, 1916-11-23

~
1.-THE moon, by o~eo-sel" cried Lord
John.
Seventeen from the right and second
from the left This is the cave. sure
enough"
l looked at the mark to which his
finger pointed, and l gave a sudden
cry of joy.
81 believe have It'll Follow me. fol
low mel"
/ hurried back along the way we had
come, my torch in my hand. Here"
said l, pointing to some matches upon
the ground, lis where we lit up"
Exactly"
well it is marked as a forked cave,
and in the darkness we passed the fork
before the torches were lit. On the
/ right side as we go out we should find
the longer arm"
1t was as | had said. We had not
gone thirty yards before a great black
opening doomed in the wall. We turn
ed into 1t to n that we were in a
much larger passage than before. Along
II WI hurried in breathless ~impatience
for many hundreds of yards. Then
suddenly. In the black darkness of the
arch in front of us, we say a CLEAN of
dark red light We stared in amaze
ment. A sheet of steady fame seemed
to cross the passage and to bar our
way. We FASTENED toward It. No
sound. no heat, no movement came
from 1t, but still the great luminous
curtain glowed before us, silvering all
the ave and turning the sane to pow
dered jewels, until as we drew closer
1t discovered a circular edge.
1.-THE moon, by George!' cried Lord
John. 1--WE are through, boysi We are
through
1t wa indeed the full moon which
shone straight down the aperture which
opened upon the cliffs. 1t was a small
rift, not larger than a window, but ii
was enough for all our purposes. As
We crane u necks through It we
could see that the descent was not a
very difficult one and that the level
ground was no very great way below
U.S. 1t was no wonder that from below
We had not observed the place. as the
cliffs curved overhead and an ascent
at the spot would have seemed so i'm
possible as to discourage close inspec-
don. We satisfied ourselves that with
the help of our rope we could find our
way down, n then returned. rejoic
ing, to our camp to make our prepare
tons for the next evening.
What we did we had to do quickly
and secretly. since even at this last
hour the Indians might hold us back
Our stores we would leave behind us
save only our guns and cartridges. But
Challenger had some unwieldy stuff
which he ardently desired to take with
him. and one particular package, of
which ] may not speak, which gave us
more labor than any. Slowly the day
passed, but when the darkness fell we
were ready for our departure. With
much b we got u things up the
steps and then, looking back. took one
last, long survey of hat strange land.
soon, l fear, to be ~vulgarized, the prey
OF hunter and prospector, but to each
on us a dreamland of glamor and rO
nance, a land where we had dared
much, suffered much and learned
much-our land, us we shall ever fond.
ly' call 1t. Along upon our left the
neighboring caves each threw out its
rudy. CHEEKY freight into the gloom.
From the slope below us rose the
voices of the Indians as they laughed
ind sang. Beyond was the long sweer
Of the woods, and III the center, SHIN
mering vaguely through the gloom.
was the great lake, the mother of
strange monsters. Even as we looked
a high whlckering cry. the call of
some weird animal, rang clear out OF
the darkness, 1t was the very voice of
Maple White Land bidding us gOodby.
We turned and plunged into the cave
which led to home.
Two hours later we, our packages
and all we owned were at the foot of
the cliff. Save for Challenger's lug
gage we had never a difficulty. Leav-
ing 1t all where we descended. we
started at once for Zambo's camp. In
the early morning We approached 1t,
but only to find. to u Rmazement, not
one fire, but a dozen upon the plain. The
Rescue party had arrived. There were
twenty Indians from the river, with
stakes, ropes and all that could be