“No, Mas’r Harry, not if you don’t wish it,” he rejoined, looking at me wonderingly.

“I have a reason, Tom,” I said. “We can say that we have been exploring, and that will be true, and will satisfy them.”

“You ain’t done with the cave yet, then, Mas’r Harry?”

“No, Tom,” I said, “not yet.”


Chapter Twenty Nine.

A Question.

The look I received from Lilla that evening was one which, while it reproached me, made my heart leap. But all the same, I did not respond to it: I dared not; and I sat there answering my uncle’s questions and telling him of our discovery of the ruined temple, but no more; while Garcia, who was present, smiled a contemptuous smile that was most galling.

For that smile seemed to mean so much, and to say, “Look at this crazy vagabond, how he spends his time!”