"Come here; directly below where we found the first skeleton; keep the
light back in the recess; there; now look to the left and see that small
streak of light about ten feet from the floor."

George could restrain himself no longer, but rushed forward. As he
crossed a slightly elevated obstruction, his foot caught on a spur and
he pitched forward. Harry, who was following, saw him fall. George,
slightly stunned, had raised himself partly as Harry came up. When Harry
saw him he was arising from a nest of bones which showed the remains of
two more pirates, the two skulls lying close together, directly behind
the little ridge over which George had fallen.

"Here are some more of them," cried Harry, as the Professor came up.
"What a fight they must have had!"

The outlet at this point was fully eight feet wide, and without the
lights it was still too dark to distinguish anything. George's light had
been extinguished in the fall, but Harry's lamp was still available, and
all were eager now to find the outlet. Harry now led the way, and within
seventy-five feet, at a pronounced angle in the throat of the cave, he
recognized the first real glimmer of sunlight.

"See the steps here!" was his cry. And beyond, as plainly formed as
though cut a year ago, instead of a century, were steps leading up to a
contracted opening, partly hidden by shrubbery.

When Harry emerged from the opening, the first sight that met his gaze,
after he had fully recovered the use of his eyes, was their home, not a
thousand feet away. George brushed his way out, and he stood there, not
knowing whether to run or to shout or to cry. Every emotion appealed to
the boys for mastery. All previous experiences during the past year
paled into insignificance in comparison with the hour just spent in the
pirates' lair.

The opening from which they left the cavern was on the side of a hill,
not particularly steep, formed by projecting strata of limestone, in the
clefts of which vegetation grew, and at a distance the rocks could be
seen only at intervals on account of the shrubbery. No one could
possibly suspect an opening into the walls anywhere along the hillside.
The outlet was not more than twenty feet from the rather level ground,
which sloped off toward the west and in the direction of Cataract River.

They sat there silently for a time, but evidently the Professor was not
disposed to allow too much time for reflections which he knew must be
gloomy to t