Argosy, Volume XXIII — Index Page, 1897 — page 153: what you’re looking at

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

THE BUNKEL MYSTERY. 723 \ ‘‘T hadn’t the least idea of it,’’ replied Barkpool. ‘‘I know of three of them in Castle Hills; but I never heard of one on this island before.’ This was the first time that either of these accomplished young gentle- men had spoken to the other for two years, though they had been schoolmates most of the time. Each had avoided the other on principle, as it were, rather than because there was any real enmity between them. Certainly Dolph, who had been the first to speak, was not inclined to quarrel with his fellow prisoner under present circumstances. ‘Bear a hand now, Mr. Barkpool,’’ said Poddy, when Tom -had removed the trees from the front of the opening. ‘‘If this boat is the keyhole, we will pocket it in this hole in the rocks.”’ Tom was sent into the grotto, as it afterwards came to be called, and raised the end of the boat, while the others lifted and pushed the light structure into the opening. Then the keel was dropped on a line of boards, and the boat was slid to its resting place in the underground apartment. The grotto was not more than four feet high in the loftiest place. It was about twenty feet deep and from three to eight feet wide. The rocks were nearly as irregular as they were on the outside, and there was not much space to spare when the boat and the party were in it. A part of the bottom was of earth and a part of solid rock. Over a por- tion of it boards were laid down and leveled up with stones. This arrange- ment gave the occupants a dry floor, and the place did not look at all uncomfortable. | On one side a raised platform had been made with boards, covered with fine twigs, on which was a supply of blankets. This was the bed of the party. ‘There were a few cooking utensils and many articles of comfort to a camping out party. ‘‘T welcome you to your new dwelling place,’’ said Poddy, as soon as the prisoners had taken a look at the interior of the grotto. ‘‘I hope you will be happy and grow in wisdom and grace during your residence here.’’ ‘‘ Since we cannot help ourselves, we might as well try to be happy,”’ re- plied Dolph. ‘“ When I was a boy, and used to read stories about pirates and smug- glers, I thought a cave was the nicest place in the world to live in,’’ said Poddy, as he lighted a lantern which hung from a pole thrust into a crevice in the rocks. | ‘‘T think I like my room in my father’s house better than this place,”’ added Dolph, as he continued his examination of his surroundings. “Tam willing to confess that I prefer a room in a first class hotel to any cave I ever visited. But circumstances alter cases, and in the pursuit of my difficult and dangerous occupation, I am obliged to sacrifice comfort to busi- ness considerations, ’’ “And shall we have to live in this hole for three days ?’’ asked Phin, who had already made up his mind that he did not like cave life, though his imagination had been stimulated in that direction by some of his: reading. ‘Three days, three weeks, or three months ; not longer than the term Eomichbooks.co jar?)