pressed close to Vince, as the latter
+sat down, took out the box, and began nicking away with the flint and
+steel, making the scintillating sparks flash and send their feeble light
+in all directions.
+
+"Oh, do make haste!" panted Mike; "that dreadful roaring's coming
+nearer."
+
+"I can hear it," muttered Vince, as he kept on nicking; but not a spark
+took hold of the tinder.
+
+"Here, let me try," cried Mike.
+
+"No, not yet: I'll do it.  The tinder must have got damp."
+
+"Turn it over, then," cried Mike piteously.  "Oh, do make haste."
+
+Vince thrust his fingers into the tinder-box to follow out his
+companion's instructions, and uttered an impatient sound.
+
+"What is it now?"
+
+"Such an idiot!" cried Vince.  "I never took the tin off the top of the
+tinder."
+
+And so it was that after the disk, which damped out the sparks after a
+light had been obtained, was removed, the first blow of the flint on the
+steel sent down a shower, a couple of which caught at once, and were
+blown into an incandescent state, the match was applied, began to melt,
+and after a little trouble the sputtering candle once more burned
+brightly behind the semi-transparent horn, while the roaring sound did
+not now seem to be so loud.
+
+"I say," said Vince, with a forced laugh, "isn't it easy to feel scared
+when you're in the dark?"
+
+"Scared?  It was awful!"
+
+"But we're not going to give up till we've seen where the water runs?"
+
+Mike remained silent.
+
+"We must do what we meant to do?"
+
+"Very well," said Mike, drawing a deep breath, which was followed by a
+gasp.
+
+"Come on, then, and let's get it over."
+
+Setting his teeth firmly, Vince once more attacked the unknown, and came
+upon another sharp turn, where the water must have eddied round, and was
+reflected almost back upon itself, and then turned away, after another
+rounded hollow, almost at right angles.
+
+Here the slope became a little more inclined, still not enough to make
+progress difficult; but as soon as the two windings had been passed,
+they knew that the goal they had marked out for themselves was at hand,
+for the noise suddenly became louder, and was unmistakably caused by
+water rushing over stones.
+
+"Take care!" cried Mike warningly.  "You're close to it."
+
+"Yes," cried Vince excitedly; "we are close to it;" and he stopped and
+held up the lanthorn, so that his hand struck against the roof.  "Look
+there!"
+
+Mike pressed close, and looked at the object which had taken his
+companion's attention; but for a few moments he realised nothing save
+that the passage had grown more contracted, and that the roof seemed to
+be formed by two huge pieces of glistening granite leaning together.
+Then he looked down and saw that the floor, which was smoother than
+ever, ran down suddenly, while a faint, damp, salt odour of sea-weed
+struck upon his nostrils as a puff of air was suddenly wafted up.
+
+"Mind, mind!" he shouted.  "Ah!"
+
+For the lanthorn was once more darkened, but not by the candle being
+extinct.  On the contrary, it was burning brightly still, but hidden by
+Vince drawing his jersey suddenly over the sides.
+
+"It's all right," cried Vince, for there before him was the shape of the
+end of the passage marked out by a pale, dawn-like light.  "Can't you
+see?  We've been fancying we've come down such a tremendous depth, and
+all the time we were right: the hole has led us to the shore."
+
+But Vince was not quite right, for, upon his drawing the lanthorn out--
+and none too soon, an odour of singed worsted becoming perceptible--they
+found that the sudden sharp slope of the granite flooring went down some
+twenty feet, and upon lowering the light by means of the rope the
+lanthorn came to rest in soft sand.
+
+"It isn't very light down there," said Vince, whose feelings of
+nervousness were being rapidly displaced by an intense desire to see
+more; "but light does come in, and there's the waves running in and out
+round here.  You don't want to go back now, do you?"
+
+"No," said Mike quickly.  "Who's to go down first?"
+
+"I will, for I found out what it was."
+
+"All right," said Mike; "but we shall want the rope.  How are we to
+fasten it?"
+
+"There's plenty," said Vince, "and we'll go back and tie it round that
+last great stone in the hole."
+
+This was done, Mike lighting him; and then, upon their returning, the
+rope coil was thrown down.
+
+"Here goes!" cried Vince.  "Hold the light high up."
+
+Mike raised it on high, and leaned forward as far as he could; while,
+sitting down and grasping the rope, Vince let himself glide, and the
+next moment his feet sank deep in soft sand.
+
+"Come on!" he shouted back to where Mike was anxiously watching from
+twenty feet or so above him.  "It's easy as easy.  Never mind the
+lanthorn."
+
+He looked round as he spoke, to see that he was in a large cavern,
+floored with beautifully smooth, soft sand, and lit up by the same soft
+grey dawn that had greeted him at the end of the passage, but how it
+entered the place he could not make out, for no opening was visible, and
+the rushing, roaring sound of the water came from the lofty roof.
+
+Vince's was only a momentary glance, for Mike was coming slowly down the
+smooth shoot, sliding on his back, but lowering himself foot by foot, as
+he held on to the rope.
+
+"There!" cried Vince, as his companion stood beside him, gazing at the
+rugged walls and lofty roof of the great dry channel; "wasn't this worth
+coming to see?"
+
+"Why, it's grand," replied Mike, in a subdued voice.  "I say, what a
+place!"
+
+"What a place?  I should think it is.  I say, Ladle, we've discovered
+this, and it's all our own.  You and I ought to come and stay here when
+we like.  I say, isn't it a size?  Why, it must be thirty feet long."
+
+He paced across the rugged hollow, tramping through the soft sand.
+
+"Twelve paces," he cried from the other side.  "It's splendid; but I
+wish it was a bit lighter.  There must be somewhere for the light to
+come in.  Yes, I see!"
+
+Vince pointed up at the side farthest from him where he stood, and a
+little closer investigation showed that the pale soft light appeared to
+be reflected upward against the roof, coming from behind a screen of
+rock.
+
+Crossing to this spot, they found that they could pass round the rocky
+screen, which reached half-way to the ceiling, and they now stood in a
+narrow passage lit by a soft green light, which came through a low arch,
+and on reaching and passing through this the boys uttered a shout of
+delight, for before them was another cavern of ample dimensions, whose
+low flattened roof was glorious with a lovely, ever-changing pattern,
+formed by the reflection of the sunlight from the waves outside.  They
+were fascinated for the time by the appearance of the roof, which seemed
+to be all in motion--lights and shadows, soft as silken weavings,
+chasing each other, opening, closing, and interlacing in the most
+wonderful way, till they grew dazzled.
+
+"It's too much to see at one time," whispered Mike at last.  "I say!
+look at the arch with ferns hanging all round like lace."
+
+"Yes, and what a colour the sea is!"
+
+"And the anemones and limpets and coral!  Look at those pools, too,
+among the rocks."
+
+"Yes, and outside at the sea-birds.  I say, Ladle! did you ever see
+anything like it?"
+
+"Never thought there was such a beautiful place in the world," replied
+Mike softly.  "Shall we go any farther?"
+
+"Go any farther?  I should think we will!  Why, Mikey, this is all our
+own!  Two beautiful caverns, one opening into the other, and all a
+secret, only known to ourselves.  Talk about luck!  But come on."
+
+They passed under the arch, and stood in a cavern opening by another
+arch upon the sea, which rippled and played amongst the sand below, the
+mouth of the place being protected by ridge after ridge of rock just
+level with the surface, and sufficient to break the force of the wild
+currents, which boiled as they rushed by a short distance out.  This
+cavern appeared as if, at some distant period, it had been eaten out of
+soft or half-decayed strata by the waves; and its peculiarity was the
+great extent of low, fairly level roof, which in places the lads could
+touch by tiptoeing and extending their fingers.  It ran in at least a
+hundred feet; and apparently, from the state of the sand, was never
+invaded by the highest tides, which were pretty exactly marked by the
+living shells and sea-weed at the mouth.
+
+Everywhere the place was carpeted with soft sand, through which stood up
+smooth blocks with flattened tops, readily suggesting tables, chairs and
+couches of the hardest and most durable nature.
+
+They were not long in examining every cranny and crevice inward, fully
+expecting to find some low arch leading into another or a series of
+caverns; but they found nothing more, and did not spend much time in
+examining the place, for the great attraction was the mouth, through
+which, as if it were a frame, they gazed out at the glittering cove and
+the barrier of rock, dotted with sea-birds, which hid the open sea
+beyond.
+
+Making their way, then, to the mouth, and hastily taking off shoe and
+stocking, they tucked up and began to wade, so as to get outside; but
+the huge buttresses which supported the rugged arch completely shut them
+in, running out as they did to where the sea swirled along with
+tremendous force, and looked so deep and formidable, that the two lads
+grasped in a moment what the consequences of a slip would be,--no
+swimmer could have stemmed such a rush.
+
+"It's jolly--it's grand--it's splendid!" cried Vince at last, after they
+had been paddling about for some time in the shallow water, and stepping
+on to the low ridges of rock which barred the entrance; "but it's
+precious disappointing."
+
+"Yes," said Mike; "for we can't see much now, shut-in like this."
+
+It was quite true; for when they had stepped from rock to rock as far as
+they dared go, they were still in the mouth of the cave, which projected
+far out over them like a porch, and completely hid the cove on either
+side and the precipice extending upward to the ridge.
+
+"I want to get round there to the left," said Vince, after gazing
+thoughtfully along the foot of one large buttress.  "It looks shallow
+there, for the water's pale green.  I can't see from here, but I don't
+believe it's up to one's knees."
+
+"We'll try," said Mike, springing on to the rock, flush with the water,
+upon which Vince stood, with none too much room.
+
+"Mind what you're doing!"
+
+"Oh my! how sharp the rock is!" shouted Mike, who stood on one leg to
+pet and comfort an injured toe.
+
+"I shall go along there," said Vince, "and then keep close to the wall."
+
+"But you'll mind and not get in the current.  It would take you away
+directly."
+
+"Just as if it was likely I should risk it, with my clothes on!" said
+Vince scornfully.  "Do you suppose I want a soaking?  I think, you know,
+that if I get along there I shall be able to hold on and look up at this
+part of the cliffs.  'Tis a pity there isn't a narrow shore, so that you
+could walk right round."
+
+"Well, take care," said Mike.  "Mind, I'm not coming in after you, to
+get wet."
+
+Vince laughed, and, picking his way, he stepped from stone to stone,
+till he was only a short distance from the massive wall of the buttress,
+and not far from where the sun shone upon the water.
+
+"Why, it's as shallow as shallow!" he cried.  "I thought it was, it
+looked so pale and green.  I don't believe it's a foot deep, and it's
+all sand, just like a garden walk; you can wade right out here, Mike,
+and round by the corner, and I dare say all round the cove like this."
+
+"Oh, do mind!" cried Mike.
+
+"Of course I'll mind.  Don't suppose I want to drown myself, do you?
+What are you afraid of?"
+
+"I'm not afraid."
+
+"Yes, you are.  You keep thinking of old Joe's nonsense about the place
+being full of water bogies and things, when all the time there's nothing
+but some dangerous rocks, and the sharp eddies and currents.  Why, I
+haven't even seen a fish!"
+
+"Well, I have," said Mike.  "I can see the mullet lying down here in the
+still black water, so thick that they almost touch one another."
+
+"You can?  Well, I'll come and have a look presently.  Here goes for a
+wade."
+
+Vince gave the bottoms of his trousers an extra roll, so as to get them
+as high as possible above his knees, and leaning forward from where he
+stood upon a detached block of stone, he rested his hands upon the side
+of the great buttress, and lowered one foot into the water over ankle,
+calf, and knee; and then he uttered a cry, and nearly went headlong, but
+making a violent effort, he wrenched himself back, thrusting the rock
+with all his might, and came down in a sitting position upon the great
+stone.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWELVE.
+
+LOST IN THE DARKNESS.
+
+"What was it?" cried Mike excitedly: "something get hold of your leg?"
+
+"No," replied the boy, with a shiver, as his face turned clayey-looking.
+"Yes."
+
+"What was it--crab or a conger?"
+
+"Something ever so much worse," said Vince, with a shiver.  "It looks
+quite hard down there, and all as tempting as can be; but it's loose
+quicksand, and my foot went down into it just as if it was so much
+sticky oil.  There's no getting along there."
+
+"Lucky you hadn't let go," said Mike sympathetically.  "Good job we
+found out as we have.  It might have been much worse."
+
+"Worse?  Why, I nearly went right in.  And then I should have been
+sucked down.  Ugh!"
+
+Vince shuddered; but the colour began to come naturally again into his
+cheeks, and after a bit he laughed as they waded back into the cavern--
+being particularly careful, though, in spite of the roughness, to plant
+their feet on the pieces of shell-dotted stone beneath the surface.
+
+"Yes, it's all very well to laugh," said Mike, in an ill-used tone; "but
+you're always running risks and getting into some hobble."
+
+"Not such a good little boy as you, Ladle.  You never do wrong, and--
+There, see what you've done now!" cried Vince, as he stood now in the
+soft, dry sand, and nestled his feet in it to take the place of a towel.
+
+"What have I done now?"
+
+"Come down and left the candle burning.  I know you did; and it will
+have burned into the socket and melted it.  How will you like going back
+in the dark?"
+
+Mike stared at him aghast.
+
+"You did forget, now, didn't you?"
+
+"You never told me to put it out."
+
+"I didn't tell you to eat your dinner to-day, did I?"
+
+"No; but--"
+
+"Where's your common sense?  Now we shall have to go all through that
+dark hole like a couple of worms."
+
+"No, we shan't," cried Mike.  "I've got common sense enough to know you
+said you had some bits of candle in your pocket."
+
+"Humph!" grunted Vince, whose eyes were wandering in all directions
+about the beautiful cave.  "What's the good of candles without something
+to stick them in?  That socket's melted off, I know."
+
+"Soon manage that," said Mike, picking up a large whorled shell.
+"There's a natural candlestick; and if we hadn't found that, our fists
+would have done, or we could have stuck the candle on to the lanthorn
+with some of the grease."
+
+"My word, he is a clever old Ladle!" cried Vince jeeringly.  "I say,
+isn't this dry sand jolly for your legs?  Mine are as right as can be."
+
+"Capital," said Mike, who was pulling on his grey knitted socks.  "I
+say, though, we have found out a place.  I vote we come often."
+
+"Yes," said Vince.  "After a bit we shall be able to step through that
+dark hole as easily as can be."
+
+"Yes, and in half the time.  It's all very well to bounce, but it was
+queer work coming down."
+
+"I don't bounce, Ladle; I felt squirmy enough.  Of course you couldn't
+help feeling creepy when you didn't know where you were going next."
+
+"Well, I daresay you felt so too."
+
+"Of course I did," continued Vince.  "I expected to put my foot in a
+great crack every minute, and fall right through to Botany Bay."
+
+"Yes," said Mike seriously.  "There's something about being in the dark
+that is queer."
+
+"Till you get used to it," said Vince, jumping up, with his boots laced.
+"Now, then, look sharp.  I want to have another good look round."
+
+"Ready," said Mike.  "I say, let's make a fireplace here, and bring
+wood, and get a frying-pan and a kettle, and cook fish and make tea and
+enjoy ourselves."
+
+Vince nodded assent.
+
+"Yes," he said; "might sleep here if you came to that.  Sand would make
+a jolly bed and bed-clothes too.  I say, we've found a place that some
+boys would give their heads to have.  Why, there's no end to the fun we
+can have here.  We can fish from the mouth."
+
+"Yes, and I found some oysters--put my foot on them."
+
+"And we can bring things by degrees: potatoes and apples and flour.
+Why, Ladle, old chap, we can beat old Robinson Crusoe all to nothing,
+and smugglers and robbers and those sort of people.  But we must keep it
+a secret.  If any one else knew of this place being here it would be
+spoiled at once.  I say, what's that?"
+
+"What?" said Mike.
+
+"That dark bit there?" and Vince nodded to a spot in the gloomiest part
+of the cavern, right up in one corner, where the roof rose highest.
+
+"Crack in the rock.  There's another just beyond."
+
+"Yes, a regular split.  Hope it don't mean that the roofs going to
+tumble in."
+
+"Not just yet," said Mike, gazing up curiously at the fault in the
+granite stratum.  "We might try where it goes to."
+
+"Want a ladder," said Vince; "and you may carry it, for I'm not going to
+try and bring that sort of thing down here.  I say, there's the place to
+make a fire, just by the mouth, and then the smoke will all go up
+outside; and we can wash our fish and keep the place clean.  Those pools
+will be splendid.  There's one deep enough to bathe in."
+
+"There, I tell you what," said Mike; "we've got about as splendid a
+place close to home as any fellows could find if they went all over the
+world.  I say, though, how we could laugh at old Joe if we brought him
+down and showed him the Scraw has about as beautiful a cave as there is
+anywhere!"
+
+"I say, don't talk about it.  I wouldn't have any one know for the
+world; and do be careful about smuggling things down here."
+
+"Don't you be afraid of that," said Mike.  "Hi, look!  There's a shoal
+of fish out there.  Mackerel, I think."
+
+"Oh, the place teems with fish, I'm sure," said Vince, as he watched the
+shimmering of the surface just in a smooth patch beyond where the sea
+was troubled.  "Now, then, shall we go and look at the other place
+before we go back?"
+
+"Yes," said Mike, but his tone suggesting no.  "I feel as if I could sit
+down in the sand and look out at the sea and the birds on the rocks
+there opposite for ever."
+
+"Without getting hungry, I suppose," said Vince.  "Come on.  It won't be
+long before we come down again.  I say, Ladle, what a place to come to
+on wet days!"
+
+"Splendid; and I shan't be satisfied till you and I have sailed round
+here to see if there isn't a way of getting into the bay with a boat."
+
+"We might; but I daresay there isn't.  Very likely it's such a race and
+so full of rocks that we should be upset directly.  Come on."
+
+They went down and peered through the low arch into the narrow way
+between the rocks, and onward into the other chamber, which looked black
+and dark to them as they entered from the well-lit outer cavern.  But in
+a few minutes their eyes were accustomed to the gloom, and the place
+seemed filled with a soft, pearly light which impressed Mike, who was
+the poetical lad of the pair.
+
+"I say," he said softly, "isn't this one beautiful?"
+
+"Not half so beautiful as the other," said Vince bluntly.
+
+"Oh yes, it is so soft and grey.  It's just as if it was the inside of a
+great oyster-shell."
+
+"And you were a pearl," cried Vince, laughing.  "Never mind; it is very
+jolly, though, and if ever we slept here this place would do for
+bedroom, but I don't think that's very likely.  Well, I suppose we'd
+better go.  We've been here a precious long time, and I shall be late
+for tea."
+
+"Never mind: come home and have tea with me.  I don't feel in much of a
+hurry to go up through that black hole."
+
+"We shan't mind it if it hasn't tumbled in since we came, and shut us
+up."
+
+"I say, don't!" cried Mike, with a look of horror.  "That might be true,
+you know."
+
+"Yes; but pigs might fly," cried Vince, laughing.  "I say, what a chap
+you are to take fright!  Puzzle a stone place like that to tumble in.  A
+few bits might come off the roof, but even then we could crawl over
+them, for they must leave a hole where they come from.  Ready?"
+
+"Yes," said Mike unwillingly, and they walked to the foot of the slide.
+
+"I'll go first," cried Vince; and, seizing the rope, he held on by it,
+and, shortening his hold as he went, contrived to walk right up to the
+top, in spite of the great angle at which it stood.
+
+"Try that way, Mike: it's as easy as easy."
+
+The boy tried, and after a slip or two managed to reach the top pretty
+well.  Here it was found that the candle had burned right out, but
+without injuring the socket; and a fresh piece having been set up, a
+light was soon obtained, and they started back, after deciding to leave
+the rope where it was, ready for their next visit, as they did not
+anticipate any difficulty about climbing back up the various step-like
+falls.
+
+There was plenty to have detained them during their return journey, for
+the passage of the little underground river presented a wonderfully
+different aspect from the new point of view, and often seemed dimly
+mysterious by the feeble yellow light of the horn lanthorn; but there
+were no difficulties that a couple of active lads ready to help each
+other did not readily surmount; and they went on turning curves and
+loops and corners, mounting places that were once waterfalls, and
+steadily progressing, till Mike was horrified by one of his companion's
+remarks.
+
+It was just as they had paused breathless before beginning to climb one
+of the great step-like impediments.
+
+"I say, Ladle," he cried, "suppose the water was to come back all of a
+sudden, and begin rushing down here!  What should we do?"
+
+But Mike recovered his balance directly.
+
+"Pooh!" he cried; "how could it?  I don't believe there has been water
+along here for hundreds of years."
+
+He began to climb, and they went on again, till it struck Vince
+seriously that they were a very long time getting out, and he cried, in
+alarm,--
+
+"I say, we haven't taken a wrong turning, have we?"
+
+His words struck a chill through both, and they stood there speechless
+for some moments, gazing in each other's dimly seen faces.
+
+"Couldn't," cried Mike at last.  "We did not pass a single turning."
+
+"Didn't see a single turning?" said Vince.  "No, we did not; but we
+might easily have passed one going sharply off to right or left, and
+come along it without noticing."
+
+"I say, don't say that," whispered Mike hoarsely; "it sounds so
+horrible.  Why, we may be going right away from the daylight into some
+horrible maze of a place underground."
+
+"Seems as if that's what we are doing," said Vince sadly, "or we should
+have got out by now.  We must have borne off to right or left, and--here
+we are."
+
+"Yes; here we are," chorused Mike, rather piteously; "but it's no use to
+be dumpy, is it?  Let's go back to the cave and start again, unless we
+can find out where we turned off as we go."
+
+Vince did not reply, but opened the lanthorn, and raised his finger and
+thumb to his lips to moisten them before snuffing the candle, which was
+long-wicked, and threatened to gutter down.
+
+"Mind!" cried Mike warningly, as he thought of their former fright.
+
+"Well, I am minding.  Didn't you see that I wouldn't wet my fingers?
+There! that's right."
+
+He cleverly snuffed the candle, which flashed up brightly directly, and
+seemed to illumine the boy's brain more clearly, as well as the
+glittering roof and sides of the water-worn passage, for he spoke out
+sharply directly after.
+
+"Look here, Ladle," he cried, "I don't believe we can have come wrong."
+
+"Don't be obstinate," replied Mike; "we must have come wrong, or we
+shouldn't be here now."
+
+"I don't know that."
+
+"But I do.  See what a while we have been climbing back."
+
+"Yes; because it has all been uphill, and we had so much to think of
+going that we did not notice how far we went."
+
+"But we've been hours coming back."
+
+"Not we.  You were tired, and that's made it seem so long.  Come on: the
+way must be right."
+
+"No; let's turn back.  I'm tired, and don't want to do it, but it's the
+best way."
+
+"But it will take so long," cried Vince.
+
+"It'll take longer if we're going on walking we don't know where," said
+Mike ominously.
+
+"Oh, come, I say, don't go on like that," cried Vince.  "Fellows who are
+mates ought to try and cheer one another up, and you're doing nothing
+but cheer one down."
+
+"I must speak the truth," said Mike gloomily.
+
+"Here! do leave off!  Why, you're as bad as that old raven out over the
+Scraw--all croak, croak, croak!"
+
+"I don't want to croak; I only want for us to find the way out.  Let's
+go back and make a fresh start."
+
+"I shan't," said Vince: "we're right now, I'm sure, only we went wrong
+just now."
+
+"There!  I knew it!  How far was it back?"
+
+"Just where we took fright and began to fancy we were wrong.  Now then,
+forward."
+
+"No," said Mike firmly; "we'll go back.  You are always so rash, and
+will not think."
+
+"Yes, I will; I'm thinking now!" cried Vince warmly, "and I think that
+you're about the most pig-headed fellow that there ever was.  Now, look
+here, Ladle, don't be stupid.  I'm as sure as sure that we are going
+right after all, and all we've got to do is to go straight on."
+
+"And I'm sure that we ought to go back."
+
+"I shan't go back!"
+
+"And I shan't go forward!" cried Mike angrily.
+
+"All right, then: I shan't go back.  Only mind how you go, old chap:
+those places where we had to creep down are rather awkward, and you may
+take the skin off your nose."
+
+"What do you mean by that?" cried Mike.
+
+"Only that I've got the candle," said Vince, laughing.  "I'll come and
+see you to-morrow, and bring you something to eat, for you'll never find
+your way out again in the dark."
+
+"But I'm not going in the dark, old clever!" cried Mike, snatching the
+lanthorn suddenly from his companion.  "How now?"
+
+"So how!" cried Vince, springing at him, and seizing the light structure
+of tin and horn.
+
+Then there was a sharp struggle, the two lads swaying here and there in
+the narrow place, till Vince flung his companion heavily against the
+wall, giving him so violent a jar as he clung to the lanthorn that the
+candle was jumped out of its socket, fell over against the side, and
+before the boys could even think of getting the door open, the light
+flashed upon their startled faces and went out.
+
+"You've done it now," cried Mike, in a dolorous tone.
+
+"Oh, come, I like that," said Vince.  "Who snatched the lanthorn away?
+Wait till we get out, and you'll see what I'll give you."
+
+"Get out the tinder-box quickly," said Mike.
+
+"What for?  Suppose I want you to snatch it away?  I'm going on in the
+dark, same as you're going back."
+
+"Don't be an idiot," cried Mike, who was growing desperate.  "Get out
+the tinder-box and strike a light."
+
+"Good-night," replied Vince tauntingly; "I'm off.  Shall I tell them
+you'll be home to-morrow?"
+
+For answer Mike sprang at him and grasped him tightly.
+
+"No, you don't play me that trick," he cried.  "Get out that tinder-box
+at once."
+
+"Not I," cried Vince.
+
+"Get out that tinder-box at once!"
+
+"Do you want to make me savage?" growled Vince.  "I don't care what I
+make you now," cried Mike.  "You're going to strike a light, so that we
+can find our way out."
+
+"I'm not going to strike a light and go back to please you, Ladle, and
+so I tell you," said Vince, holding his companion at arm's length, with
+his teeth set, and a strong desire rising in him to double his fists and
+strike.  "Give me the flint and steel," cried Mike fiercely.  For answer
+Vince wrenched himself free, thrust out his hands, and, guiding himself
+by the wall, backed softly away and stood motionless, listening to
+Mike's movements.  Then, stooping, he picked up a stone and pitched it
+over where he supposed Mike to be standing, with the result that it
+clattered down on the floor.
+
+His anger had evaporated, and his face relaxed into a grin, for his ruse
+took effect directly.  Judging that the noise was made by Vince backing
+from him, and in his horror and confusion mistaking his way, Mike thrust
+out his hands and went in the direction of the sound, while, under cover
+of the noise made, Vince backed still farther, moving as silently as he
+could.
+
+"Now then," cried Mike, from fully thirty yards away, "it's of no use,--
+I have you.  No more nonsense: take out that box and strike a light."
+
+Vince turned aside to smother his laughter, then turned back to listen.
+
+"Do you hear me?" cried Mike, in a hoarse, excited tone.  "You'll be
+sorry for this.  See if I come out with you again!"
+
+Vince remained perfectly still, listening while he heard Mike make a
+short dash or two in the darkness as if to seize him, kicking up the
+stones on the floor and once more threatening what he would do when he
+got hold of his companion again.
+
+Then he shouted louder, his voice echoing along the passage; and at last
+from far back in the darkness he groaned out:
+
+"Vince!  Vince, old chap, don't leave me here all alone!"
+
+That appeal went home to Vince's heart at once.
+
+"Who's going to?" he cried rather huskily.  "Come on.  This way, old
+obstinate.  Mr Deane's quite right: he always said you would have your
+own way, even if you knew you were wrong."
+
+"But I am so sure, Cinder--I am indeed," cried the lad, piteously.  "It
+is this way--it is indeed!  Oh, do strike a light!"
+
+"There now!  I'm going to show you how wrong you are," said Vince
+triumphantly.
+
+"Not now: let's get out of this dreadful place."
+
+"'Tisn't a dreadful place; it's only you scaring yourself about nothing,
+same as I did.  It's this way.  Come along."
+
+"Yes, I'll come," said Mike meekly; "only don't go far, and then let's
+get back.  But do strike a light."
+
+"What for?  There's no need.  Come along, close up to me."
+
+Mike came, blindly feeling his way, till he touched his companion, and
+his hands closed tightly upon Vince's shoulder and arm.
+
+"There!" cried Vince, "look straight before you.  What can you see?"
+
+Mike uttered a cry of joy, for right upward, and apparently at a great
+distance, there was a feeble light, and a minute or two later the two
+lads were beneath the matted roofing of brambles, through which the
+bright evening glow was streaming.  Directly after, they were out upon
+the surrounding stones, carefully scanning the ridge, to see if they had
+been observed.  But the place was absolutely solitary, and, after hiding
+the lanthorn down in the rift, the lads started for home in silence,
+Mike feeling annoyed and aggrieved, while Vince's breast was full of
+triumphant satisfaction.
+
+"I say," he said, as they reached at last a little opening in among the
+scrub oak trees, "are we two going to have it out before we go home?"
+
+"No," said Mike shortly.
+
+"Oh! all right, then; only you didn't speak or make any apology when you
+knew you were wrong."
+
+"Yes," said Mike, after an interval, "I know I was wrong.  I'm very
+sorry, Vince."
+
+"So am I," said the latter, "and something worse."
+
+Mike looked at him wonderingly.
+
+"Yes, ever so much: I'm about half-starved."
+
+Mike made no reply, but walked on in silence for some time, and it was
+not until they were near home that he turned again and held out his
+hand.
+
+"I'm very sorry, Vince," he said.
+
+"What about?" cried Vince.
+
+"That we had such a row."
+
+"Oh, bother!  I'd forgotten all about it.  Don't make any more fuss
+about that.  I say, what a bit of luck!  We must keep it quiet, though,
+eh?"
+
+"Quiet?  I wouldn't have any one know for the world!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
+
+A STARTLING DISCOVERY.
+
+The two lads were such close companions, and so much accustomed to
+wander off together of an afternoon, fishing, cliff-climbing, and
+collecting eggs, insects, minerals, or shells, that their long absences
+were not considered at all extraordinary, though they were noticed by
+both Mrs Burnet and Lady Ladelle, and one evening formed the subject of
+a few remarks at dinner.
+
+The Doctor and his wife often dined at the old manor-house, and upon
+this occasion Mike's mother asked her visitors if they did not think
+they wandered too much.
+
+"No," said Sir Francis, taking the answer out of his guests' mouths
+laughingly.  "Mrs Burnet doesn't think anything of the kind, so don't
+you put such ideas in her head."
+
+"But they are often so late, my dear."
+
+"Well, it's summer-time, and cooler of an evening.  Pleasantest part of
+the day.  If they work well, let them play well.  Eh, Burnet?"
+
+"Certainly," said the Doctor, "so long as they don't get into mischief.
+But do they work well?"
+
+"What do you say, Mr Deane?" said the baronet.
+
+"Admirably," replied the tutor; "but I must say that I should like them
+to have a couple of hours' more study a day--say a couple of hours in
+the afternoon."
+
+"No," said the Doctor emphatically.  "You work them well with their
+English and classics and calculations every morning: let them have some
+of Nature's teaching of an afternoon, and strengthen their bodies after
+you've done strengthening their heads."
+
+"I side with you, Burnet," said the baronet.  "Let them go on as they
+are for a year or two, and then we'll see."
+
+The tutor bowed.  "I only thought I was not doing enough for them," he
+said apologetically.
+
+"Plenty, my dear sir--plenty.  I like to see them bringing home plenty
+of litter, as the servants call it."
+
+"Yes," said the Doctor, "all's education.  I see Lady Ladelle fidgets
+about her boy, just as my wife does.  They'll be all right.  They can't
+go very far from home."
+
+"But I always dread some accident," said Mrs Burnet.
+
+"Yes, my dear, you are always inventing something, and have been ever
+since Vince broke his leg."
+
+"Through going into dangerous places," said Mrs Burnet.
+
+"Well, yes, that was from a cliff fall; but he might have done it from
+tumbling off a wall or over a chair."
+
+Just when this conversation was taking place the boys were slowly
+trudging home from their "retreat," as they called it--coming by a
+circuitous way, for the fact was very evident that old Daygo did spend a
+good deal of time in watching the boys' proceedings, and Vince was
+strongly of opinion that he suspected their discovery.
+
+But Mike was as fully convinced to the contrary.
+
+"He has no idea of it, I'm sure; but he is curious to know where we go.
+The old chap always talks as if the island belonged to him.  He'd better
+not interfere with it if he does find out; but, I say, fancy old Daygo
+scrambling down through that passage.  I should like to see him."
+
+"I shouldn't," said Vince, "especially after all we've done."
+
+For a month had glided away, and they had been pretty busy, during their
+many visits to the place, carrying all kinds of little things which they
+considered they wanted, with the result that the lanthorn and a supply
+of candles always stood in a niche a short distance down the passage;
+short ropes were fastened wherever there was one of the sharp or sloping
+descents, so that they could run down quickly; and in several places a
+hammer and cold chisel had been utilised so as to chip out a foothold.
+
+In the caverns themselves there was a fireplace, a keg which they kept
+supplied with water, a small saucepan, a little frying-pan, and a common
+gridiron, all of which had been bought and brought for them by the
+skipper of the little smack which touched at the island like a marine
+carrier's cart once a week.
+
+Then they had an axe and saw, and stored up driftwood for their fire;
+fishing lines and a good supply of hooks; a gaff and many other objects,
+including towels--for the pools in the outer cavern's mouth were now
+their regular places for bathing.
+
+As the time went on the novelty of possessing such a curious secret
+place did not wear off.  On the contrary, the satisfaction it afforded
+them grew, the more especially that the journey to and fro had become
+much more simple, for they had picked out the easiest way through the
+oak wood, knew the smoothest path among the granite blocks, and were
+always finding better ways of threading the rugged chaos at the bottom
+of the ridge slope.
+
+As far as they could see ahead it seemed to them that there was nothing
+more to discover, and they might go on keeping the place entirely to
+themselves till they were grown up.
+
+But at sixteen or so we do not know everything.  It was the day after
+the conversation at the old manor-house that, after a long morning with
+Mr Deane, the two boys met as usual, and started in the opposite
+direction to that which they intended to take, for they had not taken
+many steps before Vince kicked out sidewise and struck Mike on the boot.
+
+"What did you do that for?" said the other angrily.
+
+"'Cause I liked;" and a tussle ensued, half serious on one side, jocular
+on the other.
+
+"Now," whispered Vince, "break away and run towards that bay, and I'll
+chase you."
+
+"What for?  What's come to you this afternoon?"
+
+"Don't look round.  Old Daygo's sitting under a stone yonder smoking his
+pipe."
+
+Mike obeyed, running off as hard as he could go, chased by Vince, till
+they were well out of sight, and then, by making a _detour_ of a good
+half-mile, they reached the oak wood a long way north of their customary
+way of entrance, and began to plod onward towards their goal.
+
+"That's what they call throwing dust in any one's eyes, isn't it?" said
+Mike, laughing.
+
+"Yes," said Vince, "and we shall have to make it sand with old Joe.
+He's getting more and more suspicious, though I don't see why it matters
+to him.  You see, we never go near him now to ask him to take us out
+fishing, or into one of the west bays to shell, and he thinks we have
+something else on the way."
+
+"Well, so we have, and--Hullo, Joe! you there?"
+
+"Yes, young gentleman, I'm here," said Daygo gruffly, as he suddenly
+came upon them in a little opening in the wood.  "I thought you'd gone
+down to the west bays."
+
+"Well, we did think of going; but it's cooler and more shady here.  The
+sun does come down so strongly there under the cliffs.  Seen any
+rabbits?"
+
+"Two on 'em," said the man; "but you won't ketch them.  Dog couldn't do
+it, let alone you.  Ounce o' shot's only thing I know that runs fast
+enough to ketch them."
+
+It was an awkward predicament, and both lads had the same feeling that
+they would like to go off at once in another direction, only that they
+shrank from leaving the old fisherman, for fear he should find the way
+down into the caves.
+
+They wandered on in his company for a few minutes, and then Vince took
+the initiative and cried,--
+
+"I say, I'm sick of this; it's dreadful.  Come out on the common
+somewhere, so that we can get down to the sea."
+
+"I don't think you can get down anywhere near here.  Can you, Joe?"
+asked Mike.
+
+"Oh yes," said the old man; "easy enough.  I'll show you a place if you
+like."
+
+"Come on, then!" cried Vince eagerly.
+
+"Off here, then," said Daygo; "on'y I ought to tell you that you won't
+enjy yourselves, for it'll take Doctor Burnet all his time to pull you
+both together again."
+
+The old fellow burst into a fit of chuckling at this, and looked from
+one to the other, thoroughly enjoying their disgusted looks.
+
+"There, I knew he was making fun of us.  Of course there's no way down,"
+grumbled Mike.  "Come on out of this scrimble-scramble place.  What's
+the good of tiring ourselves for the sake of seeing a rabbit's white
+cotton tail."
+
+Vince was about to follow his companion, but turned to shout after
+Daygo.
+
+"I say, when are you going to take us fishing again?"
+
+"When you two young gents likes to come; on'y you've both been so mortal
+proud lately.  Never come anigh to me, and as to wanting a ride in a
+boat, not you.  Got one of your own somewheres, I suppose.  Hev yer?"
+
+Mike shook his head, and they went on in silence for a few minutes
+before Mike whispered,--
+
+"What shall we do: creep back and watch him?"
+
+"No.  If we did we should come upon him directly.  He's watching us, I'm
+sure.  Let's go to the cliff edge somewhere for a bit, and then go to
+the other side of the island.  We shan't get down to the cave to-day."
+
+As far as they could tell they were unobserved the next afternoon, and
+after exercising plenty of caution they reached the mouth of the little
+river tunnel and dropped down out of sight one after the other in an
+instant.  In fact, so quick was their disappearance that it would have
+puzzled the keenest searcher as to where they had gone.  For one moment
+they were standing upon a piece of lichen-covered granite, the next they
+had leaped in among the brambles, which parted for them to pass through
+and sprang up again, the lads dropping on to the old stream bed, which
+they had carefully cleared of stones.  They left no footmarks there, and
+they were careful to preserve the thin screen of ferns and bramble, so
+that a watcher would have credited them with having ducked down and
+crept away.
+
+This ruse, trifling as it may seem, added to their enjoyment of their
+hiding-place, and as soon as they were in darkness they struck a light
+and went on down to the caves, had a look round, and Mike immediately
+began to get down the fishing lines which hung from a wooden peg driven
+into a granite crack.
+
+"Never mind the fish to-day," said Vince, who was busily fixing a fresh
+piece of candle in the lanthorn.
+
+"Why?  We're not hungry now, but we shall be before we go back.  Hullo!
+what are you going to do?"
+
+"Wait a bit, and you'll see," replied Vince, who now took a little coil
+of rope from where it hung, and then asked his companion's assistance to
+extricate something which he had placed in the belt he wore under his
+jersey.
+
+"Why, whatever have you got here?"
+
+"Grapnel," was the reply; and Vince began to rub the small of his back
+softly.  "I say, how a thing like that hurts!  It's worse than carrying
+a hammer.  I'm quite sore."
+
+Mike laughed, and again more heartily upon seeing Vince begin to secure
+the grapnel with a sea-going knot to the length of rope.
+
+"Let those laugh that lose," cried Vince sententiously; "they are sure
+to who win."
+
+"Enough to make any one laugh," cried Mike.  "What are you going to bait
+with?"
+
+"You, if you like," said Vince sharply, "Wonder what I should catch?"
+
+"Here! no nonsense," cried Mike: "what are you really going to do?"
+
+"What we've been talking about so long.  Try and get up through that
+crack up there."
+
+Mike whistled.
+
+"Why, of course," he said.  "What a good idea!  But I don't believe it
+goes in above a foot or two."
+
+"Oh yes, it does," said Vince decisively.  "I thought so a little while
+ago, but last time we came I found out that it goes ever so far, and so
+I brought this hook."
+
+"And never told me."
+
+"Telling you now, aren't I?"
+
+"But how did you know?"
+
+"Saw a pigeon fly out."
+
+"Well, that proves nothing.  It only flew in to settle for a bit, and
+then came out again."
+
+"That's what I fancied," said Vince, trying his knot by standing upon
+the grapnel and tugging hard with both hands at the rope; "but I watched
+while you were lying on your back asleep and saw others go in and come
+out."
+
+"Well, that only shows that there are several nests there instead of
+one.  I say, let's bring some paste next time we come and make a pigeon
+pudding of young ones.  I'll get our cook to make us some.  I'll tell
+her what we want it for, and she'll think we are going to make a sort of
+picnic dinner under a rock somewhere."
+
+"Wait a bit, and let's try first," said Vince.  "There, I'm ready now.
+We did talk about examining that great crack when we came, but I thought
+it wasn't worth the trouble till yesterday.  I fancy it leads into
+another cave."
+
+"Hope it does," said Mike.  "Make this place all the more interesting."
+
+"Couldn't," said Vince shortly.  "Come along and let's see if I can
+catch a big fish without a bait."
+
+They went to the darkest corner of the outer cave, where the roof was
+highest, and after laying the rope ready, Vince took hold of it about
+two feet from the large triple hook, swung it to and fro several times,
+and then sent it flying upward towards the roof, where it struck the
+edge of the jagged crack ten feet or so above their heads and came down
+with a loud clang.
+
+"One," said Mike.  "Three offers out."
+
+"All right: you shall have your innings then," said Vince, picking up
+the hook, aiming more truly, and again sending it flying up.
+
+This time it passed right up out of sight and fell back, striking the
+bottom of the crack and glancing off again to the floor, falling
+silently into the sand.
+
+"Two," cried Mike.  "He won't do it."
+
+"Wait a bit," said Vince, and he swung the hook upward.  There was a
+click, and it stayed just within the crack; while the lad laughed.
+"Now," he cried, "can't I do it?"
+
+"No!" said Mike triumphantly, for at the first jerk of the rope the iron
+fell back into the sand.
+
+"You don't know how to throw a grapnel," said Mike, picking up the rope.
+"There, stand aside and I'll show you."
+
+Vince drew back, and after a good deal of swinging, Mike launched the
+grapnel upward, so that it passed right into the hole some distance from
+the length of rope which followed; then came a click, and the rope hung
+swinging from the sloping roof.
+
+"There!" cried Mike.
+
+"It'll come away as soon as you pull it."
+
+Mike gave the rope a tug, then a sharp jerk, and another, before,
+raising his hands and grasping it as high as he could, he took a run,
+and then, raising his legs, let himself swing to and fro.
+
+"Bear anything," he cried.  "There, you'd better go first."
+
+"You fastened it," said Vince, "so you've got first go."
+
+"No, it was your idea.  Up with you! but you've scared the pigeons
+away."
+
+Vince seized the rope as high as he could reach, twisted it about his
+leg, pressing the strong strands against his calf with the edge of his
+shoe-sole, and then began to climb slowly, drawing himself up by the
+muscular strength of his arms, while the rope began to revolve with him
+slowly.
+
+"Meat's burning," cried Mike, grinning.  "Wants basting;" and he picked
+up handsful of sand to scatter over the climber's back.
+
+But Vince was too busy to heed his interruption, and by trying hard he
+soon drew himself right into the narrow crack, and the next minute only
+his boots were visible, and they were drawn out of sight directly after.
+
+"Well?" cried Mike; "what have you found?"
+
+"Grapnel," panted Vince; for climbing a single thin rope is hard work.
+
+"Yes, but what else?"
+
+"Big crack, which goes right in.  Light the lanthorn and fasten, it to
+the end of the rope."
+
+This was soon done and the light drawn up.
+
+"I say, play fair!" cried Mike, as the lanthorn disappeared; "don't go
+and do all the fun yourself."
+
+For answer Vince threw him down the rope, which he had freed from the
+lanthorn.
+
+"Come up," he said shortly; and Mike, who began to be deeply interested,
+his curiosity now being excited, seized the rope and began in turn to
+climb.
+
+He was as active as his companion, and as much accustomed to rope work,
+the pair having often let themselves down portions of the cliff and
+climbed again in their search for eggs; so that in another minute he too
+was in the crack, dimly lit by the lanthorn, which Vince had set low
+down, where the fracture in the rock began to close in towards where it
+was again solid.
+
+"Don't seem much of a place," said Mike, rising upright, but having to
+keep himself in that position by resting a foot on either side of the
+rift.  "Goes in, though."
+
+"Yes," said Vince, "and I was right, for the pigeons must have flown
+through."
+
+"No," said Mike, looking about: "nests somewhere on one of the ledges."
+
+"Are no ledges here," said Vince: "the top goes up to a point.  Shall we
+go on?"
+
+"Of course," said Mike; and, taking up the lanthorn, Vince began to
+shuffle himself along the narrow, awkward place, till, at the end of a
+dozen yards, in darkness which grew thicker as he went, the great crack
+turned suddenly right off to the right, and again directly after to the
+left.
+
+"Why, it looks just the same shape as a flash of lightning," cried Mike.
+"Does it get any bigger?"
+
+"Doesn't seem to," was the reply; "but there's plenty of room to walk
+along."
+
+"Walk?  I don't call this walking?  I'm going along like a lame duck
+striddling a gutter.  I say, think there's ever been water along here?"
+
+"Sure there hasn't," said Vince, holding the light low down.  "Why, you
+can see.  The rock isn't worn a bit, but looks as sharp as if it had
+only lately been split."
+
+"But what could split it?  The lightning?"
+
+"No: father says these rocks crack from the water washing the stuff away
+from beneath them, and then the tremendous weight does the rest.  But I
+don't know.  I say, though, I shouldn't wonder if this goes on into
+another cave.  Look here."
+
+Mike pressed forward, and found, as his companion held up the light,
+that the fault in the rock shot off sharply now to the left, and sloped
+up at an angle of some forty-five degrees.
