"Find where those fellows keep theirs, and go after it when it's dark.

They won't starve themselves, you may be sure."

Mike tried to withdraw his hand, for fear that Vince should think he was afraid to be in the dark; but his companion's grasp tightened upon it, and he said softly,--

"Don't take your fist away, Ladle; it feels like company, and it's almost as good as a light. I say, don't go to sleep."

"No."

Mike meant to sit and watch and listen for the fancied splash that indicated the return of the seals. But he was tired by exertion and excitement, the cavern was warm and dry, the sand was become pleasantly soft, and all at once he was back in the great garden of the fine old manor-house amongst the flowers and fruit, unconscious of everything else till he suddenly opened his eyes to gaze wonderingly at the thick darkness which closed him in.

Vince had fared the same. Had any one told him that he could sleep under such circ.u.mstances, in the darkness of that water den, the dwelling-place of animals which had proved to him that they could upon occasion be desperate and fierce, he would have laughed in his face; but about the same time as his companion he had lurched over sidewise and fallen fast asleep.

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.

GETTING DEEPER IN THE HOLE.

For some moments Mike sat up, gazing straight before him, dazed, confused, not knowing where he was. Time, s.p.a.ce, 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, s.n.a.t.c.hing 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 hoa.r.s.e 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?"

Mike suppressed a shiver of dread, and said firmly,--"Yes."

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 pa.s.sage, 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 pa.s.sed 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.