to a projecting rock over their heads, and from thence creep round
by certain vantages of the stone till he was able to let himself
down into the aperture. But now, at the present moment, he was
unwilling to make essay of his prowess as a cragsman. He had, he
said, been up on that projecting rock thrice, and there had seen the
eyes moving in the cavern. He was quite sure of that fact of the
pair of eyes, and declined to ascend the rock again.

Traces soon became visible to them by which they knew that some one
had passed in and out of the cavern recently. The stone, when
examined, bore those marks of friction which passage and repassage
over it will always give. At the spot from whence the climber left
the platform and commenced his ascent, the side of the stone had
been rubbed by the close friction of a man's body. A light boy like
Danny Lund might find his way in and out without leaving such marks
behind him, but no heavy man could do so. Thus before long they all
were satisfied that Aaron Trow was in the cavern before them.

Then there was a long consultation as to what they would do to carry
on the hunt, and how they would drive the tiger from his lair. That
he should not again come out, except to fall into their hands, was
to all of them a matter of course. They would keep watch and ward
there, though it might be for days and nights. But that was a
process which did not satisfy Morton, and did not indeed well
satisfy any of them. It was not only that they desired to inflict
punishment on the miscreant in accordance with the law, but also
that they did not desire that the miserable man should die in a hole
like a starved dog, and that then they should go after him to take
out his wretched skeleton. There was something in that idea so
horrid in every way, that all agreed that active steps must be