+
+"Looks awkward," said Mike.  "Are we going up there?"
+
+"Of course.  Why not?  We can climb it."
+
+"Oh yes, I can get up there; but it isn't very good for the boots."
+
+Good or bad, Vince did not hesitate, but, lanthorn in hand, commenced
+the ascent by climbing right in the narrow part of the rift, where each
+foot became wedged between the sides of the opening, and had to be
+dragged out again as the next foot was brought over and placed in front.
+
+"Awkward travelling," said Vince; "but you can't slip."
+
+"Begin to feel as if I can," replied Mike--"right out of my shoes.  I
+say, it is awkward."
+
+The distance they had to traverse here, however, was but short, and the
+next angle showed that the fault was at a much easier slope, while the
+opening was wider, so that they got along more pleasantly.  But at the
+end of another twenty yards the walls began to close in, and the place
+looked so uninviting that Mike stopped.  "Hadn't we better go back?" he
+said.  "What for?" replied Vince.  "Let's see the end of it.  We can't
+make any mistake in going back.  There's no roof to fall, and no pits or
+holes to drop into."
+
+"But it may go on for ever so long; and, I say, I don't believe a pigeon
+ever flew through here."
+
+"Well, I don't know," said Vince.  "It seemed to me as if they did,
+and--Hurrah, Ladle!  I can see light."
+
+"Light?  So there is.  Look! it must come from round the next corner.
+That's reflection we can see."
+
+And so it proved: for upon passing the next sharp angle Vince found
+himself facing the sea, which was visible through a great arch, far
+larger and more rugged than that in their own cavern mouth.  Going on a
+little farther, he found himself at the end of the singular zigzag
+passage, which was an opening in the roof of another and larger cavern,
+and into which they looked down as from a window.
+
+It was lighter and loftier than their own, and, like it, beautifully
+carpeted with sand; but, to the amazement of the lads, instead of this
+being smooth and wind-swept, as that of their own place when they first
+discovered it, the floor was covered with footmarks leading from the
+mouth inward to where the great cave grew dim and obscure.  There were
+sails, too, and ropes.  Several small yards and spars lay together by
+the side of the wall, and farther in were sails and three or four oars.
+
+But what most took their attention was the fact that, dimly outlined in
+the higher part of the cave there were little stacks, which looked as if
+they were built up of packages or bales, side by side with which,
+carefully stacked in the sand, were dozens upon dozens of small kegs.
+
+As their eyes grew more familiar with the gloom at the upper end, they
+realised that there were a great number of these bales and kegs, the
+former being of three kinds, varying a good deal in shape and size.
+
+They neither of them spoke, not daring even to whisper, for the feeling
+was strong upon them that the next thing they would see must be the
+figure of some fierce-looking smuggler in big boots, belted, carrying
+cutlass and pistols, and crowned with a scarlet cap.
+
+Then they started back in alarm, for there was the sharp whirring of
+wings, and half a dozen pigeons darted out of the cavern, seeming to
+come from far back beyond the stacks of kegs and bales, and rushing out
+into the bright light beneath the arch.
+
+It was nothing to mind; but their nerves were on the strain, and they
+breathed more freely as soon as the birds were gone.  It seemed to
+signify that no human beings were in the higher part of the cavern, and
+the solemn silence of the place encouraged them at last to speak, but
+only in whispers.
+
+"Wish we'd brought the rope," said Vince; "we might have got down."
+
+"Ugh!  It wouldn't be safe.  They might come and catch us."
+
+"Who might?"
+
+"The smugglers."
+
+"Smugglers?  There are no smugglers on the Crag."
+
+"Well, those must be smuggled goods, anyhow," said Mike.
+
+"Can't be."
+
+"What are they, then?  I'll be bound to say that those little kegs have
+all got `Hollands' or French spirits in them, and the packages are silk
+and velvet, and the other parcels laces and things--perhaps tobacco."
+
+"But we never heard of smuggling here.  Who can it be?"
+
+"Well, that's what they are, for certain," said Mike.  "It's just like
+what one's read about.  They must be ever so old--a hundred years,
+perhaps--and been put here and forgotten."
+
+"Perhaps so," said Vince.
+
+"Then we'll claim them for ours," said Mike decisively.  "They can't
+belong to anybody else now.  Nobody can be alive who brought them a
+hundred years ago."
+
+"No," said Vince; "but I don't see how we can claim them.  I say,
+though, it shows that boats can get into the cove."
+
+"Or could at one time."
+
+"Place wouldn't alter much in a hundred years.  I do wish, though, we
+had brought the rope.  Perhaps as soon as we touch those bales they'll
+all tumble into dust."
+
+"And all the kegs have gone dry," said Mike.
+
+"And all we can see before us only so much dust and touchwood.  I say,
+Mike, we shan't be very rich from our find.  I do wish we had brought
+the rope.  Let's go back and get it."
+
+"Let's go back soon," replied Mike; "but I don't think we'll come again
+to-day.  My head feels all of a whizz."
+
+"Yes, it is exciting," said Vince thoughtfully.  "Perhaps you're right:
+we won't come back to-day."  And, contenting themselves with a long,
+searching inspection from the window-like place they occupied, they soon
+after returned, and, after placing the grapnel so that it could be
+jerked out, went down the rope, got the iron hooks loose, and seated
+themselves to think.
+
+That evening they got home early, each so full of the great discovery
+that, when they went to bed, it was long before they slept, and then
+their brains were busy with strange dreams, in which one was fighting
+for his life against a host of well-armed men, the victor taking a
+vessel with the treasure of valuable silks and spices, and making his
+parents rich people to the last.
+
+But an idea was dominant with both when they woke, soon after sunrise.
+They must go back to the cavern soon, and probe the mystery to the very
+end.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
+
+DAYGO DESCRIBES HORRORS.
+
+"Er-her!  Going to school!  Yer!"
+
+Vince, who had some books under his arm, felt a peculiar twitching in
+the nerves, as he turned sharply upon the heavy-looking lad who had
+spoken the above words, with the prologue and epilogue formed of jeering
+laughs, which sounded something like the combinations placed there to
+represent them.
+
+The speaker was the son of the Jemmy Carnach who was, as the Doctor
+said, a martyr to indigestion--a refined way of expressing his intense
+devotion to lobsters, the red armour of which molluscs could be seen
+scattered in every direction about his cottage door, and at the foot of
+the cliff beyond.
+
+As Jemmy Carnach had thought proper to keep up family names in
+old-fashioned style, he had had his son christened James, like his
+father, grandfather and great-grandfather--which was as far as Carnach
+could trace.  The result was a little confusing, the Crag island not
+being big enough for two Jemmy Carnachs.  The fishermen, however, got
+over the difficulty by always calling the father Jemmy and his son Young
+'un; but this did not suit Vince and Mike, with whom there had always
+been a feud, the fisherman's lad having constantly displayed an intense
+hatred, in his plebeian way, for the young representatives of the
+patricians on the isle.  The manners in which he had shown this, from
+very early times, were many; and had taken the forms of watching till
+the companions were below cliffs, and then stealing to the top and
+dislodging stones, that they might roll down upon their heads; filling
+his pockets with the thin, sharply ground, flat oyster-shells to be
+found among the beach pebbles--a peculiarly cutting kind of weapon--and
+at every opportunity sending them skimming at one or other of the lads;
+making holes in their boat, when they had one--being strongly suspected
+of cutting two adrift, so that they were swept away, and never heard of
+again; and in divers other ways showing his dislike or hatred--
+displaying an animus which had become intensified since Mike had called
+in Vince's help to put a stop to raids and forays upon the old manor
+orchard when the apples, pears and plums were getting ripe, the result
+being a good beating with tough oak saplings.
+
+Not that this stopped the plundering incursions, for Carnach junior told
+the two lads, and probably believed, as an inhabitant of the island,
+that he had as good a right to the fruit as they.
+
+Of course the many assaults and insults dealt out by Carnach junior--for
+he was prolific in unpleasant words and jeers, whenever the companions
+came within hearing--had results in the shape of reprisals.  Vince was
+not going to see Mike Ladelle's ear bleeding from a cut produced by a
+forcibly propelled oyster-shell, without making an attack upon the young
+human catapult; and Mike's wrath naturally boiled over upon seeing a
+piece of rock pushed off the edge of the cliff, and fall within a foot
+of where Vince was lying on the sand at the foot.  But the engagements
+which followed seemed to do no good, for Carnach junior was so extremely
+English that he never seemed to realise that he had been thrashed till
+he had lain down with his eyes so swollen up that there was hardly room
+for the tears to squeeze themselves out, and his lips so disfigured that
+his howls generally escaped through his nose.
+
+"I never saw such a fellow," Vince used to say: "if you only slap his
+face, it swells up horribly."
+
+"And it's of no use to lick him, it doesn't do any good," added Mike.
+"Why, I must have thrashed him a hundred times, and you too."
+
+This was a remark which showed that either Mr Deane's instructions in
+the art of calculation were faulty, or Mike's mental capacity inadequate
+for acquiring correctness of application.
+
+Still there must have been some truth in Mike's words, for Vince, who
+was a great stickler for truthfulness, merely said:
+
+"Ah! we have given it to him pretty often."
+
+Vince and Mike did not take to Young 'un or Youngster, as a sobriquet
+for Carnach junior, and consequently they invented quite a variety of
+names, which were chosen, not for the purpose of distinguishing the fat,
+flat-faced, rather pig-eyed youth from other people, but it must be
+owned for annoyance, and by way of retaliation for endless insults.
+
+"You see, we must do something," said Mike.
+
+"Of course," agreed Vince; "and I'm tired of making myself hot and
+knocking my knuckles about against his stupid head; and besides, it
+seems so blackguardly, as a doctor's son, to be fighting a chap like
+that."
+
+"Oh, I don't know," said Mike thoughtfully: "I shall be a Sir some day,
+I suppose."
+
+"What a game!" chuckled Vince--"Sir Michael Ladelle!"
+
+"I don't see anything to laugh at," said Mike; "but, as I was saying, if
+we don't lick him every now and then there'll be no bearing it.  He'll
+get worse and worse."
+
+So it was to show their contempt for the young lout that they invented
+names for him--weakly, perhaps, but very boylike--and for a time he was
+James the Second, but the lad seemed rather to approve of that; and it
+was soon changed for Barnacle, which had the opposite effect, and two
+fights down in a sandy cave resulted, at intervals of a week, one with
+each of his enemies, after which the Barnacle lay down as usual, and
+cried into the sand, which acted, Vince said, like blotting paper.
+
+Tar-pot, suggested by a begrimed appearance, lasted for months, and was
+succeeded by Doughy, and this again by Puffy, consequent upon the lad's
+head having so peculiar a tendency to what home-made bread makers call
+"rise," and as there was no baker on Cormorant Crag the term was
+familiar enough.
+
+A whole string of forgotten names followed, but none of them stuck, for
+they did not irritate Carnach junior; but the right one in the boys'
+eyes was found at last, upon a very hot day, following one upon which
+Vince and Mike had been prawning with stick and net among the rock pools
+under the cliffs,--and prawning under difficulties.  For as they climbed
+along over, or waded amongst the fallen rocks detached from the towering
+heights above, Carnach junior, who had watched them descend, furnished
+himself with a creel full of heavy pebbles, and, making his way to the
+top of the cliffs, kept abreast and carefully out of sight, so as to
+annoy his natural enemies from time to time by dropping a stone into, or
+as near as he could manage to the little pool they were about to fish.
+
+Words, addressed apparently to space, though really to the invisible
+foe, were vain, and the boys fished on; but they did not take home many
+prawns for Mrs Burnet to have cooked for their tea.
+
+The very next day, though, they had their revenge, for they came upon
+the lad toiling homeward, shouldering a couple of heavy oars, a boat
+mast and yard, and the lug-sail rolled round them, and lashed so as to
+form a big bundle, as much as he could carry; and, consequent upon his
+scarlet face, Vince saluted him with:
+
+"Hullo, Lobster!"
+
+That name went like an arrow to the mark, and pierced right through the
+armour of dense stupidity in which the boy was clad.  Lobster!  That
+fitted with his father's weakness and the jeering remarks he had often
+heard made by neighbours; and ever after the name stuck, and irritated
+him whenever it was used.
+
+It was used on the morning when Vince was thinking deeply of the
+discovery of the previous day, and going over to Sir Francis Ladelle's
+for his lessons with Mike.  As we have said, he was saluted with coarse,
+jeering laughter, and the contemptuous utterance of the words "Going to
+school?"
+
+Being excited, Vince turned sharply upon the great hulking lad, and his
+eyes began to blaze war, but with a laugh he only fell back on the
+nickname.
+
+"Hullo, Lobster!" he cried: "that you?" and went on.
+
+Carnach junior doubled his fists, and looked as if he were going to
+attack; but Vince, strong in the consciousness that he could at any time
+thrash the great lad, walked on with his books, heedless of the fact
+that he was followed at a distance, for his head was full of kegs and
+bales neatly done up in canvas, standing in good-sized stacks.
+
+"I wonder how many years it has been there," he kept on saying to
+himself; and he was still wondering when he reached the old manor gates,
+went into the study, and there found Mike and their tutor waiting.
+
+Both lads tried very hard to keep their discovery out of their minds
+that morning, but tried in vain.  There it was constantly, and
+translated itself into Latin, conjugated and declined itself, and then
+became compound algebraic equations, with both.
+
+Mr Deane bore all very patiently, though, and a reproachful word or two
+about inattention and condensation of thought upon study was all that
+escaped him.
+
+At last, to Vince's horror, things came to a kind of climax, for Mike
+suddenly looked across the table at the tutor, and said quickly:--
+
+"I say, Mr Deane!"
+
+The tutor looked up at once.
+
+"I want to ask you a question in--in--something--"
+
+"Mathematics?" suggested the tutor.
+
+"N-no," said Mike: "I think it must be in law or social economy.  I
+don't know, though, what you would call it."
+
+"Well: let me hear."
+
+"Suppose anybody discovered a great store of smuggled goods, hidden in
+a--some place.  Whom would it belong to?"
+
+"To the people who put it there, of course."  Vince's eyes almost blazed
+as he turned them upon the questioner.
+
+"Yes," continued Mike; "but suppose there were no people left who put it
+there, and they had all died, perhaps a hundred years ago?"
+
+"Oh, then," said the tutor thoughtfully, "I should think it would belong
+to the people upon whose ground it was discovered,--or no: I fancy it
+would be what is called `treasure trove,' and go to the crown."
+
+"Crown--crown?  What, to a public-house?"
+
+"No, no, my dear boy: to the king."
+
+"Oh, I see," said Mike thoughtfully.  "Is that all?"
+
+"Yes, sir; that's all."
+
+"Well, then, wasn't it rather a foolish question to ask, just in the
+middle of our morning's work?  There, pray go on: we are losing a great
+deal of time."
+
+The boys tried to get on; but they did not, for Mike was conscious of
+being kicked twice, and Vince was making up a tremendous verbal attack
+upon his fellow-student for letting out the discovery they had made.
+
+It came to words as soon as the lessons were over, and Mike took his cap
+to accompany Vince part of the way home, and make their plans for the
+afternoon.
+
+"I couldn't help it--'pon my word I couldn't," cried Mike.  "I felt like
+that classic chap, who was obliged to whisper secrets to the water, and
+that I must speak about that stuff there to somebody."
+
+"And now he'll go and talk to your father about it, and our secret place
+will be at an end.  Why, we might have kept it all quiet for years!"
+
+"So we can now.  I put it so that old Deane shouldn't understand.  I
+say, if he's right we can't claim all that stuff: it'll belong to the
+king."
+
+"I suppose so," said Vince.
+
+"Never mind: we'll keep it till he wants it.  Hullo! what's old Lobster
+doing there?"
+
+Vince turned in the direction pointed out; and, sure enough, there was
+Carnach junior sunning himself on a block of granite, which just peeped
+up through the grass.
+
+"Got nothing to do, I suppose," said Vince.  "I saw him when I was
+coming.  But never mind him.  And I say, don't, pray don't be so stupid
+again."
+
+"All right.  I'll try not to be, if it was stupid," said Mike.  "Well,
+how about this afternoon?"
+
+"I'll come and meet you at the old place, about half-past two."
+
+This was agreed to; and, full of anticipations about the examination of
+the farther cave, they parted, leaving Carnach junior apparently fast
+asleep upon the grey stone.
+
+Just as Vince reached home he came upon Daygo, who gave him a nod; and
+the lad flushed as he thought triumphantly of the discoveries they had
+made, in the face of the old fisherman's superstitious warnings of
+terrible dangers.
+
+"Morn'--or art'noon, young gen'leman," said Daygo, by way of salutation.
+"Lookye here: I'm going out 'sart'noon to take up my pots and nets, and
+if you and young squire likes to come, I'll take you for a sail."
+
+"Where will you take us?" said Vince eagerly.
+
+"Oh, round and about, and in and out among the rocks."
+
+"Will you sail right away round by the Black Scraw?"
+
+"No, I just won't," growled the old man fiercely.  "What do you want to
+go round about the Scraw for?"
+
+"To see what it's like, and find some of the terrible currents and
+things you talked about, Joe."
+
+"Lookye here, my lad," growled the old fellow, "as I told you boys
+afore, I want to live as long as I can, and not come to no end, with the
+boat bottom uppards and me sucked down by things in the horrid
+whirlypools out there.  Why, what would your mars and pars say to me if
+I took you into dangers 'orrible and full o' woe?  Nay, nay, I arn't a
+young harem-scarem-brained chap, and I shan't do it: my boat's too good.
+So look here, if you two likes to come for a bit o' fishing, I'll take
+the big scrarping spoon with me, and go to a bank I know after we've
+done, and try and fish you up a basket o' oysters.  If you comes you
+comes, but if you arn't wi' me soon arter dinner, why, I hystes my sail
+and goes by myself.  So what do you say?"
+
+"I can't say anything without seeing Mike Ladelle first.  Look here: I'm
+going to him this afternoon, and if he'll come, we'll run over to the
+little dock where your boat is."
+
+"Very good, young gen'leman; on'y mind this: if you arn't there
+punctooal, as folks call it, I'm off without you, and you'll be sorry,
+for there's a powerful lot o' fish about these last few days."
+
+"Don't wait if we're not there directly after dinner," said Vince.
+
+Old Daygo chuckled.
+
+"You needn't be afraid of that, my lad," he said; "and mind this,--if
+you're late and I've started, I'm not coming back, so mind that.
+D'reckly you've had your bit o' dinner, or I'm gone."
+
+"All right, Joe," cried Vince; and he hurried in, feeling pulled both
+ways, for he could not help nursing the idea that, once out a short
+distance at sea, he might be able to coax the old fisherman into taking
+them as close as he could safely get to the ridge of rocks which hid the
+little rounded cove from passers-by.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
+
+A SPY ON THE WAY.
+
+Punctual to the time the lads met; and Vince, who was full of old
+Daygo's proposal, laid it before his companion.
+
+"What!" cried Mike; "go with him, when we've got such an adventure
+before us!  You wouldn't do that!"
+
+"Why not?  We can go to the caverns any day, and this will be a chance
+to sail round and see what the outside of the Scraw is like."
+
+"Did he say he would take us there?" cried Mike eagerly.
+
+"No; but we'd persuade him."
+
+"Persuade him!" cried Mike, bursting into a mocking laugh.  "Persuade
+old Joe!  Why, you do know better than that."
+
+Vince frowned and said nothing, for he did know better, and felt that he
+had let his desires get the better of his judgment.
+
+"Very well," he said.  "You'd rather not go?"
+
+"Well, wouldn't you rather go and have a look at those old things than
+see a few fish in a net?"
+
+"Yes, if Joe wouldn't sail round where I want to go."
+
+"Well, he wouldn't, and you know it.  Why, this is a chance.  You felt
+sure he was watching us; and he'll be off to sea, where he can't."
+
+"Off, then!" said Vince; and, full of anticipations, they made for the
+oak wood, and were soon at the opening, into which, without pausing to
+look round, they leaped down quickly; and, after lighting the lanthorn,
+descended as rapidly as they could to the rope.
+
+The place looked as beautiful as ever, as they slid down to the sandy
+floor of the inner cavern, and more than ever like the interior of some
+large shell; while the outer cave, with its roof alive, as it were, with
+the interlacing wavings and quiverings reflected from the sunny surface
+of the sea, would have made any one pause.
+
+But the boys had no eyes for anything that day but the wonders of their
+new discovery; and, quickly getting to work with the rope and grapnel,
+Mike threw it up.
+
+"Got a bite!" he cried.  "No: he's off."
+
+For, after catching, the grapnel gave way again.
+
+The second time he missed; but the third he got another hold, and told
+Vince to climb first.
+
+This he did, and in a very few seconds he was two-thirds of the way up,
+when with a scrape the grapnel gave way, and Vince came down flat on his
+back in the sand, with the iron upon him.
+
+"Hurt?" cried Mike.
+
+"Not much," said Vince, rubbing one leg, which the iron had struck.
+"Try again."
+
+Mike threw once more, got a hold, and, to prove it, began to climb, and
+reached the opening safely.  Then the lanthorn was drawn up, Vince
+followed, and this time taking the rope with them, they went along
+through the peculiar zigzag free from doubts and dread of dangers
+unknown, so that they could think only of the various difficulties of
+the climb.
+
+Upon nearing the open end of the fissure they kept back the lanthorn and
+advanced to peer down cautiously; but, save a few pigeons flying in and
+out, there was no sign of life.  Everything was just as they had seen it
+before; the footprints all over the trampled sand, which had probably
+been made ages before, so they thought; the boat mast, sails, and ropes,
+were at the side, and in the shadowy upper part there were the stacks of
+bales and the carefully piled-up kegs.
+
+"Well?" said Mike; "shall we go down?"
+
+"Of course."
+
+"But suppose there is any one there?"
+
+"We'll soon see," said Vince; and, placing his hands to his mouth, he
+gave vent to a hullo! whose effect was startling; for it echoed and
+vibrated about the great cave, startling a flock of pigeons, which
+darted out with a loud whistling of wings.
+
+Then the sound came back in a peculiar way from the barrier of rocks
+across the bay, for there was evidently a fluttering there among the
+sea-birds, some of which darted down into sight just outside the mouth
+of the cave.
+
+"Nobody at home," said Vince merrily, "and hasn't been lately.  Now
+then: may I go first?"
+
+"If you like," said Mike; and, after securely hooking the grapnel in a
+crevice, Vince threw the rope outward from him into the cavern, where it
+touched the sand some twenty feet below.
+
+"There we are!" he said; "that's easier than throwing it up."
+
+"Yes, but look sharp down.  I want to have a good look."
+
+"After me," said Vince mockingly; and, taking the rope, he lowered
+himself out of the crack, twisted his leg round the hemp, and quickly
+dropped hand over hand to the flooring of the cave.
+
+"Ever so much bigger than ours, Mike," he shouted, and then turned
+sharply round, for a voice said plainly:
+
+"Ours, Mike."
+
+"I say, what an echo!"
+
+"Echo!" came back.
+
+"Well, I said so."
+
+"Said so."
+
+"Hurrah!" cried Mike, as he too reached the floor, and a soft "Rah" came
+from the other side.
+
+Their hearts beat fast with excitement as they stood in the middle of
+the cave, looking round, and pretty well taking in at a glance that it
+was far larger and more commodious than the one they had just quitted,
+especially for the purpose of a store, having the hinder part raised, as
+it were, into a dais or platform, upon which the little barrels and
+packages were stored; while behind these they were able now to see
+through the transparent gloom that the place ran back for some distance
+till flooring and roof met.  Instead, too, of the entrance being barred
+by ridge after ridge of rocks, there was only one some little distance
+beyond the mouth to act as a breakwater, leaving ample room for a boat
+to come round at either end and be beached upon the soft sand, which lay
+perfectly smooth where the water slightly rose and fell.
+
+There was a fine view of the rounded cove from here; and the boys felt
+that if they were to wade out they would be able to get beyond the
+archway sufficiently to look up the overhanging face of the cliff; but,
+with the recollection of the quicksands at the mouth of their own cave,
+neither of them felt disposed to venture, and they were about to turn
+back and examine the goods stored behind them, when on their right there
+was a loud rush and a heavy splash, and Mike seized his companion's arm
+just as a head rose out of the water, and for a moment it seemed as if a
+boy was watching them, the face being only faintly seen, from the head
+being turned away from the light.
+
+"Seal," said Vince quietly.  "Shows how long it is since any one was
+here, for things like that to be about!"
+
+He caught up a couple of handfuls of sand and flung it toward the
+creature, which dived directly, but rose again to watch them, its
+curiosity being greatly excited.
+
+"Won't come ashore and attack us, will it?" said Mike.
+
+"No fear.  I daresay it would bite, though, if we had it in a corner,
+and it couldn't pass.  Look! one must have come ashore there."
+
+He pointed to a smooth channel in the sand, where one of the curious
+animals had dragged itself a few feet from the water, going back by
+another way, and so forming a kind of half-moon.
+
+"Let it watch us: it don't matter," said Mike.  "Come and have a look at
+the packages."
+
+They walked up to the pile of kegs, and Vince took one down, to find
+that it was peculiar in shape and hooped with wood.
+
+"Empty," he said; "it's light as can be."
+
+"Try another," said Mike; and Vince put the one he held down, and tried
+one after another--at least a dozen.
+
+"The stuff has all run out or evaporated," he said.  "Hark here!"
+
+He tapped the end of one with his knuckles, but, instead of giving forth
+a hollow sound, the top sounded dead and dull.
+
+"They're not empty," he said, giving one a shake: "they must be packed
+full of something light.  And I say, Mike, they look as if they couldn't
+be many years old."
+
+"That's because the cavern's so clean and dry.  Let's look at the
+packages.  I say, smell this one.  There's no mistake about it--cloves!"
+
+Vince nodded, and they tried others, which gave out, some the same
+unmistakable odour, others those of cinnamon and nutmeg.
+
+Further examination of some small, heavy, solid packets left little
+doubt in the lads' minds that they were dealing with closely folded or
+rolled pieces of silk, and they ended their examination by trying to
+interpret the brands with which some of the packages were marked.
+
+"One can't be sure without opening them," said Vince eagerly; "but I
+feel certain that these are silk, the other packages spice, and the kegs
+have got gloves and lace in them.  There are two kinds."
+
+"Yes; some are larger than the others.  Shall we open a few of them, to
+see if they've been destroyed by time?"
+
+"No, not yet," replied Vince thoughtfully.  "Let's go and have a look at
+that boat sail and the oars.  Those oars ought to be old and
+worm-eaten--ready to tumble to pieces--and the sail-cloth like so much
+tinder!"
+
+Mike nodded, and followed him rather unwillingly; for the keg nearest to
+his hand fascinated him, and he longed intensely to force out the head.
+
+It was not many steps to where the boat gear stood and lay, and Vince
+began to haul it about after the first glance.
+
+"Look here, Ladle!" he cried; "these things are not so very old.  The
+canvas is as strong as can be, and it can't be so many years since these
+oars were marked with a hot iron."
+
+"Oh, nonsense!" said Mike, who did not like to give up his cherished
+ideas; "it's because they're so dry and safe here."
+
+"It isn't," said Vince impetuously; "and look here, at all these
+footmarks!"
+
+"Well, what's to prevent them from being just the same after a hundred
+years?"
+
+"The wind," cried Vince.  "If those marks were old the sand would have
+drifted in and covered them over quite smooth, same as the floor was in
+our cave before we walked about it.  Mike, all these things are quite
+new, and haven't been put here long."
+
+"Nonsense! who could have put them?"
+
+"I don't know; but here they are, and if we don't look out some one will
+come and catch us.  This is a smugglers' cave."
+
+"But there are no smugglers here.  Who ever heard of smugglers at the
+Crag!"
+
+"I never did; but I'm sure these are smuggled goods."
+
+"Well, I don't know," said Mike.  "It seems very queer.  The cave can't
+be so dangerous to come to, if boats can land cargoes.  Old Daygo's all
+wrong, then?"
+
+"Of course he is; so are all the people.  Every one has told us that the
+Black Scraw was a terrible place, and looked as if they thought it was
+haunted by all kinds of sea goblins.  Let's get away."
+
+"Think we'd better?"
+
+"Yes; I keep expecting to see a boat come round the corner into sight.
+I shouldn't like to be here when they did come."
+
+"But it's so disappointing!" cried Mike.  "I thought we were going to
+have all this to ourselves."
+
+"I don't think I did," said Vince thoughtfully.
+
+"But I don't believe you're right, Cinder.  These things can't have been
+put here in our time, or we must have known of it.  See what a little
+place the Crag is."
+
+"Yes, it's small enough, but the Scraw has always been as if it were far
+away, and people could come here and do what they liked."
+
+"But they wouldn't be so stupid as to come here and leave things for
+nobody," said Mike.  "Is there anybody here who would want them?"
+
+"No," replied Vince; "but smugglers might make this a sort of
+storehouse, and some bring the things here from France and Holland and
+others come and fetch them away.  There, come on, and let's get up into
+the crack.  I don't feel safe.  It has regularly spoiled our place,
+though, for whoever comes here must know of the other cave."
+
+"Well," said Mike, as they stood by the rope, and he gazed longingly
+back at the rich store he was about to leave behind, "I'll come; but I
+don't believe you're right."
+
+"You'll soon see that I am, Ladle; for before long all these things will
+be taken away--perhaps by the time we come again."
+
+"If it's as you say we shan't be able to come again," replied Mike
+rather dolefully; and then, in obedience to an impatient sign from his
+companion, he took hold of the rope and climbed slowly up, passing in at
+the opening, and being followed by Vince directly after.
+
+Then the rope was drawn up and coiled, and both took a long and envious
+look at the cargo that had been landed there at some time or other,
+before making their way along the fissure to their own place.
+
+"I don't believe any one would do as we've done, and come along there,"
+said Mike, as soon as they were safely back.  "Perhaps, if you're right
+about that stuff being new, these smuggling people don't, after all,
+know of this cave."
+
+"They must have seen it when they were going and coming in their boat,
+and would have been sure to land and come in."
+
+"Land where?" said Mike scornfully.  "No boat could land here, and
+nobody could wade in, on account of the quicksands.  But I'm right,
+Cinder.  These things are awfully old, and they'll be ours after all."
+
+"Very well: we shall see," said Vince.  "But I don't feel disposed to
+stop here now.  Let's get back home."
+
+"Yes," said Mike, with a sigh, "let's get back home;" and, after setting
+up a fresh bit of candle, they started for the inner cave, ascended the
+slope, and made their way along the black passage to the spot where they
+put out and hid their lanthorn.
+
+This done, with the caution taught by the desire to keep their
+hiding-place secret, Vince stepped softly on to the opening, and was
+about to pass along to the end, but he paused to peer out through the
+briars to see if all was right, and the next moment he stood there as if
+turned to stone.  Mike crept up to him and touched his shoulder, feeling
+sure from his companion's fixed attitude that something must be wrong.
+
+The answer to his touch was the extension of Vince's hand, and he
+pointed upward and toward the side of the deep rift.
+
+Mike turned his head softly, and gazed in the indicated direction.  For
+some moments he could see nothing for the briars and ferns; but at last
+he bent a trifle more forward, and his fists clenched, for there, upon
+one of the stones beside the entrance to their cave, with his hand
+shading his eyes, and staring upward apparently at the ridge, was
+Carnach junior.
+
+"Spying after us," said Mike to himself; "and he does not know that we
+are close to his feet."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIXTEEN.
+
+SOME DOUBTS ABOUT THE DISCOVERY.
+
+Certainly Lobster did not know how near the two boys were, and he soon
+proved it by coming closer, looking down, and then turning to
+reconnoitre in another direction.
+
+Vince stared at Mike, and their eyes simultaneously said the same thing:
+"He must have been watching us, and seen us come in this direction."
+
+It was evident that he had soon lost the clue in following them,
+although, judging from circumstances, he must have tracked them close to
+where they were.
+
+They recollected now that they had not exercised their regular caution--
+though, even if they had, it is very doubtful whether they would have
+detected a spy who crawled after them, for the cover was too thick--and
+a feeling of anger troubled both for allowing themselves to be outwitted
+by a lout they both held in utter contempt.
+
+They stood watching their spy for nearly a quarter of an hour, and were
+able to judge from his actions that he had seen them disappear somewhere
+in this direction; and in profound ignorance in this game of hide and
+seek that he was having, Carnach scanned the high slope and the ridge,
+and the bottom where the stones lay so thickly again and again, ending
+by ensconcing himself behind one of them, after plucking some fern
+fronds, and putting them on the top of his cap to act as a kind of
+screen in case those he sought should come into sight somewhere
+overhead.
+
+The two boys hardly dared stir, but at last, with his eyes fixed upon
+Carnach to see if he heard their movement, Vince pointed softly back
+into the dark passage, and Mike crept away without making the slightest
+sound.  Then, as soon as he was satisfied of the coast being clear
+behind him, Vince began to back away till he felt it safe to turn, and
+followed his companion some fifty yards into the darkness, which now
+seemed to be quite a refuge to them.
+
+"Where are you?" whispered Vince.
+
+A low cough told him that he was not yet far enough; and, keeping one
+hand upon the wall, he followed until he felt himself touched.
+
+"I say," he whispered, "this is nice: smugglers at one end and that
+miserable Lobster at the other!  What are we to do?"
+
+"I don't know," said Mike dolefully.  "He must have seen us go out of
+sight, and feels sure that we shall come back again, and he'll wait till
+we do."
+
+"No, no; he'll soon get tired."
+
+"Not he," said Mike; "he's just one of those stupid, heavy chaps who
+will sit or lie down and wait for us for a week."
+
+"But I want to get home.  I'm growing hungry."
+
+"Let's go back and fish, and light a fire and cook it."
+
+"What, for him to smell the frying?  He would, as sure as could be.  No;
+we must wait."
+
+"I say, Cinder," whispered Mike, "what an unlucky day we are having!
+Everything seems to go wrong."
+
+"It'll go worse still if you whisper so loud," said Vince; "the sound
+runs along the walls here, and gets stronger, I believe, as it goes."
+
+"Well, I can't help it; I feel so wild.  I say, couldn't we creep out
+without being seen, and get home?"
+
+"Yes, when it's dark; not before."
+
+"But that means waiting here for hours, and I feel as if I can't settle
+to anything now.  Let's go back down to the cave.  The smugglers can't
+come to-day.  It would be too bad."
+
+"Better wait here and watch till Lobster goes," said Vince; but,
+yielding at last to his companion's importunity, he was about to follow
+him back, when there was a loud rustling, a heavy thud, and then a
+dismal howl.
+
+The Lobster had slipped and fallen into the rift while backing so as to
+get a better view of the ridge.
+
+"Oh my!  Oh my!  Oh, mother!  Oh, crikey!  Oh my head--my head!  Oh, my
+arm!  Oh, it's broke!  And I'm bleeding!  Won't nobody come and help
+me?"
+
+The above, uttered in a piteous, dismal wail, was too much for Vince's
+feelings; and, pushing his companion aside, he was about to hurry to the
+lad's help, but Mike seized him by the arm, and at the same moment they
+heard Carnach junior jump up and begin stamping about.
+
+"Here, who did this?" he roared.  "What fool's been digging stone here
+and left this hole o' purpose for any one to fall in?  Wish he'd tumbled
+in himself, and broke his stoopid old head.  Yah!  Oh my, how it hurts!"
+
+He stamped about in the hollow, and they heard him kick one of the
+stones with his heavy boots in his rage.
+
+"Wish them two had tumbled in 'stead o' me.  Oh dear, oh!  Here's a mess
+I'm in!  Making a great hole like this, and never leaving no stuff
+outside.  Might ha' been deep, and killed a chap.  It aren't broke
+through," he grumbled, after a pause.  "Wonder where they've got to.  Oh
+dear! oh dear! what a crack on the head!  That comes o' going backwards.
+Yah!"
+
+This last ejaculation was accompanied by the rattle of stones, as the
+great lad evidently kicked another piece that was in his way; and,
+feeling now that there was nothing serious in the fall, Vince gave
+Mike's hand a squeeze as they stood listening and expecting every moment
+to hear the young fisherman say something in the way of surprise as he
+saw the dark hole going downward.  But they listened in vain,--full of
+anxiety, though, for it was like a second blow to find that their secret
+place was becoming very plain, known as it evidently was to people at
+the sea entrance, and now from the landward side discovered by the
+greatest enemy they had.
+
+Vince felt this so strongly that, in spite of the risk of being heard,
+he put his lips to Mike's ear and whispered: "This spoils all."
+
+Mike responded in the same way: "I say, what's he doing?  Shall I go and
+see?"
+
+"No, I will," whispered back Vince.
+
+"Take care."
+
+Vince's answer was a squeeze of the hand.  Then, going down upon all
+fours, he crept silently and slowly up the slope till he could see the
+lad, expecting to find him peering about the mouth of the passage, and
+trying to see whether they were there.
+
+But nothing of the kind.  There was the young fisherman seated upon a
+piece of stone, with the light shining down upon him through the
+brambles, busily tying his neckerchief round his head, making it into a
+bandage to cover a cut somewhere on the back, and tying it in front over
+his forehead.  Then, picking up his cap, which lay beside him, he drew
+it on over the handkerchief, having most trouble to cover the knot, but
+succeeding at last.
+
+Then he stood up and began to examine his hands, which appeared to be
+scratched and bleeding; and making Vince start and feel that he was
+seen, for the boy turned in the direction of the dark passage and cried
+viciously:
+
+"All right, Doctor: I'll let yer have it next time I ketches yer--and
+you too, old Squire.  Oh my! how it smarts, though!  Wonder wherever
+they got."
+
+Those last words came like a fillip to Vince's spirits, for he felt now
+that there was nothing to mind, as he could not give the Lobster credit
+for knowing that they were close at hand and acting his part so as to
+make believe he was in ignorance.
+
+Just then a light touch told Vince that Mike had crawled silently up
+behind him; and they both crouched there now, in the darkness, watching
+the lad, till he suddenly seemed to become impressed by the fact that
+the hole went right in underground, and he stood staring in till the two
+boys felt that he was looking at them and seeing them plainly.
+
+"Goes right in," he said aloud--"ever so far, p'r'aps.  Well, let it.  I
+aren't going to get myself all wet and muddy.  Oh! how it do hurt!"
+
+He raised his hand to the back of his head; but he remained staring in,
+the boys hardly daring to breathe, as each doubled his fists, and
+prepared for an encounter.
+
+"He must see us," thought Vince; and when he felt most certain, his
+heart gave a throb of satisfaction, for a slight movement on the lad's
+part brought his face more into the light, and Vince could see that
+there was a vague look in the lad's eyes, as if he were thinking; and
+then he turned slowly round and began to look about for the best way out
+of the trap into which he had fallen, proceeding to drag at the brambles
+in one spot where an exit seemed easiest; but a sharp prick or two made
+him snatch away his hands with an angry ejaculation, and, looking about
+again, he noticed that there was a simpler way out at the end--that used
+by the two boys for returning, their entries always now being by a
+sudden jump down through the pendent green shoots.
+
+"I'll let 'em have it for this when I do find 'em," grumbled the lad.
+"Must ha' gone home'ards some other way."  And they could hear him
+muttering and grumbling as the twigs and strands rustled where he
+passed, till they knew that he was well outside, for they heard him give
+a stamp on one of the blocks of granite.
+
+Vince rose silently.
+
+"Come on," he said,--"the brambles will screen us;" and he crept forward
+carefully, till he was close to the hole, and then cautiously advanced
+his head, to peer upward, raising his hand warningly to Mike, who was
+just behind.  For the lad had not gone away, but was standing at the
+edge with his back to them, and his eyes sheltered, gazing upward at the
+ridge.
+
+He remained there watching intently for quite ten minutes without
+moving, and then went off out of sight, the only guide to the direction
+he took being the rustling of displaced bushes and the musical clink of
+a loose block of stone moved by his passing feet.
+
+They did not trust themselves to speak for some time after the last
+faint sound had died out, and then they began to discuss the question
+whether they could escape unseen.
+
+"Must chance it," said Vince at last.  "I'm tired of staying here.  Come
+on."
+
+Mike was evidently quite as weary, for he showed his agreement by
+following at once.  They were both cautious in the extreme, going out on
+all fours, and then crawling in and out between the blocks of granite--a
+pleasant enough task so long as the growth between was whortleberry,
+heath or ferns, but as for the most part it was the long thorny strands
+of the blackberry, the travelling became more and more painful.  At
+last, after progressing in this way some three hundred yards, a horribly
+thorny strand hooked Vince in the leg of his trousers and skin as well,
+with the result that he started to his feet angrily.
+
+"Here, I've had enough of this," he cried.  "Hang the old cavern! it
+isn't worth the trouble."
+
+"Hist!" exclaimed Mike, seizing him by the leg and pointing straight
+away to their right.
+
+Vince dropped forward, with his arms stretched over the nearest block of
+grey stone, staring at the object pointed out, and seeing Carnach junior
+right up close to the highest part of the ridge.
+
+For a few moments he could not be sure whether the young fisherman was
+looking in their direction, or away; from them; but a movement on the
+part of the lad set this at rest directly after, and they saw him go
+slowly on, helping himself by clutching at the saw-like row of jagged
+stones which divided one slope from the other; and, satisfied that they
+had not been seen, they recommenced their crawl, till they reached the
+cover of a pile of the loose rocks, which were pretty well covered with
+growth.
+
+Placing this between them and the lad, now far away upon the ridge, they
+made for the cover of the stunted oaks, and there breathed freely.
+
+Mike was the first to speak, and he began just as if his companion had
+the moment before made his impatient remarks about the adventure not
+being worth the trouble.
+
+"I don't know," he said.  "This is the first time we have had any
+bother, and I don't see why we should give such a jolly place up just
+because that thick-headed old Lobster came watching us."
+
+"Ah! but that isn't all," said Vince.  "We can't go down there any more,
+on account of the smugglers."
+
+"But I don't believe you are right.  Those things looked new, I know;
+but they must be as old as old, for if any smuggling had been going on
+here we must have seen or heard of it."
+
+"But the sand--the sand!  Those footprints must be new."
+
+"I don't see it," said Mike, rather stubbornly.  "Because the wind blows
+into one cave and drifts the light sand all over, that's no reason why
+it should do so in another cave, which may be regularly sheltered."
+
+"It's no good to argue with you," said Vince sourly, for he was weary
+and put out.  "You can have it your own way, only I tell you this,--
+smugglers don't stand any nonsense; they'll shoot at any one who tries
+to stop them or find out where they land cargoes, and we should look
+nice if they suddenly came upon us."
+
+"People don't come suddenly on you when they've been dead a hundred
+years," replied Mike.  "Now, just look here: we must do it as if we took
+no interest in it, but you ask your father to-night, and I'll ask mine,
+whether they ever heard of there being smugglers in the Crag."
+
+"Well, I will," said Vince; "but you must do the same."
+
+"Of course I shall; and we shall find that it must have been an enormous
+time ago, and that we've as good a right to those things as anybody, for
+they were brought there and then forgotten."
+
+"Well, we shall see," said Vince; and that night, at their late tea, he
+started the subject with--
+
+"Have you ever known any smugglers to be here, father?"
+
+"Smugglers?  No, Vince," said the Doctor, smiling.  "There's nothing
+ever made here that would carry duty, for people to want to get it into
+England free; and on the other hand, it would not be of any use for
+smugglers to bring anything here, for there is no one to buy smuggled
+goods, such as they might bring from Holland or France."
+
+Somewhere about the same time Mike approached the question at the old
+manor house.
+
+"Smugglers, Mike?" said Sir Francis.  "Oh no, my boy, we've never had
+smugglers here.  The place is too dangerous, and perfectly useless to
+such people, for they land contraband goods only where they can find a
+good market for them.  Now, if you had said pirates, I could tell you
+something different."
+
+"Were there ever pirates, then?" cried Mike excitedly.  Sir Francis
+laughed.
+
+"It's strange," he said, "what interest boys always have taken in
+smugglers, pirates, and brigand stories.  Why, you're as bad as the
+rest, boy!  But there, I'm running away from your question.  Yes, I
+believe there were pirates here at one time; but it is over a hundred
+years ago, and they were a crew of low, ruffianly scoundrels, who got
+possession of a vessel and lived for years by plundering the outward and
+inward bound merchantmen; and being on a fast sailing vessel they always
+escaped by running for shore, and from their knowledge of the rocks and
+currents they could sail where strangers dared not follow.  But the
+whole history has been dressed up tremendously, and made romantic.  It
+was said that they brought supernatural aid to bear in navigating their
+craft, and that they would sail right up to the Crag and then become
+invisible: people would see them one minute and they'd be gone the
+next."
+
+"Hah!" ejaculated Mike, and his father smiled.  "All superstitious
+nonsense, of course, my boy; but the ignorant people get hold of these
+traditions and believe in them.  Mr Deane here will soon tell you how
+in history molehills got stretched up into mountains."
+
+"Or snowballs grew into historical avalanches," said the tutor.
+
+"Exactly," said Sir Francis.  "I fancy, Mike, that those people may have
+had a nest here.  One of the men--Carnach I think it was--told me that
+they had a cave, and only sailed from it at night."
+
+"Did he know where it was, father?"
+
+"I remember now he said it was `sumwers about,' which is rather vague;
+but still there are several holes on the west coast which might have
+been made habitable; though I have never seen such a cave on the island,
+nor even one that could have been serviceable as a store."
+
+Mike winced a little, for he fully expected to hear his father say "Have
+you?"  But then Sir Francis went off to another subject, and the boy
+nursed up his ideas ready for his next meeting with Vince, which was on
+the following day.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.
+
+PIRATES OR SMUGGLERS?  HOW TO PROVE IT.
+
+"Pirates, Cinder!"
