A minute later he brought out little Bob, who had fainted, but who was not long in recovering consciousness under his mother’s kisses.
CHAPTER IX
BOB FOUND
It took Mrs. Wolston some time to recover from her terrible shock. But Bob was restored to her, and that comforted her.
It appeared that Bob, playing with the albatross, had followed it to the back of the cave. The bird made its way in through the narrow passage, and Bob went after it. A dark excavation opened out at the end, and when the little fellow wanted to get out of this he found that he could not. At first he called, but his calls were not heard. Then he lost consciousness, and nobody knows what might have happened if by the luckiest chance Fritz had not happened to hear the cry of the albatross.
“Well,” said the boatswain, “now that Bob is in his mother’s arms again, everything is for the best. Thanks to him we have discovered another cave. It is true we haven’t any use to put it to. The first one was enough for us, and as a matter of fact we ask nothing better than to get away from that one.”
“But I want to find out how far it runs back,” Captain Gould remarked.
“Right to the other side of the cliff, do you fancy, captain?”
“Who can tell, Block?”
“All right,” the boatswain answered. “But even supposing it does run through the cliff, what shall we find on the other side? Sand, rocks, creeks, promontories, and as much green stuff as I can cover with my hat.”
“That’s very likely,” Fritz replied. “But none the less we must look.”