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?"