"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!"