ied Joe, as he hobbled
away, sucking the blood from his wounded member. "Now she may stay there
for me. I don't care ef she do pine herself to death, agrawatin' little
brute!"

And so, grumbling and growling, he hobbled after the little procession
that was now well on its way through the thicket.

Meanwhile little Nelly ran back into the vault, and re-commenced her
irrational investigations.

The hours of the night wore on. The men who had been sent in search of
the horses, with great difficulty found and caught them, and brought
them back to the scene of the explosion. The dead bodies were bound upon
their backs, and they were led through the thicket to the road, where
the empty wagon was waiting. As there were five bodies and but two
horses, and as only one body could be bound upon one horse at a time,
it was necessary to make three trips through the thicket, before they
could all be got upon the wagon. So it was a work of time and trouble to
remove all the dead from the scene of the catastrophe. At length,
however, the last body was bound upon the last horse and led away by the
last man that left the spot.

And of all the living crowd that had filled the churchyard and
surrounded the ruin, none was left but the little Skye terrier Nelly,
who was still at work in the vault.

What was she doing?

She had concentrated her attention and her energies upon one spot--a
moderate sized heap of densely packed rubbish in one corner. She was
scratching away at this heap; she had already burrowed a hole of some
depth; and still she scratched away, with all her might and main, until
her strength failed; and then she sat down on her hind quarters and
panted until she recovered her breath; and then she re-commenced and
scratched away for dear life until something fell on the other side, and
with a bark and bound of joy, she leaped through the aperture and ran
snuffing along the damp ground.

EUREKA!! the little Skye terrier had discovered what human intelligence
had failed to do! She had found the secret subterranean passage, and now
be sure she will find her mistress.

CHAPTER V.

THE ROBBERS' CAVE.

There's ae thing yet; there's twa things yet,
To brag on that ye know;
They never, never failed a friend,
And never feared a foe.--NICOLL.

We left Sybil sleeping on her sylvan couch, in the cavern chamber of her
nameless hostess. She slept on as they sleep who, being completely
conquered by