"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!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed 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, pa.s.sing 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 pa.s.s 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 pa.s.sage, 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 pa.s.sage 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 pa.s.sage 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 sh.o.r.e, they cast the sand back over their legs and then over their b.r.e.a.s.t.s 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 pa.s.sing 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, pa.s.sed 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 pa.s.sed 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 pa.s.sage, 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 b.u.t.ter. 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 pa.s.sage as a voice runs through a speaking tube.