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.