g pale, "leave me; I
don't believe they'll think it worth while to kill me. Go, you and
Ralph, and dive into the cave."

"That will not I," answered Jack quietly, while he picked up a stout
cudgel from the ground. "So now, Ralph, we must prepare to meet these
fellows. Their motto is, 'No quarter.' If we can manage to floor those
coming in this direction, we may escape into the woods for a while."

"There are five of them," said I; "we have no chance."

"Come, then," cried Peterkin, starting up, and grasping Jack convulsively
by the arm, "let us dive; I will go."

Those who are not naturally expert in the water know well the feelings of
horror that overwhelm them, when in it, at the bare idea of being held
down, even for a few seconds,--that spasmodic, involuntary recoil from
compulsory immersion which has no connection whatever with cowardice; and
they will understand the amount of resolution that it required in
Peterkin to allow himself to be dragged down to a depth of ten feet, and
then, through a narrow tunnel, into an almost pitch-dark cavern. But
there was no alternative. The pirates had already caught sight of us,
and were now within a short distance of the rocks.

Jack and I seized Peterkin by the arms.

"Now, keep quite still, no struggling," said Jack, "or we are lost."

Peterkin made no reply, but the stern gravity of his marble features, and
the tension of his muscles, satisfied us that he had fully made up his
mind to go through with it. Just as the pirates gained the foot of the
rocks, which hid us for a moment from their view, we bent over the sea,
and plunged down together head foremost. Peterkin behaved like a hero.
He floated passively between us like a log of wood, and we passed the
tunnel and rose into the cave in a shorter space of time than I had ever
done it before.

Peterkin drew a long, deep breath on reaching the surface; and in a few
seconds we were all standing on the ledge of rock in safety. Jack now
searched for the tinder and torch, which always lay in the cave. He soon
found them, and, lighting the torch, revealed to Peterkin's wondering
gaze the marvels of the place. But we were too wet to waste much time in
looking about us. Our first care was to take off our clothes, and wring
them as dry as we could. This done, we proceeded to examine into the
state of our larder, for, as Jack truly remarked, there was no knowing
how long the pirates might remain on the island.