y that time consumed the last of their roast pig as well as all
the potatoes they had brought with them in their floating cask.

They were taking a last walk over the plateau, which they thought they
might never see again--for the swim round the headland was not a feat to
be repeated often, even if the weather allowed it, the currents being so
treacherous and the sea working itself up into commotion at a moment's
notice--when, suddenly, Eric stopped right over the edge of the gully.
He arrested his footsteps just at the spot where the tussock-grass
ladder had formerly trailed down, enabling them to reach their valley,
without all the bother of toiling round the coast as they had to do now.

"Don't you think this spot here has altered greatly?" said the sailor
lad to Fritz.

"No, I can't say I do," returned the other. "The grass has only been
burnt away; that, of course, makes it look bare."

"Well, I think differently," replied Eric, jumping down into the
crevice. "This place wasn't half so wide before."

"Indeed?"

"No, it wasn't I couldn't have squeezed myself in here when I last came
up the plateau."

"Why, that was all on account of the space the tussock-grass took up."

Eric did not reply to this; but, a moment after, he shouted out in a
tone of great surprise, "Hullo, there's a cave here, with something
glittering on the floor!"

"Really?"

"Yes, and it looks like gold!"

CHAPTER THIRTY SIX.

"SAIL HO!"

"Gold!" exclaimed Fritz in astonishment.

"Yes, gold," repeated the other, excitedly. "There are a lot of coins
here each bigger than an eight-gulden piece."

"Nonsense?"

"Yes, there is, really. Come down here and see for yourself. There's
plenty of room for both you and me."

Trembling with excitement, Fritz jumped down beside his brother, who,
stooping down in the crevice of the gully, had discovered a cavity in
the rock further in the face of the cliff. This the fringe of the now
destroyed tussock-grass had previously hidden from view as they ascended
and descended the ladder-way; else they must have noticed the place the
very first time they came up to the tableland from the valley below. It
was exactly facing the ledge from whence they climbed on to the plateau;
so, had it not been then covered over, they could not have failed to see
it.

The cavity, which had been probably worn away by the water trickling
down, was like a little grotto; and there, piled on the bare rock, w