In a few seconds we saw them hurrying back to the boat, one of them swinging the poor cat round his head by the tail.On reaching the water's edge, he tossed it far into the sea, and joined his companions, who appeared to be holding a hasty council.
"You see what we may expect," said Jack bitterly."The man who will wantonly kill a poor brute for sport will think little of murdering a fellow-creature.Now, boys, we have but one chance left, - the Diamond Cave.""The Diamond Cave!" cried Peterkin, "then my chance is a poor one, for I could not dive into it if all the pirates on the Pacific were at my heels.""Nay, but," said I, "we will take you down, Peterkin, if you will only trust us."As I spoke, we observed the pirates scatter over the beach, and radiate, as if from a centre, towards the woods and along shore.
"Now, Peterkin," said Jack, in a solemn tone, "you must make up your mind to do it, or we must make up our minds to die in your company.""Oh, Jack, my dear friend," cried Peterkin, turning pale, "leave me; I don't believe they'll think it worth while to kill me.Go, you and Ralph, and dive into the cave.""That will not I," answered Jack quietly, while he picked up a stout cudgel from the ground."So now, Ralph, we must prepare to meet these fellows.Their motto is, 'No quarter.' If we can manage to floor those coming in this direction, we may escape into the woods for a while.""There are five of them," said I; "we have no chance.""Come, then," cried Peterkin, starting up, and grasping Jack convulsively by the arm, "let us dive; I will go."Those who are not naturally expert in the water know well the feelings of horror that overwhelm them, when in it, at the bare idea of being held down, even for a few seconds, - that spasmodic, involuntary recoil from compulsory immersion which has no connection whatever with cowardice; and they will understand the amount of resolution that it required in Peterkin to allow himself to be dragged down to a depth of ten feet, and then, through a narrow tunnel, into an almost pitch-dark cavern.But there was no alternative.The pirates had already caught sight of us, and were now within a short distance of the rocks.
Jack and I seized Peterkin by the arms.
"Now, keep quite still, no struggling," said Jack, "or we are lost."Peterkin made no reply, but the stern gravity of his marble features, and the tension of his muscles, satisfied us that he had fully made up his mind to go through with it.Just as the pirates gained the foot of the rocks, which hid us for a moment from their view, we bent over the sea, and plunged down together head foremost.Peterkin behaved like a hero.He floated passively between us like a log of wood, and we passed the tunnel and rose into the cave in a shorter space of time than I had ever done it before.
Peterkin drew a long, deep breath on reaching the surface; and in a few seconds we were all standing on the ledge of rock in safety.
Jack now searched for the tinder and torch, which always lay in the cave.He soon found them, and, lighting the torch, revealed to Peterkin's wondering gaze the marvels of the place.But we were too wet to waste much time in looking about us.Our first care was to take off our clothes, and wring them as dry as we could.This done, we proceeded to examine into the state of our larder, for, as Jack truly remarked, there was no knowing how long the pirates might remain on the island.
"Perhaps," said Peterkin, "they may take it into their heads to stop here altogether, and so we shall be buried alive in this place.""Don't you think, Peterkin, that it's the nearest thing to being drowned alive that you ever felt?" said Jack with a smile."But I've no fear of that.These villains never stay long on shore.
