Then they set off to explore the second island. They turned to climb the cliff s—and had a big surprise I
"Look! Caves!" said Tom, pointing to big black openings in the cliff. "Look at that! Caves of all lands and sizes and shapes! Let's have a look at them."
They made their way to the first cave—and just outside it Andy stopped and stared at something in the sand.
"What's up?" asked Tom.
"That!" said Andy, and he pointed to a cigarette-end that lay rolling a little in the breeze.
"A cigarette-end!" said Tom, looking all round, as if he were looking for the one who had smoked it. "Well! Somebody has been here all right—and not very long ago, either. But there's not a single house on this island, ruined or whole!"
"Perhaps the people live in these caves," said Jill, looking half-timidly at the first one.
"We'll go in and see," said Andy. He pulled a roll of oilskin from his pocket and out of it took a half-candle and a box of matches. Andy never ran any risk of his matches getting wet—and now the children were glad that he was so careful, for no one really wanted to go into the caves without a light of some sort.
Andy lighted the candle and thea, leading the way. he stepped into the first cave. The others followed him. The floor was thick with silvery sand, and the walls of the cave were high and smooth. It ran back a long way. and then narrowed into an archway. Through this the children went into another cave, the tiny light of the candle shining on rocky grey walls, and high, rough roof. The floor of the cave then began to go upwards, and became rocky instead of sandy. The cave narrowed into a passage, whose roof was at times so low that they bomped their heads against it.
And then they came to the Round Cave, which was the name they at once gave the last strange cave. It was almost perfectly round, and as the floor slanted down towards the middle, it felt like being inside a hollow ball!