s, but even as it was she
slipped and slid a good deal on the treacherous seaweed. It took her
considerably longer than she had anticipated to cross that belt of rocks.
It was much farther than it looked. Moreover, the pools were so full of
interest that she had to stop and investigate them as she went. Anemones,
green and red, clung to the shining rocks, and crabs of all sizes
scuttled away at her approach.

"What a lot of retainers he must have!" said Chris.

She was nearing the Gothic archway, and her heart began to beat fast in
anticipation. What she really expected to find she could not have said.
But undoubtedly this particular cave was many degrees more mysterious and
more eerie than any other she had ever explored. It was very lonely, and
the cliff that frowned above her was very black. The afternoon sun shone
genially upon all things, however, and this gave her courage.

The waves foamed among the rocks but a few yards from the jutting
headland. Already the tide was turning. That meant that her time was
short.

"I won't go beyond the entrance to-day," said Chris. "But to-morrow I'll
start earlier and go right in. P'raps Cinders will come too. It wouldn't
be so lonely with Cinders."

The rocks all about her lay scattered like gigantic ruins. She stood
upon a high boulder and peered around her. There was certainly something
awe-inspiring about the place, the bright sun notwithstanding. It seemed
to lie beneath a spell. She wondered if she would come across any bits of
wreckage, and suppressed a shudder. The Gothic archway looked very dark
and vault-like from where she stood. Should she, after all, go any
nearer? Should she wait till Cinders would deign to accompany her? The
tide was undoubtedly rising. In any case she would have to turn back
within the next few minutes.

Slowly she pivoted round and looked again from the smiling horizon
whereon no ship was visible to the Magic Cave that yawned in the
face of the cliff. The next instant she jumped so violently that
she missed her footing and fell from her perch in sheer amazement.
Something--someone--was moving just within the deep shadow where the
sunlight could not penetrate!

It was not a big drop, but she came to earth with a cry of pain among a
mass of fallen stones, whereon she subsided, tightly clasping one foot
between her hands. She had stumbled upon wreckage to her cost; a piece of
rusty iron at her side and the blood that ran out between her loc