in the open air.

"Now we are comparatively safe," said Lance as they walked rapidly down
the ravine. "What I chiefly feared was one of those earthquake shocks
such as sometimes precede a volcanic eruption. A comparatively
insignificant one might have proved sufficient to cause the walls of the
cavern to collapse and bury us. Of course the ladies must be cautioned
not to venture near the place again; but I think perhaps it will be
better not to tell them why. It will only alarm them--perhaps
unnecessarily--and keep them on the tiptoe of nervous anxious
expectancy. The better plan will be to say that we consider we have now
as much gold as we think it probable we shall be able to take away.
Don't you think so, Staunton?"

"Assuredly I do," answered the skipper emphatically. "Why, I would not
allow my wife to enter that cavern again for all the gold it contains."

They reached the cottage without further adventure; and on the following
morning the ladies were told by Captain Staunton that, sufficient gold
having now been collected, there would be no further necessity for them
to continue their visits to the cavern, which, moreover, Mr Evelin
considered unsafe, the peculiar noises which had startled them all being
in his opinion an indication of its liability to collapse at any moment.

After this a month passed away unmarked by anything worthy of record,
except the ever-increasing insolence and tyranny of Ralli toward our
unfortunate friends.

The battery was by this time complete, the guns mounted, and the
ammunition stored in its magazine; whilst the schooner was also in a
very forward state. She was fully planked, decks laid, the ballast
stowed, bulwarks and hatchways completed, her bottom coppered up to the
load water-line, her hull outside painted with a coat of priming, and
the carpenters, assisted by the handiest men they could pick out, were
busy finishing off the fittings of the cabin and forecastle. Lance had
been anxiously watching for a favourable opportunity to put into
operation Dickinson's suggestion as to the mode in which Ralli should be
approached in order to secure the completion of the work in the manner
most favourable to their own plans, but hitherto no such opportunity had
presented itself. This was peculiarly unfortunate, as the work was now
in so forward a state that, whenever Ralli opened his mouth, he expected
to hear the dreaded order given for the preparation of the ways and the