The Argosy, Vol. XXIV, No. 3 — page 48: what you’re looking at

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

432 A SECRET OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC, Their eyes involuntarily sought each other’s face. After the awful expe: rience of the night they could never be the same to each other. If Thorne had disapproved of Sydney before, he had forgotten it; and if she had be- lieved him narrow minded and dishonorable, she had seen her error. ‘Thorne caught his breath with a little gasp, and turned away. He could not say what was in his heart now. It would be taking an unfair advantage of her and would place her in a position hard indeed to bear. He'would wait. Sydney was eager to set out at once to find her father and theothers. But Thorne would not allow her to stir away from the cave until she had eaten heartily of the remaining can of soup. ‘‘ We will hide the rest of these provisions here,’’ he said. ‘ But why not take them with us? They will be a great addition to the supplies we brought in the cutter.’’ ‘“ We will see how things are, first,’’ he returned slowly. They might find Atwell and the other mutinous sailors in control at the castaways’ camp, and he knew that his scanty store of preserved food would be quickly disposed of by the reckless fellows, with no thought for her needs. The sun had risen by the time they set out. The strange land on which they had been cast» was revealed. As far as they could see on either hand the grayish cliffs rose unbroken, to a height of three or four hundred feet. Between the cliffs and the sea was a slightly sloping margin of shingle vary- ing from a few yards to thirty or forty rods in width. The base of the cliff was strewn with broken boulders which had fallen from the summit in some upheaval of nature. : Thorne examined the formation of the rock by daylight with interest. ‘Why, it is coral!’’ he said. ‘‘ These great cliffs are all the same.’’ ‘‘ But the coral insect only works below the sea level,’’ objected Sydney. ‘“ Very true ; but the fact remains that this was once a vast coral reef, built perhaps millions of years ago, and now upheaved by some submarine eruption. Jessop told me these unscalable cliffs surround the center of the island in an unbroken chain. It may have been one of those wonders of coral formation—an atoll. When. the floor of the ocean, on which it rested, was upheaved, this reef became a precipice.’’ They left the cave and walked back toward the inlet into which the cur- rent had swept them the night before. ‘Thorne was alert for bits of valuable wreckage, and often ran down and rescued a cask or chest from the surf. The tide was almost at its full, and it was possible to drag these articles above high water mark. The inlet was fully two cables’ length in breadth at the sea, but it rapidly narrowed and was less than a quarter of a mile in length. ‘The cliff skirted it quite closely. They saw that much of the débris from the wreck was being car- ried toward the head of the inlet by the current which set in from the sea. Their progress was slow, but at length they drew near the end of the now narrow strait. The current still looked strong, and instead of there being a footway around the head of the inlet, the water lapped against the foot of the cliff itself. In the center was a low opening, and in this mysteri- ous tunnel the water disappeared. Eomichbooks 3