little Fitz, to say nothing of Bob.
Now the cove was quite six miles away. Six miles going and six comingback would have been too long a journey for Nelda; but as the childliked to accompany the boys, and they were delighted to have hercompany, the two lads consulted together and concluded they must carryher at least half the way.
This was a capital plan for Nelda, and quite romantic, for the _modusportandi_ was a grass hammock suspended from a long bamboo pole, one endresting on Ransey's shoulder, the other on Fitz's.
Nelda would be talking or singing all the way. But on the returnjourney she got down more often, because she never went back without abasket well filled with fruit and flowers.
Bob used to trot on in front always. This he deemed it his duty to do.Was he not a guard?
On rare occasions the Admiral also formed part of the expedition, but hepreferred not going to sea in that wobbly boat.
When invited to embark, he would simply look at Babs or Ransey with onewise red eye, and say, "No, thank you, dear. A sea life doesn't quitesuit my constitution; and if it is all the same to you, I'll just hopabout the beach here until you all return."
It did not take a very long time for the children, as I may still callthem, to find all the fish they could conveniently carry. Then theyreturned to the beach, entered the cave, and cooked their dinner.
They invariably started to go back two or three hours before sunset.
About this cave there was a kind of mystery to the imaginative mind oflittle Nelda, and she peopled the gloom and darkness far beyond with allsorts of strange beings.
But when one day Ransey Tansey proposed exploring it, she evinced verymuch reluctance to going herself.
"I'm afraid," she said; "the giants might catch me and kill me."
Fitz laughed, and Ransey assured her that the cave was not inhabited byeven a single giant. It was all imagination.
"There might be snakes," she persisted, "or awful alligators."
Fitz laughed again, and Nelda felt more assured.
"You see me go, sah!" he said; "Is'e not afraid. Ha, ha! it take onemuch big giant and plenty big 'gator to flighten dis chile."
He ran out of the cave now, but soon came back carrying a heap ofwithered grass and foliage.
Then he snatched up a burning brand.
"Now!" he cried, "dis chile done go to 'vestigate."
Fitz was fond of exploiting a big word, although he never succeeded inpronouncing much more than three-quarters of it.
Presently the brave little lad disappeared, for the darkness hadswallowed him up.
The cave at its other end turned to the right and then to the left, sothat although Fitz lit his fire it could not be seen by those leftbehind.
Ransey and Nelda were becoming quite uneasy about him, when suddenly hisvoice was heard in the dark distance, coming nearer and nearer everymoment, till he once more stood in the broad glare of day at the mainentrance to the cave.
"So glad you've come back, Fitz," cried Ransey, "for we had almost givenyou up; we thought the 'gators had swallowed you."
Nelda, too, was glad, and so was honest Bob. He ran round and roundhim, barking.
The echo of the far interior took up the sound and gave back "wowff" for"wowff," much to the dog's astonishment. He made quite sure thatanother dog was hiding away in the darkness somewhere, and promisedhimself the infinite pleasure of shaking him out of his skin some day.
But the story of exploration that Fitz had to tell was indeed awonderful one.
He had found an interior cave, and when he lit his fire, the sight ofit, he declared to Ransey, was far more beautiful than Paradise. Allaround him, he said, was a mass of icicles, but all of crystal, and onthe floor were hundreds and hundreds of great crystal candles.
"I not can splain [explain] propah," he said. "Too much foh one leetleniggah boy to splain, but all about me dat cave sparkle and shine widdiamonds, rubies, and rainbows."
So before they got home that night they made up their minds to explorethe marvellous cave in company.
Nothing was said to any one else about their intention; only when theyset out some days after this to go to the cave as usual, Ransey Tanseytook with him several blue, red, and white lights. He determined in hisown mind that this stalactite cave should be turned into a kind of fairypalace for once in a way.
He also carried a small bull's-eye lantern, so that when lights went outthey should not be plunged into darkness altogether.
