The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1893-09-16

lest his figure should De perceived
| against the moonlight by the lynx-eyed
rover. Creeping on hands and knees,
he again crawled to the mysterious
spot, and found, as he had indeed
anticipated, that the hole was covered
up. and the wooden lid or trap-door so
, carefully covered with stones and loose
SIND as to be completely hidden.
/, His first impulse was to displace the
debris and at once to explore the mys-
i was unproyided with lights of any
: kind, and that the cavity below would
| most certainly be in total darkness, he
determined to postpone his visit of in
spection until daylight. By this time
there was no sight or sound of the
boat. Rising to his feet, he unused. It
was all very well to talk OF returning
another time, but how was he to find
the spot? The sea of sandy hillocks
stretched on every side, and he knew
by experience how difficult it was to
distinguish one Rllock from another.
AS to the cairns of loose stones, such
cairns were nearly as numerous as the
hillocks themselves.
| At last he thought of the rock where
he had first concealed himself. Such
rocks were numerous too. but. pull ling
out his case OF crayons, he marked the
base of the rock with a small strak of
color. Finally. remembering that the
drift sand might cover this mark, he
made a large cross in the hard sand.
Having taken these precautions, he
made the best of his way down the
cliffs, and following the open green
sward which fringed the crags wan
dered back to the caravan.
At daybreak the next day he strolled
back along the crags, first taking
bird 's-eye view of the village, and per-
ceiving no sign of William Jones, who
had doubtless no suspicion that he
would rise so early. He soon found the
spot where he had stood overnight
watching the approach of the boat,
and, first accommodating the neighbor-
hood, struck off among the sand hills.
At first he was guided by footprints,
but as the sand grew harder these dis
appeared. At length, after a some
somewhat bewildering search, he
found the sand hill he sought: the rock
with his mark upon it, the cross marked
in the ground, and finally the well-con-
cealed mouth of the hole.
He looked keenly to right and left.
No one was visible. STOPPING down he
disclosed the trap-door with it's iron
ring. A long pull, a strong pull, and
up came the trap. Open sesame! Be-
meath him was dark cavity, with a
slanting path descending into the bow
els of the earth.
Anxious to lose no time, he squeezed
himself through the aperture and be-
gan descending. While he did so he
heard the hollow roaring he had heard
the night before. AS he proceeded he
4 drew out box of matches and a can
die, which he lit: Proceeding eau
| tiously on his back, and restraining
! himself with his elbows from too rap
| id descent, he found himself sur
rounded, not by sand, but by solid rock,
and, peering downward, saw that he
was looking down into large subter-
! ranean cave.
just beneath him was a fight OF
1 steps cut in the solid rock. Descend
\ ing these carefully, for they were as
| slippery as ice, he reached the bottom.
| and found it made of sea gravel and
loose shells, forming, indeed, a decline
like the seashore itself, to the edge of
! which, filing about half the cavern,
the waters of the sea crept with a
long, monotonous moan. Approaching
the waters edge he saw facing him
the solid back of the cliff, but just at
| the base there was an opening. a sort
of slit, almost touching the waves at
! all times, quite touching them when
the swell rose, and through this open
ing crept beams Of daylight, turning
the waves to a clear 1nalachite green.
The mystery was now clear enough.
! The cave communicated directly with
| the sea, but in such a way as to make
I an entrance for any large object inn
possible from that direction.
Turning his back upon the water,
and holding up the candle, he ex-
| amined the interior. The damp, black
rocks rose on every side. and from the
room hung spongy and hideous weeds,
like those fungi to be seen IN sunless
vaults of wine; but piled against the
inner wabl was hoard of treasures to
make smuggler's mouth water or
| turn wrecker's brain.
| Puncheons of rum and other spirits,
bales of wool, planks of mahogany and
pine, oars. broken masts. coils Of rope.
tangles of running rigging, flags of all
nations and articles of such material
as is used on shipboard, swinging
tables, brass swinging lamps. mast
head lanterns and hammocks; enough,
and to spare, in short, to fit out a small
/ fleet of vessels. Lost in amazement,
Brinkley examined this extraordinary
hoard, the accumulation. doubtless, of
many years. All at once his eye fell
|S 8 A. \