"TEMPORA MUTANTURr 97 



The cavern was a curious place, the sides green, 

 and dripping with wet, and part of the top, or roof, 

 had stalactites hanging from it. I believe that since 

 those days all the swallow-holes have been filled 

 in, as they were most dangerous places. What they 

 had been, what they really were, whether they had 

 been made, or whether they were natural cavities, 

 no one ever seemed to know. 



When our fox got into this scrape it was thought 

 out of the question to get him out, and though 

 many that were out stopped to witness the pro- 

 ceedings, as the evening came on they one by 

 one dropped off home, and wished us good night, 

 never expecting that even Lambert's keenness 

 and determined spirit would induce him to stay 

 down in such a place for fully two hours longer. 

 This, however, Lambert and I did, and till Jack 

 Abbey also came down and helped to secure the 

 fox, I making myself also useful by holding the 

 lantern. 



" You must have the brush, sir," said Lambert, 

 presenting me with an affair about the length of a 

 good-sized shaving-brush. This, accordingly, I had 

 mounted when I got home, and it was most religiously 

 kept for years, on one of the library bookshelves at 



H 



