The circles were so much smaller at the bottom of thebasin, and the boat moved so much more swiftly, thatTrot was beginning to get dizzy with the motion, whensuddenly the boat made a leap and dived headlong intothe murky depths of the hole. Whirling like tops, butstill clinging together, the sailor and the girl wereseparated from their boat and plunged down -- down --down -- into the farthermost recesses of the greatocean.

At first their fall was swift as an arrow, butpresently they seemed to be going more moderately andTrot was almost sure that unseen arms were about her,supporting her and protecting her. She could seenothing, because the water filled her eyes and blurredher vision, but she clung fast to Cap'n Bill'ssou'wester, while other arms clung fast to her, and sothey gradually sank down and down until a full stop wasmade, when they began to ascend again.

But it seemed to Trot that they were not risingstraight to the surface from where they had come. Thewater was no longer whirling them and they seemed to bedrawn in a slanting direction through still, cool oceandepths. And then -- in much quicker time than I havetold it -- up they popped to the surface and were castat full length upon a sandy beach, where they laychoking and gasping for breath and wondering what hadhappened to them.

Trot was the first to recover. Disengaging herselffrom Cap'n Bill's wet embrace and sitting up, sherubbed the water from her eyes and then looked aroundher. A soft, bluish-green glow lighted the place,which seemed to be a sort of cavern, for above and oneither side of her were rugged rocks. They had beencast upon a beach of clear sand, which slanted upwardfrom the pool of water at their feet -- a pool whichdoubtless led into the big ocean that fed it. Above thereach of the waves of the pool were more rocks, andstill more and more, into the dim windings and recessesof which the glowing light from the water did notpenetrate.

The place looked grim and lonely, but Trot wasthankful that she was still alive and had suffered nosevere injury during her trying adventure under water.At her side Cap'n Bill was sputtering and coughing,trying to get rid of the water he had swallowed. Bothof them were soaked through, yet the cavern was warmand comfortable and a wetting did not dismay the littlegirl in the least.

She crawled up the slant of sand and gathered in herhand a bunch of dried seaweed, with which she moppedthe face of Cap'n Bill and cleared the water from hiseyes and ears. Presently the old man sat up and staredat her intently. Then he nodded his bald head threetimes and said in a gurgling voice:

"Mighty good, Trot; mighty good! We didn't reach DavyJones's locker that time, did we? Though why we didn't,an' why we're here, is more'n I kin make out."

"Take it easy, Cap'n," she replied. "We're safeenough, I guess, at least for the time being."

He squeezed the water out of the bottoms of his loosetrousers and felt of his wooden leg and arms and head,and finding he had brought all of his person with himhe gathered courage to examine closely theirsurroundings.

"Where d'ye think we are, Trot?." he presently asked.

"Can't say, Cap'n. P'r'aps in one of our caves."

He shook his head. "No," said he, "I don't thinkthat, at all. The distance we came up didn't seem halfas far as the distance we went down; an' you'll noticethere ain't any outside entrance to this cavernwhatever. It's a reg'lar dome over this pool o' water,and unless there's some passage at the back, up yonder,we're fast pris'ners."

Trot looked thoughtfully over her shoulder.

"When we're rested," she said, "we will crawl upthere and see if there's a way to get out."

Cap'n Bill reached in the pocket of his oilskin coatand took out his pipe. It was still dry, for he kept itin an oilskin pouch with his tobacco. His matches werein a tight tin box, so in a few moments the old sailorwas smoking contentedly. Trot knew it helped him tothink when he was in any difficulty. Also, the pipe didmuch to restore the old sailor's composure, after hislong ducking and his terrible fright -- a fright thatwas more on Trot's account than his own.

The sand was dry where they sat, and soaked up thewater that dripped from their clothing. When Trot hadsqueezed the wet out of her hair she began to feel muchlike her old self again. By and by they got upon theirfeet and crept up the incline to the scattered bouldersabove. Some of these were of huge size, but by passingbetween some and around others, they were able to reachthe extreme rear of the cavern.

"Yes," said Trot, with interest, "here's a roundhole."

"And it's black as night inside it," remarked Cap'nBill.

Just the same," answered the girl, "we ought toexplore it, and see where it goes, 'cause it's the onlyposs'ble way we can get out of this place."

Cap'n Bill eyed the hole doubtfully

"It may be a way out o' here, Trot," he said, "but itmay be a way into a far worse place than this. I'm notsure but our best plan is to stay right here."

Trot wasn't sure, either, when she thought of it inthat light. After awhile she made her way back to thesands again, and Cap'n Bill followed her. As they satdown, the child looked thoughtfully at the sailor'sbulging pockets.

"How much food have we got, Cap'n?" she asked.