+
+Mike was down at the gate waiting for Vince to come with his roll of
+exercises, ready for the morning's work; and as soon as Vince came
+within earshot he fired off the word that he had been dreaming about all
+night--
+
+"Pirates!"
+
+"Where?" cried Vince, looking sharply round and out to sea.
+
+"Get out!  You know what I mean.  It's pirates, not smugglers."
+
+Vince stared at him for a few moments, and then burst out laughing.
+
+"Well, you've got it this time," he said, "if you mean the cave."
+
+"And I do," said Mike quietly.  "Pirates; and that's some of the plunder
+and booty they took from a ship over a hundred years ago.  So now whose
+will it be?"
+
+"Stop a moment," said Vince, looking preternaturally serious; "let's be
+certain who it was.  Let me see: there was Paul Jones, and Blackbeard,
+and the Buccaneers.  What do you say to its having belonged to the
+Buccaneers?"
+
+"Ah! you may laugh, but my father said last night that he never knew of
+smugglers being on the island, but that there was a story about pirates
+having a cave here, and going out in their vessel to plunder the outward
+and homeward bound merchantmen."
+
+"Humph!" grunted Vince, with a sceptical look.
+
+"And look here: he said the people had a superstitious belief that the
+pirates used to sail towards the Crag, and then disappear."
+
+"What!" cried Vince eagerly.
+
+"Disappear quite suddenly."
+
+"Behind that line of rocks when they sailed into the little cove, Mike?"
+
+"To be sure.  Now, then, why don't you laugh and sneer?" cried Mike.
+"Does it sound so stupid now?"
+
+"I don't know," said Vince, beginning to be dubious again.
+
+"Then I do," said Mike warmly.  "I never knew of such an unbelieving
+sort of chap as you are.  There's the cave, and there's all the plunder
+in it--just such stuff as the pirates would get out of a ship homeward
+bound."
+
+"Yes; but why did they leave it there and not sell it?"
+
+"I know," cried Mike excitedly: "because one day they went out and
+attacked a ship so as to plunder her, and found out all at once that it
+was a man-o'-war; and as soon as the man-o'-war's captain found out that
+they were pirates he had all the guns double-shotted, and gave the order
+to fire a broadside, and sank the pirate."
+
+"That's the way," said Vince, laughing; "and the pirate captain ran up
+the rigging with a hammer and some tin-tacks, and nailed the colours to
+the mast."
+
+"Ah! you may laugh," said Mike.  "You're disappointed because you didn't
+find it out first.  There it all is, as plain as plain.  The people used
+to think the pirate vessel disappeared, because she sailed out of sight
+and used to lie in hiding till they wanted to attack another ship.
+Well, I shan't say any more about it if you are going to laugh, but
+there's the treasure in the cave: we found it; and half's yours and
+half's mine.  Now then, what did the Doctor say?"
+
+"That he never heard of any smugglers ever being here."
+
+"There!" cried Mike triumphantly.
+
+"He said there was no one here to buy smuggled goods, and nothing here
+to smuggle."
+
+"Of course not: the other's the idea, and I vote we go down and properly
+examine our treasure after dinner."
+
+"That is curious," said Vince, "about the tradition of the pirate ship
+disappearing, because it proves that there is a channel big enough for a
+small ship."
+
+"Oh you're beginning to believe, then, now?"
+
+"No, I'm not; for I feel sure those are smuggled goods.  But, Mike, we
+must get old Joe to lend us his boat, and sail along there ourselves."
+
+"He wouldn't lend it to us."
+
+"Then I know what we'll do--"
+
+"Now, gentlemen, I'm waiting," said a familiar voice.
+
+"All right, Mr Deane; we're coming," cried Mike.  "Now, Cinder, what
+shall we do?"
+
+"Go and ask the old chap to lend us his boat, and if he won't we'll come
+back disappointed."
+
+"And what's the good of that?"
+
+"Slip round another way and borrow her.  You and I could manage her,
+couldn't we?"
+
+"Why, I could manage her myself."
+
+"Of course you could.  We shouldn't hurt the boat; and we could feel our
+way in, and see from outside whether it has been a smugglers' place or
+no."
+
+"That's it," said Mike; and five minutes after they were working hard
+with the tutor, as if they had nothing on their minds.
+
+That afternoon, with the sun brighter and the sea and sky looking bluer
+than ever, the two boys were off for their afternoon expedition, making
+their way along a rough lane that was very beautiful and very bad.  It
+was bad from the point of view that the fisher-farmers of the island
+looked upon it as a sort of "no man's land," and never favoured it by
+spreading donkey-cart loads of pebbles or broken granite to fill up the
+holes trodden in by cows in wet weather, or the tracks made by carts
+laden with vraick, the sea-weed they collected for manuring their potato
+and parsnep fields.  Consequently, in bad seasons Vince said it was
+"squishy," and Mike that it was "squashy."  But in fine summer weather
+it was beautiful indeed, for Nature seemed to have made up her mind that
+it was nonsense for a roadway to be made there to act like a scar on the
+landscape, just to accommodate a few people who wanted to bring up
+sea-weed, sand and fish from the shore, and harness donkeys to rough
+carts to do the work when they might more easily have done it themselves
+by making a rough windlass, such as they had over their wells, and
+dragging all they wanted directly up the cliff face to the top--a plan
+which would have done in fifty yards what the donkeys had to go round
+nearly half a mile to achieve.  As to the road being kept up solely
+because old Joe Daygo had a cottage down in a notch in the granite walls
+overlooking the sea, that seemed to be absurd.
+
+Consequently, Nature went to work regularly every year to do away with
+that road, and she set all her children to help.  The gorse bushes hung
+from the sides, thrusting out their prickly sprays covered with orange
+and yellow blossom and encroached all they could; the heather sprouted
+and slowly crept here and there, in company with a lovely fine grass
+that would have made a lover of smooth lawns frantic with envy.  Over
+the heath, ling, and furze the dodder wreathed and wove its delicate
+tangle, and the thrift raised its lavender heads to nod with
+satisfaction at the way in which all the plants and wild shrubs were
+doing their work.
+
+But there were two things which left all the rest behind, and did by far
+the most to bring the crooked lane back to beauty.  They laughed at the
+two brionies, black and white; for though they made a glorious show,
+with their convolvulus and deeply cut leaves, and sent forth strands of
+wonderfully rapid growth to run over the sturdy blackthorn, which
+produced such splendid sloes, and then hung down festoons of glossy
+leaves into the lane that quite put the more slow-growing ivy to the
+blush, still these lovely trailing festoons died back in the winter,
+while their rival growths kept on.  These rivals were the brambles and
+the wild clematis, which grew and grew in friendly emulation, and ended,
+in spite of many rebuffs from trampling feet, by shaking hands across
+the road; the clematis, not content with that, going farther and
+embracing and tangling themselves up till rudely broken apart by the
+passers-by--notably by old Joe Daygo, when he went that way home to his
+solitary cot, instead of walking, out of sheer awkwardness, across
+somebody's field or patch.
+
+"I wish father would buy old Joe's cottage," said Vince, as the two lads
+trudged down the lane that afternoon.  "We could make it such a lovely
+place."
+
+"Yours is right enough," said Mike, pausing in whistling an old French
+air a good deal affected by the people.
+
+"Oh yes, and I shouldn't like to leave it; but I always like this bit
+down here; the lane is so jolly.  Look."
+
+"What at?"
+
+"Two swallow-tail butterflies.  Let's have them."
+
+"Shan't.  I'm not going to make myself red-hot running after them if
+we're going out in the boat.  Besides, we haven't got any of your
+father's pill boxes to put 'em in.  I say, how the things do grow down
+here!  Look at that fern and the bracken."
+
+"Yes, and the old foxgloves.  They are a height!"
+
+"It's so warm and sheltered.  What's that?"
+
+They stopped, for there was a quick, rushing sound amongst the herbage.
+
+"Snake," said Vince, after a pause; "and we've no sticks to hunt him
+out."
+
+"Down his hole by this time.  Come along.  What a fellow you are!  You
+always want to be off after something.  Why can't you keep to one
+purpose at a time, as Mr Deane says, so as to master it?"
+
+"Hark at old Ladle beginning to lay down the law," cried Vince merrily.
+"You're just as bad.  I say, shall we stop about here this afternoon?
+Look at that gull--how it seems to watch us."
+
+Vince threw back his head to gaze up at the beautiful, white-breasted
+bird, which was keeping them company, and sailing about here and there
+some twenty feet overhead, watching them all the time.
+
+"Bother the gull!" said Mike.  "Let's go on and speak to old Joe about
+the boat."
+
+"Oh, very well," said Vince; "but what's the hurry?  I hate racing along
+when there's so much to see.  Here, Ladle: look--look!  My! what a
+chance for a seine!"
+
+They had just reached a turn in the lane where they could look down at
+an embayed portion of the deep blue sea, in which a wide patch was
+sparkling and flashing in the most dazzling way, and literally seeming
+to boil as if some large volcanic fire were at work below.
+
+"Mackerel," said Vince.
+
+"Pilchards," said Mike.
+
+"'Taint: it's too soon.  It's mackerel.  What a chance!"
+
+"Have it your own way," said Mike; "but a nice chance!  Ha! ha!  Why, if
+they surrounded them they'd get their nets all torn to pieces.  There's
+sand all round, but the middle there is full of the worst rocks off the
+coast."
+
+"Yes I s'pose it would be rocky," said Vince thoughtfully.  "Well, do
+come on."
+
+Mike turned upon him to resent the order, feeling that it was nice to be
+accused of delaying their progress; but the mirthful look on Vince's
+face disarmed him, and after a skirmish and spar to get rid of a little
+of their effervescing vitality, consequent upon the stimulating effects
+of the glorious air, they broke into a trot and went past a large patch
+where a man was busy hoeing away at a grand crop of carrots, destined
+for winter food for his soft-eyed cow, tethered close at hand; and soon
+after came in sight of a massive, rough chimney-stack of granite,
+apparently level with the road.  But this latter made a sudden dip down
+into a steep hollow, and there stood the comfortable-looking cottage
+inhabited by the old fisherman, with its goodly garden, cow-shed, and
+many little additions which betokened prosperity.
+
+The door was open, and, quite at home, the boys walked into the half
+parlour, half kitchen-like place, with its walls decorated with
+fishing-gear and dried fish, with various shells, spars, and minerals,
+which the old man called his "koorosseties," some native, but many
+obtained from men who had made long voyages in ocean-going ships.
+
+"Hi, Joe! where are you?" cried Vince, hammering on the open door.  But
+there was not a sound to be heard; and they came out, climbed up the
+rocks at the back till they were above the chimneys, and looked round,
+expecting to find that he had gone off to the granite-hedged field where
+he tethered his cows.
+
+But the two sleek creatures were browsing away, and no one was in sight
+but the man, some hundred yards or so distant, hoeing the weeds from his
+carrots.
+
+"How tiresome!" said Mike.
+
+"All right: he'll know," cried Vince; and they trotted to where the man
+was very slowly freeing his vegetables from intruders.
+
+"Hi, Jemmy Carnach!" shouted the lad, "seen Joe Daygo?"
+
+"Ay,--hour ago," said the man, straightening himself slowly, and passing
+one hand behind him to begin softly rubbing his back: "he've gone yonder
+to do somethin' to his boat."
+
+"Come on, Mike; we'll cut straight across here and catch him.  It's much
+nearer."
+
+"Going fishing, young sirs?" said the man.
+
+"Yes, and for a sail."
+
+"If you see that boy o' mine--"
+
+"What, Lobster?" said Vince.
+
+"Eh? lobster?" said the man eagerly.  "Ay, if you ketch any, you might
+leave us one as you come back.  I arn't seen one for a week."
+
+"All right," said Mike, after a merry glance at Vince; "if we get any
+we'll leave you one."
+
+"Ay, do, lad," said the man.  "Good for them as has to tyle all day.  If
+you see my boy, tell him I want him.  I'm not going to do all the work
+and him nothing."
+
+"We'll tell him," said Vince.
+
+"And if he says he won't come, you lick him, mind.  Don't you be
+feared."
+
+The boys were pretty well out of hearing when the last words were
+spoken; and after a sharp trot, along by the side of the cliff where it
+was possible, they came to the rugged descent leading to old Daygo's
+tiny port.
+
+This time they were not disappointed, for they caught sight of the old
+man's cap as he stood below with his back to them, driving a wooden peg
+into a crack in the rock with a rounded boulder, ready for hanging up
+some article of fishing-gear.
+
+"You ask him," said Mike: "he likes you best."
+
+"All right," said Vince; and, putting his hands to his lips, he shouted
+out, "Daygo, ahoy!"
+
+"Ahoy!" cried the old man, without turning his head; and he kept on
+thumping away till the boys had reached him, when he slowly turned to
+face them, and threw down the great pebble.
+
+Vince was too thorough to hesitate, and he opened the business at once,
+in his outspoken way:
+
+"Here, Joe!" he cried; "we want you to lend us your boat to go for a
+sail."
+
+"To lend you my boat to go for a sail?" said the old man, nodding his
+head softly.
+
+"Yes; and we shan't be very long, because we must be back to tea."
+
+"And you won't be very long, because you must be back to tea?"
+
+"Yes; and we won't trouble you.  We can get it out ourselves."
+
+"And you won't trouble me, because you can get it out yourselves?"
+
+"That's right."
+
+"Oh, that's right, is it, Master Vince?  That's what you thinks," said
+the old fisherman.
+
+"But you'll lend it to us, won't you?"
+
+"Nay, my lad--I won't."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Why?" said Daygo, beginning to rasp his nose, according to custom, with
+his rough forefinger.  "He says why?  Mebbe you'd lose her."
+
+"No, we wouldn't, Joe."
+
+"Mebbe you'd run her on the rocks."
+
+"Nonsense!--just as if we don't know where the rocks are.  Know 'em
+nearly as well as you do."
+
+Daygo chuckled.
+
+"Oh, come, Joe, don't be disagreeable.  We'll take plenty of care of it,
+and pay you what you like."
+
+"Your fathers tell you to come to me?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Thought not.  Nay, my lads, I won't lend you my boat, and there's an
+end on it.  I'm not going to have your two fathers coming to ask me why
+I sent you both to the bottom."
+
+"Such stuff!" cried Vince angrily.  "Just as if we could come to harm on
+a day like this."
+
+"Ah! you don't know, lad; I do.  Never can tell when a squall's coming
+off the land."
+
+"Well, I do call it disagreeable," said Vince.  "Will you take us out?"
+
+"Nay, not to-day."
+
+"Oh, very well.  Never mind, but I shan't forget it.  Did think you'd
+have done that, Joe.  Come on, Mike; let's go and get some lines and
+fish off the rocks."
+
+"Ay, that's the best game for boys like you," said the old man; and,
+stooping down, he picked up the boulder and began to knock again at the
+wooden peg without taking any notice of his visitors.
+
+"Come on, Vince," said Mike; and they walked back up the cliff, climbing
+slowly, but as soon as they were out of the old man's sight starting off
+quickly to gain a clump of rocks, which they placed between them and the
+way down.  Here they began to climb carefully till they had reached a
+spot from whence they could look down upon the little winding channel
+leading from the tunnel to Daygo's natural dock.
+
+They could see the old man, too, moving about far below, evidently
+fetching something to hang upon the great peg he had finished driving
+in; and, after disappearing for a few minutes, he came into sight again,
+and they saw him hang the something up--but what, at that distance, they
+could not make out.
+
+At the end of a few minutes the old man went down to his boat, stayed
+with it another five minutes or so, and then stood looking about him.
+
+"It's no go, Cinder," said Mike, in a disappointed tone; "we shan't get
+off to-day, and perhaps it's best.  We oughtn't to take his boat."
+
+"Why not?  It's only like borrowing anything of a neighbour.  He was
+sour to-day, or else he'd have lent it."
+
+"But suppose he finds out?"
+
+"Well, then he'll only laugh.  You'll see: he'll be off directly."
+
+Mike shook his head as they lay there upon their breasts, with their
+heads hidden behind tufts of heather; but Vince was right as to the old
+man soon going, for directly after they saw him begin to climb
+deliberately up to the level, look cautiously round, and then, bent of
+back, trudge slowly off in the direction of his home; while, as soon as
+he was well on his way, the boys crept downward till they were at the
+foot of the rocks, when Vince cried:
+
+"Now then: lizards!" and began to crawl at a pretty good rate towards
+the way down to the natural dock, quite out of sight of the old man if
+he had looked back.
+
+The rugged way down was reached, and here they were able to rise erect
+and begin to descend in the normal way, Vince starting off rapidly.
+
+"Come on!" he cried; "old Joe will never know.  I say, we have
+`sarcumwented' him, as he'd call it."
+
+"Yes, it's all very well," said Mike, whose conscience was pricking him,
+"but it always seems so precious easy to do what you oughtn't to."
+
+"Pooh!" cried Vince; "this is nothing."
+
+"Some one is sure to say he has seen the boat out."
+
+"Well, I don't care if he does.  Joe ought to have lent us the boat; I'm
+sure we've done things enough for him.  There, don't talk; let's get
+her.  He might come back for something, and stop us."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.
+
+A RISKY TRIP.
+
+But the old fisherman did not return, and they took down mast, sail,
+oars, and boat-hook, cast the little craft loose, jumped in, and
+skilfully sent her along the channel, without startling any mullet this
+time.  Then the tunnel was reached, passed through, a good thrust or two
+given, and the boat glided out over the transparent waves, Mike
+thrusting an oar from the stern and sculling her along till they were
+well out from the shelter of the rocks, when he drew in his oar and
+helped to step the little mast and hoist the sail.  In a few minutes
+more they were gliding swiftly along, with Vince cautiously holding the
+sheet and Mike steering.
+
+"As if we couldn't manage a boat!" cried Vince, laughing.  "Starboard a
+little, Ladle.  Rocks."
+
+Mike knew the sunken rocks, though, as well as he, and carefully gave
+them a wide berth; while, as they reached out farther from the land and
+caught the full power of the soft south-westerly breeze, the boat
+careened over, the water rattled beneath her bows, and away they went,
+steering so as to clear the point and get well abreast of the Scraw
+before going in to investigate, and try if there was an easy way of
+reaching the sheltered rounded cove.
+
+For some time every rock and point was perfectly familiar; they knew
+every cavern and rift, and talked and chatted about the days when they
+had fished here, gone egging there, and climbed up or descended yonder;
+but after a time the rocks began to look strange.
+
+"Good job for us that Joe's place is on the other side of the island,"
+said Vince cheerily.  "I say, what a game if he saw the boat going
+along, and took out his old glass to try and make out what craft it
+was?"
+
+"But he isn't this side," said Mike.  "I say, think there are any rocks
+out here?--because I don't know them."
+
+"I don't think there can be," said Vince.  "Remember coming out here
+with your father a year ago?"
+
+"Yes," said Mike; "but we were half a mile farther out, because he said
+something about the current."
+
+"Well, of course I don't know," said Vince; "but the water looks smooth
+and deep.  We should soon see it working and boiling up if there were
+any rough rocks at the bottom."
+
+"Or near the top," said Mike thoughtfully.  "Now, look: oughtn't we to
+be seeing the ridge over the Scraw by this time?"
+
+"Not yet," replied Vince, who was carefully scanning the coast now.
+"We've only just passed the point; and it must be yonder, farther
+along."
+
+They both scanned the cliffs very carefully, but they all looked much
+the same--grey, forbidding, and grand, as they towered up from the
+water, nowhere showing a place where any one could land.
+
+"I say," cried Vince suddenly, "we're going along at a pretty good rate,
+aren't we?"
+
+"Yes, I was thinking so.  Too fast: take in a bit of canvas."
+
+Vince did not speak for a few moments, but gazed from the sail to the
+surface of the smooth sea and back again two or three times.
+
+"'Tisn't the sail that carries us along so," he said at last; "she only
+just fills, and hardly pulls at the sheet at all.  Ladle, old chap,
+we're in a current that's carding us along at a tremendous rate."
+
+Mike looked at him in alarm, but Vince went on coolly.
+
+"There's nothing to mind, so long as we keep a sharp look-out for rocks.
+The old boat would crush up like an egg if she went on one now.  Here,
+Ladle, quick!  Look there!"
+
+"What at?"
+
+"The rocks.  I mean the cliffs.  Ah! port! port!--quick."
+
+Mike obeyed, and none too soon, for as Vince was calling his attention
+to the shape of the cliffs ashore, a rough, sharp pinnacle of rock rose
+some ten feet out of the water just in front, with others to right and
+left, and the boat just cleared the principal danger by gliding through
+a narrow opening and then racing on upon the other side.
+
+Here they found rock after rock standing out, some as much as twenty
+feet, whitened by the sea-birds, while others were just level with the
+surface and washed by foam.
+
+The way was literally strewn with dangers, and prudence suggested
+lowering the sail; but prudence was wrong--quick sailing was the only
+way to safety, so that they might have speed enough to insure good
+steering in the rapid current.
+
+"We must keep on going," said Vince, "or we shall be on the rocks, as
+sure as we live.  I say, can you keep an eye on the shore?"
+
+"No: I'm obliged to mind the rocks ahead.  You look."
+
+"I can't," said Vince; "it's impossible, with all these shoals about.
+Look out! here's quite a whirlpool.  Port a little more--port!"
+
+The eddy they had to pass was caused by a couple of rocks close to the
+surface; and in avoiding these they went stern over another, which
+appeared to rise suddenly out of the clear sea, and was so close that
+the wonder to them was that they did not touch it.  But the little boat
+drew very little water, and probably they were a few inches above it as
+they glided on into deep water again.
+
+"That was a close shave," cried Vince.  "I say, it's impossible to try
+and find the way in there while we have to dodge in and out here."
+
+"Think there would be less current closer in?" said Mike.
+
+"No, I don't.  Look for yourself: it's rushing along, and there are
+twice as many rocks.  I say, Ladle, we had better get out of this as
+soon as we can."
+
+Mike said nothing, but he evidently agreed, and sat there steering with
+his oar over the stern, his teeth set and his brow knit, gazing straight
+ahead for the many dangers by which they had to pass, before, to their
+great relief, the last seemed to be past, and they had time to turn
+their attention toward the shore.
+
+"It's easy enough now," said Vince.  "Why, that's North Point, and the
+Scraw must be half a mile behind!"
+
+The current was now setting right in, as if to cross the most northern
+point of the island; and knowing from old experience that it was
+possible to get into a return current close beneath the north cliffs,
+they steered in, and, the breeze freshening a little, they gradually
+glided out of the swift race which had been bearing them along, and in a
+few minutes were about a hundred yards from the cliffs, in deep water,
+and were being carried slowly in the opposite direction--that is, back
+towards the place they sought to examine.
+
+"Well, that's right enough," said Vince; "it's a regular backwater, and
+just what we wanted.  We shall do it this time."
+
+"Think there's any danger?" said Mike.
+
+"Not if it keeps like this," replied Vince.  "We'll go on, won't we?"
+
+Mike nodded; and making short tacks, helped by the gentle current which
+was running well inside the rocks, about which they could see the tide
+surging, they by degrees approached the range of cliffs which they felt
+must be the outer boundary of the little cove.
+
+"This is grand," said Vince, as they drew nearer.  "Why, it's as easy as
+can be, and any one might have done it if they'd thought of coming here.
+I say, isn't it deep?  This is a regular channel, and I shouldn't be
+surprised if it takes us straight to the way in, for it's perfectly
+plain that it can't be out there.  No boat could get in--big or little."
+
+"Yes, this seems to be right," said Mike.  "See any rocks?"
+
+"Only outside, and they keep off the tide.  I say, Mike, there ought to
+be some good fishing here.  I wonder nobody comes."
+
+"Look!" cried Mike; "that is the ridge of rocks we can see across the
+cove."
+
+"How do you know?"
+
+"Because it's so covered with cormorants and gulls.  Then there ought to
+be an opening somewhere a bit farther--"
+
+"Look out, Mike!  Starboard!--hard, or we shall be on that great snag."
+
+As he spoke Vince seized the sail and swung it across, so as to send the
+boat upon another tack, and as he did so there was a jerk which nearly
+threw them overboard, a strange scraping, jarring sensation, and the
+boat's head was swung round, and she was borne rapidly along once more
+by the current which they had experienced before.
+
+For the fierce race suddenly swept about the rock they had grazed,
+catching the boat and treating it as if it had been a cork, leaving the
+boys to devote all their energies to steering, to avoid the rocks which
+studded their course.
+
+"Just the same game over again," said Vince, "only we're about a hundred
+yards nearer in, and the rocks are closer together."
+
+Their experience of half an hour before was being repeated, but with
+added perils in the shape of larger rocks, while, to make matters worse,
+water was rapidly rising in the boat, one of whose planks had been
+started when they struck.
+
+Vince was seaman enough to know what to do, and, warning his companion
+to keep a sharp look-out ahead, he took off his jacket, and then dragged
+the jersey shirt he wore over his head.  Kneeling in the bottom of the
+boat, he proceeded to stuff the worsted garment into a jagged hole,
+through which the clear water came bubbling up like some spring.
+
+Mike had glanced at the bubbling water once, and shuddered slightly; but
+he did not speak then, for there was a great rock right in front,
+towards which the boat was rushing, with the sail well-filled, and
+having the leeward gunwale low down by the surface.
+
+But Mike did not even wince.  The current was racing them along, while
+the wind was fresher now, and as the boy pressed down the blade of the
+oar he could feel that the boat was fully under his control--that it was
+like some great fish of which he was the tail, and that he had only to
+give one good stroke with the oar blade to send the prow to right or
+left as he willed.
+
+And, as Vince patted and stuffed the woollen jersey as tightly as he
+could into the place where the water rushed up, Mike sat fast, till with
+a rush they glided by the dangerous rock, and the boy strained his eyes
+to catch the next danger.
+
+Nothing was very near, and he spoke.
+
+"Will she sink, Cinder?" he said; and it seemed a long time, in his
+terrible anxiety, before his companion spoke.
+
+"No.  There's a lot of water in, but if you can look out and steer, I
+can hold the sheet and bale."
+
+He handed the sheet to Mike, crept forward, opened the locker in the
+bows, and took out an old tin pot kept for the purpose, crept back and
+took the sheet again, as he knelt down in the water and began to bale,
+scooping it up, and sending it flying over the side, but without seeming
+to make much impression.
+
+"Another rock," said Mike.
+
+"All right; you know how to pass it," said Vince, without ceasing his
+work, but sending the water flying to leeward; and for the next quarter
+of an hour he did not cease--not even turning his head when they went
+dangerously near rock after rock.
+
+It was only when, with a deep, catching sigh, Mike said that the current
+did not seem so strong, that he looked up and saw that the rocky point
+of the island was nearly a couple of miles away.
+
+"Which way shall I steer?" said Mike; and Vince stood up to take in
+their position.
+
+"If we go round the point with the tide we shall have to fight against
+the wind and the current that sets along the west shore," he said.
+"That won't do.  We must go back the way we came."
+
+"What, against that mill race?" cried Mike in dismay.
+
+"No: couldn't do it.  We must stand out more to sea."
+
+"Out to sea!" cried Mike, aghast: "with the boat filling with water?"
+
+"Well, we can't go the other way.  Besides, if we did old Joe would see
+us pass by, and there'd be a row."
+
+"Well, he must know.  He'll see the hole in the bottom,--if we get
+back," Mike muttered to himself.  "But, Vince," he cried, "hadn't we
+better run ashore somewhere?"
+
+"Yes: where's it to be?" said the boy, with a curious laugh.  "Nonsense!
+We should only sink her at once.  There, I must go on baling.  It's the
+only thing we can do, Mikey.  Turn her head to it, and run right across
+the tide.  It's getting slacker here.  Keep her head well to it.  I
+won't let her sink."
+
+Mike groaned.
+
+"Hullo!" cried Vince cheerily, "is it hard work?"
+
+There was no reply, but the boat careened over as from the fresh
+pressure of the oar the sail caught the full force of the wind, and they
+began to run swiftly towards the south-east, right out to sea, but with
+the intent of running back after reaching well out to south of the
+island.
+
+It seemed like madness, with the boat leaking as she did, but Vince was
+right.  It was their only chance; and after a few minutes he said, as if
+to himself:
+
+"I'm going to do a stupid thing.  I ought to hold that sheet in my hand,
+but I want both for baling.  Be on the look-out, Ladle.  Mind you throw
+her up in the wind if she goes over too much."
+
+As he spoke he made the sheet fast, rolled up his sleeves, and, taking
+the pot in both hands, began to make the water fly over the side.
+
+"I say, Ladle," he cried, "when I'm tired you'll have to take a turn;
+but don't she go along splendidly with all this water ballast in her?"
+
+"Yes," said Mike huskily.  "Are you getting it down?"
+
+"Yes, a little.  Not much; but if you sail her well we shall run in all
+right."
+
+"Aren't we going out too far to sea?"
+
+"No; just right.  Now, then, don't talk.  I want all my breath for
+working."
+
+Setting his teeth, the boy baled away, and by slow degrees lowered the
+water a good deal; but he could not cease for a moment, for it surged in
+through the leak, nor did he dare to push the jersey farther, for fear
+of loosening the plank more and making a bigger hole.
+
+This went on for fully half an hour, with the island getting more and
+more distant, and Mike twice over asked if it was not time to make for
+the shore.
+
+But Vince shook his head, after a glance back at the south point, and
+worked away at the baling.
+
+"Now," he said suddenly, "I want to go on, but I'm getting slow.  Be
+ready to jump into my place and scoop it out.  I'll catch hold of the
+oar.  Ready?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Now then."
+
+The exchange was quickly effected, the water sent flying with more
+energy, and Vince pressed upon the oar as he rested himself, and sent
+the brave little boat faster through the sea.
+
+"You're giving it to her too hard," remonstrated Mike, as the gunwale
+went down dangerously near the surface.
+
+"No, I'm not.  You hold your tongue and bale," said Vince fiercely.
+"Keep it down."
+
+Mike worked as he had never worked before, but he could not get the
+water an inch lower than Vince had left it.  Still he never slackened
+his pace, though he felt sure that it was gaining upon him, and that
+before long the boat would begin to sink.
+
+At last he could contain himself no longer, and with a hoarse gasp he
+cried:
+
+"It's of no use, Vince; she's going down."
+
+"No, she isn't," said the boy quietly; "and she can't go down if we
+pitch out those two big pieces of iron ballast.  She'll go over on her
+side, and we shall have to hold on if it comes to the worst; but I think
+I can send her in, Ladle, if you can keep on baling."
+
+"Yes, I can keep on," said Mike faintly.
+
+"Tell me when you're beat out, and I'll begin again."
+
+Mike nodded.
+
+"But keep on till you're ready to drop, so as to give me all the rest
+you can, for my arms feel like bits of wood."
+
+Mike jerked his head again, and the water went on flying out, looking
+like a shower of gold in the late afternoon sunshine, till Vince shouted
+to his companion, in regular nautical parlance, to stand by with the
+sail.
+
+Mike sprang up and loosened the sheet, standing ready to swing the yard
+over to the other side.  Vince threw the boat up in the wind, the sail
+swung over, filled for the other tack, and they both began to breathe
+freely as they glided now toward the south point of the island, where a
+jutting-up mass of rock, looking dim in the distance, showed where the
+archway and tunnel lay which led into old Joe's little natural dock.
+
+"Shall we do it, Cinder?" said Mike faintly, as he made fast the sheet
+on the other side.
+
+"Do it?--yes, of course," cried Vince stoutly.  "There, my arms are not
+so numb and full of pins and needles now.  Come here and steer."
+
+"No, I can do a little more," said Mike.
+
+"No, you can't.  Obey orders always at sea," cried Vince fiercely; and
+the exchange of position was made; but there was a full two inches more
+water in the boat, and as Vince began to bale he did so from where he
+could at any time seize the pieces of pig iron and tilt them over.  In
+fact, several times he felt disposed to do so, but shrank from it as
+being a last resource, and from dread lest the act should in any way
+interfere with the boat's speed.
+
+Over went the water in the sunshine; and as the boy baled, from looking
+golden, it by slow degrees grew of an orange tint, and sparkled
+gloriously, but a deadly feeling of weakness fixed more and more upon
+Vince's arms, and as he toiled he knew that before long he must give up
+to his companion once again.  But still he kept on, though it was more
+and more slowly; and the despair that he had kept to himself was not
+quite so terrible, for the south point gradually grew nearer, and he had
+the satisfaction of feeling that he could manage a boat at sea, and well
+too, for the course they were steering was dead for the tunnel rock,
+and, could he keep the boat afloat for another twenty minutes or half an
+hour, they would be safe.
+
+"Come and steer now?" said Mike.
+
+"No," was grunted out; and Vince baled away till the pot dropped from
+his hands, and he rose and took the oar, pressing it to his chest, and
+steering by the weight of his body.
+
+Once more the water flew out faster; but Mike was only making a spurt,
+and his arm moved more and more slowly, till, with a groan, he said
+feebly:
+
+"I can't do it any longer."
+
+Vince made no reply, but gazed straight before him, seeing the
+jutting-up rock as if through a mist, while the water bubbled in through
+the leak, and rose, and rose, without an effort being made to lower it
+now.
+
+Would she float till they were close in?--would she float till they were
+close in?--would she float till they were close in?  It was as if some
+one kept on saying this in Vince's ears, as they rushed on, with the
+rock nearer and nearer, as if coming out of the mist, till it stood out
+bright in the setting sunlight, and the mental vapour was dispersed by
+the feeling of exultation which surged through the steersman's breast.
+For all at once it seemed that safety was within touch; and, turning the
+boat head to wind, she glided slowly up to the opening in the rock,
+while the sail flapped and the two boys quickly lowered and furled it,
+unstepped the mast, and then thrust her in with the boat-hook, reaching
+the little dock as if in a dream.
+
+Vince staggered as he stepped out on to the granite stones to make the
+boat fast, and Mike was in little better condition; but by degrees the
+suffocating sensation which oppressed them grew less painful, and they
+slowly and laboriously carried oars, spars and sail up to their place of
+stowage.  Then Vince returned to the boat, thrust down his hand and drew
+out his jersey, Mike taking hold of one end to help him wring it out.
+
+They had neither of them spoken for some time; but at last Vince said:
+"We shall have to pay old Joe for the mending of the boat."
+
+"I say, Vince," said Mike, in a low, husky tone, "oughtn't we to be
+thinking about something else?  It was very near, wasn't it?"
+
+"Yes," said Vince, with a passionate outburst, "I was thinking of
+something else;" and he threw himself down upon a huge piece of
+wave-worn granite and hid his face on his arm.
+
+Half an hour later, the two lads walked slowly home, feeling as grave
+and sober as a couple of old men, knowing as they did that, though the
+evening sunshine had been full in their eyes, the shadow of death had
+hovered very near.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINETEEN.
+
+HAVING IT OUT WITH THE ENEMY.
+
+The two boys were very quiet the next morning, on meeting, and their
+tutor rubbed his hands with satisfaction twice in the course of their
+lesson.
+
+"Now, that is what I like," he said; "and how much happier you must feel
+when you have given your minds thoroughly to the work we have in hand!"
+
+That was the only time during the study hours that anything approaching
+a smile appeared on Vince's face; but he did cock his eye in a peculiar
+way at Mike, only to receive a frown in return.
+
+At last the lessons were over, and the boys went out into the garden,
+strolled into the small shrubbery and patch of woodland which helped to
+shelter the house from the western gales, and then, marvellous to
+relate, instead of running off to get rid of some of their pent-up
+vitality, they sat down upon a prostrate tree-trunk, which had been left
+for the purpose, and Vince began to rub his shins, bending up and down
+in a peculiar seesaw fashion.
+
+"I am stiff and tired this morning as can be," he said.
+
+"Oh!  I'm worse," said Mike.  "I feel just as if I were going to be ill.
+Haven't caught horrible colds through kneeling in the water so long,
+have we?"
+
+"Oh no; it's only being tired out from what we did.  I say, feel
+disposed to have another try to find the way in?"
+
+"No," said Mike shortly: "I wouldn't go through what we did yesterday
+for all the smugglers' caves in the world."
+
+"Well, I don't think I would!" said Vince thoughtfully.  "I'm sure I
+wouldn't.  I don't want all the smugglers' caves in the world.  But it
+was risky!  Every time I went to sleep last night I began dreaming that
+the boat was sinking from under me, and then I started up, fancying I
+must have cried out."
+
+"I got dreaming about it all, too," said Mike, with a shudder.  "It was
+very horrible!"
+
+They sat thinking for some time, and then Vince tried to rouse himself.
+
+"Come on," he said.
+
+"No; I want to sit still."
+
+"But you might walk half-way home with me."
+
+"No," said Mike; "I feel too tired and dull to stir.  Besides, if I come
+half-way with you, I shall have as far to walk back as you have to go.
+That's doing as much as you do.  I'll come with you as far as the
+corner."
+
+"Come on, then," said Vince; and they started, after groaning as they
+rose.  "I feel stiff all over," sighed Vince, "and as if my head
+wouldn't go."
+
+They parted at the corner, with the understanding that they were to meet
+as usual after dinner, and at the appointed time Vince came along the
+roadside to where Mike lay stretched upon the soft turf.
+
+But there was not the slightest disposition shown for any fresh
+adventure, and the only idea which found favour with both was that they
+should stroll as far as the cliff known to them as Brown Corner, and sit
+down to go over the seascape with their eyes, and try and make out their
+course on the previous afternoon.
+
+Half an hour later they had reached the edge of the cliff, sat down with
+their legs dangling over the side, and searched the sea for the rocks
+they had threaded and for signs of the swift current.
+
+But at the end of some minutes Vince only uttered a grunt and threw
+himself backward, to lie with his hands under his head.
+
+"I can't make anything of it, Ladle," he said impatiently; "and I'm not
+going to bother.  It looked horribly dangerous when we were in it
+yesterday, but it only seems beautiful to-day."
+
+"Yes," said Mike; "it's because we're so far off, and things are so much
+bigger than they look.  But it was dangerous enough without having the
+boat leak."
+
+"Horribly," said Vince.  "I wonder we ever got back.  Won't try it
+again, then?" he added, after awhile.
+
+"No, I won't," cried Mike, more emphatically than he had spoken that
+day.
+
+"Well, I don't think I will, Ladle; only I feel as if I had been
+beaten."
+
+"So do I: as sore all over as sore."
+
+"Tchah!  I don't mean that kind of beating: beaten when I meant to win
+and sail right into the cove in front of the caves.  I say, it wasn't
+worth taking old Joe's boat for and making a hole in the bottom."
+
+"No; and we haven't said a single word about it yet."
+
+"Felt too tired.  I don't care.  He'll kick up a row, and say there's
+ten times as much damage done to it as there really is, and it's next to
+nothing.  Five shillings would more than pay for it.  I'll pay part:
+I've got two-and-fourpence-halfpenny at home; but it's a bother, for I
+wanted to send and buy some more fishing tackle.  Mine's getting very
+old."
+
+"Well, I'll pay all," said Mike.  "I've got six shillings saved up."
+
+"No, that won't be fair," said Vince; "I want to pay as near half as I
+can."
+
+"Well, but you want to buy some hooks and lines, and I shall use those
+as much as I like."
+
+"Of course," said Vince, as Mike followed his example and let himself
+sink back on the soft turf, to lie gazing up at the blue sky overhead;
+"but it won't be the same.  I helped poke the hole in the boat, and I
+mean to pay half.  I tell you what: we'll pay for the damage together,
+and then you'll have enough left to pay for the fishing lines, and I can
+use them."
+
+"Well, won't that be just the same?"
+
+"No; of course not," said Vince.  "The lines will be yours, and you
+won't be able to bounce about, some day when you're in an ill-temper,
+and say you were obliged to pay for mending the boat."
+
+"Very well; have it that way," said Mike.
+
+"And we ought to go over and see the old man, and tell him what we did."
+
+"He doesn't want any telling.  He has found it out long enough ago.
+There was the sail rolled up anyhow, too.  I was too much fagged to put
+it straight.  When shall we go and see him?"
+
+"I dunno.  I don't want to move, and I don't want to have to tell him.
+He'll be as savage as can be."
+
+The boys lay perfectly still now, without speaking or moving; and the
+gulls came up from below, to see what was the meaning of four legs
+hanging over the cliff in a row, and then became more puzzled apparently
+on finding two bodies lying there at the edge; consequently they sailed
+about to and fro, with their grey backs shining as they wheeled round
+and gazed inquiringly down, till one, bolder than the rest, alighted
+about a dozen yards away.
+
+"Keep your eyes shut, Ladle," said Vince.  "Birds are coming to peck 'em
+out."
+
+"They'd better not," said Mike.
+
+"I say, couldn't we train some gulls, and harness them to a sort of
+chair, and make them fly with us off the cliff?  They could do it if
+they'd only fly together.  I wonder how many it would take."
+
+"Bother the old gulls!  Don't talk nonsense.  When shall we go and see
+the old man?"
+
+"Must do it, I suppose," said Vince.  "Yes, we ought to: it's so mean to
+sneak out of it, else we might send him the five shillings.  I hate
+having to go and own to it, but we must, Ladle.  Let's take the dose
+now."
+
+"Do what?" said Mike lazily.
+
+"Go and take it, just as if it was salts and senna."
+
+"Ugh!"
+
+"Best way, and get it over.  We've got to do it, and we may as well have
+it done."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"But I say, when are you going to the cave again?  Not to-day?"
+
+"No."
+
+"To-morrow?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Next day?"
+
+"Well, p'r'aps.  See how I feel."
+
+"Ready?"
+
+"What for?"
+
+"To go and see old Joe Daygo."
+
+"Haven't got the money with me now."
+
+"We'll go and fetch it, and then go to him."
+
+Mike grunted.
+
+"There, it's of no use to hang back, Ladle; we've got it to do, so let's
+get it done."
+
+"Yes; you keep on saying we've got it to do, but you don't jump up to go
+and do it."
+
+"I'm quite ready," said Vince; "and I'll jump up if you will.  Now then,
+ready?"
+
+"Don't bother."
+
+"But we must go, Ladle."
+
+"Well, I know that; but I haven't got the money, and it's so far to
+fetch it, and I ache all over, and I don't want to see old Joe to-day,
+and--"
+
+"There, you're shirking the job," interrupted Vince.
+
+"No, I'm not, for I want to get it over."
+
+"Then don't stop smelling the stuff; hold your nose, tip it up, and you
+shall have a bit of sugar to eat after it if you're a good boy."
+
+"Oh, Cinder, how I should like to punch your head!"
+
+"No, you wouldn't.  Come on and take your physic."
+
+"I won't till I like.  So there."
+
+"`Cowardy, cowardy, custard, Ate his father's mustard,'" said Vince.  "I
+say, I don't see that there was anything cowardly in eating his father's
+mustard.  It was plucky.  See how hot it must have been; but I suppose
+he had plenty of beef and vegetables with it.  He must have had,
+because, if he hadn't, it would have made him sick."
+
+"What, mustard would?" said Mike, who was quite ready to discuss
+anything not relating to the visit to old Daygo.
+
+"Yes; mustard would."
+
+"Nonsense.  How do you know?"
+
+"Father says so, and he knows all about those sort of things, including
+salts and senna.  So now, then, old Ladle, you've got to get up and come
+and take your dose."
+
+"Then I shan't take it to-day."
+
+"And have old Joe come to us!  Why, it would be disgraceful.  You've got
+to come."
+
+"Have I?" grumbled Mike; "then I shan't."
+
+"'Day, young gen'lemen!"
+
+Mike leaped to his feet in horror, and Vince pulled himself up in a
+sitting position, to stare wonderingly at the old fellow, who had come
+silently up over the yielding turf.
+
+"You?" said Mike: "you've come?"
+
+"Nay, I arn't, so don't you two get thinking anything o' the sort.  I
+won't let you have it to go out alone."
+
+"You--you won't let us have it to go out alone?" faltered Vince.
+
+"That's it, my lad," said the old man.
+
+"Then he hasn't found out yet," thought Vince; and he exchanged glances
+with Mike, who looked ready to dash off.
+
+"Why, yer jumped up as if yer thought I was going to pitch yer off the
+cliff, Master Ladelle.  Been asleep?"
+
+"No, of course not," said Mike; and he looked at Vince, whose lips moved
+as if he were saying--"I'm going to tell him now."
+
+"Might just as well have said `yes' to you, though," grumbled Daygo.
+
+"Just as well," assented Vince.
+
+"Nice sort o' condition she's in now.  One streak o' board nearly out.
+Cost me a good four or five shilling to get it mended, for I can't do it
+quite as I should like."
+
+Four or five shillings!  Just the amount Vince had thought would be
+enough.
+
+"If I'd let you have it," continued the old man, "that wouldn't ha'
+happened.  But I know: they can't cheat me.  I'm a-goin' over to Jemmy
+Carnach to have it out with him, and first time I meets the young 'un
+I'm going to make him sore.  See this here?"
+
+Daygo showed his teeth in a very unpleasant grin, and drew a piece of
+tarry rope, about two feet long, from out of his great trousers, the
+said piece having had a lodging somewhere about his breast.
+
+"Do you think Lobster--" began Vince.
+
+"Ay, that's it: lobster," said Daygo.  "Lobster it is: Jemmy Carnach
+would sell himself for lobster, but he arn't a-going to set his pots in
+my ground and go out to 'zamine 'em with my boat.  I don't wish him no
+harm, but it would ha' been a good job if she'd sunk with him and his
+young cub.  They're no good to the Crag--not a bit.  Ay, I wish she'd
+sunk wi' 'em, only the boat's useful, and I should ha' had to get
+another."
+
+Old Daygo ceased speaking, and after giving the rope a fierce swish
+through the air, as if he were hitting at Lobster's back, he put the end
+inside the top of his trousers, just beneath his chin, and gradually
+worked it down out of sight.
