Arrived at the cliff, the party stopped. Marks of the storm were visible in one or two landslides and in a great amount of debris strewing the uncovered beach and rocks. Even large stones seemed to have been displaced.
Max looked rather serious as he saw so much change in conditions usually stable. "I think you'd better let me go down and report whether matters are as I expect," he said. "There seems to have been considerable doing in this vicinity last evening."
"Let us wait, Win," said Constance quickly. "No use in going down until we see how he finds things."
Colonel Lisle also elected to await the report, but Roger and the girls accompanied Max. They were gone almost half an hour and the watchers on the cliff were beginning to wonder what had happened. When they did appear, they called to the others not to come.
"'The best laid plans of mice and men!'" sighed Max as he reached the top of the cliff. "Uncle, the storm has picked up all the stones I had Pierre clear out of the tunnel and wedged them in tight again like a cork in a bottle."
"There was a passage and we can't get into it?" demanded Win eagerly, his face reflecting the disappointment visible on the faces of the other young people.
"There was," replied Max, looking at him sympathetically, "not merely into another cave but striking inland. Pierre cleared its mouth and reported it passable for fifty feet. Beyond that he did not go. Now, it is stopped as tight as ever. This shows, Uncle, how it came to be lost to the recollection of everybody about the Manor."
"Yes," said Colonel Lisle. "Very likely it was stopped by a similar storm a century or more ago. So far as I know there has never been a legend of any tunnel. But, Max," he added, "there is yet the cellar where you and Win have decided that the passage enters the house."
"May we knock a hole there?" Max asked quickly. Win had said nothing more but his disappointment was evident.
"Certainly, if you like," assented the Colonel, smiling. "Only be prepared for another disillusion when you get the wall down. The existence of the tunnel doesn't ensure that of the chest."