ou werena found
for some days after the wreck. My father found you both in a cave,
down in the cliff, and if it hadna been for him, I suppose you
wouldna be here now, Thora, to say that Carver had beaten you."

"That's a strange thing you're telling me, Halcro. I never heard of
it before. And what ship was it that was wrecked?"

"The Undine."

"The Undine! I've seen that name on a box at Crua Breck that father
keeps his money in. But tell me all about it. Did Captain Ericson
tell you about the wreck?"

"No. I only heard of it a week before he was drowned. It was Colin
Lothian and my uncle Mansie that told it me. Auld Colin kens all
about it, and more than he told to me."

"Colin is a good old man, Halcro. When next I see him I will ask
him to tell me what it was that he kept from you. Colin would keep
nothing from me, I believe."

"Maybe not. But listen, and I will give you the story as I heard
it."

Thora lay down on the grass, with her hands under her chin, and I
proceeded to tell her of the wreck of the Undine.

"Thank you, Halcro!" she said when I finished. "That is all very
new to me. I remember nothing of being in that cave. How cold I
must have been! But Carver was good to me then. I can almost
forgive him for trampling over my flowers."

Then, after a pause, she asked: "Have you ever been in that cave,
Halcro? Where is it?"

"I've not been in it," I said; "but I ken whereabout it is. Come
and I will show you."

And then I took her out to an abutting point of the headland, and
indicated the position of the cavern behind a great rock that hid
its entrance, a few feet above the high-tide mark.

"Halcro, d'you think we could get down there and see the cave?" she
asked. "Where are your climbing ropes?"

"We can manage it, I think, if you'll try it with me, Thora," I
said.

"Ay will I try it. Do you think I'm afraid?" said she.

Now, this adventure that Thora proposed was no small one, for the
North Gaulton cliffs are amongst the wildest and most rugged in all
Pomona, and they are very steep and dangerous to the climber. Yet
Thora was a cool-headed girl, strong of foot and wrist, and very
adventurous. I remember on one occasion, when several of us were
bird nesting together on the Black Craigs, she happened to get
stranded on a corner of rock, and could not either return or get
round the projecting point. I was watching her, and saw that she
had the wrong foot foremost. Her position was extremely