sor, tew. I guess I only wish we could sot eyes on it!"

"Bettaire not, mine vrents, bettaire not zee it no mores," said Jan,
solemnly shaking his head in the dim light. "It vas accurst, as I vas
tell yous, by ze bloot of ze schlabe dat vas kilt by ze Sbaniards. It
vas only bringt bat look to ze beeples dat vas touch hims. Bettaire
not, mein frent, nevaire!"

"I ain't got no skear 'bout thet," replied Hiram, with a defiant laugh.
"Guess, we air all on us pretty wa-al season'd to them ghostesses by
this time, both aboard ship an' ashore, an' I don't care a cuss fur the
hull bilin' on them, I reckon!"

"Shtop!--listen!"--whispered Jan Steenbock, in his deep, impressive
voice, as another vivid flash of lightning lit up the cave for a brief
instant, making it all the darker afterwards. This was followed by a
second crashing peal of thunder, as if the very heavens were coming down
and were rattling about our ears; while the ground heaved up beneath our
feet violently, with its former jerky motion.--"Ze sbirrits of eefel vas
valk abroat in ze shtorm."

Even as he spoke, his solemn tones sending a thrill through my heart,
there came a still more violent shock of earthquake, which was succeeded
by a tremendous grinding, thumping noise from the back of the cave; and
then, all of a sudden, a large black body bounded past us through the
entrance close to where we stood. The rush of air knocked us all down
flat on our backs, as this object, whatever it was, made its way out,
and, finally, we could hear it, a second later, plunged into the sea
below at the foot of the declivity.

"Bress de Lor'!" ejaculated Sam, in greater terror than ever. "Dere's
de duppy, fo' suah! Hole on ter me, Cholly! Hole on! I'se mighty
'fraid! Hole on ter me, for de Lor's sake, sonny!"

CHAPTER TWENTY.

THE JUDGMENT OF FATE.

We were all speechless, and could see nothing as we scrambled to our
feet in the darkness, for the cave was now filled with a thick dust,
that nearly suffocated us as well as blinded us--filling our eyes, and
mouths, and nostrils.

Presently, the dust settled down; and, then, we found that the cavern
was no longer dark, for the crash which had so startled us at first was
occasioned by a portion of the roof breaking away, which let in the
daylight from above, right immediately over the big rock in the centre
that Tom had called "the pulpit."

The rock, however, had disappeared, and this was, doubtless, the
m