LOST!

Purple heath, golden gorse, and tufts of broom. Tall pines with

branches like steps to tempt you to climb. Regular precipices after

climbing above the sand-pit, from which you could jump into the soft

sand, and then slide and roll down to the bottom. Once I jumped upon a

little promontory high above the slope, and it gave way, and I slid down

on about a ton of matted root and earth and sand.

Then we climbed to the sand-martins' nests, and slipped down or rolled

down, and climbed again, and along ledges, and thrust in our arms, but

nesting was over for the year, and the swift little birds made their

nurseries beyond our reach, for we did not find the bottom of one single

hole.

Shock was full of fun, and shouted and threw sand at Juno, who barked,

and made believe to bite him, and rolled over and over with him down

some slope, to be half buried in the sand at the bottom.

We soon forgot all about Ike, but we once smelt a whiff of tobacco,

which seemed to be mingled with the sweet scent of the pines in the hot

sunshine.

There were butterflies, too, red admirals, that came flitting into the

sandy bottom, and settled on the face of the sandy cliff, but always

sailed away before we got near. Then we went out on to the wild

heathery waste to the south, and chased lizards in the dry short growth.

Then Shock uttered an excited cry and drew back Juno, who was sniffing,

and struck two or three rapid blows at something, ending by stooping and

raising a little writhing serpent by the tail.

"Nedder," he said, and he crushed it beneath his heel.

There were grasshoppers, too, by the thousand, and furze, and

stone-chats flitting from bush to bush, while sometimes a dove winged

its way overheard, or uttered its deep coo from the pine-wood at the

foot of the hill.

Delicious blue sky overhead; a view all about that seemed to fade into a

delicious bluey pink; and the sweet warm odour of the earth rising to be

breathed and drunk in and enjoyed; the place seemed to me a very

paradise, and the dog appeared to enjoy it as much as I.

Shock rarely spoke to me, but he did not turn his back. The boy was as

excited as the dog, going down on all-fours to push his way amongst the

heath and broom, and scratch some hole bigger where it was evident that

a rabbit had made his home. Then he was after a butterfly; then

stalking a bird, as if he expected to catch it without the proverbial

salt for its tail; and I'm afraid I was just as wild.

I don't know that I need say _afraid_, for our amusement was innocent

enough, and you must remember that we were two boys, who resembled Juno,

the dog, in this respect that we were let loose for a time, and enjoying

the freedom of a scamper over the hills.

We had gone some distance through the pines, when, as we turned back and

came to where they suddenly ended, and the earth down the slope seemed

to be covered with pine needles, and was all heather and short fine

furze, I sat down suddenly on the soft fir leaves, taking off my cap for

the sweet fresh breeze to blow through my hair. Shock flung himself

down on his chest, and the dog couched between us with her eyes

sparkling, her mouth open, and her tongue out and curled up at the end,

as she panted with fatigue and excitement.

"I say," cried Shock all at once, with his face flushed, and his eyes

full of excitement, "don't let's go back--let's stop and live here.

I'll find a cave in the sand."

"And what are we to live on?" I said.

"Rabbits, and birds, and snails, and fish--there's a big pond down

there. Let's stop. There'll be nuts and blackberries, and whorts, and

pig-nuts, and mushrooms. There's plenty to eat. Let's stop."

He looked up at me eagerly.

"I can make traps for birds, and ketch rabbits, and--look, there she

goes."

He started to his feet, for there was a bound and a rustle just below

us, as a rabbit suddenly found it was in danger, and darted away to find

out a place of refuge lower down the hill.

"Hey, dog! on, dog!" cried Shock, clapping his hands; and Juno took up

the scent directly, running quickly in and out amongst, the furze and

heath, while Shock and I followed for about a quarter of a mile, when,

panting and hot, we came upon Juno carrying a fine rabbit in her mouth,

for this time she had overtaken it before one of the burrows was

reached.

"Good dog!" cried Shock. "Dinner;" and, taking the rabbit by the hind

legs, the dog wagged her tail as if asking whether she had not done that

well, and followed us as we went back to where we had seen the holes in

the sandy cliff.

We avoided the cut near which we knew that Ike would be having his nap,

and, making our way to the bottom of the cliff, we selected one of the

biggest of the holes, stooped and went in, and found that it widened out

to some ten or a dozen feet, and then ran back, thirty or forty.

It seemed to be partly natural, partly to have been scooped out by hand,

while it certainly seemed just the place for us.

