sound and a spice of danger in this little recital,
which, added to the darkness into which Fred had plunged, made him
descend for the rest of the way slowly and very cautiously down the
second slope, and then, as he hung perpendicularly, and felt himself
slowly turning round, he kept on asking how much farther it was, till
his feet touched his companion's hands, and he stood directly by his
side in the faint grey light, which seemed to strike up from below, both
clutching the rope tightly in the excitement of the novel position, and
trying to pierce the gloom.

"Ugh! What's that?" cried Fred, suddenly, as he kicked against
something which made a rattling noise.

"I don't know. Sounds like pieces of wood."

"Ugh!" ejaculated Fred again, "bones! Come away, Scar; it's a
skeleton."

The two boys shrank away in horror, and for some moments neither
ventured to speak, while, as they clung together, each could feel his
fellow suffering from no little nervous tremor.

"Some one must have slipped down the hole and died here of starvation,"
whispered Scarlett at last. "You know how dangerous it is."

"Yes," said Fred, thoughtfully, and with his shrinking feeling on the
increase. "No," he exclaimed directly after, "I don't think it's that.
I know--at least, I should know if I touched it."

"What do you mean?"

"It's some sheep slipped down when feeding, and never been missed."

"Do you think it's that?" said Scarlett, eagerly.

"I feel sure of it. If it had been a man, he would have found some way
of getting out. I say, Scar, will you stoop down and touch it?"

"No," said Scarlett, with a shudder.

"Well, I will, then. Yes; I'm right. It is a sheep's bones."

"How do you know?"

"You can feel some wool down here. If it had been a man, it would have
been clothes. Well, I am glad."

Scarlett showed his satisfaction by drawing a long breath full of
relief, and the spirits of both seemed relieved by the knowledge that
the grisly relics told no tale of a human being's terrible fate.

"I dare say there are more bones about, if we were to search," said
Fred. "But what a great gloomy place it is! Who'd have thought that
there was such a cave on our shore?"

"I can't see any good, now we have got down in it," said Scarlett,
rather discontentedly. "I don't suppose we shall find anything."

"Why, we have found something."

"Yes; bones. I wish we had a light."

"Where was it you stepped over?" said Fre