ease, to find
himself in the mouth of what looked like a cave, the dimensions of
which, however, it was not possible to ascertain, for within a couple of
yards of the entrance he found himself in darkness. But he saw enough
to stimulate his curiosity and determine him to see more; and with this
object he descended to the plain and, hunting about among the bushes,
soon secured a sufficiency of dry twigs and branches to serve as
torches. With these and a bit of dry moss he returned to the aperture
in the face of the cliff, where, before entering, he ignited the moss
with the aid of a powerful burning-glass which he habitually carried
about in his pocket, and then, blowing the moss into flame, kindled one
of his torches.

At first sight the cave appeared to be of very circumscribed dimensions,
being only just high enough for Dick to stand upright in it, while he
could touch both its sides at the same moment with his outstretched
hands. But it extended back toward the heart of the cliff, and as the
lad cautiously groped his way inward the crack gradually widened until
at length he found himself traversing a spacious tunnel, piercing
steadily deeper and deeper into the heart of the cliff. Determined now
to see the full extent of the cave, and beginning to wonder whether
perchance it pierced right through the rock, Dick pushed steadily on,
oblivious of the fact that his stock of torches was rapidly diminishing;
and when at length this fact was forced upon his attention by the
necessity to kindle the last torch, it was far too late for him to think
of returning, and feeling by this time convinced that there must surely
be another outlet at no great distance, he set his teeth and pushed on,
hoping to reach that other outlet before his last torch should be
consumed. But the hope was vain, for in less than ten minutes Dick
found himself in profound darkness, with still no indication of any
other outlet than that by which he had entered.

Thus far the lad had gone without any difficulty; the tunnel-like
passage which he had traversed for a distance of, as he estimated,
nearly a mile, had been without pitfalls or complications of any kind,
and he believed it would be possible for him to return by the way he had
come without difficulty, even in the dark. He halted to consider the
matter, debating within himself whether he should risk everything by
pushing on, or whether he should go groping his way back over that long
stretc