Black Bess; or, the Knight of the Road — page 296: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

BLACK BESS; OBR, cealment, and stepped forward as well as they could judge in the direction of the opening into the cave. “Tt must be somewhere near here,” said Jack, as he paused and bent down towards the ground, “ Yet I can- not see anything of it.” ‘“‘Depend upon it, we shall have to get a light.” “Then we must be cautious in its use. Remember the light of a lantern betrayed these men to us.” ‘Tt will be easy to be as careful as they were.” With these words, Claude produced a smal lantern which he invariably carried. It was quickly ignited by means of s phosphorous match. The lantern: was provided with a condensing lens of excellent quality, and the beam of light that came from it, though small, was very brilliant. Claude turned it so that the light fell upon the green- sward, of which he was thus enabled to make an accurate examipation. But nothiag whatever resembling the entrance to a cavern met his view. ““Tf I did not know for certain that it was somewhere close here,” he said, at length, “I should begin to grow coubtful.” ‘So should I.” The search was continued for some moments longer, but with no better result. ‘‘ The entrance is indeed well hidden !” exclaimed Jack, in atone of mingled vexation and admiration. ‘ Where on earth can it be ?” “T don’t know, aid Claude. ‘'Let us sit down here for a moment, and look carefully all around.” He pointed, while speaking, to the stump of a huge old tree, which projected some little distance above the ground. There were several stumps scattered about the open space, which served to show that the clearing was an artificial one, but this was the largest of all, since it allowed the two highwaymen room to sit side by side. There was a silence of a few seconds, and ta na Fixteen- String Jack observed t ‘Claude, I feel certain we are as nearly as possible on the very spot where those men stood.” ? ‘t80am I,” was the unexpected reply; ‘‘and what is more, I believe we are at this moment much nearer the secret entrance than we have been.” ‘What do you mean ?”’ “Why,” said Claude, rising to his feet again, “it is my oelief we have been sitting upon it.” Sixteen-String Jack sprang quickly to his feet, for this was an idea which had not occurred to him. “Why do you think so?” Le asked. looks as natural as the rest ” ‘‘ Well, we shall soon see,” said Claude, kneeling down and making a rigid examination of it. But he saw nothing. He tried to move or shake the mass of wood, but in vain. But he was not to be bafiled very easily... Allat once, Sixteen-String Jack uttered a low cry of gratification. ‘* Have you found the secret ?” “T have. Look here!” Just as he spoke, he pushed against the stump hori- zontally, and the result was that the upper portion slid quite away, turning freely on a kind of pivot at one side. The reason the highwaymen had not made this dis- covery sooner was because they had been looking fora secret spring or fastening of some kind, whereas, the entrance had been left quite unguarded. “ That’s very odd,” said Claude, remarking it; “ but I suppose they had no means of fastening it outside.” ‘*No; depend uponit that is the reason. OJd Robia, as they called him, was always left in charge.” The dim, misty light again rose into the air, and tpon looking down, the highwaymen perceived that it pro- pecded fror an @il lamp that was hung many feet below erm. The construction of this covering to the cavern, though 60 simple, was admirably planned. The upper portion of the stump of the old tree had been carefully sawed off, then the remaining or lewer nat next the ground had been as carefylly hollowed out. “The stump As we have said, the upper part had then been fitted on and secured in its place by a pivot at one side, which allowed it to turn freely. The aperture at the top was not much larger than would suffice for the passage of a man’s body ; but a little way down the width materially increased. Some rudely-cut steps were discernible. “Here we are,” said Jack, after they had both peered down for some time in silence. ‘Tt neeme quiet enough.” ‘‘ As the grave. ‘“‘ Let us descend, then.* “ With all my heart.” “ Will you go first ?” “Yes, if you like.” Jack nimbly descended. Claude followed with the lantern. ‘Wait a moment,” the latter said; “ perhaps there may be some kind of inner fastening; if so, the best thing we can do is to make use of it.” . “Certainly.” “ Just hold the light, then.” Claude was glad he thought of taking this precaution, for, upon examination, he found that there was a very strong fastening indeed, consisting of a hasp and staple, into which fitted an iron pin. ‘‘ There,” said Claude, in a tone of very great satisfac- tion, ‘‘I shall feel. much better contented, I can assure you, for [feel certain that no one can make a sudden entrance upon us. We shall have timely warning if any- one attempts to gain admittance.” “Very good,” said Jack, as he cautiously descended the rude flight of steps; “but I rather think before any of that crew returns we shall be many a mile away.” Just as he spoke these words, he reached the bottom of the steps, and having done so, he paused to look about him at the strange place in which he found himself. The oil lamp was a very primitive affair, and was sus- pended by sseans of an iron chain. The u2s vs this lamp was obvious. It was piaced there in order that the difficult descent of the steps might be made in safety. Leading from the bottom step, and sloping downwards, was a kind of passage, the extremity oe which was covered over with some dark substance. Advancing, the highwaymen found this to be a kind of curtain. As it hung there, it served the purpose of a door. Drawing this aside, they saw before them an under ground chamber, which, from the regularity of its form and the manner in which it was shored up with wooden supports, was evidently the work of human hands. A stifling kind of heat was in this place, arising doubt- less, in part, from defective ventilation, and partly from a smouldering, half-extinguished fire. This chamber, if so we may term it, was furnished with a rude kind of table and several blocks of wood, which did duty for chairs. On this table stood bottles and glasses, presenting an aspect of great disordey. It seemed as though some merry-making had recently been going on. The floor of the cavern was littered all over with objects of every description—articles by far too varied and numerous to allow of recapitulation. “A strange place,” was Jack’s remark, after a silence of some minutes, during which they had been engaged in gazing upon the various objects to which we have adverted. “Very,” said Claude. ‘ Yet there can be no doubt as to the profession of these men.” ‘* Robbers ?” “Most certainly, and, I will warrant, of the worst sort, accompanying all they do with deeds of ruthless, needless violence. ‘What makes you think so ?” “ ‘The aspect of this place, and the fact that so many are banded together. They are arrant cowards, every one of them, I’ll warrant.” ‘Let us come a little closer and make a better examina- tion. I am inclined, however, to think you are quite right.” ‘*T am sure of it.” The highwaymen now advanced into the cavern; but Eomicboo ‘S.CO