“After we had walked about a mile down the lane, Becky turned off across the field. We came to a lovely little patch of woods where I could hear the roar of a rushing stream. Rebecca led me by crooked paths until we came to the brink of this torrent where it tumbled over a ledge of rock about twenty feet high, and made a most beautiful waterfall. The current was so swift above the falls that the water shot over making an arch as it fell. The steep banks at either side were mossy and tall ferns almost covered them.
“Rebecca led me straight to the falls. I hesitated as I saw her take a step toward the back-rock under the falls and suddenly disappear in the spray, calling upon me to follow.
“I was sure she knew what she was doing, so I too went headlong into the spray to find myself behind the arched falls on a huge flat rock which lay before a deep crevice opening straight into the cliff. Not a drop of water penetrated here, but the spray made a thick curtain between the cave and the outer world.
“Rebecca led me by the hand along a tunnel, and, after we had gone about twenty feet, it opened into a high-vaulted cavern. Soon Rebecca found the lantern and lighted it. I looked about in surprise; the place was quite comfortably furnished with a chair, a rough table and a mattress with bedding upon it.
“‘I made Tim carry these things over here from the store-room and made him swear never to tell father. Tim is almost seventy years old and he believes in an oath as firmly as he does in Heaven. As far as I know, Tim and Daddy are the only ones beside myself who know of this cave. The reason I am bringing you here—a Yankee, too—is because I feel in my bones that you will have to help me in some danger or need. Here is where Imp is going to be hidden and I shall have to see if I can get him to make friends with you, for you may have to claim him some day and take him North with you.’
“‘Oh, Becky, don’t talk like this! You frighten me! I wish you were all at Happy Hills with me where you would be safe.’
“‘Do you think that one of us would seek another safer home while we are needed here?’ asked Rebecca, sternly.
“I made no reply and Rebecca carried the lantern ahead, bidding me follow her out. We reached the extreme end of the cave, when Rebecca handed me the lantern to hold down close to some lichen. I did so and found that the mass of roots and moss that hung there swayed slowly back and forth in a current of air. This, then, was the cause of the cave being so well ventilated. Becky stooped, pushed aside the mossy curtain and crawled into a small tunnel, taking the lantern from me after she had entered.
“I followed close behind, upon hands and knees, through an opening the size of a bushel basket. Finally, we reached a wider opening where we could stand upon our feet again. We crept through this queer tunnel for a long time and then I felt that we were ascending gradually and that the air was growing purer. In a few moments more, we emerged from another narrow crevice hidden under the gnarled roots of a live-oak. Moss, lichen and fern covered this opening so completely that no one would have dreamed there was an entrance there to a secret cave.
“We were in a grassy dell hemmed in by a thin ribbon of woods which ended in a grove of tall pines upon a knoll.