"We entered from the other opening by the sea."
"Another opening? Do you mean that this cave has two openings just like the one John spoke about?"
"Yes; but this is a mighty long one, and it had a lot of water in it twice when we visited it, but I don't think we shall find any here now."
"Why not?"
"Because we have not had much rain for the past month."
"But you forgot about the mystery."
"That's so; we went in from the other end and had gone up nearly to where the water began, when we put one of the lights on a ledge, and went forward with the other, and when we had gone about a hundred feet, it disappeared, and we have never found it to this day."
"That does seem odd. Do you think it was taken by some one?"
"Well, we could not possibly account for it in any other way but that it fell off the ledge by some accident. How that could be possible I don't know, as George declared he had placed it in a secure position."
By this time they had reached the recess, and George suggested that the entire cave should be examined, and Ralph was somewhat in the lead. Everywhere was the universal whiteness of the calcareous deposit. As they reached the vicinity of the chests, where the copper vessels were, they formed a striking contrast to the whiteness all around.