people have more in them than they make a show of,' she said.
'Perhaps you don't understand that kind of thing, though.'

Harry did not chance to have a reply ready, but he observed to Reggie
afterwards that it was a pity Marjorie seemed to be a quick-tempered
kind of a girl.

'Here we are,' said Allan, pausing beneath a great overhanging archway,
and speaking loudly so as to be heard above the din; for the waves and
the clamouring of the birds made a noise which was almost deafening.

'Can we go in?' asked Gerald.

'Of course we can. There's no danger except in a westerly gale. It's
dark after you get in a little way.'

The young people scrambled and slipped over the sea-weed at the mouth
of the cave, and presently found themselves standing on a floor of
light-coloured sand, strewn with shells and sea-drift. The sides of
the cave were black and shiny with wet, and water dripped slowly from
the roof.

'Is this where the smugglers used to come?' asked Gerald in an awed
tone.

'Yes,' replied Allan; 'the schooners used to sail under the rocks on
moonlight nights when the tide was high, and the cargo was stored in
the caves until the people came secretly to take it away. It was very
dangerous work sometimes, for if a storm comes from the west the caves
are often flooded.'

The light which glimmered under the archway did not penetrate far, and
the young people were soon in total darkness. The air was damp and
chilly. Strange draughts crossed each other from unexpected quarters,
and the water dripping from overhead, awoke weird echoes which seemed
to be repeated among far-reaching clefts and passages.

'Strike a light, Hamish,' said Allan, 'and let them see what kind of a
place they're in.'

The match spluttered and blazed, revealing dark rocks gleaming with wet
and the black openings to what appeared to be a series of underground
passages branching off from the main one.

'The caves are all connected with one another,' explained Allan, 'and
have separate openings to the sea. Light up again, Hamish; strike two
this time, and they'll get a better idea.'

Again there was a splutter, and the flare revealed strange shifting
shadows among the rocks, and a circle of faces that looked unnaturally
white in the surrounding darkness.

Reggie's eyes were the sharpest.

'Hullo!' he exclaimed, 'there's something in that passage. What can it
be?'

All crowded to examine the mysterious object, and the light flic