The Delta independent., 1916-08-04

1.-THE moon. by Georse!" 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 gave a sudden
cry OF joy.
Il believe have 1t! Follow me. fol-
low me"'
l hurried back along the way we had
come, my torch in my hand. Here"
said I. pointing to some matches upon
the ground. 'is where we lit up"
Exactly"
We'll. it is marked ms 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 n great black
opening loomed in the wall. We turn
ed into 1t to find that we were In
much larger passage than before. Along
it we hurried in breathless impatience
for many hundreds of yards. Then
suddenly. In the black darkness OF the
arch In front Of us, we saw a gleam OF
dark red light We stared in amaze
ment. A sheet of steady flame seemed
to cross the passage and to bar our
way. We hastened toward 1t. No
sound. no heat. no movement came
from 1t, but still the great luminous
curtain glowed before us. silvering all
the cave and turning the sand to pow
dered jewels. until as we drew closer
II discovered circular edge.
The moon. by Georget' cried Lord
John. Eve are through. boys! We are
through
1t was indeed the full moon which
shone straight down the aperture which
opened upon the cliffs. 1t was n small
rift. not larger than window, but It
was enough for all our purposes. As
we craned our necks through 1t We
could see that the descent was not n
very difficult one and that the level
ground was no very great way below
US. 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-
ton. We satisfied ourselves that with
the help of our rope we could find our
way down, and then returned, rejoic.
Ing, to our camp to make our prepara-
tons for the next evening.
What we did we had to do quickly
and secretly, since even Mt 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 stun
which he ardently desired to take with
him. and one particular package, of
which l 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 labor we got our things up the
steps and then. looking back. took one
last, long survey OF that strange land,
soon. fear. to be vulgarized, the prey
Of hunter and prospector. but to each
of us II dreamland OF glamor and ro-
nance. land where we had dared
much, suffered much and learned
much-our land, as we shall ever fond
ly call 1t. Along upon our left the
neighboring caves each threw out Its
ruddy. CHEEKY freight Into the gloom.
From the slope below us rose the
voices Of the Indians as they laughed
and sang. Beyond was the long sweep
of the woods. and In the center. SHIN
mering vaguely through the gloom,
was the great lake. the mother of
strange monsters. Even as we looked
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 mt the foot Of
the cliff. Save for Challenger's lug
gage we had never difficulty. I.eav-
ing It all where we descended, we
started at once for Zambos camp. In
the early morning We approached It,
but only to find. to our amazement, not
one fire. but dozen upon the plain. The
rescue party had arrived. There were
twenty Indians from the river, with
stnkes. ropes and all that could b
ITO be continued)