"We'll stop here," cried Shock. "You go and get a lot of wood from up

a-top, where there's lots lying, while I skins the rabbud."

"What are you going to do?" I said.

"Make a fire and cook him for dinner."

I was in no wise unwilling, for it seemed very good fun, and going out I

climbed up through a narrow gully and into the fir-wood, where I soon

found a good armful of wood, carried it to the edge of the cliff, just

over the mouth of the hole, and went back and got another and another.

When I climbed down again I found Shock busy finishing his task, and as

I entered Juno was making a meal of the skin peppered with sand.

Shock came out after sticking his knife in the cliff wall for a peg on

which to hang the rabbit, and we soon put the wood inside the hole,

where, Shock being provided with matches, we soon had a fire burning,

and from the way in which it drew into the cave it seemed as if there

must be a hole somewhere, and this I found in the shape of a crack in

the roof, through which the smoke rose.

The novelty of the idea kept me from minding the smoke, and I entered

into the fun of keeping up the fire, feeding it with bits of wood, while

Shock skewered the rabbit on a neatly cut stick, and placed it where the

fire was clear of smoke, so that it soon began to hiss and assume a

pleasanter colour than the bluish-red that a skinned rabbit generally

wears.

The fire burned freely, and Shock lay down on his chest and kicked his

heels about after the fashion practised when he was on the top of the

market cart.

His face was a study, as he watched the progress of his cookery; while

Juno took the other side of the fire, couched, and watched the hissing

sputtering rabbit too, as if calculating how much she would get for her

share.

I looked at them for a few minutes, and then, finding the smoke rather

too much for me, not being such an enthusiast about cooking as Shock, I

began to explore the sand-cave, to find it ended about a dozen paces in

from the fire, and that there was nothing more to see, while the place

was very smoky and very hot.

"Here, come and watch the rabbud while I go and get some more wood,"

shouted Shock to me.

"No, thank you," I said. "You may watch the cooking. I'll get some

wood."

I hung my jacket on a stone that stuck out of the wall and went out for

the wood, glad to be away from the heat and smoke, and after climbing up

among the firs I collected and brought back a good faggot, with which

the fire was fed till Shock declared the rabbit done.

"Are you ready?" he said.

"Ready!" I replied, as I looked at the half-raw, half-burned delicacy.

"No: I don't want any, Shock. You may have it."

"You don't want none?" he said, staring at me with astonishment.

"No: I've got some sandwiches in my pocket, and I shall eat them by and

by."

"Oh, all right!" he said; and, taking his pocket-knife, he cut off the

rabbit's head and held it out to the dog.

"There's your bit," he said. "Be off."

Juno took the hot delicacy rather timorously; but she seemed to give the

donor a grateful look, and then trotted out into the sunshine, and lay

down to crunch the bones.

The fire was nearly out, the fir-wood burning fiercely and quickly away;

but though it was a nuisance to me it seemed to find favour with Shock,

who set to work, like the young savage he was, tearing off and devouring

the rabbit, throwing the bones together, ready for the dog when she

should come back. I felt half disgusted, and yet hungry, so, going to

where I had hung my jacket, I thought I would get out the sandwiches

Mrs Solomon had cut for me; but as I turned round and looked at Shock I

felt that I should enjoy them better if I waited till he had done.

So I leaned against the rough side of the sand-cave, watching him tear

away at the bones, holding a piece in one hand, the remains of the

rabbit in the other.

I remember it all so well--him sitting there with just a faint blue curl

of smoke rising from the embers, and beyond him, seen as it were in a

rugged frame formed by the low entrance of the hole, was the lovely

picture of hill and vale, stretching far as the eye could reach, and all

bright in the sunshine, and with the bare sky beyond.

I was just thinking what a rough-looking object Shock seemed as he sat

there just in the entrance to the hole, and wishing that, now he had a

good situation and was decently clothed, he would become like other

boys, when I saw Juno come slowly towards Shock, wagging her tail and

showing her teeth as if asking for more bones, but she suddenly whisked

round and darted away, as, with a noise like a dull clap of thunder,

something seemed to shut out the scene from the mouth of the hole, I

felt a puff of heat and smoke in my face, and all was darkness.

I stood there as if petrified for a minute, I should think, quite unable

to make out what was the matter, and panting for breath.

Then the thought came like a flash, that a quantity of sand had fallen,

and blocked up the mouth of the cave.

For a moment or two I felt as if I should fall. Then the instinct of

self-preservation moved me to act, and with my hands stretched out

before me I went quietly towards the entrance.

