lace where there's precious little chance of
your being found, except by them who, at a word from me, would take
care not to see you; but there's equal chance, if you stay here till a
gale should happen to spring up, that you'll be missing till the day of
judgment."

The truth of this assertion seemed to shock the group of listeners into
a momentary silence. To myself the danger of our present position
became at once evident, and a sense of fear chilled my heart as I
listened to the lapping of the water and thought of what must be our
fate if the slumbering sea awoke in fury, and the huge billows
thundered through the mouth of the cave. There was little doubt but
that in a storm the ledge on which we rested would be swept clean with
the surges, and any living being seeking refuge there would soon be
drawn into the surf and dashed to pieces against the sides of the
cavern.

"What d'you propose to do, then?" inquired Rodwood.

"It's no use to stir abroad in daylight," answered Lewis; "we must wait
here till to-morrow night. Then I thought I'd go alone into
Rockymouth, and try and get a word with them as will help us. They'll
say how soon there's a chance of our getting across the water. I'll
bring back some more food; and if I see any sign of bad weather, why,
we must get out of this, and find some snug hole among the bushes on
the cliffs. Maybe during to-morrow all that ground will be searched,
and folks won't trouble to look there again."

For a few seconds the leader of the gang remained thinking, with his
chin resting on his hand; then I saw him raise his head and dart a
quick glance at Lewis.

"See here!" he exclaimed; "how are we to know that when you once get
among your friends you'll ever come back again? I don't suppose
there's a man among us who can swim; and if the fact of our being left
behind should happen to slip your memory, here we should remain, like
rats in a drain-pipe, to either starve or drown."

"When my word's given I don't go back on it," replied Lewis. "If you
doubt me, you can send a man along with me in the boat."

"There, there, my friend! don't get angry," replied Rodwood with a
laugh. "You've served us well in the past, and there's no reason to
doubt you in the future; but when a man has knocked about the world as
much as I have; he gets to look at a thing from more than one point of
view."

Overcome at length by the fatigues and excitements of the day, and
rendered still