[CHAPTER VIII.—IN THE SMUGGLER’S CAVE.]
The soft purling of water was the first sound which greeted Billie’s ear when he was again able to collect his thoughts. He was lying upon his back and looking up into darkness. He tried to move, but was unable to do so, and so closed his eyes and tried to think what had happened.
As his mind became clearer, he remembered his fall; and, as he became more and more normal, and could move his hands about, he realized that he was lying in the bottom of a boat and that the purling of the water was caused by the rapid movement of the boat through the water.
“I wonder what makes it so dark?” he thought. “It was dinnertime the last I remember, and I don’t feel as though I had been asleep very long.”
All at once the noise of the water ceased, and a moment later he heard the boat grate upon the sand. A man sprang over him and beached the boat, and Billie could feel it being pulled up onto the shore. Then a light appeared, and in another minute a man
with a lighted torch in his hand came and peered into the boat.
“Buenos noches,” Billie exclaimed, after the man had been gazing silently into his face for several seconds. “Que hora es?”
He thought it must be quite right to say “good evening” because it was dark, but he asked the time to make sure.
The man made no reply, but turned and walked hastily away.
“That’s funny,” said Billie. “I think I’ll follow him.”