"Shock! Shock!" I cried, but there was no reply, and it sounded as if

my voice was squeezed up in a narrowed space; then I seemed to hear a

rustling noise as I stepped forward, I was kicked violently in the shins

and fell forward with my hands plunging into a mass of soft sand, and to

my horror I found that I was lying upon my companion, who was half

buried.

The perspiration stood out all over me as I leaped to my feet; and then

went down again to find that Shock was kicking frantically, and a

moment's investigation told me that he could not extricate himself.

Seizing one of his legs, which as I grasped by the ankle and clasped it

to my side, kept giving spasmodic jerks, I dragged with all my might,

and found I could not move him; but as I dragged again he seemed to give

a tremendous throb, and I went backwards, followed, it seemed to me in

the darkness, by a quantity of soft sand; but Shock was free, for I

could feel him by me lying on his face, and as I turned him over he

uttered a groan.

And now a horrible sensation of fear came over me as I thoroughly

realised that I was buried alive in that sand-cave. I felt that my

climbing about on the top of the cliff had loosened or cracked the

compressed sand. Shock and I had jumped about over it when we threw

down the wood we had gathered, and that seemed to be the explanation of

the mishap.

But I had no time to think of this now, for the thought that perhaps

Shock was killed, suffocated, came over me with terrible force, and I

bent over him, feeling his face, his heart, and hands.

His heart was beating fast, and his hands were warm, but though I spoke

to him over and over again, in the darkness, there was no answer, and

with a cry of despair I threw myself on my knees, when all at once he

shouted:

"Hullo!"

"Shock," I cried, "I'm here."

"What yer do that for?" he cried fiercely.

"I didn't do anything."

"Yes, yer did," he cried. "Yer threw a lump o' sand on my head. I'm

half blind, and my ears is full. Just wait till I gets hold on yer,

I'll pay yer for it."

Then he began panting, and spitting, and muttering about his eyes, and

at last--"Here, where are yer?"

"I'm here, close by you," I said. "Don't you understand? The sand has

fallen and shut us in."

There was silence for a few minutes--a terrible painful silence to me,

as I felt that I was face to face with death. Then Shock seemed to have

grasped the situation, for he said coolly enough:

"Like the rabbuds. Well, we shall have to get out."

"Yes, but how?" I cried.

"Same's they do. Scratch yer way, and make a hole. I don't mind, do

you?"

"Mind!" I said, "it's horrible."

"Is it?" he replied quietly. "Why?"

"Don't you see--"

"No," he said sharply, "not werry well. I can a little."

"But I mean, don't you understand?" I cried in an awe-stricken choking

voice, "that if we don't get out soon, we shall die."

"What, like when you kills a rabbud or a bird?"

"Yes."

"Get out!" he cried in contemptuous tones. "I hadn't finished my

rabbud, and my eyes is half full of sand still."

"Never mind the rabbit," I said angrily, "let's try and dig our way

out."

"Let Ikey do it," he said, "he's got the shovels."

"But will he find out where we are," I cried, for I must own to being

terribly unnerved, and ready to marvel at Shock's coolness.

"Why, of course he will," said Shock. "I say, don't you be frightened.

You don't mind the dark, do you?"

"I don't mind the dark," I replied, "but it's horrible to be shut in

here."

"Why, it's only sand," he said, "only sand, mate."

"But it nearly smothered you," I cried. "It would have smothered you if

I hadn't pulled you out."

"Yes, but that was because it fell atop of my head and held me down,

else it wouldn't. I thought it was your games."

I had never heard Shock talk like this before. Our mutual distress

seemed to have made us friends, and I felt ready to shake hands with him

and hold on by his arm.

"I say," he cried, his voice sounding, like mine, more and more

subdued--at least so it seemed to me--"I say, I weren't looking; it

didn't go down on the dog too--did it?"

"No, Shock, I saw her run away."

There was a few moments' silence and then he said:

"Well, I am glad of that. I likes dorgs, and we was reg'lar good

friends."

"Hark!" I said; "is that Ike digging?"

"No," he said; "it was some more sand tumbled down, I think."

I knew he was right, for there was a dull thud, and then another; but

whether inside or outside I could not tell. It made me tremble though;

for I wondered whether I should be able to struggle out if part of the

roof came down upon my head.

