“Well,” after a pause, “I did have a reason for coming at this particular time. I know a good-natured fellow that comes along this way every evening with a team. I see him coming now; and he’ll give us a ride, as sure as our pistols are loaded. He’ll set us down not far from the cave, and that will be a great help; and, Will, if you are tired, ten to one we’ll get a ride going home!”
Will began to think his cousin was a strangely contrary boy.
Mr. Mortimer’s house stood in the suburbs of the town, which the boys had now left entirely behind. Eagerly they hurried on, but the teamster soon overtook them, and as Henry had said, he offered them a ride. As they rattled on over the dusty road, they felt that this world is very beautiful, after all; and that it is a fine thing to have a teamster for a friend.
When they left him they were within a quarter of a mile of their destination.
It was between two hills that they alighted, the road coming down one, crossing a bridge that spanned a little stream, and then going up another. The land on either side was low,—even marshy in places,—and used principally for pasturage. To the left of the road there were no banks; but to the right, for a long way up the stream, there were high and steep banks, with a wide valley between them. It was in one of these banks that the cave was situated.
The cousins ran across the road, and down into the valley, on their way to the demon’s abode. The teamster watched them as he drove along, and muttered: “So that’s where the rascals are going! Well, let ’em go; I reckon they’ll soon come howling back again, very much the worse for wear, and rather broken in wind!”
Chapter XVIII.
The Cousins See More Than They Bargained For.
Will was about to follow the stream, but Henry called out to him, “Don’t go there, Will, for the ground is too soft after the rain. Besides, we must be careful; the demon may be prowling around; and he might see us. Let us follow this steep bank for a little way, and then we shall find a path leading right up to the top of it.”