"Sweethearts and wives!" cried all the group. Then caps were raised, and cups were speedily drained.
"And the Lord be near us too, this night," said one of the men. "Ah! little does our people at home know where we are, sir."
"Well, the Lord is everywhere near to those who call on him," replied the skipper.
"I'm sayin', sorr," said Ted Noolan, a light-hearted Paddy whom no kind of danger could ever daunt; "saints be praised the Lord is near, but troth it's meself that's believin' the d--l--bad scran to him!--can't be far away either, for lookin' down that awful gulch, 'Ted,' says I to meself, 'if that ain't the back-door to the bad place, it's nowhere else on earth.'"
But his superstition did not prevent Paddy from curling up on his rugs when the others did, and going soundly off to sleep.
Nor did the far-off muttering thunders of the dread abyss keep anybody from enjoying a real good night's rest.
CHAPTER X.--SO POOR CONAL MUST PERISH!
Duncan was first to the fore in the morning. He touched Captain Talbot lightly on the shoulder, and he awoke at once.
It took a whole series of shakings, however, to arouse Conal. He had been dreaming of his far-off Highland home, and when he did at last sit up and rub his eyes, it took him fully a minute to know where he was in particular.
Well, while the men prepared a simple breakfast of coffee, sardines, butter, and soft tack, the skipper and the boys left the cave and went in for as thorough ablution as was in their power at the snow-water rill. They felt infinitely refreshed thereafter; a large box of sardines, placed for discussion before each, disappeared almost magically, for bracing indeed was the breeze that blew high up on this dreary mountain.