The Globe-republican., 1894-01-12

1t glimmered, then disappeared
again. Just then the moon slipped out
of her cloud, Illuminating the hillocks
with vitreous rays, and he perceived,
close by him, dark hole, opening in
the very heart of the hiIlock.
He crept closer and looked down, but
could see nothing. He held his head
over. the hole and listened; all he
heard was dull, hollow moaning. like
the sound of the sea. The light of the
moon, however. enabled him to per-
ceive that the hole had been covered
with loose piece of wood. or lid, about
four feet square. and with an iron ring
bolt in the center: which lid was now
lying by the side of the opening, ready
to be replaced. A number of large
pieces of stone. such as were strewed
everywhere about the sand hills, lay
piled close by.
He lay for some time waiting and
listening. All at once, far beneath
him, the light glimmered again. Quick
as thought he rose and crept away,
only just in time: for he had no sooner
regained the shelter of the rock and
crouched there watching than he saw
the light re-emerge, accompanied by
human head: human body followed,
and then he clearly discerned William
Jones standing in the moonlight with
out the burden he had previously
carried, and holding in his hand Ian
tern.
Setting the lantern down, William
h,,CinI h;vpco1f fDr ~
finally. having concealed the work on
which he was engaged. extinguished
the light. Then. after glancing sus-
piciously round him on every side, he
walked rapidly down the sand hill and
disappeared in the direction of the sea.
Not until he distinctly heard the
plasL Of oars, and saw the black
Silhouette of the boat pass out from the
shadow of the rock on to the moonlit
sea, did Brinkley again begin to stir,
and even then he did so very cautiously
lest his figure should be perceived
against the moonlight by the ly-c;-eyed
rover. Creeping on hands a:.I 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
sand as to be completely hidden.
His first impulse was to displace the
debris and at once to explore the mys-
terious place: but rejecting that he
was unprovided 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. 1t
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 hillock 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, pulling
out his case of crayons, he marked the
base of the rock with a small streak of
color. Finally, remembering that the
drift sand might cover this mark, he
made 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 -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 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
drew out box of matches and q cam
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 q fight of
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
Il