ason of his noise. It proved to be very satisfactory,
for while we were in the cave the Orofenans had brought absolutely
everything belonging to us, together with a large supply of food from
the main island. Not a single article was missing; even our books, a can
with the bottom out, and the broken pieces of a little pocket mirror
had been religiously transported, and with these a few articles that had
been stolen from us, notably my pocket-knife. Evidently a great taboo
had been laid upon all our possessions. They were now carefully arranged
in one of the grooves of the rock that Bickley supposed had been made by
the wheels of aeroplanes, which was why we had not seen them at once.

Each of us rushed for what we desired most--Bastin for one of the
canisters of tea, I for my diaries, and Bickley for his chest of
instruments and medicines. These were removed to the mouth of the cave,
and after them the other things and the food; also a bell tent and some
camp furniture that we had brought from the ship. Then Bastin made some
tea of which he drank four large pannikins, having first said grace over
it with unwonted fervour. Nor did we disdain our share of the beverage,
although Bickley preferred cocoa and I coffee. Cocoa and coffee we had
no time to make then, and in view of that sepulchre in the cave, what
had we to do with cocoa and coffee?

So Bickley and I said to each other, and yet presently he changed his
mind and in a special metal machine carefully made some extremely strong
black coffee which he poured into a thermos flask, previously warmed
with hot water, adding thereto about a claret glass of brandy. Also he
extracted certain drugs from his medicine-chest, and with them, as I
noted, a hypodermic syringe, which he first boiled in a kettle and then
shut up in a little tube with a glass stopper.

These preparations finished, he called to Tommy to give him the scraps
of our meal. But there was no Tommy. The dog was missing, and though we
hunted everywhere we could not find him. Finally we concluded that he
had wandered off down the beach on business of his own and would return
in due course. We could not bother about Tommy just then.

After making some further preparations and fidgeting about a little,
Bickley announced that as we had now some proper paraffin lamps of the
powerful sort which are known as "hurricane," he proposed by their aid
to carry out further examinations in the cave.

"I think I shall stop