"I'll bring you some apples next time I come, and p'r'aps then you'll
have a game at cards."

There was no reply, so Ram slowly shut the door of the lanthorn, turning
the bright light to a soft yellowish glow, and rising to his knees.

"Do let me stop and have a game."

"Let me stop and talk to you, then."

There was no reply to either proposal, and just then there came a
hoarse--

"Ram ahoy!"

"A-hoy!" cried the lad. "I must go now. That's Jemmy Dadd shouting for
me."

Archy made no reply, and the boy rose, set down the basket beside where
he had been kneeling, and stood gazing down at the prisoner.

"Like some 'bacco to chew?" he said. Then, as there was no answer, he
went slowly away, with the prisoner watching the dull glow of the
lanthorn till it disappeared behind the great pillars, there was a faint
suggestion of light farther on, then darkness again, the dull echoing
bang of the heavy trap-door and rattle of the thin slabs of stone which
seemed to be thrown over it to act as a cover or screen, and then once
again the silence and utter darkness which sat upon the prisoner like
lead.

He uttered a low groan.

"Am I never to see the bright sun and the sparkling sea again?" he said
sadly. "I never used to think they were half so beautiful as they are,
till I was shut up in this horrible hole. Oh, if I could only get
away!"

He started up now, and began to walk up and down over a space clear of
loose stones, which he seemed to know now by instinct, but he stopped
short directly.

"If that young ruffian saw me, he'd say I was like a wild beast in a
cage. He'd call me a monkey again, as he did before. Oh, I wish I had
him here!"

The intention was for the administration of punishment, but just then
Archy kicked against the basket, and that completely changed the current
of his thoughts.

"The beggar wants to be civil," he said. "He is civil. It was kind of
him to bring the things to amuse me, and better food. Wants to be
friends! But who's going to be friends with a scoundrel like that? I
don't want his rubbish--only to be able to keep strong and well, so as
to escape first chance."

"Likes me, does he?" muttered the midshipman, after a pause. "I should
think he does. Such impudence! Friends indeed! Oh, it's
insufferable!"

Archy's words were very bitter, but, somehow, all the time he kept
thinking about their adventure, and the lad's bravery, and then about
his having saved hi