"Half a dozen ship's biscuits an' a hunk o' cheese,"he replied. "Want some now, Trot?"

She shook her head, saying:

"That ought to keep us alive 'bout three days ifwe're careful of it."

"Longer'n that, Trot," said Cap'n Bill, but his voicewas a little troubled and unsteady.

"But if we stay here we're bound to starve in time,"continued the girl, "while if we go into the dark hole--"

"Some things are more hard to face than starvation,"said the sailor-man, gravely. "We don't know what'sinside that dark hole: Trot, nor where it might lead usto."

"There's a way to find that out," she persisted.

Instead of replying, Cap'n Bill began searching inhis pockets. He soon drew out a little package of fish-hooks and a long line. Trot watched him join themtogether. Then he crept a little way up the slope andturned over a big rock. Two or three small crabs beganscurrying away over the sands and the old sailor caughtthem and put one on his hook and the others in hispocket. Coming back to the pool he swung the hook overhis shoulder and circled it around his head and cast itnearly into the center of the water, where he allowedit to sink gradually, paying out the line as far as itwould go. When the end was reached, he began drawing itin again, until the crab bait was floating on thesurface.

Trot watched him cast the line a second time, and athird. She decided that either there were no fishes inthe pool or they would not bite the crab bait. ButCap'n Bill was an old fisherman and not easilydiscouraged. When the crab got away he put another onthe hook. When the crabs were all gone he climbed upthe rocks and found some more.

Meantime Trot tired of watching him and lay down uponthe sands, where she fell fast asleep. During the nexttwo hours her clothing dried completely, as did that ofthe old sailor. They were both so used to salt waterthat there was no danger of taking cold.

Finally the little girl was wakened by a splashbeside her and a grunt of satisfaction from Cap'n Bill.She opened her eyes to find that the Cap'n had landed asilver-scaled fish weighing about two pounds. Thischeered her considerably and she hurried to scrapetogether a heap of seaweed, while Cap'n Bill cut up thefish with his jackknife and got it ready for cooking.

They had cooked fish with seaweed before. Cap'n Billwrapped his fish in some of the weed and dipped it inthe water to dampen it. Then he lighted a match and setfire to Trot's heap, which speedily burned down to aglowing bed of ashes. Then they laid the wrapped fishon the ashes, covered it with more seaweed, and allowedthis to catch fire and burn to embers. After feedingthe fire with seaweed for some time, the sailor finallydecided that their supper was ready, so he scatteredthe ashes and drew out the bits of fish, still encasedin their smoking wrappings.

When these wrappings were removed, the fish was foundthoroughly cooked and both Trot and Cap'n Bill ate ofit freely. It had a slight flavor of seaweed and wouldhave been better with a sprinkling of salt.

The soft glow which until now had lighted the cavern,began to grow dim, but there was a great quantity ofseaweed in the place, so after they had eaten theirfish they kept the fire alive for a time by giving it ahandful of fuel now and then.

From an inner pocket the sailor drew a small flask ofbattered metal and unscrewing the cap handed it toTrot. She took but one swallow of the water althoughshe wanted more, and she noticed that Cap'n Bill merelywet his lips with it.

"S'pose," said she, staring at the glowing seaweedfire and speaking slowly, "that we can catch all thefish we need; how 'bout the drinking-water, Cap'n?"

He moved uneasily but did not reply. Both of themwere thinking about the dark hole, but while Trot hadlittle fear of it the old man could not overcome hisdislike to enter the place. He knew that Trot wasright, though. To remain in the cavern, where they nowwere, could only result in slow but sure death.

It was nighttime up on the earth's surface, so thelittle girl became drowsy and soon fell asleep. After atime the old sailor slumbered on the sands beside her.It was very still and nothing disturbed them for hours.When at last they awoke the cavern was light again.

They had divided one of the biscuits and weremunching it for breakfast when they were startled by asudden splash in the pool. Looking toward it they sawemerging from the water the most curious creatureeither of them had ever beheld. It wasn't a fish, Trotdecided, nor was it a beast. It had wings, though, andqueer wings they were: shaped like an invertedchopping-bowl and covered with tough skin instead offeathers. It had four legs -- much like the legs of astork, only double the number -- and its head wasshaped a good deal like that of a poll parrot, with abeak that curved downward in front and upward at theedges, and was half bill and half mouth. But to call ita bird was out of the question, because it had nofeathers whatever except a crest of wavy plumes of ascarlet color on the very top of its head. The strangecreature must have weighed as much as Cap'n Bill, andas it floundered and struggled to get out of the waterto the sandy beach it was so big and unusual that bothTrot and her companion stared at it in wonder -- inwonder that was not unmixed with fear.