friend, and traced him by his
footprints into a cave.

He called aloud, but received no answer. The cave seemed to be a vast
one, and he had to feel his way in the dark with his rifle, for fear of
falling down some hole.

As he could hear nothing, he thought poor Veevee must be dead, and slowly
and sadly turned back.

His foot kicked against something hard when he was near to the entrance,
and, stooping down, he picked up what seemed to be a piece of white
stone, and put it into the pocket of his jacket.

When he got back home at last, poor Pansy cried very much indeed at the
loss of her pet. But when, next morning, she found him curled up at her
feet, she thought it must have been all a dream.

How the dog got back was never known, but it is possible he had been
wandering all night in that cavern, deep down in the earth, and come out
at the lake side of the range of hills.

* * * * *

It was quite a month before Tom crossed the hills again. By this time
spring had already come back to Fairy Island. The buds were all out on
the trees, and the green leaves on a thousand bushes. Wild flowers were
everywhere. The birds, too, had returned, and the sea-gulls had taken up
their abode on a great patch of level ground just on the other side of
the lake. When anyone went near to their nests, which were in thousands,
and so close together that it was difficult to thread one's way through
them, the noise and screaming they made was deafening.

Now I don't think that Tom and Frank were cruel, but they had to live,
and those great green-speckled eggs made a splendid addition to the
larder, so that, what with sunshine and better food, the girls soon got
back all the colour they had lost during the long, long night of winter.

But where was the _Valhalla_ and her crew all this time? Would they
never, never come?

The Crusoes lived in hope.

Now in spring-time the foxes and bears of the north, that have slept or
starved for months, become bold and dangerous through hunger. Bears are
always to be feared, but more so at this time of the year than any other.

[Illustration]

One day the prisoners of Fairy Island had been gayer than usual, but at
last, tired and happy, they had lain down to rest. It might have been
about midnight when they were awakened by a warning growl from Briton.
Then, with Veevee, he sprang up and rushed to the gate barking furiously.

Tom sprang to his feet, and snatc