+
+Vince coughed, and he was about to begin, after looking inquiringly at
+Mike, who shook his head, and turned it away.  But Vince somehow felt as
+if it would be better to wait till the whole of the rope had
+disappeared, and Daygo had given himself a shake to make it lie
+comfortably.  Then his lips parted; but the old man checked him by
+saying,--
+
+"On'y wait till I meet young Jemmy.  I've on'y got to slip my hand in
+here, and it's waiting for him.  Yes, young gen'lemen, I'm a-going to
+make that chap sore as sore as sore."
+
+"No, you're not, Joe," said Vince firmly.
+
+"What?  But I just am, my lad.  If I don't lay that there piece on to
+his back, and make him lie down and holloa, my name arn't Daygo."
+
+"But you are not going to thrash him, Joe," said Vince.
+
+"Who'll stop it?"
+
+"I will," said Vince.  "It wasn't Jemmy Carnach and his boy."
+
+"Eh?  Oh yes, it was.  Lobstering they were arter.  I know."
+
+"No, you do not, Joe.  They didn't take it."
+
+"What!" cried the old man.  "Then who did?"
+
+"Mike Ladelle and I."
+
+"You did!" cried the old man, staring.  "Why, I told you I wouldn't let
+you have it, and saw you both go home."
+
+"But we didn't go home," said Vince.  "We went and hid in the rocks, and
+watched till you'd gone away, and then we crept down to the boat and got
+her out."
+
+"You did--you two did?" cried the old man; and his hand went into the
+top of his trousers.
+
+"Yes," said Vince desperately, "and we had a long sail."
+
+"Well!" growled the old man,--"well!  And I thought it was him!"
+
+"We're very sorry we scraped a rock, and made her leak."
+
+"Made her leak!" roared the old man: "why, she's spyled, and I shall
+have to get a new boat."
+
+"No, she isn't, Joe: you said it would cost four or five shillings to
+mend the hole."
+
+"Eh?  Did I?"
+
+"Yes, you did; and Mike and I will give you five shillings to get it
+done."
+
+The old man thrust out his great gnarled hand at once for the money.
+
+"We haven't got it here, Joe," said Vince; "but we'll bring it to you
+to-night.  Eh, Mike?"
+
+"Yes; after tea."
+
+"Honour?"
+
+"Yes: honour."
+
+"Honour bright--gen'leman's honour?"
+
+"Yes," said Vince emphatically.
+
+"Let him say it too," growled Daygo.
+
+"Honour bright, Joe," said Mike.
+
+"Oh, very well, then; I s'pose I must say no more about it," grumbled
+the old man; "but I'm disappynted--that I am.  I thought it were they
+Carnachs, and I'd made up my mind to give it the young 'un and make him
+sore.  It's such a pity, too.  I cut them two feet o' rope off a ring
+a-purpose to lay it on to him.  I owe him ever so much, and it seemed to
+be such a chance."
+
+"Save it for next time, Joe," said Vince, as Mike looked on rather
+uneasily, for the old man kept on playing with the end of the rope.
+
+"Eh?  Save it for next time?" he said thoughtfully.  "Well, I might do
+that, for the young 'un's sure to give me a chance, and then it won't be
+wasted.  Yes, I'll hang it up over the fireplace at home, ready agen
+it's wanted.  But you two'll bring me that five shilling to-night?"
+
+"Yes, of course."
+
+"Ay, course you will," said the old man slowly.
+
+"There's one thing I likes in a gen'leman.  Some chaps says they'll do
+something, or as they'll pay yer, and they swear it, and then most times
+they don't; but if a gen'leman says he'll do anything, there yer are,
+yer knows he'll do it--without a bit of swearing too.  But, haw--haw--
+haw--haw!"
+
+The boys stared, for the old man burst out into a tremendous roar of
+laughter, and kept on lifting one leg and stamping it down.
+
+"Why, what are you laughing at?" said Mike, gaining courage now that the
+trouble was so amicably settled.
+
+"What am I laughin' at?" roared the old fellow, stamping again: "why, at
+you two!  Comes to me and wants to borrow my boat, and boasts and brags
+and holloas about as to how you knows everything.  We can sail her, says
+you; we knows how to manage a boat as well as you do, and, haw, haw,
+haw! you helps yourselves and goes out, and brings her back with a hole
+in her bottom.  Here! where did you go?"
+
+"Oh, along where you took us," said Vince quickly.
+
+"And which rock did you run on?"
+
+"Oh, I don't know what rock it was, only that it was just under water."
+
+"'Course not.  Says to me, says you, that you knows all the rocks as
+well 's me, and goes and runs her on one on 'em fust time."
+
+"Well, it was an accident, Joe."
+
+"Ay, my lads, it were an accident; but you've got to think yourselves
+very lucky as she didn't founder.  Did you have to bale?"
+
+"Yes, all the way home, as hard as ever we could go."
+
+"Ay, you would, with a hole in her like that.  Well, I arn't got no time
+to stand a-talking to you two here; but I just tells you both this: that
+there boat, as soon as she's mended and fresh pitched, 'll be a-wearing
+a great big padlock at her stem and another at her starn.--I shall be at
+home all evening waitin' fer that five shilling."
+
+He gave them both a peculiar wink, stood for a few moments shading his
+eyes and looking out to sea, and then, giving his head a solemn shake,
+he went off without another word.
+
+"Feel better, Mike?" said Vince, as soon as the old man was out of
+hearing.
+
+"Better?  Ever so much.  I'm glad we've got it over.  I say, Cinder,
+nothing like tipping off your dose of physic at once."
+
+"But I had to take it," cried Vince.  "You wouldn't do your share."
+
+That evening after tea they kept their word.  Vince handed Mike his
+two-and-fourpence-halfpenny, and Mike gave him the five shillings which
+he was to pay.
+
+They found the old man standing outside his cottage, with his old
+spy-glass under his arm, waiting for them, and apparently he had been
+filling up the time by watching three or four vessels out in the offing.
+
+"Let's have a look, Joe," said Vince, as soon as the business was over
+and the money lodged in a pocket, access to which was obtained by the
+old man throwing himself to the left nearly off his balance, and
+crooking his arm high up till he could get his fingers into the opening.
+
+The telescope was handed rather reluctantly, and Vince focussed it to
+suit his sight as he brought it to bear on one of the vessels.
+
+"Brig, isn't she, Joe?" said Vince.
+
+"Ay, my lad; looks like a collier."
+
+"Schooner," said Vince; and then, running the glass along the horizon,
+he took a long look at a small, smart-looking vessel in full sail, her
+canvas being bright in the evening glow.
+
+"Why, she's a cutter!" said Vince, rather excitedly: "Revenue cutter."
+
+"Nay, nay, my lad, only a yawrt."
+
+"I don't think she is, Joe; I believe it's a king's ship."
+
+"Tchah! what would she be doing yonder?"
+
+"I don't know," said Vince.
+
+"Done with my glass?" growled the old man.
+
+"Directly," replied Vince; and he swept the sea again.
+
+"Hullo!" he said suddenly: "Frenchman."
+
+"Eh?  Where?" said Daygo quickly.
+
+"Right away, miles off the North Point."
+
+The old man took the glass, altered the focus again, and took a long,
+searching look.
+
+"Bah!" he exclaimed; "that's not a Frenchman, my lads," and he closed
+the glass with a smart crack.  "I say, lookye here."
+
+He led the way to the door, grinning tremendously, and pointed in to
+where, hanging over the fireplace, was the piece of well-tarred rope,
+hanging by a loop made of fishing line.
+
+"Ready when wanted--eh?"
+
+The boys laughed and went off soon after towards home.
+
+"Five shillings worse off," said Mike, when they parted for the night;
+"but I'm glad we got out of all that so easily.--I say, Cinder!"
+
+"Well?"
+
+"It would have been rather awkward if he'd taken it the other way and
+been in a rage."
+
+"Very," said Vince, before whose eyes the two feet of rope seemed to
+loom out of the evening gloom.
+
+"And it would have been all your fault."
+
+"Yes," said Vince shortly.  "Good-night: I want to get home."
+
+They parted, and as he walked back Vince could not help thinking a good
+deal about the previous afternoon's experience, and he shook his head
+more than once before beginning to think of the cavern.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY.
+
+FRESH PULLS FROM THE MAGNET.
+
+A week elapsed; the weather had been stormy, and a western gale had
+brought the sea into a furious state, making the waves deluge the huge
+western cliffs, and sending the churned-up foam flying over the edge and
+inland like dingy balls of snow.
+
+And the boys were kept in by the gale?
+
+Is it likely?  The more fiercely the wind blew, the more heavily the
+huge Atlantic waves thundered against the cliffs and sent the spray
+flying up in showers, the more they were out on the cliffs searching the
+dimly seen horizon, watching to see if any ship was in danger.
+
+But it was rare for a ship to be seen anywhere near Cormorant Crag when
+a sou'-wester blew.  Its rocks and fierce currents were too well known
+to the hardy mariner, who shook his head and fought his way outward into
+deep water if he could not reach a port, sooner than be anywhere near
+that dangerous rock-strewn shore.
+
+Vince and Mike had long known that when the wind was at its highest, and
+it was hard work to stand against it, there was little danger in being
+near the edge of some perpendicular precipice, and that there, with the
+rock-face fully exposed to the gale, and the huge waves rushing in to
+leap against the towering masses with a noise like thunder, they could
+sit down in comparative shelter, and gaze with feelings akin to awe at
+the tumult below.
+
+Why?  For the simple reason that, after striking against a high, flat
+surface, the swift current of air must go somewhere.  It cannot turn
+back and meet the winds following it, neither can it dive into the sea.
+It can only go upward, and sweeps several feet beyond the edge of the
+cliff before it curves over and continues its furious journey over the
+land, leaving at the brink a spot that is undisturbed.
+
+These places were favoured always by the boys, who would generally be
+the only living creatures visible, the birds having at the first
+breaking out of the storm hastened to shelter themselves on the other
+side of the island.
+
+"Sea's pretty busy cave-making to-day," said Vince, on one of these
+stormy mornings.  "I wonder what it's like in the cave in front of our
+place."
+
+"All smooth, of course," said Mike.  "It's on the other side, and it's
+shut-in, so I daresay it doesn't make a bit of difference there.  I say,
+oughtn't we to go there again?"
+
+"You want to open some of those packages," said Vince, as he reached his
+head a little way over the side of the cliff to gaze down at an enormous
+roller that came plunging through the outlying rocks a couple of hundred
+feet below.  "Well, what of that?"
+
+"Phew!  My!" cried Vince, drawing back breathlessly and wiping the
+blinding spray from his face.  "You can't do that, Ladle.  I believe you
+might try to jump down there and find you couldn't.  The wind would
+pitch you up again and throw you over into the fields."
+
+"Shouldn't like to try it," said Mike drily.  "But I say, why shouldn't
+I want to open the bales and kegs and see what's in them?"
+
+"Because they belong to somebody else, as I told you before."
+
+"If they belong to anybody at all they belong to my father, and he
+wouldn't mind my opening them."
+
+"Don't know so much about that," said Vince stolidly.  "I'll ask him."
+
+"No, no; don't do that," cried Mike, in alarm; "you'll spoil all the
+fun."
+
+"Very well, then: you ask him what he thinks, then we should know."
+
+"There's plenty of time for that.  I never did see such a fellow as you
+are, Cinder.  What's the matter with you?"
+
+"Wet," said Vince.  "It was just as if some one with an enormous bucket
+had dashed water into my face."
+
+"Then you shouldn't have looked over.  You might have known how it would
+be.  But look here: never mind the sea."
+
+"But I do mind it.  Hear that?  Oh, what a tremendous thud that wave
+came with!"
+
+"Well, of course it did."
+
+"Wonder how many years it will be before the sea washes the Crag all
+away."
+
+"What nonsense!"
+
+"It isn't.  I was talking to Mr Deane about it the other day, and he
+says it is only a question of time."
+
+"What, before the Crag's washed away?  I should think it would be.  I'll
+tell you the proper answer to that--Never."
+
+"Oh, indeed," said Vince: "then how about the caves in under here?
+Haven't they all been hollowed out, and aren't they always getting
+bigger?  That's how those on the other side must have been made.  I
+shouldn't wonder if they are full of water now."
+
+"What, with all those things in!" said Mike, in alarm.  "Oh, I don't
+believe that.  When shall we go and see?"
+
+"It would be horrible to go across the common on a day like this, and we
+should be soaked getting through the ferns and brambles."
+
+"Yes; it wouldn't be nice now.  But will you come first fine afternoon?"
+
+"Well, I don't know."
+
+"Oh, I say," cried Mike reproachfully--"you are getting to be a fellow!
+You thought the caves grand at first."
+
+"So I did, when we could go there and fish, and cook our tea, and eat
+it, and enjoy ourselves like Robinson Crusoe; but when it comes to
+finding the other cave and all that stuff there, it makes one
+uncomfortable like, and I don't care so much about going."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"I don't know.  I can't explain it, but it seems queer, and as if we
+ought to tell my father or yours.  I felt like you do at first, and it
+seemed as if we'd found a treasure and were going to be very rich."
+
+"So we have, and so we are," said Mike.  "I don't see why you should
+turn cowardly about it."
+
+"I didn't know that it was cowardly to want to be honest," said Vince
+quietly.
+
+"Only hark at him!" cried Mike, as the waves came thundering in, and the
+wind roared over them.  "You are the most obstinate chap that ever was.
+Why won't you see things in the right light?  Don't those things belong
+to my father?"
+
+"I don't know."
+
+"Yes, you do.  If they were brought and hidden there a hundred years
+ago, and everybody who brought 'em is dead, as they're on father's land,
+mustn't they be his?"
+
+"Or the king's."
+
+"The king don't want them, I know.  By rights they're my father's, but
+he won't mind our doing what we like with them, as we were the finders.
+Now then, don't be snobby; will you come first fine afternoon?"
+
+Vince was silent.
+
+"I won't ask you to meddle with anything--only to keep it all quiet."
+
+Vince picked up a stone and threw it from him, so that it should fall
+down into the raging billows below, but he made no reply.
+
+"I say, why don't you speak?" cried Mike.
+
+"Who's to talk here in this noise, with the wind blowing your words
+away?"
+
+"You could just as easily have said you would come as have said that,"
+shouted Mike.
+
+"All right, then, I'll come," said Vince; and Mike gave him a hearty
+slap on the back.  "But look here, Mikey," he continued, "don't you ever
+think about it?"
+
+"About what?"
+
+"The caves, and all that."
+
+"Of course I do: I hardly think of anything else."
+
+"Yes; but I mean about that young Carnach watching us and old Joe
+hanging about after us."
+
+"Thought it rather queer once or twice, but of course it was only
+because we were so suspicious.  If we hadn't had the cave and been
+afraid of any one knowing our secret, we might have met them a hundred
+times and never thought they were watching us."
+
+"Yes, we might," said Vince thoughtfully.  "I don't know, though: they
+certainly did watch us."
+
+"Then, if they did, it was because we looked as if we wanted to hide
+something."
+
+"Yes, that sounds right," said Vince.  "I never looked at it in that
+way, and it has bothered me a good deal.  Why, of course that is it!
+I'm all right now, and I'll go with you whenever you like; only we ought
+to tell them soon.  We have known it all to ourselves for some time
+now."
+
+"Very well, then, we'll tell them soon; and I know my father will say
+that all the treasure there is to be divided between us two."
+
+"Will he?" said Vince, laughing, for he was far from taking so sanguine
+a view of the case as his companion; and the matter dropped.  They
+stopped watching the roll and impact of the waves till they were tired,
+and then went home to wait for the fair weather, which was to usher in
+their next visit to the caves.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.
+
+THE MYSTERY UNROLLS.
+
+Four more days passed before the weather broke, and then two more when
+they were not at liberty.  But at last came one when their tutor
+announced that they could have the whole day to themselves, and it was
+not long before each announced at home that he was off out for a good
+long cliff ramble.
+
+This meant taking a supply of provisions, with which each was soon
+furnished, so as not to break into the holiday by having to come back to
+dinner.
+
+No questions were asked, for it was taken for granted, both at the Mount
+and at the Doctor's cottage, that they would be going fishing or
+collecting; and the boys set off in high glee, meaning to supplement
+their dinner with freshly cooked fish, and plenty of excitement by
+climbing about the rocks at the entrance of the caves.
+
+Everything seemed gloriously fresh and bright after the late rains: the
+birds were circling overhead, and the sea was of a wonderfully vivid
+blue.  In fact, so bright was the day that Vince said,--
+
+"I say, isn't it a shame to go and bury ourselves underground?"
+
+"Not a bit of it," cried Mike; "it's glorious!  Why, it's a regular
+treat, after being away so long.  Have you enough wood for cooking?"
+
+"Plenty."
+
+"And what about water?"
+
+"We took a big bottle full last time."
+
+"That's right.  I say, keep your eyes open.  See anything of old Joe
+Daygo?  Don't seem to be looking on purpose."
+
+They both kept their eyes well open, but there was no sign of the old
+fisherman; and before long the reason why was plain, for on their coming
+a little nearer to the cliff edge, on their way to where they struck off
+for the oak wood, Vince suddenly pointed outward:--
+
+"There he goes."
+
+"Who?" said Mike.
+
+"Old Joe.  He has got his boat mended, then."
+
+"That can't be his boat."
+
+"It is.  Why, look at that patch on the sail.  It's a long way off, but
+I'm sure it's the boat.  He's gone out a long way, seemingly."
+
+"Yes: going out to the sands, I suppose, to try if he can't get some
+soles."
+
+"Well, we shan't have him playing the spy to-day," said Vince, who was
+in capital spirits.  "Now, if we could see old Lobster going too, we
+should be all right."
+
+"I dare say his father's got him hoeing carrots or something.  We shan't
+see him."
+
+They did not see Jemmy Carnach's hopeful son, nor any other living being
+but a cow, which raised its soft eyes to gaze at them sadly, and
+remained looking after them till they plunged into the scrub-wood, and,
+once there, felt safe.  Then, after their usual laborious work beneath
+the trees, they reached the granite wilderness, clambered in and out and
+over the great blocks, keeping an eye as much as they could on the ridge
+up to their right, in case of the Lobster being there, and finally
+reached the opening, jumped down through the brambles, and at once made
+for the spot where the lanthorn and tinder-box were stowed.
+
+"I say, isn't it jolly?" cried Mike eagerly.  "Just like old times,
+getting back here again.  What a while it seems!"
+
+"Yes, it does seem a good while," said Vince, beginning to strike a
+light.  "I hope nothing has happened since we were here."
+
+"Eh?" cried Mike excitedly.  "What can have happened?"
+
+"Sea washed the place out, and taken all our kitchen and parlour things
+away."
+
+"Nonsense!" said Mike contemptuously.  "Oh, it might, you know; there
+would have been no waves, but there might have been a high tide.  There
+must have been tremendously high tides down there at one time, so as to
+have washed out those caves."
+
+"Ah! it's a precious long time since they've been washed out, I know,"
+said Mike, laughing.  "They don't ever get swept out now."
+
+"No, but they're kept neat, with sand on the floor," said Vince,
+snapping to the door of the lanthorn and holding it up for the soft
+yellow light to shine upon the granite walls.  "I say, Mike, don't you
+think we're a pair of old stupids to make all this fuss over a hole in
+the ground?"
+
+"No: why should we be?"
+
+"Because it doesn't seem any good.  Here we take all this trouble hiding
+away and going down the hole like worms, so as to crawl about there in
+the sand."
+
+"And what about the beautiful caves, and the rocks where we sit and
+watch the sea-birds?"
+
+"We could see them just as well off the cliffs."
+
+"But the cove with the great walls of rock all round, and the current
+racing round like a whirlpool?"
+
+"Plenty of currents and eddies anywhere off the coast."
+
+"But the fishing?"
+
+"We could fish in easier places," said Vince, talking loudly now they
+were well down in the passage.  "Why, we've had better luck everywhere
+than here."
+
+"Oh, you are a discontented chap!" said Mike.  "You ought to think
+yourself wonderfully well off, to be able to come down to such a place.
+See what jolly feasts we've had down here all alone."
+
+"Yes, but it seems to me sometimes like nonsense to be cooking potatoes
+and frying fish down in a cave, when we could sit comfortably at a table
+at your house or ours, and have no trouble at all."
+
+"Well, you are a fellow!" cried Mike.  "You said one day that the fish
+we cooked down there tasted twice as good as it did at home."
+
+"Yes, I did one day when we hadn't got it smoky."
+
+"We don't often get it smoky," protested Mike.  "But I say, don't talk
+like that.  You were as eager to make our little secret place there as I
+was.  You don't mean to say you're getting tired of it?"
+
+"I don't know," said Vince.  "Yes, I do.  No, I'm not getting tired of
+it yet, for it does seem very jolly, as you say, when we do get down
+here all alone, and feel as if we were thousands of miles from
+everywhere.  But I shall get tired of it some day.  I don't think it's
+half so good since we found the way into the other cave."
+
+"I do," said Mike.  "It's splendid to have made such a discovery, and to
+find that once upon a time there were pirates or smugglers here."
+
+Meanwhile they were slowly descending the bed of the ancient underground
+rivulet, so familiar with every turn and hollow that they knew exactly
+where to place their feet when they reached the little falls, and never
+thinking of stopping to examine the pot-holes, where the great rounded
+boulders, that had turned and turned by the force of the falling water,
+still remained.  Vince's light danced about in the darkness like a large
+glowworm, and Mike followed it, humming a tune, whistling, or making a
+few remarks from time to time; but he was very thoughtful all the same,
+as his mind dwelt upon the packages in the far cavern, and he felt the
+desire to examine them increase, till he was quite in a state of fever.
+
+"Pretty close, aren't we?" said Mike at last, to break the silence of
+the gloomy tunnel.
+
+"Yes, we shall be there in five minutes now.  But, I say, suppose we
+find that some one has been since we were here?"
+
+"Well, whoever it was, couldn't have taken the caves away."
+
+"No; but if Lobster has found out the way down?--and I dare say he has,
+after tumbling into the front hall."
+
+"'Tisn't the front hall," said Mike laughingly; "it's the back door.
+Front hall's down by the sea, where the seal cave is."
+
+"Have it which way you like," said Vince, giving the lanthorn a swing,
+"but it seems to me most like the back attic window.  I say, though, if
+Lobster has found it out, he'll have devoured every scrap we left there,
+and, I daresay, carried off the fishing tackle and pans."
+
+"A thief!  He'd better not," cried Mike.
+
+"Ha--ha--ha!" laughed Vince.  "I do call that good."
+
+"What?  I don't know what you mean."
+
+"Your calling him a thief for taking away the things he discovered
+there."
+
+"Well, so he would be.  They're not his."
+
+"No," said Vince, laughing; "and those things in the far cavern aren't
+ours, but you want to take them."
+
+"That's different," said Mike hastily.  "We only put our things there a
+few weeks ago; those bales and barrels have been there perhaps hundreds
+of years."
+
+"Say thousands while you're about it, Ladle," cried Vince cheerily.
+"Hold hard.  _Puff_!"
+
+The candle was blown out through a hole in the lanthorn, and the latter
+lowered down to the usual niche close to the cavern wall, where they
+were accustomed to keep it.
+
+"Down with you!" cried Vince; and Mike required no second telling, but
+glided down the slope so sharply that he rolled over in the sand at the
+bottom.
+
+"Below!" shouted Vince; and he charged down after him, sitting on his
+heels, and also having his upset.  "I say, though, I hope no one has
+been."
+
+They walked across the deep, yielding sand, with the soft pearly light
+playing on the ceiling; peered through into the outer cave; and then
+Mike, who was first, darted back, for there was a loud splash and the
+sound as of some one wallowing through the water at the cave mouth.
+
+"Only a seal," cried Vince.  "There goes another."
+
+He ran forward over the sand in time to see a third pass out of a low,
+dark archway at the right of the place where the clear water was all in
+motion from the powerful creatures swimming through.
+
+"I say, Mike, why don't we take the light some day and wade in there to
+see how far it goes?" said Vince, as he looked curiously at the doorway
+of what was evidently a regular seal's lurking-place.
+
+"Because it's wet and dark; and how do we know that we could wade in
+there?"
+
+"Because you can see the rock bottom.  It's shallow as shallow."
+
+"And how do you know that it doesn't go down like a wall as soon as you
+get in?"
+
+"We could feel our way with a stick, step by step; or, I know, we'd get
+the rope--bring a good long one--and I'd fasten it round your waist and
+stand at the door and send you in.  Of course I'd soon pull you out if
+you went down."
+
+"Thank you," cried Mike, "you are kind.  My mother said you were such a
+nice boy, Cinder, and she was glad I had you for a companion, as the
+Crag was so lonely.  You are a very nice boy, 'pon my word."
+
+"Yes; I wouldn't let you drown," said Vince.
+
+"Thank ye.  I say, Cinder, when you catch me going into a place like
+that, just you tell me of it, there's a good fellow."
+
+Vince laughed.
+
+"Why, who knows what's in there?" said Mike, with a shiver.
+
+"Ah! who knows?" said Vince merrily.  "I tell you what it is, Ladle:
+that must be the place where the things live that old Joe talked about."
+
+"What things?"
+
+"Those that take hold of a boat under water, and pull it along till it
+can't come back and is never heard of again."
+
+"Ah, you may grin, Cinder," said Mike seriously; "but, do you know, I
+thought all that when we were out yonder in the boat.  It felt just as
+if some great fish had seized it and was racing it along as hard as it
+could, and more than once I fancied we should never get back."
+
+"Did you?" said Vince quietly.
+
+"Yes, you needn't sneer.  You're such a wooden-headed, solid chap,
+nothing ever shakes you; but it was a very awful sensation."
+
+"I wasn't sneering," said Vince, "because I felt just the same."
+
+"You did?"
+
+"Yes, that I did, and though I wanted to laugh at it because it was
+absurd, I couldn't then.  But, I say, though, we might try and get to
+the end of that cave, just to see how far it goes."
+
+"Ugh!  It's bad enough going through a dark hole with a stone floor."
+
+"Till you're used to it.  See how we came down this morning."
+
+"Yes, but we weren't wading through cold, black water, with all kinds of
+live things waiting to make a grab at you."
+
+"Nonsense!  If there were any things there they'd soon scuttle out of
+our way."
+
+"Ah, you don't know," said Mike.  "In a place like this they grow big
+because they're not interfered with.  Those were the biggest seals I
+ever saw."
+
+"Yes, they were tidy ones.  The biggest, I think."
+
+"Yes, and there may be suckers there.  Ugh! fancy one of those things
+getting one of his eight legs, all over suckers, round you, and trying
+to pull you into his hole."
+
+"Take out your knife and cut the arm off.  They're not legs."
+
+"I don't know what they are: just as much legs as arms.  They walk on
+'em.  Might be lobsters and crabs, too, as big as we are.  Think of one
+of them giving you a nip!"
+
+"Wish he would," said Vince, with a grin.  "We'd soon have him out and
+cook him."
+
+"Couldn't," said Mike.  "Take too big a pot."
+
+"Then we'd roast him; and, I say, fancy asking Jemmy Carnach down to
+dinner!"
+
+"Yes," cried Mike, joining in the laugh.  "He'd eat till his eyes would
+look lobstery too, and your father would have to give him such a dose."
+
+"It don't want my father to cure Jemmy Carnach when he's ill," said
+Vince scornfully.  "I could do that easy enough."
+
+"And how would you do it, old clever?"
+
+"Tie him up for two or three days without anything to eat.  Pst!  Hear
+that?"
+
+"Yes," said Mike, in a whisper, as a peculiar hollow plashing sound
+arose some distance down the low dark passage, and the water at the
+mouth became disturbed.  "Shoal of congers, perhaps--monsters."
+
+"Pooh!  It was another seal coming out till it saw or heard us, and then
+it gave a wallop and turned back.  Look here, I'll wade in this
+afternoon if you will."
+
+Mike spun round on his heels.  "No, thank you," he cried.  "Come on, and
+let's look round to see if all's right."
+
+A few minutes proved that everything was precisely as they had left it;
+and as soon as they had come to this conclusion, they found themselves
+opposite the fissure which led into the other cavern.
+
+Mike glanced at the rope and grapnel, and then back inquiringly at his
+companion.
+
+"No!" said Vince, answering the unspoken question that he could plainly
+read in Mike's eyes; "we can have a good afternoon without going there."
+
+"How?  What are we going to do?"
+
+"Fish," said Vince shortly.
+
+"But I should like to go and see if everything is there just the same as
+it was."
+
+"If it has been there for a hundred years, as you say, it's there all
+right still.  Come on."
+
+"But I should just like to have a peep in one or two of the packages,
+Cinder."
+
+"Yes, I know you would; but you promised not to want to meddle, or I
+wouldn't have come.  Now didn't you?"
+
+"All right," said Mike sulkily; "but I did think you were a fellow who
+had more stuff in you.  There, you won't do anything adventurous."
+
+"Yes, I will," cried Vince quickly: "I'll get the lanthorn and go and
+explore the seal's hole, if you'll come."
+
+"And get bitten to death by the brutes.  No, thankye."
+
+"Bitten to death!  Just as if we couldn't settle any number of seals
+with sticks or conger clubs!"
+
+"Ah, well, you go and settle 'em, and call me when you've done."
+
+"No need to.  You wouldn't let me go alone.  Now then, we'll get some
+fish, and have a good fry."
+
+Vince ran to the wall, where their lines hung upon a peg; and now they
+noticed, for the first time, that there had been a high tide during the
+late storm, for the sand had been driven up in a ridge at one side of
+the cave mouth, but had only come in some twenty or thirty feet.
+
+Their baits, in a box pierced with holes to let the water in and out,
+were quite well and lively; and putting some of these in a tray, they
+went cautiously out from rock to rock in the wide archway till there was
+deep water just beyond for quite another twenty feet; then rocks again,
+and beyond them the gurgling rush and hurry of the swift currents, while
+the pool before them, though in motion, looked smooth and still, save
+that a close inspection showed that the surface was marked with the
+lines of a gentle current, which apparently rose from below the rocks on
+the right.
+
+It was an ideal place for sea-fishing, for the great deep pool was free
+from rocks save those which surrounded it, and not a thread of weed or
+wrack to be seen ready to entangle their lines or catch their hooks;
+while they knew from old experience that it was the sheltered home of
+large shoals, which sought it as a sanctuary from the seals or large
+fish which preyed upon them.
+
+In addition, the place they stood upon was a dry, rocky platform, shut
+off from the cave by a low ridge, against which they could lean their
+backs, whilst another much lower ridge was just in front, as if on
+purpose to hide them from the fish in the crystal water of the great
+pool.
+
+Partly behind them and away to their right was the entrance to the
+seals' hole, from which came a hollow splashing from time to time, as
+something moved; every sound making Mike turn his head quickly in that
+direction, and bringing a smile to Vince's lips.
+
+"Ah! it's all very well," said Mike sourly, "but everybody isn't so
+brave as you are."
+
+"Might as well have lit our fire before we came here," said Vince,
+ignoring the remark.
+
+"What's the good of lighting the fire till we know whether we shall get
+any fish?" said Mike.  "We didn't catch one last time, though you could
+see hundreds."
+
+"To boil the kettle and make some tea," replied Vince; and he rose to
+get hold of the bait, pausing to look back over the ridge which shut him
+off from the cave, and hesitating.
+
+"I think I'll go back and light the fire," he said, as he fixed his eyes
+on the dark spot which they made their fireplace, it looking almost
+black from the bright spot they occupied, which was as far as they could
+get out towards the open cove.
+
+"No, no; sit down," said Mike impatiently.  "We didn't catch any last
+time because you would keep dancing about on the rocks here, and showing
+the fish that you were come on purpose to hook them.  We can get a good
+fire in a few minutes.  There's plenty of wood, and we're in no hurry."
+
+"You mean you kept dancing about," retorted Vince.  "Very well," he
+added, seating himself, "it shan't be me, Ladle: I won't stir.  But it's
+the wrong time for them.  If we were to come here just before daylight,
+or to stop till it was dark, we should be hauling them out as fast as we
+could throw in our--our"--_splash_--"lines."
+
+For as Vince spoke he had resumed his seat, deftly placed a lug-worm on
+his hook and thrown the lead into the water, where it sank rapidly,
+drawing after it the line over the low ridge of rock.
+
+"There," said Vince, as his companion followed his example, "I won't
+move, and I won't make a sound."
+
+"Don't," said Mike: "I do want to catch something this time."
+
+"All right: I won't speak if you don't."
+
+"First who speaks pays sixpence," said Mike.
+
+"Agreed.  Silence!"
+
+The fishing began, but fishing did not mean catching, and the time went
+on with nothing to take their attention but an unusual clamouring on the
+part of the sea-birds, which, instead of sitting about preening and
+drying their plumage, or with their feathers almost on end, till they
+looked like balls as they sat asleep in the sun, kept on rising in
+flights, making a loud fluttering whistling as they swept round and
+round the cove, constantly passing out of sight before swooping down
+again upon the great rocks which shut out the view of the open sea.
+
+Lines were drawn up, rebaited, and thrown in again, with the faint
+splashes made by the leads, and they tried close in to the side, to the
+other side, to right and left; but all in vain,--the baits were eaten
+off, and they felt that something was at their hooks, but whether they
+struck directly, or gave plenty of time, it was always the same, nothing
+was taken and the hours passed away.
+
+They were performing, though, what was for them quite a feat, for each
+boy had fully made up his mind that he would not have to pay that
+sixpence.  They looked at each other, and laughingly grimaced, and moved
+their lips rapidly, as if forming words, and abused the fish silently
+for not caring to be caught, but not a word was spoken; till all at
+once, after a tremendous display of patience, Vince suddenly struck and
+cried:
+
+"Got him at last!"
+
+"Sixpence!" said Mike.
+
+"All right!" said Vince quietly: "I was ready to pay ninepence so as to
+say something.  I've got him, though, and he's a big one too."
+
+"Be steady, then.  Don't lose him, for I'm sick of trying, and I did
+want for us to have something for tea."
+
+"Oh, I've hooked him right enough; but he don't stir."
+
+"Bah!  Caught in the bottom."
+
+"Oh no, I'm not.  He was walking right away with the bait, and when I
+struck I felt him give a regular good wallop."
+
+"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.
+
+But the men knew their work.  One pulled hard, the other backed water,
+and by their united efforts the boat was forced into an eddy close under
+the cliff; and to their amazement the boys found that they were being
+carried in the opposite direction to that in which the main body of the
+water was racing along.
+
+"You vill escape and climb ze cliff?  No, _mes enfans_," said the
+captain: "you cannot climb.  You vill take my boat to go avay?  Aha! you
+sink so?  No, it is not for you to manage ze boat.  She vill capsize
+herself if you try."
+
+Vince said nothing, but eagerly looked around; but it was everywhere the
+same--the roaring waters tearing wildly along in the crater-like cove,
+and from their seat in the boat no entrance, no exit, was visible.
+
+"Now I take you bose and drop you ovaire-board: you sink, you go home?"
+said the captain, showing his teeth.  "Yaas, you go home, but not to see
+ze _bon papa_, ze _belle maman_.  It is not possible.  Von of my men say
+von day he have sick of me, and he vill go.  He shump ovaire-board to
+svim, and he svim vis his arm and leg von, two, twenty stroke, and zen
+he trow _les mains_ out of ze vater, and he cry for ze boat; but zere
+vas no boat, and he turn round upon himself two time, and go down a hole
+in ze vater.  I stand and look at him, but he came up again nevaire.  He
+vas a good man--_bon matelot_--but he go.  You like to shump in and
+svim?  _Eh bien_, you shake ze hand, shump in.  _Au revoir_, but ve
+shall meet again nevaire.  You go?  _Non?  Eh bien_!  I make you ze
+offaire."
+
+The boys felt that it was all true, and marvelled where they were going,
+for the eddy was taking them along by the mighty rocks, which were
+overhanging them again; and, as far as they could make out, the cliffs
+under which they passed and the ridge away facing the cavern mouth,
+which they had imagined to be an island, were all one.
+
+The captain seemed to be paying little heed to them, sitting with his
+eyes half-closed; but he was watching them all the time closely, and
+noted their astonishment as the men suddenly began to tug at their oars
+with all their might, apparently to avoid a rock, round one side of
+which the water was rushing with tremendous force, just as if the eddy
+stream along which they had been riding suddenly curved round it.  The
+men were making for the other end, and as they drew nearer the water
+roared and splashed up, and it appeared to both that they must be
+carried right upon it by some undertow.
+
+But every foot of the place, and all its difficulties, were perfectly
+familiar to the captain's crew, and by making use of the many cross
+streams and eddies, they were able to guide the boat into safety, as in
+this case; for just as Mike seized the gunwale with one hand, to be
+prepared for the shock, and Vince clenched his fists and gave a glance
+to the left, the boat's prow passed the end of the detached rock, they
+glided into an opening like a gash cut down through the massive
+rock-wall, and the next minute were swept into a comparatively calm
+pool, surrounded by towering cliffs, which seemed to overlap on their
+right; and there, right before them, rode by a couple of hawsers
+attached to great rings fixed in the rock-face behind, a long, low
+three-masted lugger of the kind known as a _chasse-maree_.
+
+Vince looked sharply round for the channel by which this vessel must
+come and go--for it seemed certain that such a way must exist, since so
+large a boat could not by any means have entered the circular cove
+facing the cavern; and he was not long in seeing that, some twenty or
+thirty feet beyond her bow, the water was coming swiftly in round the
+cliff, which lapped over another to its right, but so calmly did the
+tide run that at the first its motion was unperceived.
+
+Vince had hardly grasped this fact, when the boat was run up alongside,
+one of the men sprang into the lugger with the boat's painter and made
+it fast, while the boat seemed to tug to get away, and the captain
+turned to his prisoners.
+
+"Aboard!" he said sharply; and as there was nothing for it but to obey,
+Vince made a virtue of necessity, and going forward, climbed up and over
+the bulwark, to stand upon a beautifully white deck, and see that
+rigging, sails and spars were all in the highest state of order.
+
+Six or eight men were waiting, and they came aft at once, to stand as if
+waiting for orders, while Mike and the captain stepped on board.
+
+"Back at once!" said the Frenchman to a stern-looking, red-faced man,
+who appeared to be the mate.  "All ze boats; and work hard to get all on
+board."
+
+This order was given in a low tone, but Vince's ears were sharpened by
+his position, and he divined its full meaning.
+
+The men hurried to the side, and rapidly began to lower one of the boats
+hanging to the davits; while in his close scrutiny Vince grasped the
+fact that they were upon no peaceful vessel: there being a couple of
+longish guns forward, and another pair aft, all evidently in the best of
+trim, and ready for use at a very short notice.
+
+While the men were busy the captain came to where the boys were standing
+together aft, and laying his hands upon their shoulders, he led them
+forward to where one of the stout hawsers ran over the side to the great
+ring secured in the rock.
+
+"You see zat hawser, _mon ami_?" he said.
+
+"Yes," said Vince wonderingly.
+
+"Look you zen at ze ozaire."
+
+"Yes, I see it," said Vince.
+
+"Vat you make of zem?"
+
+"They look strained too much, and as if they would part."
+
+"Good boy!  You vould make a good sailor.  Zey vill not part, for zey
+are new, and _tres fort_--strong.  Now you look here, _mon ami_."
+
+As he spoke he picked up a heavy dwarf bucket, with its rope attached,
+raised it above his head, and hurled it some twenty feet into the smooth
+water between the lugger and the high cliff face.
+
+The water was like glass, and streaked with fine threads apparently; and
+the next minute the lads grasped the reason why, for the bucket had
+hardly touched the water when it began to be borne towards the lugger's
+side, striking it directly after sharply, and then diving down out of
+sight.
+
+Vince ran across the deck instantly to see it rise; and Mike followed,
+the captain joining them to lay his hands upon their shoulders once
+more.
+
+"Aha! you see him come up again?  No?  Look _encore_ and _encore_, and
+you nevaire sall see him.  Vat you say to zat?"
+
+"There must be a tremendous current," said Vince.  "Yais,--now," said
+the captain.  "_Apres_, some time he run all ze ozaire vay and grind ze
+sheep close up right to ze rock.  Vat you sink now?  You shump ovaire,
+and svim avay?  You creep along ze hawser and try to climb up ze cliff?
+No, I sink not now.  You stay here on ze deck and vait till I vant you--
+ven ze boat come back.  Dat is vy I show you how go avay ze bucket.
+Look now again."
+
+One of the boats was ready, and two men in her.  The rope that held her
+to the side was cast off, and in an instant she glided away across the
+pool, towards an opening that had been unnoticed before, was deftly
+steered, and passed out of sight.
+
+"Why, she must come out where we saw the water rushing at the other end
+of the rock!" thought Vince; and he stood watching while the other boats
+left the side of the lugger, to be cleverly guided to the same spot, and
+glide out of sight directly.
+
+A feeling of helplessness came over the boys as they saw all this, and
+realised that now they were, beside the captain and a man who kept going
+in and out of a low, hutch-like place forward, the only occupants of the
+vessel; and that if their captor had any particular designs upon them,
+this would be the likely time for their happening.  But they now had
+proof that this was not going to be the case, for the Frenchman took no
+further heed to them.  He went to the cabin-hatch and descended, leaving
+them with the deck to themselves.
+
+"What do you think of it now?" asked Mike dolefully.
+
+"I don't know," said Vince, gazing up at the towering rocks, dotted with
+yellow ragwort and sea-pink, by which they were surrounded; "but it's a
+change.  I wouldn't care if they only knew at home about our being safe.
+I say, isn't it likely that some one may come along the cliffs and be
+searching for us, and then we can signal to him?"
+
+"Who ever came along the cliffs and looked down here?" said Mike.
+"We've been about as much as any one, but we never looked down into this
+pool."
+
+"No," said Vince thoughtfully: "it puzzles me.  I hardly make out
+whereabouts we are.  I say, though, look forward: that's the galley, and
+the chap we saw is the cook."
+
+"Of course," said Mike; "there's the chimney, and the smoke coming out."
+
+"Let's go and see what there is for dinner."
+
+Mike's forehead wrinkled up, and he felt disposed to say something
+reproachful; but he was silent, and followed his companion to the galley
+door, where the man they had seen looked up at them grimly, and as if
+resenting their presence.
+
+"What's for dinner, old chap?" said Vince coolly.
+
+The sour look on the man's face passed away.  Vince's countenance, and
+his free-and-easy way, seemed to find favour, and he said gruffly,--
+
+"Lobscouse."
+
+"What, for the skipper?" said Vince, who had a lively memory of the
+captain's breakfast.
+
+"Men," said the man laconically.
+
+"And for the skipper?"
+
+The man smiled grimly, and took the lid off a pot, which arose an
+agreeable steam, that was appetising and suggested good soup.  Then,
+without a word, he pointed to a dish upon which lay a pair of thick
+soles, and to another, on which, ready egged and crumbed, were about a
+dozen neatly prepared veal cutlets.
+
+"Got any potatoes," said Vince.
+
+The man raised a lid and showed the familiar vegetable, bubbling away on
+the little stove, which was roaring loudly, and put the saucepan down
+again.
+
+"Well, we shan't starve," said Vince, as they each gave the cook a nod
+and walked as far forward as they could.  "Captain hasn't a bad notion
+about eating and drinking."
+
+"And smuggling and kidnapping," said Mike bitterly.
+
+"Kidnapping!" said Vince cheerily.  "Ah, to be sure, that's the very
+word: I thought something had been done to us that there's a proper word
+for.  That's it, Ladle--kidnapped.  Yes, we've been kidnapped.--I say!"
+
+"Well?"
+
+"Look here: are we two chaps worth anything?"
+
+"I don't feel to be now," said Mike; "I'm too miserable."
+
+"Well, so am I miserable enough, but I suppose we must be worth
+something, and that's why the skipper's going to feed us well."
+
+"What nonsense have you got in your head now?"
+
+"Nonsense?  I call it some sense.  For that's it, Ladle, as sure as you
+stand there; he has kidnapped us, and he's going to take us right away
+somewhere.  Ladle, old chap, I feel as sure of it as if he'd told us.
+It is all nonsense about making an end of us.  I was sure it only meant
+trying to frighten us; but we're two big, strong, healthy lads, and he's
+going to take us right away."
+
+"Do you mean it?  What for?"
+
+Vince looked sadly at his companion in misfortune for a few moments, and
+then he said huskily,--
+
+"To sell!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT.
+
+PRISONERS, BUT NOT OF WAR.
+
+Michael Ladelle was a good-looking lad, as people judge good looks; but
+at that moment, as he stood with his hand resting on the bulwarks of _La
+Belle-Marie_, he was decidedly plain, so blank and semi-idiotic did he
+seem, with his eyes dilated, his jaw dropped and his brains evidently
+gone wool-gathering, as people say, so utterly unable was he to
+comprehend his companion's announcement.
+
+Still it was only a matter of moments before he shut his mouth, and then
+nearly closed his eyes, wrinkled up his face, and burst into a fit of
+laughter, which, however, was of so hysterical a nature that for a time
+he could not check it.  At last, though, he mastered it sufficiently to
+say,--
+
+"To do what with us?"
+
+"To sell," said Vince again, as he gazed sadly in his companion's face.
+
+"To sell!" cried Mike, growing more calm now; and his voice had a ring
+of contempt in it as he said,--
+
+"Why, any one would think this was Africa, and we were blacks.  What
+nonsense!"
+
+"It isn't nonsense," said Vince.  "That man will do anything sooner than
+have it known where his hiding-place is; and he won't kill us--he dares
+not on account of his men; but he'll get us out of the way so that we
+shan't be able to tell."
+
+"Oh, I won't believe it!" cried Mike angrily.  "Such a thing couldn't be
+done."
+
+"But it has been done over and over again," said Vince: "I've read of
+it.  They used to sell men and boys to sea-captains to take out to the
+plantations; and once they were there, they had no chance given them of
+getting back for years and years."
