The herald., 1898-01-16

we had best get away from It befor'
: they are back. They cannot be far. fol
the fire was certainly covered within q
few hours. We'll just borrow some o.
} their torch sticks and perhaps we may
find where the fish come from"
} The river, which was three or your
! yards wide. disappeared few rods
! farther on. In the soft clay we saw
some boot tracks. We went on very
cautiously and quietly. keeping as
much as we could in small holes and
passages, and often hiding our torches
: and listening with all ears. We were
surprised at the height of the rooms
: and the bigness of the stalactftes. The
torch sticks gave more light than our
candles had done, so bringing out the
beauty of the stalactites which were
} of all shapes and sizes. In one place
We saw high up on the wall where the
water had seeped down and made a
great hanging curtain of drip-stone, as
some call it, looking like nothing SC
much as a big, white woollen blanket
hanging up in folds. We saw another
which looked like stack of wheat
with Others in all sorts of queer shapes.
For the most part the floor seemed to
be in a general way quite level, though
there were many heaps of rocks and
lpits and domes. We tossed small stones
into the pits and they did not seem to
be very deep, but the domes stretched
away up, and we could get no notion
of their height.
'Thts Is more as I've heard folks tell
about Frontenac Cave" said the Cap
tain. Were coming down where it has
been explored. If we can keep those
fellows from getting sight of Us and
find hole leading out We'll be all
right"
"I'd just as lief find where those fish
came from" said,
| CAY, that's what we need" answered
the Captain with a smile. "That last
meal was a little light. Besides, guess
it's been two hours" and he took out
his watch. "Why, it's stopped" he ex-
claimed. 1T must have stopped when
l fell in the water-I might have known
it," nor could he make it start
Il don't see how we're going to tell
night from day without the watch"
said.
WELL where you can't tell 1t doesn't
matter" answered the Captain, no whit
downcaSt. Our appetite will always
tell us when it's meal-time The only
thing to worry about is that it may
not always be as easy to place the meal
as the time"
We kept sharp lookout for foot
prints wherever there was dirt floor.
but saw no more. Finally we got
into tunnel leading gently downward,
and at sharp turn came Unexpectedly
| q oir,
river. 1t was larger than where we
had seen it before-indeed 1T was more
like pool or small lake, the tunnel en-
larging and arching UP over exactly
like cover on a great dish of soup
Suddenly the Captain dropped on his
knees. crying, "Fish." as he did so.
Sure enough, there were fish in the
water, not eyeless cave fish, but regu-
lar open-stream fish, coming up to
have a good look at our torch lights.
Yes, fish," I returned, more excited
than he; "but what I'd like to know is
how we're going to get them"
Leave us alone for that" answered
the Captain. We've get to get them
Necessity, as they say is the mother of
invention. Let's see first if anybody
else has been here"
The floor of the tunnel and bank were
clayey, but there was no track or trace
of any human being.
"Those fellows can't get their fish
here or they'd leave some marks of it,"
said the Captain He fell to studying
the surface of the water and then went
on There is no forward current in
that water, but there is some sort of a
m0VaTnant f7,ly t. -, IL,
1t must either sink into full pit or
take a curve downward and come up to
the level beyond. either underground
again or in the Zumbro River. I think
from the river fish being here that this
Is where it gets into the river like big
spring"
do you think we could hit one of
them with stone?" I said, good deal
more interested in eating them than in
accounting for how they came to be
there.
I'VE might. but it would scare all
the others away, and you said you
wanted a dozen. Let's see If we can't
rig UP a spear I went on a whaler
once when 1 was about your age and
saw enough harpooning so I ought to
be able to land catfish that way"
He sat down, pulled off his boots and
from the tops cut three long leather
strings Then he whitfield the ends of
three Of the torch sticks so they fitted
together pretty neatly I thought. and
wound them tightly with the leather
strings making stout joints. With the
third string he bound the handle of his
knife to one end of this odd spear, leav-
ing the blade open, and then said:
''Now, off with your boots till I make
a line for my harpoon;" which did,
and he soon had dozen or fifteen feet
of leather string tied to the other end
of his spear.
We turned to the pool again, and
the fish crowded UP to make out the
meaning of our TORCH one fine plckerel
soon finding it to mean a dinner for
us, since the Captain harpooned him
as neatly as you please. He had to
make several trials before he got an
other, but did so at last, this time a
big catfish with his chin whskers
They both slipped off the knife when
struck and were near floating out of
reach. but the Captain stepped in the
water and pulled them in with the end
of his harpoon.
The next thing was ito get our fish
cooked, though was hungry enough to
have eaten them raw. We did not
want to go back near the fire If we
could help having fear that the out
laws might by this time be there: so