FullReads

“That’s delightful!” he said, “to be let off on a Monday; for I generally have to be satisfied with a half-holiday, Wednesdays and Saturdays.”

“Is the Hermit very strict with you?” asked the Stranger.

“Yes,” said the Pupil, “I have to stick closely to the cave; though I have been known to go fishing on days when there was no holiday. I have never seen the old man but once, and that was when he first took me. You know it wouldn’t do for us to be too sociable. That wouldn’t be hermit-like. He comes up here on the afternoons I am out, and writes down what I am to do for the next half-week.”

“And do you always do it?” asked the Stranger.

“Oh, I get some of it done,” said the Pupil; “but there have been times when I have wondered whether it wouldn’t have been better for me to have been something else. But I have chosen my profession, and I suppose I must be faithful to it. We will start immediately on our search; but first I must put the cave in order, for the old man will be sure to come up while I am gone.”

So saying, the Pupil opened an old parchment book at a marked page, and laid it on a flat stone, which served as a table, and then placed a skull and a couple of bones in a proper position near by.

The two now started off, the Pupil first putting a line and hook in his pocket, and pulling out a fishing-rod from under some bushes.

“What do you want with that?” asked the Stranger, “we are not going to fish!”

“Why not?” said the Pupil; “if we come to a good place, we might catch something that would be a real curiosity.”

Before long they came to a mountain brook, and here the Pupil insisted on trying his luck. The Stranger was a little tired and hungry, and so was quite willing to sit down for a time and eat something from his bag. The Pupil ran off to find some bait, and he staid away so long that the Stranger had quite finished his meal before he returned. He came back at last, however, in a state of great excitement.

“Come with me! come with me!” he cried. “I have found something that is truly astonishing! Come quickly!”

The Stranger arose and hurried after the Pupil, whose long legs carried him rapidly over the mountain-side. Reaching a large hole at the bottom of a precipitous rock, the Pupil stopped, and exclaiming: “Come in here and I will show you something that will amaze you!” he immediately entered the hole.

The Stranger, who was very anxious to see what curiosity he had found, followed him some distance along a narrow and winding under-ground passage. The two suddenly emerged into a high and spacious cavern, which was lighted by openings in the roof; on the floor, in various places, were strongly fastened boxes, and packages of many sorts, bales and bundles of silks and rich cloths, with handsome caskets, and many other articles of value.

“What kind of a place is this?” exclaimed the Stranger, in great surprise.

“Don’t you know?” cried the Pupil, his eyes fairly sparkling with delight. “It is a robber’s den! Isn’t it a great thing to find a place like this?”

“A robber’s den!” exclaimed the Stranger in alarm; “let us get out of it as quickly as we can, or the robbers will return, and we shall be cut to pieces.”

“I don’t believe they are coming back very soon,” said the Pupil, “and we ought to stop and take a look at some of these things.”

“Fly, you foolish youth!” cried the Stranger; “you do not know what danger you are in.” And, so saying, he turned to hasten away from the place.

But he was too late. At that moment the robber captain and his band entered the cave. When these men perceived the Stranger and the Hermit’s Pupil, they drew their swords and were about to rush upon them, when the Pupil sprang forward and, throwing up his long arms, exclaimed: