“There is that column of smoke again,” announced Jo, as he grasped the oars. His brothers and Juarez were with him in the boat.
The others once more observed the curious signal, if such it were, but gave no special heed other than to note its distance. On land, however, they bent their footsteps in the direction of the phenomenon although they could no longer see it for a guide.
They found themselves trailing off on a route they had not before taken, and had gone perhaps half the distance which they had estimated as required, when they came upon a curious clearing in the woods. It was about forty yards in diameter, and surrounded by a complete circle of trees, their boughs interlacing about seventy feet above to form a lovely green canopy. So regular were the trees that it seemed as if they had been planted by human hands hundreds of years before.
At first they did not notice, because of the somewhat dim light, that on the far side of the amphitheatre there rose sheer a wall of rock well covered with vines, and then all of one accord and simultaneously exclaimed.
“There’s a cave!”
“Hurrah, we’ve found it,” added Tom.
“Don’t go so fast,” admonished Jim. “There may be more than one cave on the island.”
“But the opening is high up,” demurred Tom, “and it looks as if it might be hard to get into. How shall we do it?”
All thought of the column of smoke was blotted from their minds as they surveyed the task before them, so suggestive of sought-for achievement. The opening to the cave was fully forty feet above the level on which they stood. No safe foothold could be discovered on close examination of the face of the rock which rose sheer to the top, perhaps a hundred feet.
“I’ll warrant there is some other entrance,” suggested Jim. “Seems to me this place we are in was one time a sort of temple or auditorium, and that opening up there in the rock may have been the pulpit.”