+
+"I don't believe it," said Mike sharply.  "It might have been in the
+past, but it couldn't be done now."
+
+"That's what I've been trying to think," said Vince sadly; "but this
+wouldn't be done in England.  This is a Frenchman, and the French have
+colonies abroad, the same as we have.  How do we know where he'll take
+us?"  Mike started at this, and looked more disturbed.  "I say," he said
+at last, "you don't really think that, do you, Vince?"
+
+"I wish I didn't," replied the boy sadly; "but it's what has seemed to
+come to me, since we've been on board here.  I don't know where this man
+comes from, but he's a regular smuggler, and there's no knowing where
+he'll take us."
+
+"But my father--your father--you don't suppose they'll stand still and
+let us be taken off without trying to stop it.  Father's just like a
+magistrate in the island."
+
+"Of course they wouldn't stand still and allow it to be done; but how
+will they know?"
+
+Mike was silent, and his face now began to look haggard as he stared at
+his companion.
+
+"Whoever knew that this Captain Jacques had a place in the island where
+he stored rich cargoes of foreign things?  Why, he may have been doing
+it for years, and your father, though he is like a magistrate, hasn't
+known anything about it."
+
+"No, nor your father either," said Mike sadly.  "I don't think anything
+of that," continued Vince; "what I do think a great deal of is that
+neither you nor I, who've always been climbing about the cliffs and
+boating shouldn't have found it out before."
+
+"But surely now we're missing they'll find it out," cried Mike, who was
+ready to snatch at any straw of hope.
+
+"I don't see how," said Vince.  "They're sure to think that one of us
+met with an accident, and that the other was drowned in trying to save
+him."
+
+Mike was silent for some moments, during which he stood gazing wistfully
+at his fellow-prisoner.
+
+"That would be very nice of them to think that of us," he said at last,
+slowly.  "But do you think they would believe us likely to be so brave?"
+
+"Oh yes, they'd think so," said Vince quickly--"I'm sure they would; but
+I don't know about it's being brave.  It's only what two fellows would
+do one for the other.  It's what English chaps always do, of course, but
+it's like making a lot of fuss about it to call it brave.  I should say
+it's what a fellow should do, that's all."
+
+"And no one knows--no one saw us go to the hole," said Mike bitterly.
+"Oh, I say, Vince, we have made a mess of it to keep it a secret."
+
+"Yes, we have, and no mistake."
+
+"And no one knows," repeated Mike thoughtfully.  "Don't you think
+Lobster might know, and tell them?"
+
+"No, I'm sure he can't.  Of course old Joe knows; but he won't speak,
+because if he did, and told the truth, the captain here would be ready
+to shoot him."
+
+"And my father would have him locked up, and tried for what he has
+done."
+
+"Yes," said Vince, nodding his head; "Joe won't speak--you may depend
+upon that.  Why, Mike, while we were fishing for that crab, and were so
+still, some one must have come across the cave behind us and never known
+we were there."
+
+"Yes, and then we were caught as fast as the crab was and--"
+
+"_Eh bien, mes enfans_, my good boy, are you hungry for your dinner?"
+
+"Not very," said Vince, turning sharply as the skipper came silently up
+behind them.  "We feel as if we should like to dine at home."
+
+"Aha!  You not mean zat, my _bon garcon_.  Not ven I ask you to have
+dine vis me.  Let us go and demand vat ze cook man--ze _chef_--have to
+give us, for it is long time since ze _dejeuner_ and ve have much to do
+after.  Come, sheer up, as ze sailor _Anglais_ say.  You like ze sea?"
+
+"Yes," said Vince; "both of us do."
+
+"And you can reef and furl ze sail?"
+
+"Yes, we've often been in a boat."
+
+"Brava! it is good; and, aha! ze brave cook go to prepare ze cabin for
+ze dinnaire.  You sall bose be my compagnie _cet_--to-day."
+
+Just then Vince caught sight of one of the lugger's boats, and noticed
+that it was particularly broad and punt-like in make, evidently so that
+it should carry a big load and at the same time draw little water--a
+shape that would save it from many dangers in passing over rocks, and
+also be very convenient for running in and landing upon the sands.
+
+This boat was very heavily laden with bales, carefully ranged and
+stacked, while the boat's gunwale was so close to the surface that a
+lurch would have caused the water to flow in.
+
+But the men who managed her seemed to be quite accustomed to their task;
+and after a sharp look directed at them by the skipper, he paid no more
+attention, but walked away.
+
+It was different, though, with the boys; who, having ideas of their own
+connected with escaping from their position, watched the approach of the
+boat with intense curiosity, wondering how it could be rowed so easily
+against a current which ran with such tremendous force.
+
+"I can't make it out," said Vince, as the boat came closer, and
+apparently with very little effort on the part of the men after they had
+passed out by the opening by which the prisoners had been brought on
+board.
+
+"How is it, then?" said Mike.
+
+"I suppose it's because they know all the currents so well.  It's very
+hard to see; but I think that, as the water rushes round this cove and
+goes right across, most of it passes through the openings into our bay
+and makes all that swirling there."
+
+"Of course it does," replied Mike.  "I can see that."
+
+"Well, you might let me finish," said Vince.  "All this water flows
+right across."
+
+"You said that before."
+
+"And then," continued Vince, without noticing the interruption, "part of
+it which there isn't room for at the openings strikes against the rocks,
+and can't get any farther."
+
+"Of course it can't."
+
+"Well, it must go somewhere: water can't be piled-up in a heap and stay
+like that; so it's reflected--no, you can't call it reflected--it's
+turned back, and forms another stream, which flows back this way."
+
+"It couldn't be," said Mike shortly.
+
+"Well, that's the only way I can see, and that boat has come as easily
+as can be.  Yes, I'm sure that's it, Ladle; and you may depend upon it
+that three or four feet down the water's rushing one way, while on the
+surface it's flowing in the other direction."
+
+"Ah, well, it doesn't matter to us," said Mike bitterly, as the boat was
+brought up alongside cleverly, made fast, and her crew began to rapidly
+pass the bales over on to the deck, all being of one size, and, as Vince
+noticed, of a convenient size and weight for one man to handle.
+
+"But it does matter to us, Mike," whispered Vince eagerly.
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because you and I couldn't manage one of those big boats unless the
+currents helped us; but if we knew how these men managed them--"
+
+"We could slip into one of them in the dark and get away."
+
+Vince nodded, and Mike drew a deep breath.
+
+"Don't look like that," whispered Vince; "here's Jacques coming to ask
+us why we don't help."
+
+But they were wrong, for the captain took them each by the shoulder, his
+hands tightening with a heavy grip, which seemed to suggest that he
+could hold them much harder if he liked; and in this way he marched them
+before him to the cabin-hatch.
+
+"Down vis you!" he said.  "To-day you sall be vis me; to-morrow vis ze
+crew."
+
+"Aren't you going to let us go back to-morrow?" said Vince quickly.
+
+"_Non_!  Go down."
+
+That first word was French, but any one would have understood what it
+meant--the tone was sufficient.
+
+The boys gave a sharp look round the little cabin, which was plain
+enough, with its lockers for seats, and narrow table, which just
+afforded room for the three who entered the place.
+
+"Sit," said the captain shortly; and, directly after, "_Mangez_--eat.
+You do not understand--_comprends_--ze _Francais_?"
+
+"We do--a little," said Mike.
+
+"Aha! zat is good," said the captain, with a peculiar laugh.  "Zen ve
+sall be _bons amis_--good friend, eh?  Now eat.  You like soup, fish,
+eh?"
+
+"We don't like to be taken off like this, sir," said Vince, who turned
+away from the food, good as it was, with disgust, wondering the while
+how he could have eaten so hearty a meal with the captain before.  "We
+want to know what you are going to do with us."
+
+"Ah, truly you vant to know," said the captain, partaking of his soup
+the while.  "But ze ship boys do not ask question of ze _capitaine_."
+
+"But we're not ship's boys," said Mike haughtily.  "We are gentlemen's
+sons, and we want to know by what right you drag us away from home."
+
+"Aha! yes; you eat your soup, _mon_ brave boy, vile he is hot.  Perhaps
+ze storms come to-morrow, and you are vere you get no soups no more,
+eh?"
+
+"Look here, sir," said Mike, flushing in his excitement, "will you set
+us ashore somewhere if we promise not to tell?"
+
+"_Non_," said the captain shortly.  "Ve talk about all zat before!  Eat
+your soup."
+
+For answer Mike dropped his spoon upon the table, and the captain glared
+at him viciously, but passed his anger off with an unpleasant laugh.
+
+"Aha," he said, "you vill not eat.  I know.  Ze _souris_--ze mouse, you
+know, valk himselfs into ze trap and spoil ze appetite.  Ze toast cheese
+is not taste good, eh?"
+
+Vince had his own ideas, and he ate a few spoonfuls of the soup and took
+some bread; but it seemed to choke him, and he soon put down his spoon,
+and the man, who seemed to act as cook and steward, took away the tureen
+and brought in the fish--the soles they had seen--well cooked and
+appetising; but the boys could not eat, in spite of the easy banter with
+which the captain kept on addressing them, and the fish gave way to
+cutlets and vegetables.
+
+"Ah, I see," said their captor at last: "you vill not eat, and I know ze
+reason.  _Ma foi_, and it is too late to make ze _amende_ you call him.
+You bose mean to eat ze grand krebs you 'ave catch and 'ave give him to
+ze men.  _Helas_! it is, as you say, a pity.  Now you forget him, and
+eat ze cotelette.  To-morrow you not like ze dinner vis ze crew, and,"
+he added, with a grin, "you may bose be vairy sick--_malade-de-mer_,
+eh?"
+
+He helped them both liberally, but they could not eat; and soon after
+they followed their host on deck, to find that the hatches were off, and
+the bales all carefully stacked below, while the emptied boat had
+disappeared and another was on the way, Vince paying great heed to the
+manner in which she glided up to the lugger just about amidships.
+
+By the time it was dusk five heavy loads had been brought on board, and
+the hatches were then replaced, the boats all but one being hoisted to
+the davits, the other left swinging by its painter from a ring-bolt
+astern; and from the number of men aboard the boys judged that no one
+was left at the caves.  They noticed too that, contrary to custom, no
+light was hoisted anywhere about the vessel, and that, though there were
+lanthorns in the men's cabin forward, and in the captain's aft, no gleam
+shone forth to play upon the water.
+
+No one seemed to pay any heed to the prisoners, who went from place to
+place to gaze now up at the darkening rocks, with the stars above them
+beginning to twinkle faintly here and there, now down at the black
+waters, which, as the night deepened, began to reflect the bright points
+of light from the heavens.  But soon after, to take their attention a
+little from their cares, they began to notice that the dark depths below
+them were alive with light--little specks, that looked like myriads of
+stars in motion, rising from below the vessel's keel, coming rapidly
+towards the surface and then gliding rapidly away.  Every now and then
+there was a flash of light, just as if a pale greenish-golden flame had
+darted through the water from below; and, after noticing this several
+times, Vince said quietly--
+
+"Fish feeding."
+
+"Don't," said Mike petulantly.  "Who's to think about fish feeding, when
+we're like this?  You don't seem to mind it a bit."
+
+"Don't I?" said Vince quietly; "but I do.  Every time I see one of those
+little jelly-fish sailing along there, it makes me think of the light in
+our window at home--the one mother always puts there when I'm up at your
+place, so that I may see it from ever so far along the road.  Father
+always jokes about it, and says it's nonsense, but she puts it there all
+the same; and it's there now, Mike, for she's sure to say I may have
+been carried out to sea in some boat and be coming back to-night."
+
+"Oh, don't--don't!" groaned Mike: "it seems too horrid to hear."
+
+"Hush! what's that?" said Vince.  "Only a seabird calling somewhere off
+the water."
+
+"No, it isn't," whispered Vince.  "One of the men wouldn't have answered
+a seabird like that.  It's a boat coming from somewhere out yonder."
+
+"No boat would come through such a dark night, with all these dangerous
+currents among the rocks."
+
+But a minute later a boat did glide out of the darkness, a rope was
+thrown over the bulwarks, made fast, and as a man climbed over on to the
+deck the captain came out of his cabin and went forward to where the
+fresh comer was standing.
+
+It was so dark that they could not make out what he was like, but in the
+stillness every word spoken could be heard; and they recognised the
+voice directly, as, in answer to a growl from the captain about being
+late, the man said,--"Been here long enough ago, Skipper Jarks, if it
+had been any good, but she don't rise to it to-night.  I've been hanging
+about ever so long, but she don't touch what she should.  There won't be
+enough water for you on the rocks to-night by a foot."
+
+"_Peste_!" ejaculated the captain; "and I vant to go.  But after an
+hour, vat den?"
+
+"Be just as she is now, skipper.  Wind's been agen it since sundown, and
+kep' the water back: you won't get off to-night."
+
+"Bah!" ejaculated the captain angrily; but he changed his manner
+directly: "Ah, vell, my friend Daygo, ve must vait, eh?  You vill stay
+vis me here?"
+
+"Nay," said the man.  "I'll have to go back.  I'm cruising about round
+the island a-looking for them two young shavers."
+
+The captain turned his head sharply round and looked aft; but, keen as
+his sea-going eyes were, the presence of the boys passed unnoticed, and,
+probably concluding that they were farther aft, the captain said in a
+lower tone, but still perfectly audible.
+
+"Dey look for zem?"
+
+"Look for 'em?  The whole island's been at it 'bout the rocks and
+cliffs, and with every boat out; but do you know, Skipper Jarks, they
+arn't fund 'em."
+
+The old scoundrel chuckled, and Mike heard Vince's teeth grate together;
+and then directly after, he drew a deep breath, like a sigh, for the
+captain said softly,--
+
+"And zey vill not find zem, eh?"
+
+"They've been all day a-looking for their corpusses--for they're dead
+now."
+
+"Aha! so soon?"
+
+"Ay, skipper; they say they've gone off the rocks and been drownded, and
+when they told me I says I wondered they hadn't been years ago, for they
+was the owdaciousest pair as ever I see.  They'd do anything they took
+in their heads."
+
+"Aha! is it so?" said the captain.
+
+"Ay, Skipper Jarks, it's so; but I'm 'fraid I shan't find their
+corpusses to-night.  What do you say?"
+
+"Nosing, _mon ami_: I on'y sink zat ze brave pilot.  Josef Daygo, who
+know evairy rock and courant about ze island, vill find zem if any ones
+do.  But, my friend, vat you sink?  Zey find ze vay down to ze cave?"
+
+"Nay, not they.  Nobody can climb down they rocks."
+
+"And you sink zere is no one who find ze leetler passage?"
+
+"Sure of it, skipper.  If any one had found that there way down do you
+think he'd ha' kep' it to hisself?  Nay, I should ha' been sure to ha'
+heered it, and if I had I'd ha' done some'at as 'd startled him as tried
+to go down.  On'y one man in the Crag know'd of that till they two
+dropped upon it somehow.  I dunno how.  It's been a wonder to me,
+though, as nobody never did.  Well, I must be going back: I've got a
+rough bit to do 'fore I gets home, and then I've got to go up to the
+Doctor's."
+
+"Vell, you vill eat and drink somesing," said the captain.  "Come to ze
+cabin, and ve sall see."
+
+As it happened, he led the way across the deck, and then along the port
+side aft to the cabin-hatch, from whence came soon after the call for
+the cook, who went to and fro carrying plates and glasses, while the two
+boys still stood in their former places, leaning over the bulwarks and
+apparently watching the phosphorescent creatures in the sea, but seeing
+none.
+
+It was some time before either of them spoke, and then it was Vince who
+broke the silence.
+
+"So we're both dead and swept out to sea, are we?" he said.
+
+He waited for a few moments, and then, as Mike did not speak, he said,
+in a low whisper:
+
+"I say, Mike, shouldn't you like to take a piece of rock and drop it
+through old Joe's boat?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Well, I should.  Of all the old rascals that I ever heard of he seems
+to be about the worst.  Why, he's regularly mixed up with this gang.
+Did you hear?  It seems that you can only get in and out at certain
+times of the tide, and nobody knows how to pilot any one in but old Joe
+Daygo."
+
+"Did you understand it to be like that?" said Mike eagerly.
+
+"Yes, he seems to be the regular pilot, and comes to take this French
+lugger in and to steer it out among the rocks.  Oh, it's terrible; and
+we've got old Joe to blame for all our troubles.  I wish we'd sunk his
+boat."
+
+"Shouldn't we have sunk ourselves too?"
+
+"Well, perhaps.  I should like to drop something through its bottom."
+
+"I shouldn't," said Mike quietly.  "Why not?  It would serve him well
+right."
+
+"Because I should like to use it ourselves."
+
+"Eh?  What do you mean?" said Vince excitedly.  "Now, younkers," said a
+voice behind them, "skipper says I'm to show you two to your bunks."
+
+It was a rough, hairy-faced fellow who spoke to them, though in the
+darkness they did not get a very good view of his features.
+
+"To our bunks?" said Vince.
+
+"Yes; come along.  You're lucky: you've got a place all to yourselves."
+
+He led them aft, to where a small hatchway stood, close to that of the
+captain's cabin, from whence the sound of voices came so loudly that,
+regardless of his companions' presence, the man stood and listened.
+
+"But I tell you I must go back, skipper," said Daygo, "and it's getting
+late."
+
+"_Oui_--yais, I know zat, _mon ami_," said the captain; "but I have ze
+good pilot on board, and it is late and ver' bad for him to go sail
+among ze rock and courant.  I say it is better he sall stay all ze
+night, and not go run ze risk to drown himselfs.  I cannot spare you.  I
+have you, Daygo.  You are a so much valuable mans.  So I sall keep you
+till I sail."
+
+"Keep me?" growled Daygo.
+
+"Yais.  You sall eat all as mosh as you vish, and drink more as you
+vish, but you cannot go avay.  It is not safe."
+
+There was the sound of a heavy fist brought down upon the table, and
+then the man, who had picked up a lanthorn, turned to them and said,--
+
+"Down with you, youngsters!"
+
+The boys obeyed, and the man followed.
+
+"Old Daygo don't like having to stay," he said laughingly.  "There you
+are, lads!--just room for you both without touching.  Shall I leave you
+the lanthorn?"
+
+"Please," said Vince.  "Thank you.--I say--"
+
+"Nay, you don't, lad," said the man, with gruff good humour; "you've
+nothing to say to me, and I've nothing to say to you.  I don't want the
+skipper to come down on my head with a capstan bar.  Here, both on you:
+just a word as I will say--Don't you be sarcy to the skipper.  He's
+Frenchy, and he's got a temper of his own, so just you mind how you trim
+your boats.  There, good-night."
+
+"One moment," said Vince, in a quick whisper.
+
+_Bang_! went the door, and they heard a hasp put over a staple and a
+padlock rattled in.
+
+"Here, youngsters!" came through the door.
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"Mind you put out that light when you're in your bunks.  Good-night!"
+
+"Good-night," said Mike.
+
+"Bad night," said Vince.  And then: "Oh, Ladle, old chap, what shall we
+do?"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY NINE.
+
+LONGINGS FOR LIBERTY.
+
+It was easier to ask that question than to answer it, and they cast a
+brief glance round the bare, cupboard-like place, with its two shelves,
+which represented the prisoners' beds, each bearing a small horsehair
+mattress and a French cotton blanket.
+
+"Put out the light," was all the answer Vince received; and, after
+holding it to the side of the place for a moment or two, he opened the
+lanthorn door and blew the candle out.
+
+"No good to keep that in.  Only makes the place hot and stuffy.  I'm
+going to open that light."
+
+The "light" was a sort of wooden shutter, which took the place of an
+ordinary cabin window, and as soon as he had drawn it wide open the soft
+night air entered in a delicious puff.
+
+"Hah! that's better," sighed Vince.  "Come here and breathe, Ladle, old
+chap.  It's of no use to smother ourselves if we are miserable.  I say,
+isn't it a beautiful night?"
+
+"Who's going to think anything beautiful when one's like this?  It's
+horrible!"
+
+"Pst!" whispered Vince, for the voice of the captain was plainly heard
+overhead, and the deep growl of old Daygo in answer, the way in which
+the tones grew more subdued suggesting that the speakers had gone right
+forward.
+
+"I should like to pitch that old villain overboard," said Mike, in a
+fierce whisper.
+
+"Well, if you'd let me tie a rope round him first I'd help you, Ladle;
+but I shouldn't like him to drown till he'd had time to get a little
+better."
+
+"Better?" said Mike: "he'll never grow any better."
+
+"Well, never mind him," said Vince.  "Now then, let's look the state of
+affairs in the face.  You won't tell us what to do, so I must see what I
+can think of."
+
+"Have you thought of anything?" cried Mike eagerly.
+
+"If you shout like that, it won't be much good if I have," said Vince,
+in an angry whisper.
+
+"I'm very sorry, Vince," said Mike humbly.  "I'll be more careful."
+
+"We shan't get away if you're not."
+
+"Get away?  Then you see a chance?" cried Mike eagerly.
+
+"Just the tiniest spark of one if you're ready to try."
+
+"I'll try anything," whispered Mike.
+
+"Wouldn't mind going into the seal hole again?"
+
+"Vince, old chap, I'd do anything," said Mike, seizing his
+fellow-prisoner's arm and holding him tightly.  "What shall we do?"
+
+"I'm afraid it's going to be very risky, for we don't know anything
+about the rocks and currents, and we may be upset.  Now do you see?"
+
+"I see: you mean escaping in a boat," said Mike eagerly; "but how?--what
+boat?"
+
+"Don't take much thinking to know that," replied Vince; "the only thing
+that puzzles me is how they could be so stupid as to leave a boat there
+swinging to a painter."
+
+"Old Joe's boat!" cried Mike joyously; and Vince clapped a hand over his
+mouth in anger, for just then they heard the voices of the captain and
+old Daygo as they walked forward again; and as far as the prisoners
+could make out, the two men were walking up one side of the deck and
+down the other, talking earnestly, but what was said the boys could not
+catch.
+
+"Yes, old Joe's boat," said Vince in a subdued voice; "but if you're
+going to shout we may as well go to bed and have a night's rest."
+
+"I really will mind, Cinder--I will indeed," whispered Mike.  "I
+couldn't help that, old chap.  But tell me, how are you going to manage
+it?"
+
+"There's only one way," replied Vince, with his lips close to his
+fellow-prisoner's ear; "climb out of the window, and then over the
+bulwark to get down inside it where it's dark; then creep along till we
+can feel the painter."
+
+"Then creep over the bulwark and drop down one after the other."
+
+"Cut the painter," said Vince.
+
+"And then we're free."
+
+There was a pause, during which Mike got tight hold of Vince's hand, and
+the latter felt that it was cold and wet from the boy's excitement.
+
+"I don't know so much about being free," whispered Vince.  "We should be
+away from this wretched old lugger; but where should we be going then?
+Didn't I warn you about the rocks and currents?"
+
+"Yes; but we should have old Joe's boat, and we can manage that easily
+enough."
+
+"Yes, if we're in the open sea, even if she's sinking, Ladle; but
+shut-in here among the rocks I don't know how we should get along.  But
+anything's better than sitting down and not having a try."
+
+"Yes, anything," said Mike, in a low, excited whisper.
+
+"Yes, anything.  We must try for the sake of those at home.  I know my
+father is sure to say to me, `Didn't you try to escape?'"
+
+"So will mine," said Mike.  "Oh yes, we must have a good try.  Think we
+can climb up?"
+
+"I'm just going to try," said Vince, kneeling down to take off his
+boots.  "If you like to try you can.  If not, you've got to go down on
+all fours under the window, so that I can step on your back and climb
+out."
+
+Mike was silent for a few moments, and then he said softly,--
+
+"I'll do which you like, Cinder."
+
+"Then I think I'll try first.  If I can't manage it you can."
+
+"But stop a moment: suppose there's any one on deck?"
+
+"It will be very dark."
+
+"But there'll be lanthorns burning and a watch kept."
+
+"I feel sure there'll be no lights, because they might be seen from the
+cliffs; and as they know they're so safe here, I don't believe there'll
+be any watch kept."
+
+"I wish I'd got a head like yours, Cinder."
+
+"Do you?  Well, we can't change.  That's it.  My! how tight my boots
+were!  It's getting them wet and letting them dry on one's feet.--Pst!
+Slip into your berth."
+
+Their needs and experience were beginning to make them obey a sharp
+order without question; and as Vince lowered down the shutter Mike
+crawled into the lower bunk silently enough, while, almost without a
+sound, Vince crept into the one above, stretched himself upon his back,
+and placed his hands together under his head.
+
+The reason for this sudden action was that he had seen a gleam of light
+play for a moment beneath the rough door; and they were hardly in their
+places when there was the sound of descending steps on the ladder, the
+shape of the door marked out plainly by the light all round.  Then came
+the rattling of a key in the padlock, which was drawn out of the staple,
+the door was flung open, and the hutch of a place was filled with the
+dull, soft light of a lanthorn, as a man stepped in.
+
+It was hard work to lie there with the lanthorn held close up to them,
+but the boys both stood the ordeal.  Mike was lying with his face close
+to the bulkhead, and of course with his back to their visitor and his
+features in the shade; but Vince's was the harder task, for he had
+assumed his attitude as being the most sleep-like, and to give better
+effect to his piece of acting, he had opened his mouth, and went on
+breathing rather heavily, while the fact of his having his boots off,
+and one foot sticking out over the bunk side, helped materially over the
+bit of deception.
+
+"I wonder who it is," thought Vince; and, as if in answer, a familiar
+voice said, in a low tone,--
+
+"Aha!  _Vous etes_ not too much frighten to go fast asleep?"
+
+Vince did not need to open his eyes, for he could see mentally vividly
+enough the swarthy, brown, deeply-lined face, with the keen dark eyes,
+and the crafty look about the mouth, drawn into an unpleasant smile,
+while the big earrings seemed to glisten in the soft light.
+
+"You are fast asleep--_hein_?" said the man, rather sharply; but no one
+stirred, though Vince could feel the perspiration standing in a fine dew
+upon his forehead and by the sides of his nose.
+
+"I came to see if you are good boys, and sall put out your light quite
+safe; for all ze powder is down underneas you, and you muss not blow
+yourselfs up and spoil my sheep.  You hear, big, stupede boy?"
+
+Vince gave vent to a low, gurgling sound, and made up his mind to babble
+a few words about the caverns; but his throat was dry, and his tongue
+refused to act.
+
+Perhaps it was as well, for in doing so he might have overdone his part,
+which was perfect.
+
+Then the light was withdrawn, the captain went out, and the door was
+carefully fastened, the light fading from round the door while something
+shook loudly as he ascended the ladder and dropped the trap down with a
+snap, which was followed by the crash of iron, as if another loop were
+passed on a staple.
+
+"Hasn't dropped any sparks, has he, Vince?" whispered Mike, turning
+softly in his bunk.
+
+"Can't see any," was the reply.  "Oh, I say, Ladle, and I blew out our
+candle and saw them fly!"
+
+"But do you think it's true?  Is the powder here, or did he only say it
+to frighten us?"
+
+"I don't know," whispered Vince.  "There must be a powder magazine, for
+he has cannon on deck.  But I didn't see any trap door: did you?"
+
+"Yes--just as you put out the light.  You knelt on it when you took off
+your boots."
+
+"Oh dear!" sighed Vince.  "I'm all dripping wet.  Isn't this place
+horribly hot?"
+
+"Hot?  I feel as if my things were all soaked."
+
+"Don't talk.  We must lie still now, and wait.  I don't think he'll come
+again."
+
+"I do," said Mike.  "He'll never be such a noodle as to believe we two
+will stop here without trying to escape."
+
+"I don't know," sighed Vince.  "I'm afraid we're quite safe?"
+
+"What, to escape?"
+
+"No--to stop in prison; for I expect we shan't be able to get on deck."
+
+"But we're going to try?"
+
+"Yes," said Vince through his closely set teeth; "we're going to try."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY.
+
+A BOLD DASH FOR FREEDOM.
+
+As the boys lay perfectly still in their bunks, gradually growing
+cooler, and feeling that even if they were over the part of the hold
+used as a powder magazine there was nothing to fear so long as there was
+no light near, they heard a step twice overhead, then all was perfectly
+still but the faint rippling of the swift current as it passed under the
+vessel and glided on across to the rocks.
+
+They whispered to each other from time to time; Mike being impatient to
+begin their attempt, but Vince always refusing till he felt satisfied
+that all was still.
+
+At last this feeling of satisfaction came, and, passing his legs out of
+his bunk, he dropped lightly on to the floor to begin feeling about,
+till his hand touched a rough hinge, and on the other side a ring which
+lay down in the woodwork of a trap door.
+
+But he did not say anything, only rose and pulled open the light again,
+keeping it in that position by passing the leather strap which formed
+its handle over a hook in the ceiling, a slit having been cut in the
+piece of leather.
+
+"Now, Ladle," whispered Vince, "come and kneel here, then I can stand on
+your back."
+
+Mike obeyed at once, and then whispered quickly,--
+
+"Vince, there is a trap door here: I'm right on it."
+
+"I know,--I touched it; but there's no candle.  Ready?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+Vince took hold of the opening frame, which was only just big enough for
+him to pass through, stepped lightly on to his companion as he stiffened
+himself on all fours, and then began to creep out.
+
+For a few moments he hesitated, for there was the black water beneath
+him, full of sparks, gliding rapidly along, so brightly that he felt
+that if any one were on deck looking over the bulwark he must be seen;
+but the thought of freedom and those at home nerved him, and as soon as
+he was in a sitting position, with his legs inside, he bent down and
+whispered to his companion, who had risen,--
+
+"Take tight hold of my legs till I give a jerk, which means let me
+loose."
+
+Mike seized the legs firmly; and, thus secured, Vince stretched out his
+arms and began to feel about overhead, to find that the top of the light
+was just below the projecting streak, which runs, iron-bound, round the
+most prominent part of a vessel, from stem to stern, to protect the side
+from injury when it glides up to wharf, pier, or pile.  This stood out
+about a foot, and Vince felt that if he could only climb on this, the
+rest would be easy.
+
+He passed his hands cautiously over it, and, reaching in, found to his
+great delight a ring-bolt, through which it was possible to pass two or
+three fingers.  Jerking his leg, he felt himself free, and rose up,
+getting first one foot and then the other on the sill of the opening.
+
+There was no difficulty in standing like this, and as he did so he felt
+Mike's arms tightly embracing his legs, an act which hindered further
+progress if he had meant to climb higher.
+
+But he was satisfied with what he had done; after peering about a
+little, and listening for some minutes, he jerked one leg again, felt
+them freed, and began to descend.
+
+To an active boy, whose nerves were firm, this was easy enough; and
+directly after he stood in the little cabin, breathing hard, but able to
+find words, and whisper to his anxious fellow-prisoner.
+
+"It's as easy as easy," he said: "nothing to getting up a bit of stiff
+cliff;" and he then described what he had found, and how all seemed as
+still as could be.  "Couldn't you hear any watch on deck?"
+
+"Not a sound of them.  I believe every one's below; and I say, Mike, we
+needn't get over on deck at all.  There's plenty of room to take hold of
+the top of the bulwarks and walk along.  All we've got to do is to mind
+the stays when we come to them, and step round carefully."
+
+"Yes, I understand perfectly," said Mike.  "Come on, and let's get it
+over."
+
+"Wait till I've put on my boots.  I shall want them."  The boy knelt
+down and hurriedly drew them on, and laced them as well as he could in
+the dark; then raising himself on to the window-sill without assistance,
+he drew himself into his old position, and reaching up and over the
+streak, found the ring-bolt, which rattled faintly, and, passing his
+fingers through, stood up on the sill, and then drew himself on to the
+projecting woodwork.
+
+Here he crouched for a few moments listening, before rising erect, with
+one hand upon the top of the bulwark, over which he looked; but all was
+dark, and there was not a sound to be heard save the faint rustling
+below him made by Mike.
+
+This was the most nervous part of the business.  A certain amount of
+tremor had troubled the lad as he climbed out, and the thought of having
+a slip did once bring the perspiration out upon his forehead; but the
+effort needed dulled the fear, and he soon stood where he was in safety.
+But to listen to a companion undergoing the same trial in the darkness
+was another thing; and Vince felt ten times the dread as he listened and
+shivered to hear the ring-bolt seized and his companion slowly drawing
+himself upward so that he could stand.
+
+Suppose he lost his nerve--suppose he slipped and tell with a splash
+into that black, spangled water--what could he do?  Poor Mike would be
+swept away directly, and his only chance of life would be for him to
+swim steadily till he reached the rocks, and then try to find one to
+which he could cling, and draw himself up.
+
+But Vince did better than think: he tightened his grasp of the bulwark
+rail by crooking his hand, and softly extended one leg over the streak.
+
+This had the effect he desired.  The next moment it was struck by a hand
+feeling about.  Then the trouser was tugged at, and directly after the
+bottom was turned over and over, so as to form a good roll to grip.
+Then, with this for a second hand-hold, Mike was helped, and his climb
+on to the shelf-like projection became easier for the aid afforded, and
+he too rose to stand panting beside Vince.
+
+They felt that everything depended upon their coolness, and hence they
+stood there, facing inward, holding on to the bulwark and listening.
+
+But all was still; and at last, satisfied that it was time to move,
+Vince whispered "Now," and began to edge himself along to the right--
+that is, towards the forward part of the boat.
+
+Mike started at the same moment, taking step for step, their hands
+touching at every movement.  It was an easy enough task this, for there
+was plenty of hold and standing room--the only danger being that they
+might be heard by some one on the watch, while there was the chance that
+they had been heard and this was a new trap to re-catch them.
+
+But their hearts rose as they crept slowly and silently along in the
+silence, and then went down deeply into a sense of despair, for a
+thought suddenly struck Vince which made him stop and place his lips
+close to his companion's ear, and whisper,--
+
+"Suppose, as Joe is going to stop, they have hoisted the boat on deck?"
+
+Mike replied promptly, and with a decision that was admirable under the
+circumstances,--
+
+"Don't make bugbears.  Go on and try."
+
+It was rude enough to have brought forth a sharp retort at any other
+time; but then Vince felt its justice, and he went on again, and his
+hand touched the shrouds which held the mainmast in place, and a little
+care had to be exercised to pass round.  But this was silently achieved
+by both; and Vince was gliding his right-hand along the top of the
+bulwarks once more, when it was as if an electric shock had passed
+through him, for he had suddenly touched something unmistakably like a
+man's elbow.
+
+For a few moments he was ready to doubt this; but the doubt passed away
+directly, for from close to him a heavy, snoring breath was drawn, and
+as he gazed with starting eyes he made out dimly the head and shoulders
+of a man who was evidently the watch, but who conducted his watching by
+folding his arms upon the bulwarks, laying his head thereon, and going
+off fast asleep.
+
+Vince felt that all was over unless they went back some little distance,
+climbed over and crossed the deck to the other side; and once more
+placing his lips to Mike's ear, he told him of the obstacle in the way,
+and suggested this plan.
+
+Then Mike's lips were at his ear,--
+
+"Take too much time--may tumble over another--go on."
+
+The proposal almost took the boy's breath away, but he was strung up by
+his companion's firmness to do anything now, and, drawing a deep breath,
+he prepared to advance; but paused again, with his blood running cold,
+for there was an uneasy movement on the part of the watch and a low,
+growling muttering.
+
+Silence once more; and then, nerving himself, Vince advanced his left
+hand till it was close to the sleeping man's elbow, then, edging along a
+little, he reached out his right-hand till he could grasp the bulwark
+beyond the other elbow; but the position brought his face down close to
+the back of the sleeper's head, and he could feel the warmth emanating
+from it and the man's rising breath, while he trembled as he dreaded
+lest the man should feel his.
+
+Then Vince felt that he ought to step back and tell Mike how to manage--
+as he was acting; but, knowing that all this meant delay and that speed
+was everything, and might mean success instead of failure, he knew that
+he must trust to his comrade's own common sense.  And now, with the
+feeling upon him that if the man awoke suddenly he would start and fall
+back into the sea, he tightened his hold of his right-hand, relaxed that
+of his left, edged along, and was safely past.
+
+Naturally all these thoughts darted almost instantaneously through his
+mind, and a few moments only elapsed between Mike's words and his being
+safe upon the other side; while now, as he stood thus, after leaving
+ample room for his companion, the strain upon his nerves seemed to be
+greater, for he had to try and see Mike's movements, and listen in agony
+to the faint rustling sound he made.
+
+Poor Mike had a harder test of his courage than that which had fallen to
+Vince's lot; for as by instinct he took the same means of getting by the
+obstacle as the former, and was standing with arms outstretched, the man
+made a sudden movement and growled out some tongue-blundered word, at
+the same time raising his head and striking Mike's chin slightly, to
+make the boy's teeth go together with a sharp click.
+
+"It's all over," thought Vince.  But he was wrong: the man settled his
+head down again in a more satisfactory position, and uttered a low,
+grumbling sigh of resting weariness.
+
+Then Mike was alongside of his partner in the flight, and they edged
+themselves rapidly along to the foremast shrouds--so short a distance,
+but to them, with their nerves on the strain, so far.
+
+Now came another heart-compressing question to Vince.  The boat, when
+Joe Daygo arrived, had been made fast a short distance in front of the
+foremast: was it there now?
+
+A strange hesitation came over the lad; he did not like to pass beyond
+the fore-chains to test this, for he felt that if it had been removed
+and hoisted on board the disappointment would be so keen as to be almost
+unbearable, for to let it down unheard would be impossible; but once
+more mastering himself he passed on, holding by the light shrouds which
+gave at his touch, and then began to run his hand once more along the
+bulwark to feel the line, which had been passed over and twisted to and
+fro over one of the belaying pins.
+
+No--no--no.
+
+_Yes_!
+
+There it was, and as he grasped it the boat answered to his touch as it
+swung alongside and grazed softly against the copper sheathing.
+
+"Got it?" was whispered.
+
+"Yes;" and Vince's hand went to his pocket for his knife, as his busy,
+overstrung brain asked why it was that they had not been searched and
+their knives taken away.
+
+But he did not withdraw the knife, for he found that it would be easy
+enough to cast the rope loose, and he turned to Mike.
+
+"Down with you!" he said.
+
+"No: you first."
+
+A noise as of a heavy blow.
+
+A savage yell, followed by a scuffling sound from where the sleeping man
+had been standing, and the boys stood holding on there, paralysed for
+the moment.
+
+"Curse you if you hit me!" began a rough voice from out of the darkness;
+but the speech was cut short by a sharp clicking, and the familiar voice
+of the French captain arose, sharpened by rage and sounding fierce and
+tigerish in spite of the peculiarity of his broken English, mingled with
+words in his native tongue.
+
+"Dog!  _Canaille!  Vite_ sleep-head fool!  Anozaire vord I blow out you
+brain and you are ovaire-board."
+
+The sleeper growled something, which was again cut short by the French
+skipper.
+
+"Vat?  How you know zat ze boy do not get on deck to take a boat and go
+tell of my store _cachette_?  To-morrow you are flog by all ze crew, and
+zey sall sare all ze monnaies zat vould come to you."
+
+Vince drew on the painter, and then pressed Mike's shoulder for him to
+descend, while he began softly to cast off the rope.
+
+Mike did his best to go down in silence, and Vince his to cast off
+without making a sound; but the boat ground against the side, the
+belaying pin rattled, and there was a rush from where the captain stood.
+
+Mike was in the boat as the last turn was cast off from the belaying
+pin; and then, without a moment's hesitation, Vince leaped down,
+fortunately alighting beyond his companion upon one of the thwarts, and
+then falling forward upon his hands just as there was a flash of light
+and a loud report.
+
+The thrust given by Mike and the impetus of Vince's leap sent the boat
+out to where it was caught by the current; but, instead of its bearing
+them away from the lugger, it seemed to keep them back for a few
+moments, but only for the bows to be seized by an eddy just as there was
+another flash, report, and simultaneously a dull thud, as of something
+being hit.  Then the shouting of orders, the appearance of a light, and
+the hurrying of feet was more distant, as if the lugger had suddenly
+been snatched away; but the two lads knew that they were in one of the
+terrible rushing currents, and were being borne along at a tremendous
+rate.  Where?  In what direction?
+
+They could not tell, for the tide had turned.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY ONE.
+
+THE PERILS OF THE SCRAW.
+
+In the hurry and confusion the boys crouched in the bottom of the boat
+for some minutes, gazing at the lugger, and seeing lanthorn after
+lanthorn dancing about.  Then one descended like a glowworm apparently
+on to the surface of the water, and they knew that a boat had been
+lowered and that there would be pursuit.  And all the time they felt
+that without effort on their part they were being borne rapidly along as
+fast as any one could chase them; but they were in a boat familiar to
+them, and furnished with oars and sails if they could only reach the
+open water.  Then a despondent feeling came over them as they realised
+that they were surrounded by towering rocks, and as they crouched lower
+they fully expected from moment to moment to hear a grinding sound, and
+feel a sharp check as a plank was ripped out by some sharp granite fang,
+and then hear once more the rippling of the water as it rushed into the
+boat.
+
+And this in the darkness; for the bright stars above and the
+phosphorescent atoms with which the black waters were dotted did not
+relieve the deep gloom produced by the overhanging cliffs.
+
+"Hurt, Vince?" whispered Mike at last.
+
+"Yes, ever so."
+
+"Oh!  Want a handkerchief to bind it up?" cried Mike, in horror.
+
+"Well, it does bleed--feels wet--but it don't matter much."
+
+"But it does," said Mike excitedly.  "Where did it hit you?"
+
+"On the shin; but it didn't hit me--I hit it."
+
+"What!  The bullet?"
+
+"Go along! don't joke now.  I came down against an oar.  Oh, I see: you
+thought he hit me when he fired."
+
+"Of course."
+
+"Pooh! he couldn't aim straight in the dark.  I'm all right.  But I say:
+there's water in the boat.  Not much, but I can hear it gurgling in.
+Why, Mike," he cried excitedly, after a few moments' search, "here's a
+little round hole close down by the keel.  There, I've stopped it up
+with a finger; it's where his bullet must have gone through.  Got your
+handkerchief?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Tear off a piece, to make a plug about twice as big as a physic-bottle
+cork."
+
+There was the sound of tearing, and then Mike handed the piece of
+cotton, which was carefully thrust into the clean, round hole,
+effectually plugging it; after which Vince proposed that they should
+each take an oar.
+
+"Can't row," said Mike shortly.
+
+"No, but we may want to fend her off from a rock.  Hullo! where are the
+lanthorns now?  I can't see either the lugger or the boat."
+
+Mike looked back, but nothing was visible.
+
+"We've come round some rock," said Vince.  "We shall see them again
+directly."
+
+But the minutes glided on, and they saw no light--all was black around
+as ever, but the loud, hissing gurgle of the water told that they were
+being borne along by some furious current; and at last came that which
+they had been expecting--a heavy bump, as the prow struck against a
+rock-face so heavily that they were both jerked forward on to their
+hands, while the boat was jarred from stem to stern.
+
+They listened with a feeling of expectant awe for the noise of water
+rushing in; but none came, and a little feeling about was sufficient
+test to prove that there was no more than had come in through the bullet
+hole.  But while they were waiting there came another heavy blow, and
+their state of helplessness added to their misery.
+
+"Oh, if it was only light!" groaned Mike.
+
+"Yes, we could use the oars or hook to fend her off."
+
+Bump went the boat again, and they caught at the side to save
+themselves, conscious now, in the thick darkness, that they were being
+whirled round and round in some great whirlpool-like eddy, which dealt
+with the boat as if it were a cork.
+
+"Don't seem as if we can do anything," said Vince at last, as the boat
+swept along, with the water lapping and gurgling about them just as if
+it were full of hungry tongues anticipating the feast to come as soon as
+they were sucked down.
+
+"No," said Mike, "it doesn't seem as if we can do anything."
+
+"'Cept one thing, Mike," said Vince in a low deep tone, which did not
+sound like his own voice.
+
+"What?"
+
+"Say our prayers--for the last time."
+
+And in the midst of that intense darkness, black as ebony on either
+side, while above and below there were still the bright glittering and
+softened streaks of light, there was an interval of solemn silence.
+
+Vince was the first to break that silence, and there was something quite
+cheerful in his tones now as he said,--
+
+"Shake hands, Mikey: I'm sorry you and I haven't always been good
+friends.  I have often been a regular beast to you."
+
+Mike grasped the extended hands in a firm grip with both of his, as he
+said, in a choking voice,--
+
+"Not half so bad as I've been to you, Cinder.  I've got such a hasty
+temper sometimes."
+
+"Get out!" cried Vince sharply.  "There, I'm better now.  I'm afraid
+we're going to be drowned, Ladle, but I feel as if we ought to be doing
+something to try and save ourselves.  It's being so cowardly to sit
+still here.  They wouldn't like it at home."
+
+"But what can we do?  I'm ready."
+
+"So am I; but it's so dark.  I say, though, we must be going round and
+round in a sort of hole."
+
+"Then we shall be drawn right down somewhere into the earth."
+
+"Not that!  I tell you what, it's like one of those great pot-holes in
+the big passage, only a hundred times as big; and the water's sweeping
+the boulders round, and grinding it out and carrying us along with it.
+Look here, we shall be kept on going round and round here, if we don't
+get smashed, till daylight; and then old Jarks'll come and find us, and
+we shall be worse off than ever.  I say, though, don't you think we
+could do something with the boat-hook?"
+
+"What?"
+
+"Wait till we bump against the rocks again, and then try and hold on."
+
+"If you did the water would come over the stern."
+
+"I don't know.  Well, look here: I'll try.  If it does I'll let go
+directly."
