Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1908-02-15

L he udy WIS GRILL. 30 we Nehiuiet
in At first / thought it merely a
gorge in the rock, but even while peer
ing for the end wall we slipped under
the archway and found ourselves in a
vast room.
Our eyes were daZZled so we could
make out little at first. But through
| the still. clear water the light filtered
freely from below, showing the bottom
as through a sea glass. We saw the
| fish near the entrance and coral and
sea growths of marvellous vividness.
They waved slowly as in n draft of air.
The medium in which they floated was
absolutely invisible. for OF course
there were no reflections from its sur
face. We seemed to be suspended In
midair, and only when the dipping
oars made rings could we realize that
| anything sustained US.
| Suddenly the place let loose in pan
demonium. The most fiendish cries.
groans. shrieks broke out, confusing
themselves so thoroughly with their
own echoes that the volume of sound
was continuous Heavy splashes shook
the water. The boat rocked. The in
visible surface was broken into facets.
We shrank, terrified. From all about
| us glowed hundreds of eyes like Goals
of fire-on level with us. above us,
almost over our heads. Two by two
| the Goals were extinguished.
Below us the bottom was Clouded
with black figures darling rapidly like
| 4 school of minnows beneath boat.
| They darkened the coral and the sands
| and the glistening sea growths, only
| the occultations and brfghtenings sue
ceeded each other much more swiftly.
We stared stupefed, our thinkin.
| power blurred by the incessant whirl
of motion and noise.
Suddenly Thrackles laughed aloud
"Seals!" he shouted through his
| trumpeted hands.
Our eyes were expanding to the twi
| light. We could make out the arch OF
J the room, its shelves and hollows and
inches. Lying on them we could dis
Germ the seals, hundreds and hundreds
| of them, all staring at us. all barking
and believing. AS we approached they
scrambled from their elevations and
|
entrance of the cave.
| We lay on our oars for ten minutes
| Then silence fell. There persisted Il
tiny drip. drip drip, from some point III
the darkness. 1t merely accumulated
| the hush. Suddenly from far in the
| interior of the hill there came a long
| hollow boo-o-om! 1t reverberated, roar
| ing. The surge that had lifted our
boat some minutes before thus reached
! its journeys end.
The chamber was very lofty. As VIC
rowed cautiously in it lost nothing OF
! its height. but something in width. II
| was marvelously colOred, like all the
volcanic rocks of this island. In addi
ton some chemical drip had thrown
across its vividness long gauzy stream
| ers of white. We rowed in as far as
the faintest daylight lasted us. The
occasional reverberating boom of the
surges seemed as distant as ever.
This was beyond the seal rookery on
| the beach. Below it we entered an
open cleft of some size to anothc;
| squarer cave. 1t was now high tide
| The water extended Il Scant ten faith
Oms to end Oh an interior shale beach
The cave was perfectly straight pas
| sage following the line of the cleft.
How far in it reached we could not
determine, for it, too. was full of seals.
and after we had driven them back &
hundred feet or SO their fiery eyes
scared us out. We did not care to put
them at bay.
The next day l rowed out to the
Laughing Lass and got Il rifle.
found the captain asleep in his bunk
and did not disturb him. Perdosa and
|, with infinite pains, tracked and
stalked the sheep. of which L killed
one. We found the mutton excellent.
The hunting was difficult and the
quarry as time went on more and more
suspicious, but henceforward. we did
not lack for fresh meat. Further
more, we soon discovered that fine
trolling was to be had outside tht
reef. We rugged a sail for the extra
dory and spent much of our time al
the sport. l do not know the names
of the fish. They were very gamy.
indeed, and ran, from five to an indie
terminate number of pounds in weight
Above fifty pounds our light tackle
parted, so we had no means of know
ing how large they may have been.
Thus we spent very pleasantly the
greater part Of two weeks. At the end
of that time made up my mind that
it would be just as well to get back
to business. Accordingly l called Per
dosa and directed him to sort and clear
of rust the salvaged chain cable He
refused fatty. / took a step toward
him. He, drew his knife and backed
away
"Perdosa," said / firmly, put VI
that knife
NO" said he.
l pulled the saw barreled Colts a.
and raised it slowly to level with
his breast
"Perdosa," 1 repeated, drop that
knife"
The crisis had come, but my resolu
ton was fully prepared for it.
should not have cared greatly if ha(