ested Minnie,
"who are fond of exploring, like you and me."

"Mayhap it is, but we shall soon see, for here they come. We must keep
out of sight, my girl."

Ruby rose and led Minnie into the recesses of the cavern, where they
were speedily shrouded in profound darkness, and could not be seen by
anyone, although they themselves could observe all that occurred in the
space in front of them.

The boat, which had entered the cavern by its seaward mouth, was a small
one, manned by two fishermen, who were silent as they rowed under the
arched roof; but it was evident that their silence did not proceed from
caution, for they made no effort to prevent or check the noise of the
oars.

In a few seconds the keel grated on the pebbles, and one of the men
leaped out.

"Noo, Davy," he said, in a voice that sounded deep and hollow under that
vaulted roof, "oot wi' the kegs. Haste ye, man."

"'Tis Big Swankie," whispered Ruby.

"There's nae hurry," objected the other fisherman, who, we need scarcely
inform the reader, was our friend, Davy Spink.

"Nae hurry!" repeated his comrade angrily. "That's aye yer cry. Half
o' oor ventures hae failed because ye object to hurry."

"Hoot, man! that's enough o't," said Spink, in the nettled tone of a man
who has been a good deal worried. Indeed, the tones of both showed that
these few sentences were but the continuation of a quarrel which had
begun elsewhere.

"It's plain to me that we must pairt, freen'," said Swankie in a dogged
manner, as he lifted a keg out of the boat and placed it on the ground.

"Ay," exclaimed Spink, with something of a sneer, "an' d'ye think I'll
pairt without a diveesion o' the siller tea-pots and things that ye
daurna sell for fear o' bein' fund out?"

"I wonder ye dinna claim half o' the jewels and things as weel,"
retorted Swankie; "ye hae mair right to _them_, seein' ye had a hand in
findin' them."

"_Me_ a hand in findin' them," exclaimed Spink, with sudden indignation.
"Was it _me_ that fand the deed body o' the auld man on the Bell Rock?
Na, na, freend. I hae naething to do wi' deed men's jewels."

"Have ye no?" retorted the other. "It's strange, then, that ye should
entertain such sma' objections to deed men's siller."

"Weel-a-weel, Swankie, the less we say on thae matters the better.
Here, tak' haud o' the tither keg."

The conversation ceased at this stage abruptly. Evidently each had
touched on the other's weak point, so both tacit