It is dark now. Let us slip away down to
the beach, and take the boat, and row away from this horrible region
where human devils and every other kind seem to own the country."
"Oh, no," said the captain, "we can't consider such wild schemes as that.
I have been thinking that perhaps there may be some sort of a tide in
this lake, and in the morning we may find the water just as it was. And,
at any rate, it has not entirely deserted us, for in these pools at the
bottom we can find water enough for us to drink."
"I suppose I would not mind such things so much," said Mrs. Cliff, "if
they happened out of doors. But being shut up in this cave with magical
lakes, and expecting every minute to see a lot of bloodthirsty pirates
bursting in upon us, is enough to shake the nerves of anybody."
"Captain," said Ralph, "I suppose you will not now object to letting me
go in the morning to explore that opening. I can walk across the bottom
of the lake without any danger, you know."
"Don't you try to do anything of the kind," said the captain, "without my
permission."
"No, indeed!" exclaimed Mrs. Cliff. "Supposing the water were to suddenly
rise just as you were half-way across. Now that I think of it, there are
springs and bodies of water which rise and fall this way, some of them in
our own Western country, but none of them are as large as this. What if
it should rise in the night and flood the cave while we are asleep?"
"Why, dear Mrs.
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