in. They would see us against the light, while
we should be able to make out nothing."

"Surrender in there!" Captain O'Connor shouted. "You can't get away;
and I promise you all a fair trial."

His summons was followed by a taunting laugh; and a moment later there
was a sharp sound within, and a rifle bullet struck the side of the
entrance and flew out.

"It would be throwing away one's life to go in there," Captain
O'Connor said. "At any rate we have got them secure, and they must
come out in time. But it would be madness to crawl in there on one's
hands and feet to be picked off by those scoundrels at their ease.
Now, lads, two of you stand by this entrance. Keep out of the line of
fire, and be ready with your bayonets to run any one through who comes
out. Let the rest scatter and search round this place. They may have
another entrance. If so, we must find it. In the first place, it may
be easier of entry; in the second they might escape from it after
dark."

Again the search began.

"Do you think it is likely to be higher up or lower down, O'Connor?"
Lieutenant Desmond asked.

"There is no saying, Desmond; the passage seems to go straight in. I
should fancy above rather than below."

For a long time they searched without success; then Ralph, who had
gone higher up the rocks than the rest, came upon a clump of low
bushes growing between some large bowlders. There was nothing
suspicious about them, and he was just turning away when he perceived
a slight odor of peat smoke.

Silently he made his way down to the captain.

"I have found another entrance," he said. "At any rate I think so; for
I certainly smelled smoke. If we go quietly we may take them
unawares."

Captain O'Connor passed the word along for the men to gather silently,
and Ralph then led the way up to the clump of bushes.

"Yes, I can smell the peat plainly enough. Now, Conway, do you search
among the bushes. Carefully, lad, we don't know what the place is
like."

Cautiously Ralph pushed the bushes aside. He saw at once that these
had been carefully trained to cover a large hole. This was about three
feet wide; and descended at a sharp angle, forming a sloping passage
of sufficient height for a man to stand upright. Captain O'Connor
knelt down and looked in.

"This looks more possible," he said; "but it's very steep. I should
say it is not used by them, but acts as a sort of chimney to ventilate
the cavern and let the smoke out. At any r