ed that there was a simpler way out at the end--that used
by the two boys for returning, their entries always now being by a
sudden jump down through the pendent green shoots.

"I'll let 'em have it for this when I do find 'em," grumbled the lad.
"Must ha' gone home'ards some other way." And they could hear him
muttering and grumbling as the twigs and strands rustled where he
passed, till they knew that he was well outside, for they heard him give
a stamp on one of the blocks of granite.

Vince rose silently.

"Come on," he said,--"the brambles will screen us;" and he crept forward
carefully, till he was close to the hole, and then cautiously advanced
his head, to peer upward, raising his hand warningly to Mike, who was
just behind. For the lad had not gone away, but was standing at the
edge with his back to them, and his eyes sheltered, gazing upward at the
ridge.

He remained there watching intently for quite ten minutes without
moving, and then went off out of sight, the only guide to the direction
he took being the rustling of displaced bushes and the musical clink of
a loose block of stone moved by his passing feet.

They did not trust themselves to speak for some time after the last
faint sound had died out, and then they began to discuss the question
whether they could escape unseen.

"Must chance it," said Vince at last. "I'm tired of staying here. Come
on."

Mike was evidently quite as weary, for he showed his agreement by
following at once. They were both cautious in the extreme, going out on
all fours, and then crawling in and out between the blocks of granite--a
pleasant enough task so long as the growth between was whortleberry,
heath or ferns, but as for the most part it was the long thorny strands
of the blackberry, the travelling became more and more painful. At
last, after progressing in this way some three hundred yards, a horribly
thorny strand hooked Vince in the leg of his trousers and skin as well,
with the result that he started to his feet angrily.

"Here, I've had enough of this," he cried. "Hang the old cavern! it
isn't worth the trouble."

"Hist!" exclaimed Mike, seizing him by the leg and pointing straight
away to their right.

Vince dropped forward, with his arms stretched over the nearest block of
grey stone, staring at the object pointed out, and seeing Carnach junior
right up close to the highest part of the ridge.

For a few moments he could not be sure whether the y