+
+Taking hold of the boat-hook Vince knelt down right forward, thrust the
+iron-armed pole over the bows, and holding it like a lance in rest he
+waited, but not for long.  Very soon after the iron point touched
+against stone, and he was thrown backward, nearly losing the pole, while
+the boat was sent surging along on one side for a few moments, bumped on
+the other side, then back again as if she were being sent from side to
+side, and directly after the keel came upon a rock which seemed to slope
+up like a great boulder standing in their way.  There for a brief moment
+or two it was balanced, and made a plunge forward like a dive, the water
+came with a rush over the bows, and surged back to where Mike was
+kneeling, and then they were rushing onward again more swiftly than
+ever.
+
+For a few moments the pair were too breathless to speak, but Vince
+recovered from the confusion caused by the shock and the rapidly
+following exciting incidents, and he shouted aloud,--
+
+"Bale, Mike, bale!  It's all right: we're out of that whirlpool, and
+we're going along again."
+
+"You've got the baler forward," said Mike huskily.
+
+"Eh?  So I have in the locker here.  I say, how deep do you make the
+water?  There's hardly any here."
+
+"Only a few inches."
+
+"Then we're all right yet; but we may as well have that out."
+
+He felt for the locker, and drew out the old tin pot, crept aft to where
+his companion knelt, and, after lifting the board which covered in the
+keel depression, he began to toss out the water rapidly, and soon
+lowered it so that the pot began to scrape on the bottom, while Mike
+listened with a feeling of envy attacking him, for he felt that it must
+be a relief to be doing something instead of kneeling there listening
+and wondering whether the pursuing boat was anywhere near.
+
+"There!" said Vince at last, in a triumphant tone; "that's different to
+baling when you feel that the water is coming in as fast as you throw it
+out.  I haven't got it all, but as much as I can without making a
+noise."
+
+He replaced the bottom board and then returned the pot to the locker,
+and Mike moved a little forward now to meet him half-way.
+
+"Think we're going as fast now as ever?" whispered Mike.
+
+"Eh?  I don't know.  I was too busy to think about it.  No, not quite,
+and--I say, are we going right?"
+
+"Right?"
+
+"Well, I mean as we were.  We seemed to be going south, as far as I
+could make out by the stars; and now we're going north."
+
+"Nonsense! impossible!"
+
+"Look, then!  I'm sure we had our backs to the pole star, and that meant
+going south, and out to sea; but now we've got our faces due north."
+
+"Yes," said Mike, after a few moments' pause; "that's right: we're going
+north."
+
+"Well, that isn't out to sea."
+
+"No," replied Mike thoughtfully.
+
+"And running along at such a rate as we are, we ought to have been ever
+so far away by this time, instead of rushing along here deep down among
+the rocks, as if we were in a narrow channel.  I can't make it out: can
+you?"
+
+Mike remained thoughtful and silent again for a time, and then said
+wearily,--
+
+"No; I can't understand it.  It gives me the headache to think; and
+being whirled along like this is so confusing.  My thoughts go rushing
+along like the water."
+
+"Don't talk so loud, Mike," said Vince, after a pause, "or we shall be
+heard.  But we must have left them a long way behind, or else they've
+covered over their lanthorn so as to come upon us by surprise."
+
+"Think they are near us, then?"
+
+"Must be, because the tide would carry them along as fast as it does us;
+and they have the advantage of knowing the way.  Oh!  I do wish we could
+get out in the open sea; and then, once we were clear of the rocks, we'd
+show them what the boat could do.  It would puzzle them to--"
+
+He was going to say "catch us then," but he stopped short, gazing
+upward, out of the black chasm in which they were, at the stars.
+
+"What is it?  See the light?" whispered Mike.
+
+"No: I was trying to make out our course.  The passage has wound off to
+the right, and we're going east."
+
+"Of course it would zigzag and turn about," said Mike wearily; "but
+we're in deeper water here, for we don't seem to go near any small
+rocks."
+
+"No; but we're going by plenty of big ones on the left.  The current
+runs close to them, I'm sure, though it's ever so much wider now.  I
+believe I could almost have touched either side with the boat-hook a bit
+ago; now I can only touch one side."
+
+"It's more ripply, too, now, isn't it?"
+
+"Ever so much: seems to boil up all about us, and you can't see the
+bright specks sailing about so fast.  The top of the water was as smooth
+as glass when we were in the great lugger."
+
+"That's a sign we are near the sea, then," said Mike, with more
+confidence in his tones.
+
+"Yes, and I don't like it," said Vince thoughtfully.
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because I've been thinking that there must be another way out; and
+knowing all about it, as they do, they'll be waiting at the mouth of
+this horrible zigzag place along which we're dodging all this time, and
+catch us after all."
+
+"Oh, Cinder!" cried Mike passionately, "don't say that: it would be too
+hard.  It may be too dark for them to see us if we lie close and don't
+make a sound.  And look," he said joyfully: "we really are close to the
+sea now, for we're going due south."
+
+"Due south it is," assented Vince, as if he were standing at a wheel
+steering.  "Yes, I suppose you're right, for I can hear the sound of
+surf.  Listen."
+
+"Yes, I can hear," replied Mike; "but it sounds smothered-like."
+
+"Rocks between us, perhaps.  Now then: only whispers, mind!--close to
+the ear.  Don't let's lose our chance of getting away by telling them
+where we are.  I say!"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"If there was a boat anywhere near us, could you see it?"
+
+Mike turned his eyes to right and left before answering:
+
+"Sure I couldn't on that side, and I don't think I could on this."
+
+"That's what I felt, and if we're lucky we'll escape them after all.
+Now then, silence, and let's get the oars across and each take his place
+on the thwarts, ready to row hard if we are seen."
+
+Each from long practice felt for the thole-pins and placed them in their
+proper holes; then, softly taking up their oars, they laid them right
+across the boat, with handle standing out on one side, blade on the
+other, and waited in silence, with the boat gliding on.
+
+At the end of about a quarter of an hour, during which minute by minute
+they had expected to be swept out into open water where the great
+Atlantic tide was rolling along by the solitary island, Mike
+whispered,--
+
+"I say, the boat has turned quite round more than once.  Doesn't that
+account for the stars seeming different?"
+
+"No, because we can tell we are sometimes going forward and sometimes
+back."
+
+"But look! we're going north now."
+
+"Yes, I know we are," said Vince; "and I'm beginning to know how it is."
+
+"Well, tell me.  It's so horrible to be puzzled like this."
+
+Vince was silent.
+
+"Why don't you speak?"
+
+"Because I was thinking.  Ladle, old chap, we've gone through too much,
+what with the seals' cave, and being caught and then put down in that
+stifling hole over the gunpowder.  We're both off our heads--in a sort
+of fever."
+
+"I'm not," said Mike shortly.  "You are, or else you wouldn't talk such
+stuff."
+
+"I talk such stuff, as you call it, because my father's a doctor, and
+I've heard him tell my mother about what queer fancies people have when
+their heads are wrong."
+
+"Two people couldn't be queer in the same way and with the same things.
+What's the good of talking like that?"
+
+"Very well: you tell me how it is.  I can't understand it, and the more
+I try the more puzzled I am.  It's horrible, that's what it is, and I
+feel sometimes as if we had been carried away by the tide to nowhere, or
+the place where the tides come and go in the hollows of the earth."
+
+"We shall be out at sea directly, and then we shall be all right."
+
+"No, we shan't be out at sea directly, and we shan't be all right; for
+we've got into some horrible great whirlpool."
+
+"What!" cried Mike excitedly.  "A whirlpool?"
+
+"Yes, that's it; and we're going round and round, and that's why it is
+that we are sometimes looking south and sometimes north."
+
+"But you don't think--if it is as you say--that at last we shall be
+sucked down some awful pit in the middle?"
+
+"I don't know," said Vince.  "I can't think properly now.  I feel just
+as if my head was all shut up, and that nothing would come out of it.  I
+say, Mike!"
+
+There was no reply, for Mike was gazing wildly up at the stars, trying
+to convince himself of the truth or falsity of his companion's words;
+but he only crouched lower at last, with a feeling of despair creeping
+over him, and then he turned angrily, as Vince began to speak again, in
+a low, dreamy voice.
+
+"That's it," he said: "we are going round and round.  I wish we'd had
+some more of old Jarks' dinner, and then gone to sleep quietly in our
+bunks.  We couldn't have been so badly off as we are now."
+
+"Then why did you propose for us to escape?"
+
+"Because I thought we ought to try," said Vince sharply, as he suddenly
+changed his tone.  "There, it's of no use to talk, Mike.  We're in for
+it, and I'm not going to give up like a coward.  I don't know where we
+are, and you don't; but we're in one of those whirls that go round and
+round when the tide's running up or down, and we can't be any worse off
+than we are now, for there are no rocks, seemingly."
+
+"But the middle--the hole."
+
+"They don't have any hole.  Why, you know, old Joe sailed us right
+across one out yonder by the Grosse Chaine, and we went into the little
+one off Shag Rock.  It's one like that we're in, and I daresay if it was
+daylight we could see how to get out of it by a few tugs at the oars,
+same as we got out of that one when we went round and round before.  Oh,
+we shall be all right."
+
+Mike did not speak, for the words seemed to give him no comfort.
+
+"Do you hear, Ladle?" continued Vince.  "If we had been likely to upset,
+it would have been all over with us long ago; but we go on sailing round
+as steadily as can be, and I feel sure that we shall get out all right.
+What do you say to lying down and having a nap?"
+
+"Lie down?  Here?  Go to sleep?" cried Mike in horror.  "I couldn't."
+
+"I could," said Vince.  "I'm so tired that I don't think I could keep
+awake, even if I knew old Jarks was likely to come and threaten me with
+a pistol.  But, I say, Ladle, that wretch shot at us twice.  Why, he
+might have hit one of us.  Won't he have to be punished when we get away
+and tell all about him?"
+
+"Yes, I suppose so--if ever we do get away," said Mike sadly.
+
+Then they relapsed into silence, both watching the stars to convince
+themselves that they were going round and round, making the circuit of
+some wide place surrounded by the towering rocks, which made the sea
+look so intensely black.
+
+At last, thoroughly convinced, the strain of thinking became too great,
+the motion of the boat and the constant gliding along in that horrible
+monotonous whirl began to affect Mike as it had affected Vince, and, in
+spite of his energetic struggles to rouse himself from it, was now
+attacking him more strongly than ever.  They were surrounded by dangers,
+the least of which was that of the pursuing boat with the exasperated
+captain; for so surely as the boat grazed upon a rock just below the
+surface she would capsize.  But all this was as nothing to the mentally
+and bodily exhausted lads.  Nature was all-powerful, and by degrees the
+head of first one then of the other drooped, and sleep, deep and sudden,
+fell upon them.
+
+But the sleep was not then profound.  The mind still acted like the
+flickering of a candle in its socket, and urged them to start up wakeful
+and determined once more.  And this happened again and again, the
+sufferers telling themselves that it would be madness to go to sleep.
+But, madness or no, Nature said they must; and almost simultaneously,
+after seating themselves in the bottom of the boat, so as to prop
+themselves in the corners between the thwart and side, they glided lower
+and lower, and at last lay prone in the most profound of slumber,
+totally unconscious of everything but the great need which would renew
+with fresh vigour their exhausted frames.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY TWO.
+
+A STRANGE AWAKENING.
+
+The grey gulls were wheeling round and round, dipping down from time to
+time to pick up some scrap of floating food or tiny fish from out of a
+shoal; the cormorants and shags were swimming here and there, and diving
+down swift as the fish themselves, in chase of victim after victim for
+their ravenous maws, and the fish, crowded together, were playing about
+the surface, and leaping out at times like bars of silver, to fall back
+again with a splash, while the sun made the water sparkle as it rippled
+and played and foamed among the rocks.
+
+It was a glorious morning; and the heather, gorse and purple-hued
+lavender blossomed, sea-pinks glistened and flashed, as the sun played
+and sent off rays of dazzling iridescent hues from the evanescent gems
+with which the night mists had bedewed them.
+
+Everywhere all was life and light, save where a boat went gliding along
+upon a swift current stem first, stern first, or broadside on, as the
+various curves and jutting rocks at the foot of the huge cliffs affected
+the hurrying waters and made them react upon the boat.
+
+All at once there was a desperate quarrel and screaming for as a diver
+rose from its plunge, and was flying towards one of the cliff shelves to
+enjoy its morning meal in the shape of a large, newly caught fish, it
+was attacked by a huge pirate of a black-backed gull, which pounced down
+upon it with open beak, secured the fish, and as it flew off was
+followed and mobbed by a score of other birds, when such a wild clamour
+of sharp metallic screams arose, that it startled one of the occupants
+of the boat, making him spring up, rub his eyes, stare, and then bend
+down to rouse his companion.
+
+"Here!  Hi!  Mike!  Ladle!  Wake up!"
+
+The other obeyed, sprang to his feet, and stared wildly at his
+companion, with that dull, heavy, dreamy look in the eyes, which tells
+that though the muscular energy of the body may be awake, the mind is
+still fast plunged in sleep.
+
+Then both rubbed their eyes, and Vince did more: he knelt down, leaned
+over the side of the boat, and plunging both hands in, scooped up the
+cool sparkling water, and bathed face and temples till his brain grew
+clearer, and he stood up again, dabbing his face with his handkerchief.
+
+"Do as I do.  Do you hear, Mike?  I say, you're asleep!"
+
+"Sleep?" said Mike, looking at him vacantly.
+
+"Yes, asleep.  Rouse up and look!  It's wonderful!  Here, if you won't,
+I must.  Kneel down."
+
+He pressed upon the boy's shoulders; and Mike, without making the
+slightest resistance, knelt in the bottom of the boat.  He yielded too
+as Vince pressed a hand upon the back of his head, and then splashed
+some water in his face.
+
+The effect was electrical.  The next minute Mike was bathing his brows,
+throwing up the water with both hands; and as he felt the refreshing
+coolness send an invigorating and calming thrill through every nerve, he
+rose up and stood drying himself and gazing round, wondering whether he
+was yet awake, or this was part of some strange, wild dream.
+
+Vince did not speak, but stood there watching him, while the boat glided
+on, as it had all through the night, with unerring regularity; and there
+before them was the great watery oval they had gone on traversing,
+dotted with sea-birds, while now, instead of the mighty cliffs around,
+looking black, overhanging and forbidding, they were beautiful in the
+extreme, both in the morning light and their deep empurpled shades.
+
+Mike looked and looked up at the highest cliffs on his left, over the
+rapidly gliding water to his right, where the great ridge was dotted
+with sea-birds, and away to fore and aft, where the lofty overhanging
+rocks were repeated.
+
+"I say," cried Mike at last, "am I awake?"
+
+"If you're not, I'm fast asleep," said Vince.
+
+"But how did we get here?"
+
+"I don't know.  Through some narrow passage, I suppose; and then, as
+soon as we got in, we must have been going on round and round, and round
+and round, thinking that we were getting out to sea.  I say, no wonder
+it seemed so far!"
+
+"Then it is true," said Mike excitedly.  "I don't know that cave,
+though."
+
+"No, we never saw that before," said Vince, as they were swept by a low
+archway, and then onward by a broad opening, which, seen from their
+fresh point of view, looked beautiful but strange.
+
+"Is that--" began Mike, in a dubious, hesitating way.
+
+"Yes, of course.  Look: we don't know it from out here, but there's the
+seal hole and our fishing place, where we caught the crab.  It's all
+shadowy inside, or we could see our kitchen and fishing tackle."
+
+"No, no; it can't be," said Mike despairingly: "if it was, we should
+come directly upon the smugglers' place."
+
+"Yes, you'll see: we shall be carried by directly."
+
+"But there'll be some one there.  Here, quick: let's row away,"--and
+Mike seized an oar.
+
+"You can't row against a current like this," said Vince quietly; "and if
+anybody had been in there they would have been awake and seen us long
+before this."
+
+"Then I don't believe this is the cove, and that can't be our cavern,"
+cried Mike sharply.
+
+"Very well; but you soon will.  Now look: here we go.  I say, how smooth
+the walls of rock are worn by the water!--that accounts for our never
+having been upset in the night.  We shall see the big cave directly.
+Shall we try and land?"
+
+"Yes; no; I don't know what will be best to do.  Yes; but let's make
+sure first."
+
+"And land when we come round again?" said Vince.
+
+"Yes, if you like.  I don't know what to say."
+
+"Seems best way," said Vince thoughtfully.  "And yet I don't know.  We
+might hide, for they've blocked up the passage; but they'd hunt us out,
+as we couldn't keep hidden very long.  And they'd know we were there,
+because they'd find the boat."
+
+"Perhaps they'd think we were drowned," said Mike; and then, excitedly,
+"Why, it is the big cavern, Cinder!"
+
+"Yes, it's the big cavern, sure enough; and if it wasn't so dark inside
+we could see the stack of kegs."
+
+There was no room for further doubt, as they glided by the mouth of the
+great opening, with its wonderful beach of soft sand, and directly after
+began to recognise the piled-up masses of rock.  As they went on, they
+saw the outlying masses round which the waters foamed and bubbled, but
+became quite bewildered as they tried to make out which was the outlet
+by which the smuggler crew had taken them and the captain through on the
+previous day.  They passed narrow rifts, but the water always seemed to
+be flowing swiftly into the great basin in which they were and joining
+the seething waters in their continuous round.
+
+Vince pointed to this and then to that gap between the rocks, as the one
+through which they must have come overnight, but he could never be in
+the least sure; and as they went on, he had to content himself with
+looking up at the ridge which faced the caverns, and beyond which they
+believed the sea to be.
+
+Everywhere at the foot of the cliffs the water was deep, and so clear
+that they could see the rocks at the bottom, smooth, and
+treacherous-looking, apparently rising up to capsize the boat; but they
+glided over all in safety, the great basin being worn smooth by the
+constant friction of the currents, and at last began to approach the end
+opposite to where they had been deftly taken out by the men.
+
+Here they looked eagerly for another way of getting out--the rift
+through which the waters must pass back into the sea--but, if it
+existed, it was shut from their sight by the heaped-up rocks, and the
+current carried them on and on with unchecked speed.
+
+"No wonder I thought we were a long while getting out to sea!" said
+Vince at last: "we can't have gone near the big channel through which
+the lugger must come and go."
+
+"Never mind that," said Mike impatiently; "there must be another way out
+from this basin.  We saw signs of it from up above, when you sat up
+there and I held the rope."
+
+"Yes," said Vince gloomily; "but sitting up there's one thing, and
+sitting down here's another.  Think we shall find another way out this
+end?  Must, mustn't we?"
+
+Mike nodded as he stood up and searched the rocks for the opening that
+was hidden from their eyes, from the fact that it was behind one of the
+barriers of rock and far below the surface current which swept them
+along.
+
+As far as they could judge, they were going on for half an hour, making
+the complete circuit of the great watery amphitheatre; and then, as they
+passed the caverns again, they determined to examine the other end more
+carefully, for the exit used by the smugglers, which must, they knew, be
+ample and easy if they could master the knack of getting the boat in.
+For they had some hazy notion of learning how it was done and then
+hiding till night, when they might manage perhaps to pass out unseen.
+
+"But if we did," said Mike despondently, "we should perhaps be swept in
+here again, or be upset and drowned.  I say, Cinder, did you ever see
+such an unlucky pair as we are?"
+
+"Never looked," said Vince; "but I tell you what: we shall have to land
+in the big cave, and get through to ours."
+
+"What for?"
+
+"Breakfast.  There's all our food, if they haven't found it."
+
+"Could you eat now?" said Mike, with a look of horror.
+
+"Eat?  I could almost eat you," replied Vince.
+
+"Ugh!" said Mike, with a shudder.  "I feel so faint and sick and sinking
+inside, I couldn't touch anything."
+
+"Shouldn't like to trust you," said Vince, whom the bright sunshine and
+the beauty of the place were influencing in his spirits.  "But now,
+then, let's have a good look this time."
+
+They were going round swiftly enough, and noted the entrance to the
+first low, arched cavern, which was some forty or fifty yards to the
+westward of the seal hole; then they glided by the others in turn, and
+tried hard to make out how the men had managed to thrust the big boat
+through the running waters beyond that great beach and into the eddy
+which bore them in the other direction.
+
+"Do you see?" asked Mike.
+
+"No, not yet; but perhaps I shall when we come round again.  But, I say,
+we can't keep on sailing round like this.  We must land."
+
+"But Jacques and his men, they won't be gone till to-night.  You heard
+what was said by old Joe?"
+
+"Don't mention his name," cried Vince passionately.  "I should like to
+see the old wretch flogged."
+
+"I should like to do it," said Mike grimly.  "They'll come back and find
+us here, for certain, if we don't hide," said Vince; "but I don't know
+that I shall much mind now, for I'm afraid we shan't get away."
+
+They glided round again, and in passing the spot where they believed the
+exit to be, Vince fancied he detected an eddy among some rocks, but he
+could not be sure; and at last they were once more approaching the
+cavern, with its low arch, when Vince, who was watching the far end and
+trying to fit together the means for getting away, suddenly snatched up
+the boat-hook, thrust it out, and, leaning over the stern, caught hold
+of a projecting rock, some two feet above the water.  Then hauling hard,
+hand over hand along the ash pole, he checked the progress of the boat
+and drew it close in.  Next, quick as lightning, he made another dash
+with the hook and caught at another projection, missed, and, as the boat
+was gliding back again, made another--a frantic--dash, and caught the
+hook in a rift, while Mike thrust out an oar against a rock to help.
+
+This time he drew the boat right up to the mouth of the new cavern, and
+whispered sharply to his companion:
+
+"Now--quick! help me run her in.  Mind! duck down!"
+
+Mike obeyed, and the boat glided in under the low arch, which just
+cleared their heads as they sat in the bottom of the boat, and passed on
+out of the bright sunshine into the chill darkness of the cave.
+
+"Think they saw us?" whispered Vince.
+
+"They?  Saw us?"
+
+"Didn't you see them coming through among the rocks quite quickly?"
+
+"No: did you?"
+
+"Just the tops of their caps: they were behind one of those low rocks
+where the water rushes round."
+
+"Are you sure, Vince?"
+
+"Sure?--yes.  Ah, mind! that oar!" cried the boy.
+
+He crept past Mike, after seizing the boat-hook, and, reaching over the
+stern, made a dash at the oar his companion had been using to thrust
+with against the rocks, and which had been laid-down when they passed
+right in, so that Mike could use his hands.
+
+How it had slipped over the gunwale neither could have said; but when
+Vince caught sight of it, the oar was floating just in the entrance, and
+the sharp dash he made at it resulted in the hook striking the blade so
+awkwardly that he drove it farther out, where it was caught by the
+current and drawn swiftly away.
+
+"Gone!" said Mike despairingly.
+
+"Gone!  Yes, of course it's gone; and now they'll find out where we
+are."
+
+"No, they're not obliged to," said Mike; "that oar may have been washed
+from anywhere, and they haven't found it yet."
+
+"Oh no," said Vince bitterly--"not yet; but you'll see."
+
+Mike made no reply, but helped, without a word of objection, to thrust
+the boat farther in along the passage, which greatly resembled the seal
+hole, as they called it, but was nearly double the width, and afforded
+plenty of room for the boat.
+
+As soon as they felt that they were far enough in to be hidden by the
+darkness, they sat watching the entrance, through which the bright
+morning light poured, and listened intently for some sound to indicate
+that the smugglers' boat was near.
+
+But an hour must have passed, and Vince was fidgeting at something which
+took his attention, when Mike suddenly whispered,--
+
+"I say, do you notice anything strange about the way in yonder?"
+
+Vince was silent.
+
+"Why don't you speak?" said Mike sharply.  "You have seen it.  Why
+didn't you speak before?"
+
+"Felt as if I couldn't," said Vince hoarsely.
+
+"Then it is so," said Mike.  "The tide is rising, and the hole's getting
+smaller.  Come on: we must get out at once."
+
+"Too late," replied Vince gloomily.  "The water's too high now.  If we
+tried we should be wedged in."
+
+"But--oh! we must try, Vince, or we shall be drowned!  Why didn't you
+speak before?"
+
+"I wasn't sure till it began to run up so quickly; and what could we do?
+If we had gone out we should have been seen directly.  Perhaps it won't
+rise any higher now.  It never covered the seal cave."
+
+"That was twice as high," groaned Mike.  "Look at the limpets and
+mussels on the roof: this must be shut right in at every tide."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY THREE.
+
+RE-TRAPPED.
+
+Misfortunes, they say, never come singly, and these words had hardly
+been uttered when voices were heard, and directly after a familiar voice
+said loudly, the words coming in through the low passage and quite
+plainly to the boys' ears,--
+
+"Made the oar myself, Skipper Jarks, and I ought to know it again.  What
+I say is as they must ha' managed somehow to ha' got in here."
+
+The boat darkened the entrance for a few moments, and then glided by;
+while the cavern kept closing like some monstrous eye whose lid was
+pressed up from below, opening again fairly widely, enough almost to
+suggest the possibility of their passing under; but closing again as the
+tide rose and sank in slow, regular pulsations.
+
+But as they watched they could make out that the soft wave rose higher
+and higher and sank perceptibly less, while the prisoners' eyesight
+became so preternaturally sharp that they could detect the gradual
+opening of the sea anemones, as they spread out their starry crowns of
+tentacles after the first kiss of the water had moistened them.  The
+many limpets, too, which had been tight up against the smooth rock, like
+bosses or excrescences, were visibly raising their shells and standing
+up, partly detached.
+
+Then a new horror attracted the boys, and made them almost frantic for
+the moment; for, as they crouched there in the bottom of the boat,
+watching the slowly diminishing amount of light which came in through
+the archway, the water softly and quickly, welled up, nearly shut the
+entry, and a wave ran up the passage and passed under the boat, which
+was heaved up so high that the gunwale grated against the roof, and they
+had to bend themselves down to avoid being pressed against the rock.
+
+Then, as they lay there, they heard the wave run on and on, whispering
+and waking up the echoes far inside, till the whole of the interior
+seemed to be alive with lapping, hissing sounds, which slowly died away
+as the boat sank to nearly its old level, and the light flashed in once
+more.
+
+"That's a hint to do something," said Vince, as he rose up, finding that
+his head nearly touched the shell-encrusted roof.
+
+"Yes; to force our way out," said Mike excitedly.  "We must before it's
+too late."
+
+"It is too late, as I told you before," said Vince sharply.  "Look for
+yourself.  Can't you see that the arch is too small for the sides of the
+boat to get through? and at any moment another of those waves may come
+in.  It's all right, Ladle, if you'll only be firm."
+
+"I'll be as firm as you are," said the boy angrily.
+
+"Then help me push her along."
+
+Mike pressed his hands against the roof, Vince did the same; and they
+both thrust hard, but in spite of all the boat did not stir.
+
+"Why, you're pushing to send it in," said Mike.
+
+"And you to drive it out!  What nonsense!  This place is sure to get
+bigger inside, where the water has washed it out.  We must get right in,
+beyond where the water rises."
+
+Mike shuddered; for the silence and darkness of the place would, he
+felt, be horrible, and all the time he knew that the water would be
+gradually chasing them, like some terribly fierce creature, bent on
+suffocating them in its awful embrace.
+
+Vince's was the stronger will; and his companion yielded, changing his
+tactics, and forcing the boat along for some distance before there was
+any change in the roof, which crushed down upon them as low as ever, and
+Mike began once more to protest.
+
+"It's of no use," he said: "we may as well be smothered where we can see
+as here, where it is so dark.  Let's go back as far as we can."
+
+"No; I'm sure this place will open out more if we go farther in."
+
+At that moment there was a loud, plashing noise far inward, and this
+raised such loud reverberations that Mike was fain to confess that the
+roof must be far higher.
+
+Vince took advantage of this to urge his companion on; and a minute
+later they could not touch the rock above them with their hands, while a
+little farther on it could not be reached with an oar.
+
+"Yes, it's bigger," granted Mike; "but we shall be suffocated all the
+same.  There can't be enough air to last us till the tide goes down."
+
+"We shall see," said Vince; and then, quite cheerily: "I say, this is
+better than wading, the same as we did in the seal hole."
+
+"Yes, but there are seals here.  I heard them."
+
+"Yes, so did I, but what of that?  We mustn't interfere with them, and
+they won't with us.  Besides, we're in a boat now, recollect."
+
+Mike recollected it well enough, but it did not comfort him much;
+however, he kept his thoughts to himself, and proposed that they should
+keep as near the light as they could.
+
+"Better keep where the roof's highest," suggested Vince.  "We shall be
+able to breathe more freely then."
+
+After that they were both very silent, for they suffered horribly from
+the dread that as soon as the entrance was entirely closed up by the
+tide, they would be rapidly exhausting all the pure breathable air
+shut-in; and so deeply did this impress them, that before long a
+peculiar sensation of compression at the chest assailed them both, with
+the result that they began to breathe more hurriedly, and to feel as if
+they had been running uphill, till, as it is called, they were out of
+breath.
+
+Neither spoke, but suffered in silence, their brains busy with
+calculations of how long it would be before it was high water, and then
+how long it would take before the tide sank low enough for the mouth of
+the cave to be open once more.
+
+Vince probably suffered the more keenly after the light was shut out
+entirely; but his sufferings were the briefer, for just when his breath
+was shortest, and he was feeling that he must breathe more rapidly if he
+wished to keep alive, he heard a loud plashing and wallowing some
+distance farther in.
+
+That it was a party of seals playing about he was certain, and in
+imagination he saw them crawling up on to some piece of rock by means of
+their flappers and plunging down again.  Once he heard a pair of them
+swimming in chase one of the other, blowing and uttering loud, sighing
+noises as they came near, and then appeared to turn and swim back, to
+climb up on the rock again, with the effect of dislodging others, which
+sprang heavily into the water, sending little waves along big enough to
+make the boat rock perceptibly.
+
+This was just when Vince felt at his worst, and Mike was lying back in
+the boat breathing hard and in the most hurried way.
+
+It was singular that just then the recollection of a story he had once
+read in a work belonging to his father came to Vince's mind.  True or
+false, it had been recorded that some French surgeons had been
+discussing the effect of the imagination upon the human mind, and to
+test for themselves whether its effects could be so strong as some
+writers and experimentalists had declared, they obtained permission to
+apply a test to a condemned convict.
+
+Their test was as follows: It had been announced to the man that he was
+to die, and that his execution was to be the merciful one of being bled
+to death.  So at the appointed time the culprit was bound and
+blindfolded in the presence of the surgeons, who then proceeded to lance
+his arm and allowed a tiny jet of warm water to trickle over the place
+and down to the wrist.
+
+It is said that, though the man had not lost a drop of blood, he began,
+as soon as he had felt the lancet prick and the trickling of the warm
+water, to grow faint, and after a time sank and sank, till he actually
+died from imagination.
+
+"And that's what we're doing," thought Vince, as he drew slowly a long,
+deep breath, and then another and another.
+
+The first was very catchy and strange, the second caused him acute
+suffering, and the third was deep, strong, and life-inspiring.
+
+"That's it," said Vince to himself--"it is imagination; for if the
+seals, which are things that have to come up to the surface to breathe,
+can live in here, why can't I?"
+
+Vince again took a deep breath, and another, and another, and so great a
+feeling of vigour ran through him that he laughed aloud, and Mike
+started up.
+
+"What is it?" he said.
+
+"Listen," cried Vince; and he loudly drew breath, and expressed it as
+loudly, then, "Do that," he cried.
+
+"I--I can hardly get mine.  This place is stifling."
+
+"Try," said Vince.  "That's right.  Again!  Better.  Now take a long
+pull.  How are you now?"
+
+"Oh, better--better," said Mike eagerly.
+
+"Breathe again."
+
+"Yes, yes; I am breathing better and better.  Then the air is coming
+now?"
+
+"Yes," said Vince drily; "the air is coming fast, and the light can't be
+very long.  There--it's all right, Ladle; we shan't hurt now.  But I
+don't know how we're going to manage when the tide falls, for we shan't
+dare to go out."
+
+"No," said Mike, whose spirits sank again at these words, "we shan't
+dare to go out.  Do you know, I wish, as you did, that we had stopped on
+board."
+
+"And not taken all this trouble for nothing.  How long should you say it
+would be before the light comes again?"
+
+"Hours," said Mike; "but I don't mind it so much now that we can breathe
+better."
+
+"No; it is better," said Vince drily.  "I say, I wonder what they are
+doing at home?"
+
+Vince wished the next moment that he had not said those words, for they
+had the effect of sinking his companion into a terrible state of
+depression, while, in spite of his efforts, he was himself nearly as
+bad.
+
+But then it was before breakfast, and they had hardly touched a mouthful
+since the morning before.
+
+At last, after what seemed to be a full day in length of time, there was
+afar off a faint soft gleam of light on the surface of the water--a ray
+which sent a flood into the hearts of the watchers--and from that moment
+the light began to grow broader and higher, while they suddenly woke to
+the fact that the boat was moving gently towards the entrance of the
+cavern, drawn by the falling tide.
+
+After a while there was a tiny archway; then this began to increase as
+the water sank and rose, but always rose less and less, leaving the sea
+anemones and the various shell-fish dotted with drops which gathered
+together, glittering and trembling in the light, and then fell with a
+musical drip upon the smooth surface.
+
+The little arch increased rapidly after a time, and still the boat drew
+nearer to the entrance, neither of the boys having the heart to check
+its progress after their long imprisonment, for the outer world never
+looked so bright and glorious before.
+
+But they had to pay for their pleasure.  As the level sank till there
+was ample room to thrust the boat out, and they were thinking that to be
+safe they ought to withdraw a little and wait until they could feel sure
+that the lugger and her crew were gone--a departure they felt must be
+some time that evening, when the tide was at a certain stage well known
+to old Joe--the entrance was suddenly darkened once more by a boat,
+whose bows came with the stream from the right, and were cleverly
+directed in, while her occupants began to thrust her along by pressing
+against the sides, and a couple of lanthorns were held up.
+
+"Aha!" cried the voice the boys had grown to hate, "so ve have found a
+pair of ze seal sitting in a boat vich zey steal avay.  You are right,
+Joseph, _mon bon ami_.  Your boat sall not have gone out of ze pool, and
+you sall have him back.  Aha!  Stop you bose, or I fire, and zis time I
+vill not miss."
+
+"In, in farther, Vince," whispered Mike wildly.
+
+"No: they've seen us, and they could follow us in their boat.  It's of
+no use, Mike; we must give up this time."
+
+"You hear me?" roared the captain fiercely.  "I see quite plain vere you
+sall be.  _Venez_.  Come out."
+
+"Come and fetch us," said Vince shortly.  "You have your men."
+
+The captain gave his orders, the boat was thrust on, and as its bow
+approached the boys saw the black silhouette of their old companion in
+many a fishing trip seated on the forward thwart.
+
+This was too much for Vince, who began upon him at once, with bitter
+irony in his words and tone.
+
+"You there, Joe!" he cried.  "Good morning.  Don't you feel very proud
+of this?"
+
+"Dunno 'bout proud, young gen'leman; but I'm precious glad to get my
+boat back."
+
+"Your boat back!" cried Vince, as one of the smuggler crew made fast a
+rope to the ring-bolt in their stern.
+
+"Aye.  Didn't know as young gen'lemen took to stealing boats
+altogether."
+
+"You dare to say we stole the boat, and I'll--"
+
+"Well, you took it right away, anyhow.  That comes o' beginning with
+borrying and not asking leave."
+
+"Better than taking to kidnapping people."
+
+Old Joe growled out something, and shuffled himself about in his seat
+while the boat was drawn out into the sunshine once more, and drifted
+behind the other rapidly along till she reached the smugglers' cavern.
+
+"Give zem some biscuit and some vater," said the captain.  "You, Joseph,
+take your boat and go on.  _Allez_!"
+
+The old fisherman looked at him rather uneasily, then at the boys, and
+back at the captain.
+
+"You hear vat I sall say?" cried the latter fiercely.
+
+He made a menacing gesture; and the boys took each a deep draught of
+water, and began to nibble the hard sea biscuit that was their fare.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR.
+
+THE TIGHTENING OF THE CHAINS.
+
+There was something very grim and suggestive about the captain's
+behaviour to the two boys later on towards evening, when he came and
+stood glaring down at them, where they sat in the sand.  He had said a
+few words to one of the men, who went up into the back of the cavern
+while the other waited; and Vince noted that there was a splashing sound
+round the corner of the buttress which supported one side of the great
+arch, so that he was not surprised directly after to see the prow of a
+boat appear, to be run in and beached upon the sand.
+
+Vince looked up inquiringly when the smuggling captain came and stood
+before him; but the man did not speak--he only glared down, apparently
+with the idea that he was frightening the lads horribly.  Vince did not
+shrink, for he did not feel frightened, only troubled about home and the
+despondency there, as the time went by without news of their fate.  For
+it was evident to him that the time had come for them to be taken on
+board ready for the lugger to sail.
+
+The second man came back with some fine line in his hand.
+
+"_Vite_--tight!" said the captain laconically.
+
+"You're not going to tie us?" said Vince, flushing.
+
+"Yais, bose togezaire," said the Frenchman, with a grin of satisfaction
+at seeing the boy moved to indignant protest.
+
+"But if we say we will not try to escape?" cried Vince.
+
+"I vill not believes you.  _Non, mon ami_, ve have enough of ze _peine_
+to _attraper_ you again.  Two slippery _garcons_.  I tie you bose like
+ze mutton sheep, and zen if von shump to run avays he pull ze ozaire
+down.  _Vous comprenez_?"
+
+"Oh yes, I comprong," cried Vince contemptuously.  "Just like a
+Frenchman.  An Englishman would not be afraid of a boy."
+
+"Vat!" cried the captain, showing his teeth, as he raised his hand to
+strike--when, quick as lightning, the boy threw himself into an attitude
+of defence; but the men seized him and dragged his arms behind his back.
+
+"That's right, coward!" cried Vince, half mad now with excitement.
+
+At the word coward the captain's face looked black as night, his
+right-hand was thrust into his breast pocket, and he drew out and cocked
+a small pistol, while Mike darted to his companion's side, laid his
+hands across Vince's breast, and faced the captain; but he was seized by
+one of the men, who passed the line about his wrists after it had been
+dexterously fastened round those of his fellow-prisoner.
+
+"Never mind, Mike; but I like that, old chap!" cried Vince.  "Well done!
+Let's show him what English boys are like: he daren't shoot us.  Do you
+hear, Jacques? _vous n'oses pas_."
+
+"Aha!  You begin by stumble blunder bad French, you _canaille_ boy.  I
+not dare shoot you?"
+
+"No," said Vince defiantly, as the pistol was presented full at his
+face.  "You dare not, you great coward!"
+
+"Aha, _encore_?  You call me coward, _une insulte!  Mais bah_!  It is
+only a silly boy.  Tie zem bose togezaire, my lad, an trow zem in ze
+boat.  Silly boy!  Like two shicken _volatile_ go to be roace for
+dinnaire.  _Non, arretez_; stop, my lad.  Coward!  It was _une insulte_.
+Now you apologise me."
+
+"I won't," said Vince sturdily: "you are a coward to tie up two boys
+like this."
+
+The black wrath in the Frenchman's face at these words made Mike shiver,
+and he pressed closer to Vince as the pistol was raised once more.
+
+"Don't--don't," he whispered.  "Say something: we are so helpless."
+
+"Aha!  I hear vat he say.  Yais, you apologise me, sare."
+
+"I won't," said Vince, who, with nerves strung by the agony he felt at
+his wrists, which were being cut into by the cord, was ready to dare and
+say anything.
+
+"You vill not?" cried the captain, slowly uncocking the pistol, as his
+face resumed its ordinary aspect.
+
+"No, I--will--not!" cried Vince.  "Put it away.  You dare not fire."
+
+"_Non_; it would be a pity.  I nevaire like to shoot good stuff.  You
+are a brave boy, and I vill make you a fine man.  And you too, _mon
+garcon_."
+
+He laid his hands on the boys' shoulders, and pressed them hard, smiling
+as he said,--
+
+"_Non_, I sink I am not a coward, _mon enfant_, but I tie you bose up
+vis ze hant behint, so you sall not run avay.  Aha!  Eh?  You not run
+avay vis ze hant, _mais_ vis ze foot?  _Eh bien: n'importe_: it does not
+mattaire.  You ugly boy," he continued, striking Vince a sharp rap in
+the chest with the back of the hand, "I like you.  _Yais_.  You have
+saucy tongue.  You are a bouledogue boy.  I vill see you two 'ave a
+fight some days.  Now, my lad, take zem bose into ze boat.  Ah, _yah,
+bete cochon_--big peegue!" he roared, as he examined the way in which
+the boys' wrists were tied behind their backs.  "I tell you to lash zem
+fast.  I did not say, `Cut off ze hant.'  Cast zem off."
+
+The man who had secured Vince sulkily obeyed, and the captain looked on
+till the line was untied, leaving the boys' wrists with white marks
+round and blackened swellings on either side.
+
+"Ah, he is a fool," said the captain, taking up first one and then the
+other hand.  "Vy you do not squeak and pipe ze eye?"
+
+Vince frowned, but made no reply.
+
+"Zere, valk down to ze boat vis me.  Say you vill not run avay."
+
+"No: I mean to escape," said Vince.
+
+"Bah!  It is sillee.  You cannot, _mon garcon_.  Come, ze _parole
+d'honneur_.  Be a man."
+
+Vince glanced at Mike, who gave him an imploring look, which seemed to
+say: "Pray give it."
+
+"Yais," said the captain, smiling: "_Parole d'honneur_.  If you try to
+run _il faut_ shooter zis time."
+
+"_Parole d'honneur_ for to-day," said Vince.  "After to-day I shall try
+to escape."
+
+"It is _bon_--good," said the captain, laughing.  "After to-day--yais.
+Zere, valk you down to ze boat.  I like you bose.  If you had been cry
+boy, and go down on your knees, and zay, `Oh, pray don't,' I kick you.
+_En avant_!"
+
+He clapped his hand upon Vince's shoulder, and walked with both to the
+boat, signing to them to enter and go right forward, where they seated
+themselves in the bows while he took his place in the stern.
+
+"Oh, Cinder!" whispered Mike, with a look of admiration at his friend,
+"I wish I'd had the heart to speak to him like that."
+
+"What?" whispered back Vince, "why, I never felt so frightened in my
+life.  I thought he was going to shoot."
+
+"I don't believe it," said Mike quietly.  "I say, now let's see how they
+manage to get out of this great whirling pool."
+
+They were not kept waiting long, for the boat was thrust off, sent into
+the stream, and away they went, skirting the long, low rock which rose
+in their way; and then, just as it seemed that they were going to be
+sunk by the tremendous rush of water passing in between two huge masses,
+the boat was thrust into another sharply marked current, hung in
+suspense for a few moments, and then glided along the backwater and out
+at last into the pool.  Here the glassy surface streaked with numerous
+lines told of the rapid currents following their well-marked courses,
+and the eddies and reflections of the water known to the men and taken
+advantage of, so that the vessel's side was reached with ease.
+
+As they neared the side the captain, who had been keenly watching the
+boys and reading their thoughts, came slowly past his men, so quietly
+that Vince and Mike started on hearing him speak.
+
+"You could manage ze boat now and take him vere you vill?  _Non, mes
+enfans_.  It take long time to find ze vay.  I sink you bose drown last
+night, but you have _bonne fortune_ and escape.  But you get avay till I
+say go?  Nevaire!  Shump."
+
+He pointed upward, and the lads climbed aboard, looking wistfully to
+right and left as they recalled their adventures along the side in the
+dark, and saw old Daygo's boat hanging by her painter close under the
+stern.
+
+"Took a lot of trouble for nothing, Cinder," said Mike sadly.
+
+"Yes: can't always win," replied Vince.  "Never mind: I'm glad we
+tried."
+
+Mike had not the heart to say "So am I," though he felt that he ought to
+have done so; but, catching sight of the old fisherman leaning over the
+bulwark forward, he said instead,--
+
+"There's that old wretch again!  Oh, how I should like to--"
+
+He did not say what, but turned his back upon him in disgust.
+
+"Yes--a beauty!" said Vince, scowling.  "I say, Mike, no wonder old Joe
+was always so well off that he never had to work.  Pst! here's the
+skipper."
+
+"_Non, mon ami_--ze capitaine.  _Eh bien_--ah, vell! you are on board
+again.  I sall lock you down upon ze powdaire again and keep you
+prisonaire?  My faith, no!  It is vord of honnaire to-day, and to-day
+last _vingt-quatre heures_--till zis time to-morrow: you understand?"
+
+"Yes," said Vince; and then, frankly, "I beg your pardon, skip--"
+
+"Eh?"
+
+"Captain," said Vince quickly: "I beg your pardon, captain, for calling
+you a coward."
+
+The Frenchman looked at him searchingly, and then clapped down both
+hands on the boy's shoulders and held him firmly.
+
+"_Bon_!" he said; "_bon_!  Zat is all gone now.  I sall not call you out
+and say vill you have ze pistol or ze arm _blanc_--ze sword.  You bose
+come dine vis me _ce soir_--zis evening, and you not make fool of ze
+comestible, as ve call him, eh?  Now go valk about ze deck.  You like to
+see ze vay out?  No; ve leave all zat to my good _ami_, Joseph Daygo.
+He take ze _Belle-Marie_ out to sea vile ve dine.  It is ze secret know
+only to Joseph.  I could not do him myselfs."
+
+This only increased Vince's desire to discover by what means the lugger
+was piloted out from its moorings beneath the towering rocks, where it
+was completely shut-in, though it seemed that there was a channel behind
+the rock which spread out in front.
+
+Sunset was drawing near, and it became evident that the time was
+approaching for a start to be made, for the boat in which they came from
+the cave had been hoisted up to the davits, and the men were busy
+preparing for hoisting sails.  The hatches were in their places, and the
+vessel looked wonderfully orderly, being very different in aspect from
+those of its class.  In fact, from stem to stern she was nearly as neat
+as a king's ship.
