The Argosy, Vol. XXV, No. 1 — page 182: what you’re looking at

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

182 THE BUNKEL MYSTERY. ~ I never did till we were brought here at about two o'clock this morn- ing. It is under this hill.’’ | Both Dolph and Phin looked about them anxiously at this point of the conversation, for they had been absent over an hour from the cave, and it was time for one of the robbers to be on the lookout for them. Andy was almost sure he heard a sound in the direction of the entrance to the grotto. But they could discover nothing either with the eye or the ear. Andy was burning with curiosity to hear more of the experience of the two young magnates; in fact, he thought it was necessary for him to know more before he reported to Leffwing, who stood at the head of the police force of Montoban. He conducted his companions to the shelf of rock by which he had landed. It was only wide enough for them to stand in single file; but there he listened to the whole narrative of the robbery. . They were not more than three feet ahove the water, and a northeasterly wind was blowing with considerable force, having greatly increased in vio- lence since Andy’s arrival. ‘The waves wet the trio as they stood on the shelf, and they could hear the tender, in its place of concealment, thumping against the rocks. Dolph decided that they could not cross the channel in the tender, and he and Phin decided to return to the cave so as not to excite suspicion. CHAPTER XXXI.—ANpDY SHELTERS HIMSELF FROM THE GALE. PHIN was the more timid of the two prisoners, though he had a fair share of pluck. He had heard, or thought he heard, noises which indicated the approach of one of their persecutors, and they made him nervous. If Poddy had thought they were absent too long, he was more likely to send Tom to see where they were than he was to go himself. If the hoodlum saw Andy Lamb with them he would be inclined to shoot some one, and the presence of a visitor might be a sufficient excuse for doing so in the estimation of the leader. But Phin thought that a good excuse would be little consolation after any one of the trio on the rocky shelf had been shot. He preferred to avoid the shooting, and his companions agreed with him. It was a thing understood from the beginning of the conference that Andy should convey the prisoners back to Montoban ; but when they looked at the lake, they all agreed that it was impracticable to do so in the tender. The little boat was quite as handsome as the sloop to which it belonged, but it was hardly big enough to hold more than two persons. It was long for its beam, and would upset upon the smallest provocation. It answered the purpose for which Dolph used it when the lake was reasonably smooth. In the present rough condition of the water, it would simply have been suicide to attempt to cross the channel in so small a boat. All three of them agreed on this point. It was necessary, therefore, for the prisoners to report at the grotto. a Andy could not arrange any plan with them, for he was not willing even ((0) Eomicbooks