igglethorpe.

The junction of the land forces with those operating on the water was
effected in good order, the latter being intact under command of the
captain, but the former exhibiting, by their terribly reduced numbers,
the dreadful fatality of war. Squire Walker and Mr. Bangs alone
represented the cavalry; Carruthers and his corporal's guard, the first
squad, and the veteran all alone, the second squad of the infantry. Even
this remnant had its deserter, for, during the conversation between the
Squire and the Captain, private Bigglethorpe stole away, and when next
seen was standing far out upon a dead hemlock that had fallen into the
lake, fishing with great contentment, and a measure of success, for
bass. The numbers of the force were soon augmented by the appearance of
the doctor and his bearers. The disabled physician was accommodated with
a seat on the bottom of the scow, two of the Richards boys being
displaced in his favour. The Captain reported a prize in the shape of a
handsome varnished skiff, which he found drawn up on some skids or
rollers at the foot of a great mass of rock, that seemed as if cut all
about in regular form, in readiness for quarrying. The finding of the
boat just opposite it, the worn appearance of the ground, the absence of
moss or any other growth on the severed edges of the square mass of
limestone, led the detective to ask if there was any report of a
subterraneous passage in connection with this mysterious region. The
doctor, whom his former guide had taken by water, and insisted on
blindfolding at a certain point, was sure that he had walked some
distance on rock, and, although the lamp-lit room, in which he had seen
his patients, was lined with wood, and had blinds on apparent windows,
he doubted much that it was built in the open air. Then, Coristine
remembered how the dissipated farmer had coupled Rawdon's geology with
trap rock, as well as with galena, quartz and beryl. Knives were
produced and thrust into the seams at the top and on the two sides, as
far as the blades would go, but along the bottom there was no horizontal
incision answering to that above; it was perpendicular towards the
earth, and of no great depth.

It was decided, in the meanwhile, to leave the Captain with Richards
senior, his youngest son, and Mr. Bigglethorpe, who declined to leave
his sport, as a guard on the skiff and the adjoining mysterious stone.
The rest of the party returned to the encampment, to