+
+Meanwhile Joe Daygo kept close to the bulwark, turning from time to time
+to note how the men were progressing, and then leaning over the bulwark
+again to gaze at the perpendicular wall of rock before him, which
+towered up to a great height and went apparently straight down into the
+sea.  "I know," said Vince at last, in a whisper.  "Know what?"
+
+"Joe Daygo is watching that streak of white paint on the rock over
+yonder."
+
+"I see no streak of white paint," said Mike.  "Yes, I do.  But what of
+that?"
+
+"It's his mark," said Vince.  "He's going to wait till the tide touches
+that, and then going to cast off."
+
+"Think so?"
+
+"Sure of it."
+
+But Vince had no opportunity for waiting to see.  The glassy current was
+still a couple of inches below the dimly seen white mark, when there was
+a peculiar odour which came from a tureen that the cook carried along
+the deck towards the cabin; and almost at the same moment a hand was
+laid upon the boy's shoulder.
+
+"Come," said the captain; "it is time for ze dinnaire.  You are bose
+hungry?--yais, I know."
+
+Vince would have liked to decline, so strong was his desire to study the
+key to the entrance of the secret little port; but to refuse to go down
+was impossible, and he preceded his host through the cabin-hatch, where
+a swinging lamp was burning and the deadlights were closed so that not a
+gleam could escape.  The tureen steamed on the table, they were in no
+danger, and healthy young appetite prevailed, for the soup was good even
+if the biscuits were flinty and hard.
+
+As for the captain, it seemed absurd to associate him with smuggling or
+pistols, for he played the host in the most amiable manner when fish
+succeeded the soup; but as it was being discussed there were hurried
+sounds on deck.  Men were running to and fro; then came the peculiar
+dull, rasping sound of cables being hauled in through hawser holes, and
+a slight motion told that they were starting.
+
+Vince ceased eating, and his eyes were involuntarily turned to the side,
+when the captain said laughingly,--
+
+"It is nozing, my younger _ami_, and ze bulkhead side is not glass: you
+cannot see nozing.  You vant to know?  Vell, my sheep is in ze sharge of
+ze pilot, and ze men cast off.  If he take her out quite vell, sank you,
+ve sall soon be at sea.  If he make ze grand error he put my sheep on ze
+rock, vich make ze hole and you sall hear ze vater run in.  You bose can
+svim?  Yais?  Good, but you need not try: you stay down here vis me and
+not take trouble, but go to ze bottom like ze brave _homme_, for ze big
+tide on'y take you avay and knock you against ze rock.  Now eat you
+feesh."
+
+It was not a pleasant addition to the boys' dinner, but they went on
+listening in the intervals of the captain's many speeches, and picturing
+to themselves how the great lugger was being carefully piloted along a
+sharp current and steered here and there, apparently doubling upon her
+course more than once.  But by the time the boiled fowl was nearly eaten
+there was a steady heeling over, following the sound of the hoisting of
+a sail.  Then the vessel heeled over a little more, and seemed to dance
+for a minute in rough water, as if she were passing over some awkward
+place.  The captain smiled.
+
+"My sheep she is lively," he said.  "She sink it vas time not to be tied
+by ze head and tail, so she commence to dance.  Zat is a vairy bad
+place, but Joseph is a grand pilot; he know vat to do, and I am nevaire
+in his way."
+
+Just then there was a dull thud, as if a mass of water had struck the
+side, and the vessel heeled over more than ever, righted herself, and
+then rose and rode over a wave, plunging down and again gliding along
+upon a level keel.  "Eat, eat, _mes amis_," said the captain.  "You do
+not mean that you have _le mal-de-mer_?"
+
+"Oh no," said Vince quickly, as if ashamed to be suspected of such a
+weakness.  "We don't mind the sea; besides, it isn't rough.  We're not
+going over a bar of sand?"
+
+"_Non_: a bar of rocks, vere Joseph can take us safely.  Anozaire man?
+_Non, non_."
+
+They could not grasp much, as the dinner drew now to an end, and no
+doubt their imaginations played them false to a great extent; but they
+thoroughly realised that for a few minutes the great lugger was being
+slowly navigated through a most intricate channel, where the current ran
+furiously; after that more sail was made, and the regular motion of the
+vessel told them that they were getting out into the open sea.
+
+All at once the door was opened, and old Daygo appeared.
+
+"Aha! you are finish, _mon ami_?"
+
+Daygo nodded his head and uttered a low grunt.
+
+"Good.  I come on deck."
+
+Old Joe turned and went up the ladder, followed by the captain; and then
+Mike dashed after them.
+
+"What are you going to do?" cried Vince.  But Mike made no reply; and
+the other followed on deck, anxious to see what was going to take place,
+for that Mike had some project was very evident.
+
+As Vince reached the deck he saw that Mike was at the leeward side,
+where a couple of men stood by the rope which held the pilot's boat,
+while the captain and the old fisherman were walking right forward,
+talking earnestly.  The lugger was sailing gently along half a mile from
+the shore in the direction of the south point; and Vince's heart leaped
+and then sank as he faintly made out one of the familiar landmarks on
+the highest part of the island, but he had no time for indulging in
+emotion just then, for the captain turned suddenly and old Joe made for
+his boat.
+
+"Mike isn't going to jump in and try to go with him, is he?" thought
+Vince; and a pang shot through him at the very thought of such a
+cowardly desertion.  "No," he added to himself; "he wouldn't do that."
+
+Vince was right, for all he did was to rush at Daygo, catch him by the
+shoulder and whisper something.
+
+The old fisherman turned, stared, and Mike repeated as far as Vince
+could make out his former question, while the captain stood a little way
+back and looked on.
+
+Just then Daygo growled out "No!" angrily, and thrust Mike away so
+roughly that the boy staggered back and nearly fell; but before the old
+man could reach the bulwark, Mike had recovered himself, leaped at him,
+and delivered such a kick, that the pilot plunged forward half over the
+bulwark, and then turned savagely to take revenge upon his assailant.
+But the captain had advanced, and he said something sharply, which made
+Daygo hurry over the bulwark and drop down into his boat.  One of the
+men cast off the rope and threw it after him, and the next moment she
+was astern, with the old man standing upright, his hands to each side of
+his mouth; and he bellowed out,--
+
+"Yah!  Good luck to you both!  You'll never see this Crag agen."
+
+Then the darkness began to swallow up his small boat, and the great
+three-masted lugger glided onward--where?
+
+Mike turned sharply, expecting to be seized by the captain; but the
+latter had his back to him, and went forward to give orders for another
+sail to be hoisted, while the boys went involuntarily to the side to
+gaze at the Crag.
+
+"What was it you asked Joe?" said Vince.
+
+"Not what you thought," replied Mike rather bitterly.
+
+"Why, what did I think?"
+
+"That I was begging him to take me in the boat."
+
+"No, I didn't," said Vince sharply.  "I thought at first that you'd run
+up to jump in, but directly after I said to myself that you wouldn't be
+such a sneak.  What did you say to him?"
+
+"I told him my father would give him a hundred pounds, and that he
+should never say anything to Joe, if he'd go and tell them directly
+where we are."
+
+"And he wouldn't.  Well, I'm glad you kicked him, for shoving you away
+like that."
+
+"I should be," replied Mike, "if he wasn't such an old man."
+
+"He isn't an old man," said Vince hotly: "he's an old wretch, without a
+bit of manliness in him."
+
+"All right, then; I'm glad I kicked him.  But never mind Joe Daygo,
+Vince.  It's getting darker, and the old Crag is seeming to die away.
+Oh, Cinder, old chap, is it all true?  Are we being taken away like
+this?"
+
+Vince could not trust himself to speak, but leaned over the bulwark,
+resting his chin upon his thumbs, and shading the sides of his face--
+partly to conceal its workings, which was not necessary in the darkness,
+partly to shut off the side-light and see the island more easily.
+
+And neither was this necessary, for there were no sidelights, and the
+Crag was now so dim that had he not known it was there it would have
+been invisible; but he preserved it all mentally, and thought of the
+pleasant home, with the saddened faces there, of the happy days he had
+spent, and now for the first time fully realised what a joyous boyhood
+he had passed in the rocky wildly picturesque old place, with no greater
+trouble to disturb his peaceful life than some puzzling problem or a
+trivial fit of illness.  All so bright, so joyous, so happy,--and now
+gone, perhaps, for ever; and some strange, wild life to come, but what
+kind of existence he could not grasp.
+
+Naturally enough, Mike's thoughts ran in the same channel, but he gave
+them utterance; and Vince, as he stood there, heard him saying
+piteously,--
+
+"Good-bye, dear old home!  I never knew before what you really were.
+Good-bye--good-bye!"  And then, passionately--"Oh, Vince, Vince! what
+have we done to deserve all this?  Where are we going now?"
+
+"To bed, _mes amis_," said the captain, slapping them both on the
+shoulders and rudely interrupting their thoughts.  "Come: I take you
+myself.  Not over ze powdaire now.  I vill not tempt you to _faire
+sauter_--make jump ze _chasse-maree_--blow up ze sheep, eh?  My faith,
+no!  But you take ze good counsel, _mes_ boys.  You go to your bunk like
+ze good shile, and have long sleep.  You get out of the deadlight vis ze
+sheep in full sail.  You go ovaire-board bose of you, and I am vair
+sorry for ze _bonnes_ mammas."
+
+"Doesn't seem like it," said Vince stoutly, "taking us off prisoners
+like this."
+
+"Prisonaires!  Faith of a good man!  You sink I treat you like
+prisonaires, and have you to dinnaire and talk to you vis _bonnes
+conseilles_ like ze papa?"
+
+"You are taking us away, and making every one who cares for us think we
+are dead."
+
+"_C'est dommage_--it is a great pitee, my young friend; but, you see, I
+have a large propertee at ze caverne.  It is vort tousand of pounds, and
+ze place is vair useful to me and ze _confrere_ who come to take it
+somevere else."
+
+"What, are there more of you?" blurted out Vince.
+
+"Eh?  You nevaire mind.  But I cannot part vis my store, and I vant ze
+place to go to ven I bring a cargo."
+
+"But we'll promise you on our words that we will not betray it to any
+one, if you set us ashore."
+
+"Aha!  Not to have anozaire kick at _notre bon_ Joseph, eh?"
+
+"No, not even to serve Joe Daygo out," said Vince.  "An old wretch!  But
+he deserves it."
+
+"And faith of a gentlemans, on your word of _honneur_, you vould not
+tell vere ze contraband is kept?"
+
+"On our honour, as gentlemen, we would not: would we, Mike?"
+
+"No," was the eager reply.
+
+"I believe you bose," said the captain.  "But you could not keep your
+vort.  It is impossible."
+
+"But we would," said Vince.
+
+"You vould try, _mon garcon_, but you vould be _oblige_ to tell.
+Listen--von vort for all.  I have faith in you bose, but no, it cannot
+be.  You cannot go back, so you must act like ze man now."
+
+"Then you are going to take us away?" cried Vince.
+
+"I 'ave take you avay, my boy, and I sall not let you go back till I no
+longer vant ze cavern store, and ze safe place to hide.  Zen you may go
+back--if you like."
+
+"What do you mean by that?" said Vince quickly.
+
+"Vat I say: if you like.  I sink by zat time you bose say to me, `_Non_,
+Monsieur Jacques, ve do not vant to go.'  Now I talk no more.  Down vis
+you!"
+
+"Only tell us one thing," said Vince: "where are you going to take us?"
+
+"I tell you ven I can," said the captain.
+
+"What do you mean by that?" cried Mike excitedly.
+
+"Vat I say.  I do not know."
+
+He pressed them towards the hatchway, and they descended, feeling that
+they could do nothing else, while the captain followed and opened a door
+opposite to that of the cabin.
+
+"Zere," he said.  "You can sleep in zose bunk.  I keep zat for my
+friend, and I give zem to mine _ennemi_, you see.  I vill not lock ze
+door, but you listen, bose of you.  I am ze capitaine, and I am _le
+roi_--ze king here.  If a man say he vill not, I knock him down.  If he
+get up and pull out ze knife, I take ze pistol and shoot: I am
+_dangereux_.  If I hear ze strange noise, I shoot.  Don't you make ze
+strange noise in ze night, _mes amis_, but go sleep, as you _Anglais_
+say, like ze sound of two top hummin.  You understand.  _Bon soir_!  You
+come to ze _dejeuner_--breakfast in ze morning."
+
+He shut them in, and the two boys were left in the darkness to their
+thoughts.  But they were too weary to think much, and soon felt their
+way into their bunks, one above the other.
+
+An hour later the door was softly opened, and a lanthorn was thrust in,
+the captain following to look at each face in turn.
+
+There was no sham this time.  Utterly worn out by the excitement of the
+past hours, Vince and Mike were both off--fast in the heavy, dreamless,
+restful slumber of sixteen--the sleep in which Nature winds up a boy's
+mainspring terse and tight, and makes him ready to go on, rested and
+fresh, for the work of another day.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE.
+
+HOW SOME FOLK TURN SMUGGLERS.
+
+The sea was up before the boys next morning, and in its own special way
+was making the _chasse-maree_ pitch and toss, now rising up one side of
+a wave, now gliding down the other; for the wind had risen towards
+morning, and was now blowing so hard that quite half the sail hoisted
+overnight had had to be taken down, leaving the swift vessel staggering
+along beneath the rest.
+
+Vince turned out feeling a bit puzzled and confused, for he did not
+quite grasp his position; but the full swing of thought came, with all
+its depressing accompaniments, and he roused up Mike to bear his part
+and help to condole as well.
+
+Mike, on the contrary, turned out of his bunk fully awake to their
+position, and began to murmur at once bitterly as he went on dressing,
+till at last Vince turned upon him.
+
+"I say," he said, "it's of no use to make worse of it."
+
+"No one can," cried Mike.
+
+"Oh, can't they?  Why, you're doing your part."
+
+"I'm only saying that it's abominable and outrageous, and that I wish
+the old lugger may be wrecked.  Here, I say, what have you been doing
+with my clothes?"
+
+"Haven't touched 'em."
+
+"But you must have touched them.  I folded them up, and put them
+together, and they're pitched all over the place.  Where are my boots?"
+
+"Servant girl's fetched 'em out to clean, perhaps," said Vince quietly.
+
+"Eh?  Think so?  Well, they did want it.--Get out!  I don't see any need
+for jeering at our position here.  Just as if I didn't know better!
+Here, you must have got them on."
+
+"Not I!  Even if I wanted to, one of your great ugly boots would be big
+enough for both of my feet."
+
+"Do you want to quarrel, Cinder?" said Mike roughly.
+
+"Not here.  Isn't room enough.  There are your boots, one on each side
+of the door in the corners of the cabin."
+
+"Then you must have kicked them there, and--"
+
+Mike did not finish, for the lugger gave such a lurch that the boy went
+in a rush against the opposite bulkhead with a heavy bang.
+
+"Didn't kick you there, at all events," said Vince, who was fastening
+his last buttons.
+
+"Why, the sea's getting up," said Mike.  "Has it been blowing up above?"
+
+"Haven't been on deck, but it has been alarming down here.  I had a
+horrible job to find my things.  They were all over the place."
+
+"How horrid!  And what a miserable place to dress in!"
+
+"Better than a sandbank in a seal's hole."
+
+"Oh! don't talk about it."
+
+"Why not?  It's over.  Deal better off than we have been lately, for we
+have got an invitation to breakfast."
+
+"I wish you wouldn't do that, Cinder," said Mike querulously.
+
+"Do what?  I didn't do anything."
+
+"Now you're at it again, trying to cut jokes and making the best of
+things at a time like this."
+
+"All right: I'm silent, then," said Vince.  "Shall I go on deck?"
+
+"Go? what for?"
+
+"Leave you more room to dress."
+
+"It will be very shabby if you do go before I'm dressed.  If ever two
+fellows were bound to stick together it's us now.  Oh dear, how awkward
+everything is!  I say, there's no danger, is there?" cried Mike, as the
+lugger gave a tremendous plunge and then seemed to wallow down among the
+waves.
+
+"No, I don't see what danger there can be.  Seems a beautifully built
+boat, and I daresay Jacques is a capital sailor."
+
+"A scoundrel!" said Mike bitterly.
+
+"Now, _mes enfans_, get up," cried the skipper's voice; and this was
+followed by a smart banging at the door, which was opened and a head
+thrust in.
+
+"If you sall bose be ill you can stay in bed to-day; but you vill be
+better up.  Vell, do you feel vairy seek?"
+
+"No, we're all right," said Vince; and soon after the two boys climbed
+on deck and had to shelter themselves from the spray, which was flying
+across the deck in a sharp shower.
+
+It was a black-looking morning, and the gloom of the clouds tinged the
+surface of the sea, whose foaming waves looked sooty and dingy to a
+degree, while the boys found now how much more severe the storm was than
+they had supposed when below.  The men were all in their oilskins, very
+little canvas was spread, and they were right out in a heavy, chopping
+sea, with no sign of land on any hand.
+
+They had to stagger to the lee bulwarks and hold on, for the lugger
+every now and then indulged in a kick and plunge, while from time to
+time a wave came over the bows, deluging the deck from end to end.
+
+But before long the slight feeling of scare which had attacked the boys
+passed off, as they saw the matter-of-fact, composed manner in which the
+men stood at their various stations, while the captain was standing now
+beside the helmsman, and appeared to be giving him fresh directions as
+to the course he was to steer, with the result that, as the lugger's
+head paid off a trifle, the motion became less violent, while her speed
+increased.
+
+"Aha!" shouted the captain, as he found them--"not seek yet?  Vait till
+ve have ze _dejeuner_, and zen ve sall see."
+
+"Oh, we've been to sea before," said Vince rather contemptuously.
+
+"And you like ze sea, _n'est-ce pas_--is it not so?"
+
+"Oh yes; we like the sea," said Vince.  "It is good," said the captain,
+clapping him on the shoulder.  "Zen you sall help me.  You say no at ze
+beginning, but bah! a boy--two boy like you brave _garcons_--vill not
+cry to go home to ze muzzer.  It is a fine sing to have a luggar of tree
+mast like zis, and you sall bose make you fortune ven I have done."
+
+He nodded and turned away, leaving the boys to stand looking at each
+other aghast, and forgetting all about the state of the sea, till a big
+wave came over the bows and made them seek for shelter.
+
+They saw but little of the captain that day, except at meal-times, when
+he was good-humoured and jocose with them in spite of the fact that the
+weather did not mend in the least.  Then the next day passed, and the
+next, with the wind not so violent, but the sea continued rough, and the
+constant misty rain kept them for the most part below.  The crew were
+civil enough, and chatted with them when they did not ask questions; but
+failing to obtain any information from them as to their destination,
+Vince agreed with Mike that one of them should ask the captain where
+they were going to first.  So that evening, when they were sailing
+slowly in a north-easterly direction, after being driven here and there
+by contrary winds, they waited their opportunity, and upon the captain
+coming up to them Vince began at once with,--
+
+"Where are we going to first, captain?"
+
+"Eh? you vant to know?" he said.  "Vell, you sall.  In zere."  The boys
+looked sharply in the direction pointed out but could see nothing for
+the misty rain which drifted slowly across the sea.
+
+"Where's in there?" said Mike.
+
+"You are not good sailore yet, _mon ami_, or you vould have study our
+course.  I vill tell you.  You look over ze most left, and you vill see
+ze land of ze fat, heavy Dutchmans."
+
+"What, Holland?" cried Vince eagerly.
+
+"Yais: you know ze name of ze river and ports?"
+
+"Yes; Amsterdam, Rotterdam," began Vince.  "Are we going to one of those
+places?"
+
+"Aha! ve sall see.  You no ask questions.  Some day, if you are good boy
+and can be trust, you vill know everysings.  Perhaps ve go into ze
+Scheldt, perhaps ve make for ze Texel and ze Zuyder Zee, perhaps ve go
+noveres.  Now you know."
+
+He gave them a peculiar look and left them, and as the rain came on in a
+drifting drizzle the boys made this an excuse for going below.
+
+"Mike," said Vince, as soon as they were alone, "got a pencil?"
+
+"No."
+
+"And there is neither pen nor ink."
+
+"Nor yet paper."
+
+"Then we're floored there," said Vince impatiently.
+
+"What did you want to do?"
+
+"Want to do?  Why, write home of course, telling them where we were.  We
+surely could post a letter at the port."
+
+"No: he'll never give us a chance."
+
+"Perhaps not; but we might bribe some one to take the letter."
+
+"What with?  I haven't a penny, and I don't believe you have."
+
+Vince doubled his fists and rested his head upon them.
+
+"I tell you what, then: we only gave our word for one day.  We must wait
+till we are in port, and then swim ashore.  Some one would help us."
+
+"If we could speak Dutch."
+
+"Oh dear," said Vince, "how hard it is!  But never mind, let's get away.
+We might find an English ship there."
+
+Mike shook his head, and Vince set to work inventing other ways of
+escaping; but they finally decided that the best way would be to wait
+till they were in the river or port, and then to try and get off each
+with an oar to help support them in what might prove to be a longer swim
+than they could manage.
+
+That evening the weather lifted, and after a couple of hours' sail they
+found themselves off a dreary, low-lying shore, upon which a cluster or
+two of houses was visible, and several windmills--one showing up very
+large and prominent at the mouth of what seemed to be a good-sized
+river, whose farther shore they could faintly discern in the failing
+evening light.
+
+"We're going up there," said Vince--"that's certain."  But just as it
+began to grow dark there was a loud rattling, and down went an anchor,
+the lugger swung round, and the boys were just able to make out that
+they were about a couple of miles from the big windmill.
+
+"Too many sandbanks to venture in," said Vince.
+
+"No; we're waiting for a pilot."
+
+"I believe," said Vince, "he'll wait for daylight and then sail up the
+river; and if we don't escape somehow before we're twenty-four hours
+older my name isn't Burnet."
+
+Mike said nothing, but he did not seem hopeful; and soon after they were
+summoned to the cabin to dinner, where the captain was very friendly.
+
+"Aha! now you see Holland.  It is beautiful, is it not?  Flat as ze
+Dutchman face.  Not like your Cormorant Crag, eh?  But nevaire mind.  It
+vas time, and soon ve get butter, bread and milk, ze sheecan, ze potate,
+for you hungry boy have eat so much ve get to ze bottom of ze store."
+
+They asked no questions, for they felt that it did not matter.  Any land
+would do, and if they could escape it would go hard if they did not
+avoid recapture.
+
+They were too much excited to sleep for some time that night, lying
+listening for the coming of the pilot or for the hoisting of the anchor;
+for there was, after all, the possibility of their having anchored till
+the tide rose sufficiently for them to cross some bar at the mouth of
+the river.  But sleep overcame them at last, and they lay insensible to
+the fact that about midnight a light was hoisted at the mast-head, which
+was answered about an hour after by the appearance of another light in
+the mouth of the river--a light which gradually crept nearer and nearer
+till about an hour before dawn, when the boys were awakened by a soft
+bumping against the lugger's side, followed by a dull creaking, and then
+came the hurrying to and fro of feet on the deck overhead.
+
+"Quick, Mike!" cried Vince--"into your clothes.  She's sinking!"
+
+As they hurried on a few things, the passing to and fro of men grew
+louder; they heard the captain's voice giving orders, evidently for the
+lowering of a boat, and the boys tried to fling open the door and rush
+on deck.
+
+Tried--but that was all.
+
+"Mike, we're locked in!" cried Vince frantically; and he began to kick
+at the door, shouting with Mike for help.
+
+Their appeal was so vigorous that they did not have to wait for long.
+There was the sound of the captain's heavy boots as he blundered down
+the ladder, and he gave a tremendous kick at the door.
+
+"Yah!" he roared: "vat for you make zat row?"
+
+"The lugger!  She's sinking," cried the boys together.
+
+"I com in and sink you," roared the captain.  "Go to sleep, bose of
+you."
+
+"But the door's locked."
+
+"Yais, I lock him myself.  _Silence_!"
+
+Then the lugger was not sinking; but the faint creaking and grinding
+went on after the captain had gone back on deck, and the boys stood
+listening to the orders given and the hurrying to and fro of men.
+
+"She must be on a rock, Cinder," said Mike, in a half-stifled voice.
+
+"No rocks here.  On a sandbank, and they're trying to get her off."
+
+Then there was a rattling and banging noise, which came through the
+bulkhead.
+
+"Why, they're taking up the hatches over the hold."
+
+"Yes," said Vince bitterly; "they're thinking more of saving the bales
+than of us."
+
+"Down vis you, and pass 'em up," cried the captain; and, for what seemed
+to be quite a couple of hours, they could hear the crew through the
+bulkhead busy in the hold fetching out and passing up the bales on to
+the deck in the most orderly way, and without a bit of excitement.
+
+"Can't be much danger," said Vince at last, "or they wouldn't go on so
+quietly as this."
+
+"I don't know," said Mike bitterly; "it must be bad, and they will
+forget us at last, and we shall be drowned, shut up here."
+
+"Don't make much difference," said Vince, with a laugh.  "Better off
+here.  Fishes won't be able to get at us and eat us afterwards."
+
+"Ugh! how can you talk in that horrid way at a time like this!"
+
+"To keep up our spirits," said Vince.  "Perhaps it isn't so bad.  She's
+on a bank, I'm sure, and perhaps--yes, that's it--they're trying to
+lighten her and make her float."
+
+"They're not," said Mike excitedly.  "Why, they're bringing other things
+down.  You listen here."
+
+Vince clapped his ear to the bulkhead and listened, and made out plainly
+enough that for every bale passed up a box seemed to be handed down, and
+these were being stacked up against the partition which separated them
+from the hold.
+
+"I say, what does it mean?" whispered Mike at last.
+
+"I don't know," replied Vince; "but for certain they're bringing in
+things as well as taking them away.  Then we must be in port, and
+they're landing and loading up again."
+
+"Oh, Cinder! and we can't get ashore and run for it."
+
+"No; he's too artful for us this time.  That's why he has locked us up.
+Never mind; our turn will come.  He can't always have his eyes open."
+
+"Is there any way of getting out?"
+
+"Not now," said Vince thoughtfully; "but we might get one of those
+boards out ready for another time.  They're wide enough to let us
+through."
+
+The soft creaking and grinding sounds went on, but were attributed to
+the lugger being close up to some pier or wharf, and the boys stood with
+their ears close to the bulkhead, trying to pick up a word now and then,
+as the men who were below, stowing the fresh cargo, went on talking
+together.
+
+But it was weary work, and led to nothing definite.  They knew that the
+loading was going on--nothing more.
+
+"Well, we are clever ones," said Vince at last; and he laid hold of the
+wooden shutter which let in light and air to the narrow place, but only
+let his arm fall to his side again, for it was firmly secured.
+
+"Never mind," he added; "we'll make it all straight yet."
+
+Hours had gone by, and from the bright streaks of light which stole in
+beneath and over the door they knew that it was a fine morning; and, as
+the dread had all passed away, they finished dressing, and sat in an
+awkward position against the edge of the bottom bunk, listening to the
+bustle on deck, till all at once it ceased and the men began to clap on
+the hatches once again.
+
+Then, as they listened, there came the sound of ropes being cast off,
+the creaking and grinding ceased, the captain shouted something, and was
+answered from a distance, and again from a greater distance, just as the
+lugger heeled over a little, and there came the rattle and clanging of
+the capstan, with the heave-ho singing of the men.
+
+"We're under way again, Mike," said Vince; "and there's no chance of a
+run for the shore this time."
+
+He had hardly spoken when the heavy tread of the captain was heard once
+more, and he stopped at the door to shoot a couple of bolts.
+
+"_Bon jour, mes amis_.  You feel youselfs ready for ze brearkfas?"
+
+Vince did not reply, and the captain did not seem to expect it, for he
+walked into the cabin, while the boys went on deck, to find that the men
+were hoisting sail, while a three-masted lugger, of about the same build
+as the one they were on, was a short distance off, making for the mouth
+of the muddy river astern.  They were about in the same place as they
+were in when anchor was cast overnight, and it became evident to the
+boys that the noise and grinding they had heard must have been caused by
+the two vessels having been made fast one to the other while an exchange
+of cargo took place.
+
+"Where next?" thought Vince, as their sails filled in the light,
+pleasant breeze of the sunny morning.
+
+He was not long in doubt, for upon walking round by the steersman the
+compass answered the question--their course was due south.
+
+"Aha! you take a lesson in box ze compais," said a voice behind them.
+"Good: now come and take one, and eat and drink.  It is brearkfas time."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY SIX.
+
+"TO VISTLE FOR ZE VIND."
+
+Four days passed in the quiet, uneventful way familiar on board a small
+vessel, with the prisoners sinking into that state of apathy known as
+accepting the inevitable.  They were weary of condoling with one
+another, and telling themselves that sooner or later their chance for
+escape would come.  They bore their position good-temperedly enough,
+chatted with the sailors, took a turn or two at steering under the
+guidance of the man at the helm, and received a nod of approbation from
+the captain when he saw what they were doing.
+
+"Aha, yais," he said, showing his teeth.  "You vill be my first and
+second officer before long, and zen ve sall all be ze grand
+contrabandiste."
+
+"Oh, shall we?" said Vince, as soon as they were alone.  "We shall see
+about that."
+
+The captain had been amiable enough to them, and had the boys only felt
+that those they loved were well and possessing the knowledge that they
+were safe, the life would have been pleasant enough; but the trouble at
+home hung like a black cloud over them, and whenever they met each
+other's eyes they could read the care they expressed, and the feeling of
+misery deepened for awhile.
+
+They went to bed as usual that fourth night, but towards morning Vince
+somehow felt uneasy; and at last, being troubled by thirst, he
+determined to go up on deck and get a pannikin of water from the cask
+lashed by the mainmast.
+
+He half expected to find the door fastened, but it yielded to a touch;
+and, after listening at the cabin for a few moments to try and find
+whether the captain was asleep, he crept up on deck in the cool grey of
+the coming morning, and, looking back, saw the man at the helm, and
+forward two more at the look-out.
+
+He had not many steps to go, and there was the pannikin standing ready,
+and the cover of the cask had only to be moved for him to dip out a
+tinful of the cool, fresh water, which tasted delicious; and, being
+refreshed by the draught, he was about to descend, when the beauty of
+the sea took his attention.  The moon was sinking in the west and the
+dawn was brightening in the east, so that the waves were lit up in a
+peculiar way.  On the side of the moon they glistened as though formed
+of liquid copper, while on the side facing the east they were of a
+lovely, pearly, silvery, ever-changing grey.  So beautiful were the
+tints and lights and shades that Vince remained watching the surface of
+the sea for some minutes, and then the chill wind suggested that he
+should go down; when, making a sweep round, he felt as if his breath had
+been taken away, for there, away to the south, and looming up of huge
+height and size in the morning mist, was unmistakably the Crag, and they
+were once more close to home.
+
+Here, then, was the answer to the question they had asked one another--
+Where are we sailing to now?
+
+Yes: there was the Crag, with its familiar outline; and his heart beat
+fast as he felt that if Mike's father were on the look-out with his
+glass he would be able to see the lugger's sails.
+
+"No, he must be in bed and asleep," thought Vince.  "But I'll fetch Mike
+up to see.  Why, old Jacques must be taking us home.  No; he is going to
+fetch another load!"
+
+"Yais, zat is ze Crag," said a voice behind him, and there stood the
+captain with a glass under his arm.  "Now you vill go down and stop vis
+ze ozaire boy till I tell you to come up.  But zis time you can stay in
+ze cabin.  Mind," he said impressively, "you vill stay.  You
+_comprenez_?"
+
+"Oh yes," said Vince; "but you will let us go as soon as you've got the
+cargo all on board."
+
+"Aha, you sink so?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"But you are not so stupede as to sink I can take all avay at von trip.
+_Non, mon ami_, it vill take four or five time more.  Now go down, and
+tell ze ozaire to obey, and not make feel zat I can shoot."
+
+"May I bring him up to see the Crag?" said Vince.
+
+"No," replied the captain abruptly.  "He sleep.  Let him rest.  Better
+you sleep too."
+
+Vince glanced in at the cabin, to find that the deadlights were up and
+the place very dimly lit by the tiny skylight.  Then, closing the door
+as he entered the cupboard-like place in which they passed their nights,
+he found Mike still sleeping; and fearing that he would get into trouble
+if he tried to watch their approach, he lay down too, and was awakened
+apparently in a few minutes by Mike shaking him.
+
+"I say, it's awfully late, and we've anchored again."
+
+"Dressed?" said Vince in wonder.
+
+"Yes, and I was going on deck, but the skipper pushed me back and banged
+down the hatch.  I say, I haven't the least idea where we are."
+
+"I have," said Vince.
+
+"Well, where?"
+
+"Back at the cavern."
+
+"Nonsense."
+
+"You'll see."
+
+Mike did see, and before long, for half an hour later the captain came
+down in the cabin, breakfast was eaten, and then the boys were allowed
+to go on deck, to find themselves in their old berth, with the rocks
+towering up and shutting them in, while the lugger was safely moored
+head and stern to the wall-like rock.
+
+Vince involuntarily looked round for the rugged face of old Joe Daygo,
+and one of the men noticed it.
+
+"Looking for the pilot, youngster?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Oh, he came and run us in while you two were asleep, and you don't look
+as if your eyes were unbuttoned yet."
+
+"It's of no use, Cinder," said Mike, as they turned away: "Jacques don't
+want us to see how it's all done; but only wait till we get away, and
+we'll find out somehow."
+
+That was a busy day for every one but the boys; who, quite feeling their
+helplessness about escaping, quietly settled down to think of their
+strange position: as the crow flew not above a mile from home, but
+powerless to make their presence known.
+
+The captain never left the deck, and the boats were going to and fro
+constantly; but they took nothing ashore, and it was evident that the
+smuggler meant to clear out the cavern, whose stores were far greater
+than the boys could have believed.  The boats came back loaded down
+almost to the gunwale; but they were managed with wonderful dexterity,
+and as soon as they were made fast alongside, the men sprang aboard and
+their cargoes were rapidly transferred to the hold, which seemed to
+swallow up an enormous quantity of the contraband goods.  So well shaped
+were the packages and so deftly packed below that they fitted into their
+places like great bricks in a building, so that by night the lugger was
+well laden, and it seemed evident that they would sail again when the
+tide suited.
+
+It was just after dark; all the boats were hanging from the davits, and
+the tired men busy over a meal the cook had prepared, while the captain
+was walking thoughtfully up and down the deck, his dark eyes watchful
+over everything, and the boys, as they leaned over the bulwarks, talking
+softly together about how well the various little currents were made to
+work for the smugglers, knew that every motion they made was watched.
+
+"It's of no use, Ladle," Vince said cheerily.  "This isn't the place to
+try and get away.  We've tried it, and we know.  If it was, I'd say,
+jump in and swim for it!"
+
+"Pst! a boat," whispered Mike.
+
+Vince turned sharply round, to see that a small boat had suddenly glided
+out of the darkness, to be borne by the current up against the lugger's
+side; and the next minute Daygo climbed in, painter in hand, the captain
+going up to him at once, and then returning to where the boys were
+standing together.
+
+Dark as it was, they could see a mocking smile upon the man's face, but
+before he could speak Vince forestalled him.
+
+"All right," he said: "you want us to go below and stay till the lugger
+is worked out."
+
+"Yais, zat is it," said the captain.  "Some day you sall help me, visout
+ze pilot, eh?  Go below, and stop youselfs.  Shut ze cabin door.  You
+vill find somesings to eat."
+
+The boys went down without a word, and they had proof that the captain
+followed them, for a sharp click told that a bolt outside had been shot.
+
+"Eat!" said Vince scornfully; "he thinks that boys are always wanting to
+eat!"
+
+"Never mind, Cinder," said Mike, sitting down before the table, upon
+which some fresh provisions stood.  "Let him think what he likes; let
+you and me eat while we have a chance; we may be escaping, and not get
+an opportunity for hours and hours."
+
+Vince saw the force of the argument, and followed his companion's
+example, both listening the while and hearing the men hurry on deck.
+
+Soon after they felt the lugger begin to move, and they sat eating and
+comparing notes as they recalled what they had heard the last time.  But
+they could only build up imaginary ideas about the currents, channels
+and rocks which the vessel had to thread.
+
+"I give it up," said Vince; "we can't understand it all without eyes."
+
+Just then the captain came down and seated himself to make a hearty
+supper, and by the time he had done it was evident that they were out to
+sea once more, for the vessel swayed softly from side to side, but there
+was little motion otherwise.
+
+"You vill not be sea-seek to-night, _mes amis_," said the captain; "zere
+is hardly no vind at all.  You must go on deck soon and vistle for it to
+come."
+
+But he did not let them go up till he had himself been there for some
+time, and when they ascended eagerly, it was to see that the sky was
+brilliantly studded with stars, a very faint wind blowing from the west,
+and the Crag looming out of the darkness about a mile away, but Joe
+Daygo's boat had disappeared.
+
+The lugger was gliding along very gently, on a north-easterly course,
+with all sail set; and the boys came to the conclusion that the last
+manoeuvre was to be repeated, but unless the wind sprang up the trip
+promised to be long and tedious.
+
+But one never knows what is going to happen at sea.
+
+They had been sailing for about a couple of hours, with the captain
+walking up and down with a long spy-glass under his arm; and from time
+to time he stopped to rest it on the rail and carefully sweep the
+offing, as if in search of something, but apparently always in vain,
+till all at once he closed the glass with a snap, and walking forward,
+gave a sharp order, whereupon two of the men hurried below, to return
+directly with a couple of lanthorns, which were rigged on to a chopstick
+kind of arrangement, which held them level and apart as they were
+attached to the halliards and sent gliding up to the mast-head.
+
+"Signal," whispered Vince; "but we can't be near the shore."
+
+They searched the soft, transparent darkness for some time, gazing in
+the direction in which they had seen the captain use his glass, but it
+was all in vain; till Vince suddenly started, and pressed his
+companion's arm.  Then pointed to where, about a mile away, two dull
+stars close together seemed to be rising slowly out of the sea to a
+little distance above the horizon, to stand nearly stationary for a
+while, and then slowly sink down and disappear.
+
+"Another smuggler," whispered Vince; and then turned to look up at the
+mast-head of their own vessel, but their signal had been lowered.
+
+"Depend upon it," whispered Mike, "that boat will come up close, like
+the other did, and they'll make fast together and begin to shift cargo."
+
+"Think so?" said Vince thoughtfully, as it began to dawn upon his mind
+that possibly Captain Jacques with his fast lugger ran across Channel to
+various smuggling ports, and brought cargoes over to deposit in the
+cavern ready for the contraband goods to be fetched by other vessels and
+landed here and there upon the English coast.  He did not know then that
+he had made a very shrewd guess, and hit the truth of how the captain
+had for years gone on enriching himself and others by his ingenious way
+of avoiding the revenue cutters, whose commanders had always looked upon
+the Crag as a dangerous place, that every one would avoid, but who would
+have given chase directly had they seen Jacques' long low swift vessel
+approaching any part of the English coast to land a cargo.
+
+Vince did not ripen his thoughts then--that happened afterwards, for he
+was interrupted by a hand laid upon his shoulder, Mike feeling another
+upon his.
+
+"You sink you vill keep ze middle vatch?" said the captain: "_ma foi_,
+no!  Go down and sleep, and grow to big man."
+
+He gave them a gentle push in the direction of the hatch.
+
+"_Bon soir_," he said mockingly, and the boys went down.
+
+"You'll hear the bolts shot directly," said Vince grimly, as he seated
+himself on the edge of the bunk.
+
+_Click_--_clack_! came instantaneously, and then they heard an ascending
+step.
+
+"Don't mean us to see much of what is going on," said Mike.
+
+"Oh, it isn't that," replied Vince.  "He fancies we should do something
+while they're busy--get a boat down, slip on board the other lugger or
+whatever it is."
+
+"He needn't fancy that," said Mike.  "Frying-pan's bad enough; I'm not
+going to jump into the fire and try that!"
+
+"Nor I either.  Well, shall we turn in?"
+
+"May as well: I don't want to stop up and listen to a gang of smugglers
+loading and unloading their stupid cargo."
+
+"Nor I, Ladle.  I say, what a shame it is of old Jacques to be living
+now, instead of a hundred years ago!  Poor old chap, you won't get any
+plunder after all!"
+
+"I don't see that it's right to be trying to make fun of our trouble,"
+said Mike bitterly; "there's the poor old Crag only a few miles away,
+and we're shut up here!"
+
+"Don't take any notice," said Vince: "I say all sorts of things I don't
+mean.  No chance of getting away to-night, is there?"
+
+"No--not even to drown ourselves by trying to swim away," said Mike,
+with a sigh; and they hardly spoke again.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN.
+
+THE KING'S CUTTER SPEAKS OUT.
+
+"Ladle!"
+
+"Hullo!"
+
+"Wake up!"
+
+"What's the good?  We can't go on deck.  May as well lie here and rest."
+
+"Nonsense!  Get up, or I'll pull you out by one leg!"
+
+"You touch me, and I'll send you flying against the bulkhead."
+
+"Go it!" cried Vince, who was standing on the rough floor, in his
+trousers; and, quick as thought, he seized Mike's leg and pulled him
+half out.  "Now kick, and I'll let you down bang."
+
+"Oh!  I say, Cinder, let go!  Don't, there's a good fellow."
+
+"Then will you get up?"
+
+"Yes: all right.  Does it rain?"
+
+"No--lovely morning; you can see it is through that bit of skylight."
+
+Mike slipped out and began to dress.
+
+"Wonder what they've been doing in the night?"
+
+"Don't know--don't care," said Vince, yawning.  "Oh, how horrid it is to
+be boxed up here like a rabbit!  Can hardly breathe, and perhaps he
+won't let us out for hours.  Here, Jacques, come and unfasten this
+door," he said in a low, angry growl; and, seizing the handle, he was
+about to give the door a rough shake, when to the surprise of both it
+flew open.
+
+"Hurrah!" cried Vince; and they were not long finishing dressing and
+hurrying on deck, to find that, whatever might have been done, the
+hatches were in their places, while a good-sized schooner was lying
+close by with her sails flapping, as were those of the lugger; for the
+sea was very smooth, save where the currents showed, and during the
+night they had been carried by one of these well back towards the
+island, whose north-east point lay about a couple of miles on their port
+bow.
+
+"That's an English schooner, for certain," said Vince.  "What is she?"
+
+"_The Shark_" read Mike from her stern.  "Looks as if she could sail
+better than the _Belle-Marie_."
+
+"Not she," said Vince, with the tone of authority; "these long
+three-masted luggers can race through the water."
+
+"Aha! _mes enfans_--my good shildren," said the captain, in his
+irritating way of giving bad interpretations of his French which annoyed
+the boys, "I vant you vairy bad.  You go and vistle for ze vind, eh?  We
+shall go soon upon ze rock."
+
+"Wind's coming soon," said Vince; "it's on the other side of the island
+now.  Look: you can see the ripple off the point.  Looks dark.  We don't
+get it because the Crag shelters us."
+
+"Good boy!  I see you sall make a grand sailor some day, and be my first
+lieutenant; I give you command of a schooner like ze _Shark_."
+
+He waved his hand towards the vessel, and then looked eagerly in the
+direction of the rippled water, which indicated the coming wind.
+
+"Is that boat yours?" said Vince.
+
+"Yais! vy you ask?  Ah-h-h-ah--ze wind--vill he nevaire com?"
+
+At that moment the schooner hoisted a small flag very rapidly, and,
+simple as the action was, it completely changed the aspect of affairs.
+Orders were given sharply; and, to the boys' wonder, they were startled
+by seeing the men begin rapidly to cast loose the four small long guns,
+while others were busy fetching up powder and shot from below, passing
+down the little hatchway which had led to the boys' first place of
+confinement.
+
+The captain walked sharply here and there, giving his instructions, and
+in an incredibly short space of time every stitch of sail possible was
+crowded upon the lugger, while a similar course was pursued by the
+captain of the schooner.
+
+A thrill of excitement ran through the boys as they saw an arm chest
+hoisted up from the cabin, placed amidships, and the lid thrown open;
+but nothing was taken out, and after watching their opportunity, so that
+the captain should not observe their action, the boys walked by where
+the chest had been placed, and saw that it was divided longitudinally,
+and on one side, neatly arranged, were brass-bound pistols, on the
+other, cutlasses.
+
+They had hardly seen this, when a glance forward showed them the captain
+superintending the loading of the two bow guns, and as soon as this was
+done he began to walk aft, while the boys discreetly walked forward
+along the other side, so as to be out of the fierce-looking fellow's
+way.
+
+"I say, Ladle," whispered Vince, "this is like what we have often read
+of.  How do you feel?  There's going to be a fight.  Look! they're
+loading the guns aft."
+
+"Oh, I feel all right yet,--just a little shivery like.  But what makes
+you say there's going to be a fight?"
+
+"Didn't you see the schooner hoist a flag?"
+
+"Of course I did, but I thought she was a friend.  Why are they going to
+fight?  Oh, I know: it's only a sham fight, for practice."
+
+"I don't believe it is sham; the skipper looked too serious.  I saw him
+showing his teeth, and the men all look in earnest.  They've been doing
+something old Jacques don't like, and he's going to bring them to their
+senses.  Here, I say, you're not getting those ready for breakfast?"
+
+They were opposite the galley as Vince spoke, and he had suddenly caught
+sight of the cook, who was hurrying on his fire, and heating about half
+a dozen rods of iron between the bars of the stove.
+
+"Oh yes, I am," said the man, with a grin--"for somebody's breakfast.  I
+say, youngsters, I'd go down below if I was you; it may mean warm work
+if the wind don't come soon."
+
+"What has the wind to do with it?" said Vince.
