Half a mile from the cliff on which stood the fisherman’s cabin was another, rising to a greater height.
To this the stranger directed his boat. He fastened it and then, raising our hero in his arms, walked toward the cliff.
There was a cavity as wide as a door, but less in height, through which he passed, lowering his head as he entered. Inside the opening steadily widened and became higher. This cavity was about ten feet above the sandy beach and was reached by a ladder.
On he passed, guided amid the darkness by a light from a lantern hanging from the roof. The front portion of the cavern seemed like a hall, through which a narrow doorway led into a larger room, which was furnished like the interior of a house. Upon a walnut table stood a lamp, which the stranger lighted. He took the boy, already beginning to breathe more freely, and laid him on a lounge, covered with a buffalo skin, at the opposite side of the apartment. From a shelf he took a bottle and administered a cordial to Robert, who, though not yet sensible, mechanically swallowed it.
The effect was almost instantaneous.
The boy opened his eyes and looked about him in bewilderment.
“Where am I?” he inquired.
“What can you remember?” asked the old man.
Robert shuddered.
“I was struggling in the water,” he answered. “I thought I was drowning.”