246 NATURE AND WOODCRAFT. 



struck me as unusual in outline. One of these 

 was an elongated lower jaw, still holding a large 

 canine tooth, which, after careful examination, 

 turned out to be that of a Wolf. 



Upon this little discovery G-ip and I crawled 

 along a tortuous passage until we found our- 

 selves in a not inconsiderable cavern. For a 

 moment this fairy hole reminded me of St. 

 Brandan's Isle, in Kingsley's Water Babies. 

 Trickling from the rocks far up in the dark re- 

 cess, the water-bearing carbonate had spread a 

 silver filament over all. Miniature stalactites of 

 strange and fantastic forms depended from the 

 roof, and bright bosses of the same glittering 

 substance rose from the floor. At the entrance, 

 where the light rushed in, it could be seen that 

 fungi and golden mosses draped the dripping 

 walls ; the green of the moss was intensely 

 green, the lichen tracery ravishing. There was 

 a mass of Golden Saxifrage, the light shone 

 through frail fern fronds, and a constant " drip " 

 from above only served to make the silence 

 more intense. 



It seemed almost an act of vandalism to break 

 through the stalagmitic floor; but after the wolfs 

 jaw I was curious to follow up the clue. Gip's 