They had been rather longer than usual in starting on this particularmorning, and as the day was very beautiful, and the trees and flowers,butterflies and birds, all looking bright and gay, they must havelingered long on the road. At all events, it was quite one o'clockbefore they arrived at the cove, reached the cave, and launched theirboat.
The fish, moreover, seemed to-day anxious to be caught, and excellentsport was enjoyed.
It only wanted two hours to sunset when they regained the mouth of thecave.
There would be moonlight to guide them home, however, even if theyshould be half an hour late.
Yes, and it was a full moon too. Mark this, reader, for with each fullmoon comes a spring tide!
I have no words to convey to any one the glorious sight they beheld whenthey at last entered the stalactite cave and lit their fire of wood andgrass. Fitz had described it well--crystal icicles all around hangingfrom the vaulted roof, and raised high above the snow-white floor; wallsof crystal, and strange, weird statues of a kind of marble.
They sat there in silent admiration until the fire began to burn low;then Ransey Tansey lit up the cave, first with a dazzling white light,then with blue, and finally with crimson.
And this ended the show, but it was one that Nelda would dream about forweeks to come.
How long they had stayed in this wondrous cave they could not tell, but,lo! to their dismay, when they reached the place where they had drawn upthe boat, it was gone, and the waves were lapping up far inside. Thedinghy had been floated away, and they were thus imprisoned for thenight.
The moon, too, had gone down, for in these seas it neither rises norsets at the same time it does in Britain.
Little Nelda was afraid to spend the night near to the dark water. Someawful beast, she said, might come out and drag her in, so back they wentto the crystal cave. Alas! it had lost its charm now.
What a lonesome, weary time it was, and they dared not leave beforedaylight!
The fearless boy Fitz, after many, many hours had passed, went away,like a bird from the ark, to see if the waters were yet assuaged. Hebrought back word that the sun was rising, but that the water was stillhigh.
The truth is, they had all slept without knowing it, and during thistime the tide had gone back and once more risen, or, in other words, ithad ebbed and flowed.
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The anxiety of Tandy and the others on board the hulk may be betterimagined than described when night fell and the wanderers did notreturn. For a time they expected them every minute, for the moon wasstill shining bright and clear in the west and tipping the waves withsilver.
Tandy set out by himself at last, hoping to meet the little party. Hewalked for fully two miles along the track by which they most oftencame. Again and again he shouted and listened, but no answering shoutcame back to his, though he could hear now and then the dreary cry of anight-bird as it flew low over the woods in the gauzy glamour that themoon was shedding over everything.
But the moon itself would shortly sink, and so, uncertain what to donext, he returned, hoping against hope that the children might havereached the hulk before him.
What a long, dreary night it was! No one slept much. Of this I amsure, for the lost ones were friends both fore and aft.
But the greatest sorrow was to come, for, lo! when next morning atdaybreak they reached the cave, the first thing that caught their eyeswas the dinghy--beached, but bottom uppermost. Fishing gear and theoars were
also picked up; but, of course, there was no sign of thechildren.
With grief, poor Tandy almost took leave of his senses, and it wasindeed a pitiable sight to see him wandering aimlessly to and fro uponthe coral beach, casting many a hopeless glance seawards.
Good, indeed, would it have been for him had tears come to his relief.But these were denied him. Even the consolations that honest JamesMalone poured into his ears were unheeded; perhaps they were hardly evenheard.
"Death comes to all sooner or later. We do wrong to repine. Ah, mydear Tandy, God Himself knows what is best for us, and our sorrows herewill all be joys in the land where you and I must be ere long."
Well-meant platitudes, doubtless, but they brought no comfort to theanguished heart of the poor father.
It was noticed by one of the men that the strange bird Admiral, who hadaccompanied the search party, seemed plunged in grief himself. Hewalked about the beach, but ate nothing. He perched upon the keel ofthe upset boat, and over