"Why, where in the name of sense have you been?" cried he, rather excited, as I thought; "what have you been doing all this time?"
"Doing?" said I; "only exploring the cave, Abraham—hunting up curiosities for pastime."
"Nonsense! I've been calling at you for ten minutes. I didn't want to leave the torch, or I'd have gone up after you; for I couldn't hold it and use my hands at the same time, and I thought if it went out we couldn't light it up again. Besides, I've found a treasure—a treasure, Luff, beyond all price."
"What is it, Abraham—a lump of gold?"
"Pooh! gold couldn't buy it! A skull, sir—a human skull! That's what I've found!"
"Only a skull? I came near finding the whole body," said I, involuntarily shuddering as I thought of the gloomy chamber with the straw in it; "I'm quite certain I'd have found the entire corpse if it had been there."
"But this is a real skull, Luff. It's no subject for trifling. Some poor fellow has left his bones here, as I suspected."
We then went out to the front of the cave. Not far from the entrance was a hole somewhat larger than a man's body, which I had not noticed before, and into which Abraham now crept with the torch, telling me to follow. It was not long before we entered a cell or chamber large enough to stand up in, the floor of which was littered with straw.
"I found it here, Luff; here in this straw—the upper part of a man's skull. Look at it."
Here Abraham removed some of the straw, and there, indeed, lay the frontal part of a skull.