All at once Shock began to whistle--not a tune, but something of an

imitation of a blackbird; and as I was envying him his coolness in

danger I heard a scratching noise and saw a line of light. Then there

was another scratch and a series of little sparkles. Another scratch,

and a blue flame as the brimstone on the end caught fire; and then, as

the splint of wood burned up, I could see in the midst of a ring of

light the face of Shock, looking very intent as he bent over the burning

match, and held to it the wick of a little end of a common tallow

candle.

"I allus carries a bit o' candle out of the lanthorns," he said, showing

his teeth; and then he held up the light, and I could see that the

opening to the cave was completely closed up, just as if the roof had

all come down, and the cave we were in was not half the size it was at

first, a slope of sand encroaching on the floor. I felt chilled, for I

felt that it would be impossible to tunnel through that sand.

"Now, then," said Shock coolly, "that there's the way--ain't it? Well,

we don't want no light to see to do that; so you put it out 'case we

wants it agen, and put it in yer pocket. I'll go down on my knees and

have first scratch, and when I'm tired you shall try, and we'll soon get

through it. We won't wait for Ike."

I longed to keep the candle burning, but what Shock said seemed to be

right; so I put it out, and as I did so I saw the boy begin to scratch

away as hard as he could at the sand in the direction of the entrance,

and then in the dark I could hear him panting away like some wild

animal.

"I say," he cried at last.

"Yes," I said.

"It don't seem no good. More you pulls it away, more it comes down.

It's like dry water, and runs all through your hands."

"Let me have a try," I said.

"All right. You go where I did, and keep straight on."

Keep straight on! It was, as he said, like grasping at water; and the

more I tore at it, in the hope of making a tunnel through, the more it

came pouring down, till in utter despair I gave it up and told Shock it

was no good.

"Never mind," he said. "It's dry and warm. I've been in worse places

than this is, where you couldn't keep the rain out. Let's sit down and

talk. I say I wish I'd got the rest o' my rabbud."

I didn't answer, for, hot, weary, and despairing at our position, I was

lying down on the sand with my hands covering my face.

I don't know how long a time passed, for I felt confused and strange;

but I was aroused by Shock, who exclaimed suddenly:

"Here, I want to get out of this. Let's have another try at scratching

a hole."

I heard him move, and then he struck a light again so as to see where to

begin.

"Must know, you see," he said. "If I get scratching at the wrong side,

it would take so long to get out."

In spite of my trouble I could not help feeling amused, there seemed to

be something so droll in the idea of Shock burrowing his way right into

the hill and expecting to get out; but the next moment I was listening

to him and watching the tiny spark at the end of the burned match die

out.

Rustle, rustle, rustle, he went on, and every now and then there was a

loud panting such as some wild animal would make. Then I uttered a cry

of fear, for I felt a quantity of sand strike me and I bounded aside,

for it seemed that the top was coming down.

"What's matter?" cried Shock, stopping short.

"Nothing," I said as I realised the cause of my fright. "Some of the

sand hit me."

"What! some as I chucked behind me?"

"Yes."

The scratching and tearing went on again, and I felt the sand scattered

over me several times, but the fear did not attack me again.

All at once there was a soft rushing noise, and Shock uttered a yell

which seemed to make my heart leap.

"Shock!" I cried, "Shock!" but there was no answer, only a scuffling

noise. "Shock! where are you?"

The scuffling noise continued, and their there was a loud panting, a cry

of "Oh!" and my companion staggered by me.

"Shock!" I cried.

"Oh! I say," he groaned, "I've got it all in my eyes agen. A lot come

down and buried me. I sha'n't do it no more."

He uttered a series of strange gasps and cries, shaking himself,

spitting, and stamping on the ground.

"I swallowed lots o' sand, I think, and it come down on my back horrid.

You try now."

I hesitated, but felt that I must not be cowardly if I wished for us to

escape; and so I asked him to light a match again.

He did so, and by its feeble light I saw where to work, and also that,

the place seemed to be filling up with the sand, and that we had not

half so much room as we had at first.

Then out went the light, and with a desperate haste I went down on my

hands and knees and began to tear at and throw the sand behind me,

filling up our prison more and more, but doing nothing towards our

extrication, for as fast as I drew the sand away from the tunnel more

came; and at last, just as I began to think that I was making a little

progress, I heard a rustling, dribbling sound, some hard bits of

adhesive sand fell upon my head, and I instinctively started back, as

there was a rush that came over my knees, and I knew that if I had

remained where I was, tunnelling, I should have been buried.

"What, did you get it?" cried Shock, laughing.