Part 32 (1/2)
Punctual to the tio's proposal, laid it before his coot such an adventure before us! You wouldn't do that!”
”Why not? We can go to the caverns any day, and this will be a chance to sail round and see what the outside of the Scraw is like”
”Did he say he would take us there?” cried Mike eagerly
”No; but we'd persuade hi laugh ”Persuade old Joe! Why, you do know better than that”
Vince frowned and said nothing, for he did know better, and felt that he had let his desires get the better of his judgo?”
”Well, wouldn't you rather go and have a look at those old things than see a few fish in a net?”
”Yes, if Joe wouldn't sail round where I want to go”
”Well, he wouldn't, and you know it Why, this is a chance You felt sure he atching us; and he'll be off to sea, where he can't”
”Off, then!” said Vince; and, full of anticipations, they , into which, without pausing to look round, they leaped down quickly; and, after lighting the lanthorn, descended as rapidly as they could to the rope
The place looked as beautiful as ever, as they slid down to the sandy floor of the inner cavern, and e shell; while the outer cave, with its roof alive, as it were, with the interlacing wavings and quiverings reflected from the sunny surface of the sea, would have made any one pause
But the boys had no eyes for anything that day but the wonders of their new discovery; and, quickly getting to ith the rope and grapnel, Mike threw it up
”Got a bite!” he cried ”No: he's off”
For, after catching, the grapnel gave way again
The second tiot another hold, and told Vince to climb first
This he did, and in a very few seconds he o-thirds of the way up, ith a scrape the grapnel gave way, and Vince came down flat on his back in the sand, with the iron upon him
”Hurt?” cried Mike
”Not , which the iron had struck
”Try again”
Mike threw once an to cli safely Then the lanthorn was drawn up, Vince followed, and this tih the peculiar zigzag free froers unknown, so that they could think only of the various difficulties of the cli the open end of the fissure they kept back the lanthorn and advanced to peer down cautiously; but, save a few pigeons flying in and out, there was no sign of life Everything was just as they had seen it before; the footprints all over the traes before, so they thought; the boat mast, sails, and ropes, were at the side, and in the shadowy upper part there were the stacks of bales and the carefully piled-up kegs
”Well?” said Mike; ”shall we go down?”
”Of course”
”But suppose there is any one there?”
”We'll soon see,” said Vince; and, placing his hands to his ; for it echoed and vibrated about the great cave, startling a flock of pigeons, which darted out with a loud whistling of wings
Then the sound came back in a peculiar way from the barrier of rocks across the bay, for there was evidently a fluttering there aht just outside the mouth of the cave