"I suppose that"s where they keeps their coals, Mas" Don," said Jem.
"So we"ve got to hide in the coal-cellar. Why not start off and run?"
"We should be seen," said Don anxiously. "Don"t let us do anything rash."
"But p"r"aps it"s rash to go in there, my lad. How do we know it isn"t a trap, or that it"s safe to go in?"
"We must trust our hosts, Jem," replied Don. "They have behaved very well to us so far."
There was another hail from the party ash.o.r.e, and still Jem hesitated.
"I don"t know but what we might walk straight away, Mas" Don," he said, glancing down at the garb he wore. "If any of our fellows saw us at a distance they"d say we was savages, and take no notice."
"Not of our white faces, Jem? Come, don"t be obstinate; I"m going on."
"Oh, well, sir, if you go on, o" course I must follow, and look arter you; but I don"t like it. The place looks treacherous. Ugh! Wurra!
Wurra! Wurra!"
That repeated word represents most nearly the shudder given by Jem Wimble as he followed Don into the cave, the chief pointing for them to go farther in, and then dropping rapidly down from point to point till he was at the bottom, Jem peering over the edge of the shelf, and watching him till he had disappeared.
"Arn"t gone to tell them where we are, have he, Mas" Don?"
"No, Jem. How suspicious you are!"
"Ah, so"ll you be when you get as old as I am," said Jem, creeping back to where Don was standing, looking inward. "Well, what sort of a place is it, Mas" Don?"
"I can"t see in far, but the cavern seems to go right in, like a long crooked pa.s.sage."
"Crooked enough, and long enough," grumbled Jem. "Hark!"
Don listened, and heard a faint hail.
"They"re coming along searching for us, I suppose."
"I didn"t mean that sound; I meant this. There, listen again."
Don took a step into the cave, but went no farther, for Jem gripped his arm.
"Take care, my lad. "Tarn"t safe. Hear that noise?"
"Yes; it is like some animal breathing hard."
"And we"ve got no pistols nor cutlashes. It"s a lion, I know."
"There are no lions here, Jem."
"Arn"t there? Then it"s a tiger. I know un. I"ve seen "em. Hark!"
"But there are no tigers, nor any other fierce beasts here, Jem."
"Now, how can you be so obstinate, Mas" Don, when you can hear "em whistling, and sighing and breathing hard right in yonder. No, no, not a step farther do you go."
"Don"t be so foolish, Jem."
""Tarn"t foolish, Mas" Don; and look here: I"m going to take advantage of them being asleep to put on my proper costoom, and if you"ll take my advice, you"ll do just the same."
Don hesitated, but Jem took advantage of a handy seat-like piece of rock, and altered his dress rapidly, an example that, after a moment or two of hesitation, Don followed.
"Dry as a bone," said Jem. "Come, that"s better. I feels like a human being now. Just before I felt like a chap outside one of the shows at our fair."
He doubled up the blanket he had been wearing, and threw it over his arm; while Don folded his, and laid it down, so that he could peer over the edge of the shelf, and command the entrance to the ravine.
But all was perfectly silent and deserted, and, after waiting some time, he rose, and went a little way inside the cavern.
"Don"t! Don"t be so precious rash, Mas" Don," cried Jem pettishly, as, urged on by his curiosity, Don went slowly, step by step, toward what seemed to be a dark blue veil of mist, which shut off farther view into the cave.
"I don"t think there"s anything to mind, or they wouldn"t have told us to hide here."
"But you don"t know, my lad. There may be dangerous wild critters in there as you never heard tell on. Graffems, and dragons, and beasts with stings in their tails--c.o.c.katoos."
"Nonsense! c.o.c.katrices," said Don laughing.
"Well, it"s all the same. Now, do be advised, Mas" Don, and stop here."
"But I want to know what it"s like farther in."
Don went slowly forward into the dim mist, and Jem followed, murmuring bitterly at his being so rash.
"Mind!" he cried suddenly, as a louder whistle than ordinary came from the depths of the cave, and the sound was so weird and strange that Don stopped short.
The noise was not repeated, but the peculiar hissing went on, and, as if from a great distance, there came gurglings and rushing sounds, as if from water.
"I know we shall get in somewhere, and not get out again, Mas" Don.
There now, hark at that!"
"It"s only hot water, the same as we heard gurgling in our bath," said Don, still progressing.
"Well, suppose it is. The more reason for your not going. P"r"aps this is where it comes from first, and nice place it must be where all that water"s made hot. Let"s go back, and wait close at the front."
"No; let"s go a little farther, Jem."
"Why, I"m so hot now, my lad, I feel as if I was being steamed like a tater. Here, let"s get back, and--"
"Hist!"
Don caught his arm, for there was another whistle, and not from the depths of the dark steamy cave, but from outside, evidently below the mouth of the cave, as if some one was climbing up.
The whistle was answered, and the two fugitives crept back a little more into the darkness.