+
+"To do with it!  Everything, my lad.  If the wind comes, we shall run,
+of course.  We don't want to fight."
+
+"But why are we going to fight the schooner?"
+
+"The schooner!" said the man, staring.  "Nonsense!  She belongs to
+Jarks, and trades to the south coast.  Didn't you see her signal?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Well, that means one of King Billy's cutters is in sight from there,
+and she'll be nearing before long."
+
+"But what are those rods for?" said Mike eagerly.
+
+"Don't be such a blockhead, Ladle!" cried Vince excitedly.  "Why did we
+make the poker red-hot when we wanted to fire the old ship gun on your
+lawn?"
+
+"Look--look!" cried Mike.
+
+There was no need, for Vince had seen the white flying jib of a cutter
+coming into sight round the end of the Crag, with plenty of wind urging
+her on, while, by the time she was clear, a faint puff of light air made
+the schooner's sails shiver, but only for a few moments, then it was
+calm again, while the cutter, now quite clear of the point, was
+careening over and gliding rapidly along, with a pleasant breeze astern.
+
+Just then the captain came forward, looking black as thunder, taking no
+notice of the boys, but giving a few sharp orders to the men to stand by
+ready to take advantage of the first puff of wind.
+
+"We're not going below, are we?" whispered Mike.
+
+"No; I want to see what's done," said Vince.
+
+"Then you like fighting before breakfast better than I do," said the
+cook.  "Look, there goes her colours, and she'll send a shot across the
+_Shark's_ bows directly.  We shall get it next."
+
+He had hardly spoken before there was a white puff of smoke from the
+cutter, and before the report came echoing from the towering rocks of
+the Crag the boys saw the water splash up twice from somewhere near the
+schooner's bows, while within half a minute another shot was fired
+across the lugger's course, as she glided slowly along with the swift
+current, which was drawing them nearer the Crag.
+
+"Bad job for us as old Daygo arn't here," said the cook.
+
+"Why?" asked Vince.
+
+The man laughed.
+
+"Why, if he were aboard and the wind came up, he'd run the _Marie_ in
+among the rocks."
+
+"And into the pool?" said Vince eagerly.
+
+"Not likely, my lad.  No, he'd manoeuvre her right in, and lead the
+revenoos after us, till the cutter was stuck on one of the fang rocks,
+and leave her there, perhaps for good.  Bound to say the skipper wishes
+Master Daygo was here."
+
+Vince looked round, and thought of the fierce currents and sunken rocks,
+which a sailing boat might pass over in safety, but which would be fatal
+to a vessel of the cutter's size.
+
+Just then the cook laughed, and the boys looked at him inquiringly.
+
+"They think we are lying to on account o' their guns," said the man;
+"but only wait till we ketch the wind."
+
+"Do you think they know these vessels are--"
+
+"Smugglers?" said the cook, for Vince had not finished the sentence.
+"Ay, they know fast enough, and they think they're in luck, and have
+dropped upon a strong dose of prize money; but they don't know old
+Jarks."
+
+"Will he fight?" said Mike excitedly.  "Is these pokers getting
+red-hot?" said the man, grinning.  "Ay, he'll fight.  He's a Frenchy,
+but he's got the fighting stuff in him.  'Course he'll run.  He don't
+want to fight, but if that cutter makes him, he will.  My!  I wish the
+wind would come."
+
+But though the cutter came merrily along, hardly a puff reached the
+smugglers, and the cutter was now not more than a mile away.
+
+"Look! look!" cried Mike suddenly.  "There's old Joe Daygo coming."
+
+"So it is," said Vince.  "No mistaking the cut of that sail;" and he
+gazed excitedly at the little boat, which was coming rapidly on from the
+other end of the island.
+
+"Ay, that's he sure enough," said the cook.  "He's seen the cutter and
+come to give us warning, but we can see her ourselves now."
+
+Still no wind, and the captain stamped up and down the deck, enraged
+beyond measure to see two vessels in totally opposite directions sailing
+merrily on, while the towering crag diverted the breeze and left him and
+his companion in a complete calm.
+
+Nearer and nearer came the cutter, and the boys' hearts beat hard with
+excitement as they saw the flash of arms beneath the white sails, and
+began to feel that before long they would be on board, and that meant
+freedom.
+
+Mike said something of the kind, but Vince made an allusion to the old
+proverb about not counting chickens until they were hatched.
+
+"Get out!" cried Mike: "you always make the worst of things.  I say,
+look how beautifully she comes along."
+
+"Yes, and she'll be on one of they rocks if she don't mind," said the
+cook.  "I say, my lads, there'll be no breakfast till all this business
+is over, but if you step in here I'll give you both some coffee and
+biscuit."
+
+"Oh, who could eat and drink now?" said Vince.  "I can't."
+
+"I can," said the man; "and as my pokers are all hot, I mean to have a
+snack."
+
+The boys' great dread was that they would be sent below, and
+consequently they kept out of the captain's way, and saw all that was
+going on, till the cutter was within a few hundred yards; and then, all
+at once, the wind failed her, and she lay as motionless as the two
+smugglers.  The same fate had befallen Daygo in his boat, he being a
+mile away; but they saw that he had put out his oars, and was rowing.
+
+"Going to board us," said the cook, with a sigh.  "Now the fun's going
+to begin."
+
+For two boats dropped from the cutter's sides, and the boys saw an
+officer in uniform in each, with a couple of red-coated marines, whose
+pieces glistened in the morning sunshine, as did the arms of the
+sailors.
+
+But they saw something else as well.  At a word from the captain, a
+dozen of the men went on hands and knees to the arm chest, each sailor
+in turn taking a cutlass, pistols, and cartridge pouch, and crawling
+back under the shelter of the bulwarks to load.
+
+Vince drew a deep sigh, and his face was flushed, while Mike looked of a
+sallow white.
+
+"Then there'll be a fight?" said the latter.
+
+"Ay, there'll be a fight," said the cook.  "We're in for it now; but
+unless it's done with the big guns they won't take the _Marie_."
+
+"Why?" said Vince.  "Jacques daren't resist the King's men."
+
+The cook chuckled.  "You wait and see," he said.  "Look at him."
+
+The boys did look, and saw Jacques standing by the steersman, with a
+drawn sword in one hand and pistols in his belt, hardly seeming to
+notice the boats, which had separated, one making for the schooner and
+the other for the _Belle-Marie_.
+
+"Pilot sees mischief," said the cook.  "He's going back.  So would I if
+I could.  I say, young 'uns, you'd better go below, hadn't you?"
+
+"No," said Vince sharply.  "You won't, will you, Ladle?"
+
+"No: I want to see," replied Mike; and they stood and watched the
+rapidly approaching boat, with the smartly uniformed officer in the
+stern sheets, and the sailors making the water sparkle as they sent the
+trim craft rapidly nearer.
+
+"Ha, ha!" laughed the cook softly; and the boys were about to turn and
+ask him what he meant, when a movement on the part of the captain caught
+their attention, while a wave of his hand made his men spring to their
+feet.
+
+The cutter's boat was still fifty yards away, when a sudden puff of wind
+struck the lugger, her heavy canvas filled out, and she began instantly
+to yield to the pressure, gliding softly through the water, and putting
+fifty yards more between her and the boat.
+
+Then the wind dropped again, and the officer in the boat stood up and
+shouted to Jacques to lower sail, while his men pulled with all their
+might, getting nearer and nearer.
+
+"Do you hear?" yelled the officer: "let go everything, you scoundrel!"
+But Jacques gave no order, and when the boat was within twenty yards he
+was about to make a sign to his men to seize their arms, when the breeze
+struck the lugger, and away she went, showing her magnificent sailing
+qualities, for in a few minutes the boat was far behind, when there was
+a put from the cutter's side, but not to send a ball across their bows,
+for before the report reached the boys' ears a peculiar sound came
+overhead, and there was a hole through the mainsail.
+
+"Now we're in for it," said the cook; and another report rang out, but
+this shot was at the schooner, which was gliding rapidly away, taking a
+different course from that of the lugger, but paying no heed to the gun.
+
+Both boats gave up now, for the wind had caught the cutter once more,
+and she was gliding up to them.  There was a short delay as she got both
+her boats on board, but she was paying attentions to lugger and schooner
+all the time, sending steadily shot after shot at each, till the
+schooner tacked out to get round the southern point of the island; and
+then, as the cutter crowded on all sail, her bow guns were both trimmed
+to bear upon the lugger, and shot after shot came whistling overhead.
+
+It was nervous work at first, but after the first few shots the
+excitement took away all sense of fear, and the two boys watched the
+effect of the balls, as now and then one tore through the rigging.
+
+The schooner was going at a tremendous rate, and her escape seemed
+certain; so the lieutenant in command of the cutter devoted all his
+attention to the lugger, which sailed rapidly on, first overtaking Joe
+Daygo's boat, which lay half a mile away, and rapidly leaving the cutter
+behind.
+
+Twice over the Frenchman had the after guns turned ready for a shot at
+his pursuer; but the lugger was going so swiftly that there was no need
+to use them to try and cripple the cutter's sails, and so make the
+offence deadly by firing upon His Majesty's ship.  Hence the hot irons
+remained in the fire ready for an emergency, one which was not long in
+coming, but which proved too great, even for so reckless a man as
+Jacques.
+
+For, as they sailed steadily along, gliding rapidly by the island, and
+edging off so that they would soon be leaving it behind, the commander
+of the cutter, enraged at the apparently certain escape of the expected
+prize, and disappointed by the trifling damage done by the firing upon
+the lugger's rigging, suddenly changed his tactics, and a shot struck
+the starboard bulwark, splintering it for a dozen feet along, and
+sending the pieces flying.
+
+This roused the captain's wrath, and, giving a sharp order, he went to
+one of the guns, pointing it himself, while one of the men ran up to the
+galley where the boys were standing.
+
+"Now, cookie," he cried--"reg'lar hot 'un!" and he whisked a white-hot
+bar from the stove.  "Here, youngsters, skipper says you're to go
+below."
+
+He ran aft with the bar, scintillating faintly in the sunlight, and
+handed it to the captain, who bent down once more to take aim,
+when--_crash_!--a shot struck the stern between wind and water, after
+ricocheting along the surface.  The next instant they saw a brilliant
+flash, heard a roar as of thunder; and as a dense cloud of smoke arose
+there was a great gap in the deck on the starboard side close to the
+cabin-hatch, and the boys grasped the fact instantly that the lugger's
+little powder magazine had been blown up, while, as they stared aghast
+at the mischief, and the men making for the boats, the mizen-mast with
+its heavy sail slowly dropped over the side and lay upon the water, with
+the effect that it acted like a rudder, and drew the unfortunate vessel
+round, head to wind.
+
+The disorder among the crew only lasted a few minutes; their discipline
+was to the front again, Jacques giving his orders and the men obeying
+promptly.
+
+"She is not going down, my lads," he cried; "ze fire all come upvard.
+You need not take to ze boats, for ze cutter vould follow and take you.
+Zere: ze game is up.  Ve could fight, but vat good?  You see _La
+Belle-Marie_ can do no more.  Vat you say?  Shall ve fight?"
+
+"If you like, skipper," said the mate quietly; "but if we do the cutter
+will only stand off a bit and sink us.  We couldn't get away."
+
+"_Non_" said Jacques: "luck is against us zis time.  I sank you, my
+brave lads, and I like you too vell to go lose your life for nossing.
+Ve must strike."
+
+The men gave him a faint cheer, and crowded round to hold out their
+hands.
+
+"But we will fight if you like, skipper," cried one who made himself
+spokesman.
+
+"I know, my lad," said Jacques.  "Good boys all.  Ve nevaire had a
+coward on board ze _Belle-Marie_."
+
+Meanwhile the cutter was coming up fast, and a few minutes after two
+boats boarded them full of sailors and marines, when the first thing
+done was to send a boat-load of prisoners, which included the captain,
+Vince and Mike, on board the cutter.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT.
+
+WHAT THE BOYS THOUGHT.
+
+As the boat glided alongside, the master's mate in command ordered the
+prisoners to go up; but Vince was already half-way over the side,
+followed by Mike, the lieutenant in command ordering them sternly
+forward.
+
+"Quick, Mr Johnson!" he cried to the mate, "then back for the rest as
+smartly as you can.  Tell Mr Hudson to make any leakage sound.
+Carpenter, there: go back with this boat."
+
+"Ay, ay, sir."
+
+"There's no fear of her sinking, sir," said Vince.
+
+"What?  How dare--!"
+
+"It's all right, sir," cried Vince.  "I know.  We were prisoners on
+board the smuggler."
+
+"You were what?"
+
+"It is right, sare," said Jacques quietly.  "I took ze boys avay and
+kept them as prisonaire."
+
+"Absurd!" said the lieutenant haughtily.  "Now then: away with that
+boat.  Smart there, my lads!"
+
+The boat was rowed rapidly back to fetch the rest of the prisoners, and
+the lieutenant came forward to where his first batch was ranged, to
+inspect them previous to sending them below.
+
+"You're not going to send us down with them, are you?" said Mike
+indignantly.
+
+"What?" roared the lieutenant in a rage: "why, you insolent, ruffianly
+young thief of a smuggler!"
+
+"No, he isn't," cried Vince fiercely; "he's as much a gentleman as you
+are."
+
+"Indeed!" said the lieutenant sarcastically: "perhaps he's a nobleman,
+sir?"
+
+"I don't mean that," said Vince sharply; "but he's Sir Francis Ladelle's
+son."
+
+"What, of the Crag?"
+
+"Yes.  We found out the smugglers' cave by accident, and they came and
+caught us, and have kept us ever since."
+
+"Phew!" whistled the officer, quite changing his manner.  "Then pray who
+are you?"
+
+"I'm Doctor Burnet's son."
+
+"Oh, then of course that alters the case, my lad; but you see you were
+caught amongst the jackdaws, so you must not wonder that I wanted to
+wring your neck too."
+
+"Oh, it's all right if you believe me," said Vince; "only, after being
+prisoners so long, it seemed precious hard to be treated as prisoners
+when we expected to be free to get home."
+
+"Then this scoundrel took you both, and has brutally ill-used you ever
+since?"
+
+Vince looked round sharply, found the captain's piercing eyes fixed on
+his, and hesitated.
+
+"Oh no," he said; "he caught us, and wouldn't let us go for fear we
+should tell where his stores of smuggled goods are, but he has behaved
+very well to us ever since."
+
+"Like a gentleman," put in Mike.
+
+"Indeed!  Well, then we mustn't be so hard on him.  So then, young
+gentlemen, you two know where the smugglers' depot is?"
+
+Vince nodded.
+
+"And you could show us the way?"
+
+Vince nodded again.
+
+"Well, then, you'll have the pleasure of being our guide there as soon
+as we've taken that confounded schooner."
+
+"No, I shall not," said Vince, looking hard at Jacques.  "I don't feel
+as if it would be fair."
+
+"But you'll have to, my lad, in the King's name."
+
+"Yais, you can promise to show zem every sing, _mon ami_" said Jacques,
+smiling.  "My smuggling days are ovaire, and I have been expecting zis
+every day zese ten years."
+
+"Very well, then," said Vince: "I'll promise to show you by land.  I
+can't by sea, for it's a regular puzzle."
+
+"By land, then.  Where is it?"
+
+"Over yonder, on our island."
+
+"What, at the Crag?" cried the lieutenant.
+
+"Yes."
+
+The officer gave vent to a long, low whistle.
+
+"Thank you, my lad," he said; "this is good news indeed!  We have been
+baffled for years, stopped by this hiding-place which no one knew of.
+Then, when I have taken the schooner I'll land you with a party, and you
+shall show us the place."
+
+"No," said Vince; "I want to be paid for doing it."
+
+"Indeed!" said the officer, curling his lip: "how much?"
+
+"Oh, I don't mean money.  Our fathers and mothers think we're dead, and
+you must land us to go home at once."
+
+"Impossible, my boy," said the lieutenant, clapping him on the shoulder
+in a friendly way.  "Quite right; but English men--and boys--have to
+think first of their duty to the King.  I must chase that schooner
+first, and--Ahoy, there! look sharp with that boat.--Look: directly I
+have taken her I'll land you."
+
+"No, sir; land us now," cried Mike.  "You have only to make that little
+sailing boat come alongside and order him to take us."
+
+"Yes, yes," cried Vince.  "He comes from our island."
+
+"What, that fishing boat yonder?" said the lieutenant.
+
+"Well, that is in my way.  Yes, I'll do that.  Now then, alongside
+there!  Tumble up, you fellows!  Marines, take charge, and see them into
+the hold."
+
+"_Au revoir, mes enfans_," said Jacques--"_au revoir_, if zey do not
+hang me.  Good boys, bose of you, but von vord.  Old Daygo he is a
+rascaille, an old scamp; but he serve me vairy true, and it vas I tempt
+him vis _monnaie_ to keep my secrete after he show me ze cavern.  You
+vill not tell of him.  He is so old, if you send him to ze prisone he
+soon die."
+
+"Oh, very well; we won't tell tales of him--eh, Mike?"
+
+"I should like to knock his old head off; but you've been so civil to
+us, Captain Jacques, we will not."
+
+The captain smiled and nodded, and then followed his crew into the hold,
+where they were shut up with a couple of marines on guard.
+
+By this time the cutter was in full sail, in chase of the schooner,
+which had reached out for a long distance, to get clear of the long
+reefs of dangerous rocks, running far away from the northern shore of
+the island.  She was evidently, in fact, obliged, as she had taken that
+course, to tack at last, and then run straight almost back again; but it
+would lead her along by the north coast and probably mean escape.
+
+"Schooner captain doesn't know his way through the Narrows, then," said
+Vince thoughtfully, as they stood watching the now distant schooner.
+
+"I suppose not.  Why, he could easily have got round and saved all
+that."
+
+"I say," cried Vince, "never mind about old Jacques: smugglers are
+blackguards, and ought to be caught."
+
+"Yes, of course."
+
+"Well, then, let's tell the cutter captain how to get through the
+narrows and cut the schooner off."
+
+"I couldn't.  I should send him on the rocks.  Could you?"
+
+"Oh, I could," said Vince.  "Here he comes.  You'll hail the boat as
+soon as you're near enough, sir?"
+
+"Eh?--the boat to set you ashore?  I'd almost forgotten.  Well, I
+suppose I must.  Mr Johnson!  Bah, I forgot: he's prize-master aboard
+the lugger.  By the way, you think there's no fear of that craft
+sinking, my lad?"
+
+"I feel sure, sir.  The powder all exploded upward."
+
+"Good.  Here, Mr Roberts, hoist a flag for a pilot: that may bring yon
+fellow."
+
+The little flag was hoisted; old Joe took no heed, however, but went on
+in his boat, and the lieutenant grew impatient.
+
+"Do you think that man understands the signal?"
+
+"I'm sure of it, sir, for he's the best pilot we have, and knows every
+rock."
+
+"Then it's obstinacy.  By George, I'll sink the scoundrel if he doesn't
+heave to;" and, giving the order, a shot was sent skipping along just in
+front of old Daygo's boat, when the sail was lowered directly, hoisted
+again, and the boat's head turned to run towards the cutter.
+
+"Understands that, my lads," said the lieutenant; "but you must jump
+down quickly--I am losing a deal of time."
+
+"Never mind, sir," said Vince; "I've been sailing all about here ever
+since I was quite a little fellow, and I know the rocks too.  The
+schooner must tack round in half an hour's time, and then run east."
+
+"Yes, I know that."
+
+"Well, sir, you can run from here right across, and save miles."
+
+The officer looked at him keenly.
+
+"The passage is called the Narrows, and it's all deep water.  You see
+the big gull rock away yonder--the one with the white top?"
+
+"Well!"
+
+"Make straight for that, and go within half a cable's length.  Then
+tack, keep the south point right over the windmill for your bearings,
+and sail due east too.  Then you can cut the smuggler off."
+
+"Hah! yes; it's down on the chart, but I did not dare to try it.  Thank
+you, my lad; that is grand.  Ah! here's the boat."
+
+The boys shrank back, so that old Daygo should not see them, while the
+lieutenant stepped up to the side and bullied the old man, who protested
+humbly that he did not understand the signal.
+
+"Well, quick!  Here are two passengers to take ashore.  Now, my lads--
+sharp!"
+
+Vince and Mike shook hands with the officer, while a sailor at the
+gangway held on to the painter of Daygo's boat, which was gliding pretty
+fast through the water, the course of the cutter not having been quite
+stopped; then the lads jumped lightly in, the painter was thrown after
+them, there was a slight touch of the helm, and the cutter heeled over
+and dashed away, leaving Vince and Mike looking the old man full in the
+face, while he stared back with his jaw dropped down almost to his
+chest.
+
+"Then you arn't dead, young gen'lemen?"
+
+"No, we're not dead," said Vince sharply.  "Now then, hoist that sail
+and run us home."
+
+The boys sat there watching the cutter, the lugger and the schooner all
+sailing rapidly away.  Then suddenly it occurred to both the lads that
+the old man was very slow over the business of hoisting that sail; that
+he was then the greatest enemy they had, and that it would be very
+awkward for them if he were to suddenly take it into his head to do them
+some mischief.
+
+"He's a big, strong man," thought Vince; "he knows that we can ruin him
+if we like to speak, and--I wonder what Ladle is thinking about?"
+
+"Ladle" was thinking the same.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY NINE.
+
+DAYGO MEETS HIS MATCH.
+
+It seemed to take a long time to hoist that sail, but at last it was
+well up, the yard creaking against the mast; and standing on their
+dignity now, and keeping the old man at a distance, the boys made no
+offer to take the sheet or steer, but let Daygo pass them as they sat
+amidships, one on each side, and he seated himself, hauled in the sheet,
+and thrust an oar over the stern to steer.
+
+There was a nice breeze now, they were only about a mile from the shore,
+and as the boat danced merrily through the little waves a feeling of joy
+and exultation, to which the boys had long been strangers, filled their
+breasts.  They took long, hungry looks at the shore, and then at the
+cutter racing along towards the great gull rock, at the schooner
+careening over as she ran on under all the canvas she could bear; and
+then back at the lugger, which by comparison seemed to limp along, with
+a scrub of a spar hoisted as a jury mast, far astern, in place of the
+fallen mizen, so as to steady her steering.
+
+Then they looked at each other again, those two, as they sat face to
+face, neither speaking, and carefully avoiding even a glance at Daygo,
+feeling as they did the awkwardness of their position, and averse to
+meeting the old scoundrel's eye.
+
+Not that they would have met it, for Daygo was as full of discomfort as
+they, and with his eyes screwed up face one maze of wrinkles, he stared
+through between them as if looking at the prow, but really at the big
+patch of canvas in his sail.
+
+For, as Daygo put it to himself, he was on the awkwardest bit of lee
+shore that he had ever sailed by in his life.
+
+He had, as was surmised by the cook, caught sight of the Revenue cutter
+sailing by the north side of the Crag, and hurried down to his boat to
+warn Jacques or his companion; but, upon finding himself too late, he
+was making for home again, thinking that, as Jacques was taken and his
+lugger a prize to the cutter--which looked determined to follow up the
+schooner, probably to take her too--there would be no owner for the
+contraband goods still left in the cavern, unless that owner proved to
+be himself.  There were two others, he mused--two who knew of the place
+and its treasure; but Captain Jacques was, according to the old
+fisherman's theory, not the kind of man to stick at trifles when such
+great interests were at stake; and he felt quite satisfied that the two
+boys would never be seen at Cormorant Crag again.  Some accident would
+happen to them--what accident was no business of his, he argued.  They
+had got themselves into a terrible mess through their poking and prying
+about, and they must put up with the consequences.  They might have
+fallen off the cliff when getting sea-birds' eggs, or they might have
+been carried away by one of the currents when bathing, or they might
+have been capsized and drowned while they stole his boat--he called it
+"stole"--in any one of which cases, he said to himself, they'd never
+have come back to the Crag again, and it wouldn't have been any business
+of his, so he wasn't going to worry his brains.  Old Jarks had grabbed
+'em, and when he grabbed anything he didn't let it go again.
+
+Joe Daygo was a slow thinker, and all this took him a long time to
+hammer out; and he had just settled it comfortably, on his way home,
+when he caught sight of the pilot flag flying, and paid no heed.
+
+"Don't ketch me showing 'em the way through the Narrers to ketch the
+_Shark_!" he growled; and he kept on his way till the imperative mood
+present tense was tried, and then he made for the side of the cutter, to
+receive what was to him a regular knock-down blow, or, as he put it, a
+wind taking him on a very dangerous lee shore.
+
+So the old fisherman did not look at his passengers, but began thinking
+hard again.  He couldn't take those two home, he said to himself, for,
+if he did, at their first words he'd be seized by some one or every one,
+for they all hated him for being so well off, and monopolising so much
+of the lobster catching, especially Jemmy Carnach.  Then Sir Francis
+Ladelle and the Doctor would come; he'd be locked up, sent by the smack
+over to England, and be tried, and all his savings perhaps be seized.
+Just, too, when he had a chance of doubling them by taking the contents
+of the cave.
+
+He had arrived at this point with great difficulty when the strange
+silence on board the boat, which had so far only been broken by the
+lapping of the water and the creaking of the yard, was broken by Vince,
+who cried excitedly, as he stood up in the boat:
+
+"Look, look, Mike!  Nearly everybody's yonder on the cliff.  They've
+heard the firing and the explosion, and they're watching the cutter
+chase the schooner."
+
+Mike rose too, and with beating hearts the two boys stood trying to make
+out who was on the look-out; but the distance was too great to
+distinguish faces.  Still they stood, steadying each other by clapping
+hands on shoulders, quite unconscious of the fact that the old man was
+now gazing at them with a very peculiar expression of countenance, that
+foreboded anything but good.
+
+All at once, they both lurched and nearly fell, for Daygo's mind was
+made up, and he thrust his oar deep down, changing the boat's course
+suddenly, and making the sail flap.
+
+"Here, what are you doing?" cried Vince, forced by this to speak to the
+old man at last.
+
+"Think I want to run my boat into that curran' an' get on the rocks?
+Sit down, will you, and keep outer the way of the sheet."
+
+For answer the boys went forward, quite out of his way, and the boat
+rushed on again for some ten minutes before they spoke again, though
+they had been looking about with gathering uneasiness, for they were
+growing suspicious, but ashamed to speak because the idea seemed to be
+absurd.
+
+At last Vince said--
+
+"He's making a precious long tack, Mike, and I don't know of any big
+current here."
+
+Mike was silent, and they saw now that without doubt they were sailing
+right away from the island, and were in the full race of the tide.
+Still they felt that the old man must know best how to make for his tiny
+port, and they sat in silence for fully twenty minutes, waiting for him
+to make another tack and run back.
+
+But soon the suspicions both felt had grown into a certainty, and Mike
+said in a whisper, as calmly as he could,--
+
+"Cinder, he has got the conger bat out of the locker.  What does he
+mean?"
+
+"He means that he won't take us ashore," said Vince huskily: "he's going
+to sail right away with us for fear we should tell about him, and the
+conger bat's to frighten us and keep us quiet."
+
+There was a strange look of agony in Mike Ladelle's eyes, as he gazed in
+his companion's, to read there a horror quite as deep.  Then neither of
+them spoke, but sat there listening to the lapping of the water, which
+spread to right and left in two lines of foam as the little boat sped
+on.
+
+It was Vince who broke the silence at last, after drawing a deep breath.
+
+"Ladle, old chap," he said, in a low voice, "they're at home yonder, and
+it means perhaps never seeing them again.  What shall we do?"
+
+Mike tried to speak, but his voice was too husky to be heard for a few
+moments.
+
+"I'll do what you do," he said at last.
+
+"You'll stand by me, whatever comes?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+Vince glanced sidewise, to find that they were pretty well hidden by the
+sail; so he thrust out his hand, which was gripped fast, and the two
+boys sat there with throbbing hearts, trying to nerve themselves for
+anything that might happen now.
+
+Then, without a word, Vince rose, and, steadying himself by the mast, he
+stepped over the thwart in which it was stepped, and then on to the
+next, close to where the old man sat steering right astern, and holding
+the sheet of the well-filled sail as well.
+
+"This is not the way to the Crag," said Vince, with his voice trembling
+slightly; and the old man grunted.
+
+"Where are you making for?" said Vince, firmly now.
+
+"Didn't I tell yer I didn't want to get run on the rocks?" roared the
+old man, unnecessarily loudly, after a glance back at the shore, where
+all was growing distant and dim.
+
+"Yes, you told me so; but it isn't true," said Vince, in a voice he did
+not know for his own.
+
+"What?" roared Daygo fiercely.
+
+"You heard what I said.  Run her up in the wind at once, and go back."
+
+"You go and sit down," growled the old man savagely.
+
+"You change her course," said Vince firmly.
+
+"You go and sit down while you're safe," growled the old man, with his
+face twitching.
+
+"You had orders from the commander of the cutter to take us ashore.
+Change the boat's course directly."
+
+"Will you go and sit down, both of you?" cried the old man again, more
+fiercely, but his voice was lower and deeper.
+
+"No," said Mike; "and if you won't steer for the Crag, I will."
+
+"This here's my boat, and I'll steer how I like, and nobody else shan't
+touch her."
+
+"Your orders from the King's officer were to take us home.  Will you do
+it?"
+
+"No!" roared the old man.  "Go and sit down, 'fore I do you a mischief."
+
+Vince did not even look behind to see if he was going to be supported,
+for he felt full of that desperate courage which comes to an
+Anglo-Saxon-descended lad in an emergency like that.  He saw the
+savagely murderous look in the old man's eyes, and that he had quickly
+seized the conger bat with one hand, after passing the sheet into that
+which held the oar.
+
+With one spring Vince was upon him, seizing the heavy wooden club, which
+he strove to tear from his grasp, just as the old man too sprang up, and
+Mike snatched the sheet from his hand with a jerk which sent the oar,
+loose now in the old man's grasp, gliding overboard.
+
+Mike made a dash to save it, but was flung down into the bottom of the
+boat as the old man thrust a foot forward and seized Vince in his
+tremendous grip.
+
+The boy struggled bravely, but his fresh young muscles were as nothing
+to the gnarled, time-hardened flesh and sinew of the old savage, who
+lifted him by main force, after a short struggle which made the boat
+rock as if it would go over, and Vince realised what was to follow.
+
+"Mike! do something," he cried in his agony to the boy, who was
+struggling up, half stunned, from where he lay between the thwarts; and
+in his desperation Mike did do something, for, as Daygo put out all his
+strength, tore Vince's clinging hands from his jersey, and hurled him
+right out from the boat, Mike seized the old man fiercely by one leg.
+
+It was not much to do, but it did much, for it threw Daygo off his
+balance in the rocking boat; and Vince had hardly plunged down into the
+clear water before his enemy followed, with a tremendous splash,
+thrusting the boat away, and going head first deeply down.
+
+Vince was the first to rise, shake his head, and begin to swim for the
+boat.  But Daygo rose too directly and looked round, and then he, too,
+swam for the boat, whose uncurbed sail flapped wildly about; while Mike
+picked up the other oar to try and steer back to help his companion.
+
+He changed the position of the boat, and that was all.  It did this,
+though,--it gave Vince the chance of making for the side opposite to
+that for which Daygo aimed, and he swam with all his might to be there
+first.
+
+But Vince had the greater distance to go, and Mike saw that, unless he
+helped, Daygo would be too much for them yet.
+
+Quick as thought, he drew in the oar which he had thrust over the stern,
+turned it in his grasp as he stood up in the rocking boat, and, as the
+old man came up and stretched out his hands to grasp the gunwale, Mike
+drove the hand-hold of the oar, lance-fashion, down into his chest.
+
+"I've killed him," groaned the boy, as his enemy fell back and went
+under again.  Then he nearly followed him, for the boat was jerked from
+the other side, and he turned to find Vince had seized the gunwale and
+was climbing in.
+
+A sharp drag helped him, and Vince's first act was to seize the conger
+bat, which lay beneath the after-thwart.
+
+He was only just in time, for, as he turned, Daygo had risen, and swam
+up again to seize the gunwale with one great gnarled hand.
+
+Crash came down the heavy club, the hand relaxed, and Daygo went down
+again.
+
+"Vince!  Vince! you've killed him," cried Mike, in horror.  "No, no--
+don't: don't do that!" he shrieked, as Vince thrust his right-hand into
+his dripping pocket and tore out his big sharp long-bladed knife.
+
+"You take the bat," cried Vince; and, as the boy obeyed trembling, he
+shouted, so that the old man could hear as he swam after them, "hit him
+over the hands again if he touches the boat."
+
+It did not seem likely that he would overtake them by swimming, for the
+wind acted upon the flapping sail and drove them slowly along.
+
+Taking advantage of this, Vince went forward and cut off the long rope
+from the ring-bolt in the stem, and returned with it to where, wild-eyed
+and scared, Mike knelt with the conger bat upraised, ready to strike if
+the old man came near.
+
+"Now," said Vince firmly, "you hold that conger club with both hands,
+Mike, and if he does anything, or tries to do anything, bring it down on
+his head with all your might.  Do you hear?"
+
+"Yes," said Mike faintly.
+
+"Now, then, you come and take hold of the gunwale with both hands, and
+let me tie your wrists," cried Vince.  "Look out, Mike!"
+
+The old man swam up and put his hands together.
+
+"You arn't going to murder me?" he groaned.
+
+"You wait and see--Ah!" yelled Vince, for the treacherous old ruffian
+had seized him by the chest and was dragging him out of the boat.
+
+But Mike was ready: the bat came down with tremendous force, and the old
+man loosened his grasp and sank, remaining beneath the surface so long
+that the boys gazed at each other aghast.
+
+"Quick! there he is," cried Mike; and Vince seized the oar and sculled
+to where the old man had come slowly up, feebly moving his hands, and
+apparently insensible.
+
+"We must haul him in, Mike," said Vince.  "He's not likely to hurt us
+now."
+
+"If he is," said Mike, "we must do it all the same;" and, leaning over,
+they each got a good grip, and, heaving together, somehow rolled Daygo
+into the bottom of the boat, where they dragged his head beneath the
+centre thwart, and then firmly bound him hand and foot, using some
+strong fishing line as well as the painter and the rope belonging to the
+little grapnel.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FORTY.
+
+"HUZZA!  WE'RE HOMEWARD BOUND."
+
+By the time they had done the old man began to revive, but the boat was
+skimming along over the waves toward Cormorant Crag before he was able
+to speak coherently.
+
+"Where are you going?" he groaned at last.
+
+"What's that to you?  Home!" said Vince sharply.
+
+"Nay, nay; don't take me there, Master Vince--don't!  I give in.  You
+two have 'most killed me, but I forgive you; only don't take me there."
+
+"You hold your tongue, you old ruffian," cried Vince, who was steering
+and holding the sheet too, while Mike kept guard with the conger bat.
+"Mind, Mike.  Don't take your eyes off him for a moment, and if he tries
+to untie a knot, hit him again."
+
+"Nay, I'm beat," said the old man, with a groan.  "My head! my head!"
+
+"Serve you right," cried Mike.  "I believe you meant mischief to us."
+
+"Oh!" groaned Daygo; and he turned up his eyes till only the whites, or
+rather the yellows, could be seen, and then lay perfectly still; while
+the boat bounded onward now towards the island, as if eager to bear the
+boys to their home.
+
+Vince looked hard at the big, heavy figure in the bottom of the boat, as
+he attended to the sailing and steering; and now that the heat of battle
+was over, and he sat there in his saturated clothes, he began to wonder
+at their success in winning the day.  Then, as Daygo lay quite still, he
+began to think that they had gone too far, and his opinion was endorsed
+by his companion, who suddenly leaned back to look at him, with a face
+full of horror.
+
+"Cinder," he said, "I didn't mean to, but I hit him too hard."
+
+"Put the bat down, and come and take the oar and sheet," whispered back
+Vince, whose nervous feeling increased as the change was made.
+
+Vince was no doctor, but he had not been about with his father for
+years, and dipped into his books, without picking up some few scraps of
+medical and surgical lore.  So, bringing these to bear, he leaned over
+their prisoner and listened to his breathing, studied his countenance a
+little, and then placed a couple of fingers upon the man's massive wrist
+and then at his throat and temples.
+
+After this he drew back to where, trembling and ghastly-looking, Mike
+was watching him, and now whispered, with catching breath,--
+
+"Is he--"
+
+Mike wanted to say "dead," but the word would not come.
+
+"Yes," said Vince, in the same low tone; "he's shamming.  Go back and
+keep guard."
+
+"No, no--you," said Mike; "I'll steer."
+
+Vince nodded, and seated himself on the thwart over the prisoner, with
+the heavy piece of wood close at hand.
+
+The boat bounded on, and he glanced at the distant vessels, wondering
+whether the cutter would capture the schooner and the lugger get safely
+to port.  He thought, too, a good deal about the man in the bottom of
+the boat, and felt more and more sure that he was right in his ideas;
+for every now and then there was a twitching of the muscles about the
+corners of his eyes, which at last opened in a natural way, and looked
+piteously in the boy's face.
+
+"How far are we from the shore?" he said.
+
+"'Bout a mile," said Vince coolly.  "Why, Mike Ladelle thought you were
+dead?"
+
+"So I am nearly," groaned Daygo.  "Oh, my head, my head!"
+
+"Yes, you did get a pretty good crack," said Vince; "and you'll get
+another if you don't lie still."
+
+"But you've tied me so tight, Master Vince: line's a-cutting into my
+wristies."
+
+"Of course it is," said Vince coolly.  "I tied it as tightly as I could.
+You ought to be pretty well satisfied that we didn't leave you to
+drown."
+
+"Ah!" groaned Daygo, "don't say that, Master Vince.  I've been a good
+friend to you and him."
+
+"Yes, and we're going to be good friends to you, Joe.  You're such a
+wicked old rascal that it will do you good to be sent to prison."
+
+"No, no; don't do that, my lad.  Mebbe they'd hang me."
+
+"What, for a pirate and smuggler?  Well, perhaps they will," said Vince
+coolly.
+
+"But you wouldn't like that, my lad.  Untie me, and let me set you
+ashore, and then I'll sail away and never come near the Crag again."
+
+"Well, but you won't come near the Crag again if I take you ashore.  Sir
+Francis will have you put in prison, of course.  Won't he, Mike?"
+
+"There's no doubt about that," replied Mike.
+
+Daygo groaned.
+
+"Oh, Master Vince--don't, don't!" he cried.  "I'm an old man now, and it
+would be so horrible."
+
+"So it was for our poor people at home; and I know you've been
+pretending you hadn't seen us."
+
+"Ay, I've been a bad 'un--'orrid bad 'un, sir, but I'm a-repenting now,
+and going to lead a new life."
+
+"In prison, Joe."
+
+"No, no, no, sir," yelled the miserable wretch.  "It 'd kill me.  Do be
+a good gen'leman, and forgive me as you ought to, bad as I've been.  You
+untie me and let me run you ashore, and then I raally will sail away."
+
+"What do you say, Mike?"
+
+"Well, I think we might trust him now.  He has been pretty well
+punished."
+
+"Then you'd trust him?" said Vince.
+
+Mike nodded.
+
+"Then I wouldn't.  He'd jump up, strong as ever, and pitch us overboard,
+or take us over to France, or do something.  I'm not going to untie a
+knot."
+
+"Oh, Master Vince," groaned the old fellow; "and after all the fish I've
+give you, and the things I've done!"
+
+"Including trying to drown me," said Vince.
+
+"Oh, Master Mike, you have got a 'art in yer," groaned Daygo.  "You try
+an' persuade him, sir.  Don't take me ashore and give me up."
+
+"Look, Mike," said Vince excitedly, as a white puff of smoke suddenly
+appeared from the bows of the cutter, followed shortly by another,
+showing that they had got within range of the schooner, and the firing
+was kept up steadily as the boat sailed on, fast nearing the shore now,
+where the cliff was dotted with the people attracted by the engagement.
+
+But the firing did not interest Daygo, who kept on pleading and
+protesting and begging to be forgiven to one who seemed to have
+thoroughly hardened his heart.
+
+Then the old man made an effort to wriggle himself into a sitting
+position, but a light tap with the conger bat sent him down.
+
+"Don't you move again," said Vince sternly; "and don't you say another
+word, or you'll make your case worse than ever."
+
+Daygo groaned, and Vince watched the shore, which they were fast
+nearing.  Then, springing up, he began to wave his hands frantically.
+
+"Look, Mike! that's my father.  Yes; and yours.  Ah! they see us, and
+they're waving their hats.  Ahoy!  Ashore there!  Hurrah! we're all
+right, father."
+
+Mike sprang up too, forgetting his steering; and the boat would have
+begun to alter her course, but Vince seized the oar and set her right.
+
+"Now then, jump up," he cried, "and show yourself.  They see us.
+Father's coming nearer down.  Mike, we shall be ashore in five minutes."
+
+"Oh--oh--oh!" groaned Daygo.  "Marcy, young gents, marcy!  I know
+they'll hang me."
+
+Vince turned upon him fiercely, and took out his long Spanish knife,
+which he opened and whetted upon the gunwale, while the old man's eyes
+opened so that he showed a ring around the iris.
+
+"What are you going to do, Cinder?" cried Mike, catching him by the arm.
+
+"I'll show you directly," said Vince firmly.
+
+Just then the Doctor and Sir Francis began shouting to the boys; and the
+people near, among whom were Jemmy Carnach and the Lobster, took off and
+waved their caps, and cheered.
+
+"Look here, Ladle," whispered Vince: "will you do as I tell you--I mean,
+do as I do?"
+
+"Yes; anything."
+
+"I'm soaked.  Do you mind being the same?"
+
+"Not a bit," cried Mike excitedly.
+
+"Right, then: follow me.  It's only fifty or sixty yards now to the
+tunnel, and we can wade through.  Starboard a little more.  That's it."
+
+He pressed the oar his companion held, and the boat glided behind the
+towering rock, hiding the group on shore from their sight; and now Vince
+bent forward over their prisoner.
+
+"In with the oar, Mike," he said loudly, "and do as I do."
+
+He bent over the old fisherman, whose eyes, were nearly starting out of
+his head with horror, and with one clean thrust beneath the cord,
+divided it and set Daygo's wrists free, and then did the same by his
+ankles.
+
+Then Vince started up.
+
+"There," he cried; "there's our revenge on you, you old ruffian!  You've
+got your boat: sail away, and never let us see you at the Crag again.
+Now, Mike, over!"
+
+He set the example; and, as the old man sat up, the two boys dived into
+the deep clear water together, rose and swam for the tunnel, into which
+they passed, and were soon able to wade on towards the little dock.  A
+minute later each was clasped in his father's arms.
+
+Wet as he was?
+
+Well, it was only sea water.
+
+Need I write about what took place at the Doctor's cottage and at the
+old manor?  I think not.  There is surely no boy who reads this and
+thinks of his mother's tears who cannot imagine the scene far more
+vividly than I can describe it.  For the long mourned ones had returned,
+as if by a miracle, and all was happiness once more.
+
+That night it was announced that the cutter had gone east, with the
+schooner close astern; and three days later she was off the Crag, Vince
+and Mike being ready to meet the lieutenant when he landed and to act as
+guides.
+
+The officer of the cutter was for making them show the way into the
+caverns by sea; but on hearing more he had his men furnished with all
+the picks and bars that could be provided, and then, with an ample
+supply of lanthorns, the entrance to the dark passage was sought, Sir
+Francis and the Doctor being quite as eager to see the place as the
+sailors.
+
+Half-way through it was found to be blocked; but a pound of powder well
+placed and provided with a slow match was left to explode, and as soon
+as the foul air had cleared away the place was found practicable, and
+the party descended to find enough cargo left to well lade the cutter.
+
+But the men did not hurry themselves, nor the officers neither; for they
+found the hospitality at the Mount or at the Doctor's very agreeable.
+
+At last, though, the cutter sailed, but not before an attempt had been
+made to enter the smugglers' dock; only it was given up as being too
+risky for His Majesty's Revenue cutter.
+
+Previous to going, the lieutenant, who had become a great friend of the
+boys, said a few words which afterwards bore fruit.  They were these:--
+
+"I say, my lads, why don't you two chaps go to sea?  You'd make splendid
+middies."
+
+They did; but it was not till a year after the announcement which came
+to the Crag that the two boys' names were down as sharers in the prize
+money distributed to the officers and men of the cutter.
+
+"And it does seem rum, Ladle," said Vince, as they lay on the
+thyme-scented grass, looking out to sea, and occasionally letting their
+eyes wander towards the great bluff which hid away the Scraw.
+
+"What seems rum?" said Mike wonderingly.
+
+"That we should get a share in poor old Jacques' treasures after all.  I
+wonder what has become of him."
+
+They heard at last that, by the help of one of his men, who had acted as
+cook on board the lugger, he had escaped to France; and two years later,
+when they were growing men, they caught sight of old Daygo in Plymouth
+town, but the old man managed to avoid them, and, for reasons which the
+reader can easily understand, neither of the young men felt disposed to
+hunt him out and ask how he came there.  Had they done so, they would
+have found that Joe Daygo had been saving money for many years, and he
+was living outside the port, where he could see the sea, as "a retired
+gentleman."
+
+These are his own words.
+
+And the caverns down by the Scraw?
+
+Sixty years' workings of time and tide have made strange alterations
+there.  Huge masses have fallen in, rocks have been washed away, and
+pleasant slopes have taken the place of precipice and dangerous rift;
+but the sea gulls wheel round the rugged cliffs and rear their young in
+safety, and upon sunny days, when the fierce currents are running
+strong, the dark olive-green birds may be seen swimming and diving to
+bring up their silvery prey to gorge, and afterwards fly off to dry
+their plumage on shelves and slopes of their home--dangerous surf-girt
+Cormorant Crag.
+
+The End.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Cormorant Crag, by George Manville Fenn
+
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