first inspection of the vast cavern o

trange visions I have seen! With w

where the tug stopped. The grotto, twelve feet by ten, was lighted by an i

lso used in the submarine boat. But where is it generated? Where does it come from? Is there a man

bedding, a basket chair, a wash-hand-stand with toilet set, and a closet containing l

excited that I scarcely touch it. Yet I feel that I ought to fortify myself and recover my calmness of min

ven suspected, is his home when he is not sailing in the Ebba along the coasts of the new world or the old. This is the unknown re

entity? Has he been banished, is he an outcast of society that he should have selected this place above all others? Am I not in the power of an evildoer anxious to ensure impunity f

t of his fulgurator with a view to utilizing it for the defence of Back Cup in case his retreat should by chance be discovered? Hardly. It would be easy enough to starve the gang out of Back Cup, by preventing the tug from supplying them with provisions. On th

er in the cavern I am at least not imprisoned in my grotto cell. The d

s to right and left. Several sailors of the Ebba are engaged in landing bales an

velops the cavern and comes from a hole in the centr

n for such a distance issues," I say to myself, and t

not caused by the internal workings of nature. These various phenomena were fictitious. They manifested themselves at the mere will of the owner of the island, who wanted to scare away the inhabitants who resided on the coast. He succeeded, this Count d'Artigas, a

t streams through the fictitious crater, and I shall soon be ab

ndred and fifty yards in circumference, and presents an interior superficies of about six a

and which appears above water. As to the length of the submarine tunnel by which communication is obt

byshire, Piedmont, the Balearics, Hungary and California are larger grottoes than Back Cup, and those at Han-sur-Lesse in Belgium, and the Mammoth Caves in Kentucky, are also more extensive. The latter contain no fewer t

ed by pillars of various lengths, which give it the appearance of a Gothic cathedral, with naves and aisles, though it lacks the architectural regularity of a religious edifice. The only difference is that where

ime or other, the same remark does not apply to Back Cup. Although it is marked on the map as an island forming part of the Bermuda group, how could any one imagine that it is hollow, that its rocky sides are

tunnel by which he has been able to found this disquieti

ds in circumference. It is, properly speaking, a lagoon, the rocky sides of which are perpendicular. It is large enou

ian origin, like the grottoes of Crozon and Morgate in the bay of Douarnenez in France, of Bonifacio on the Corsican coast, Thorgatten in Norway, the height of which is estimated at over thre

ough the tunnel by the tide and thrown up around the lake have been piled into heaps, some of which are dry and some still wet, but all of which exhale the strong odor of the briny ocean. This, however, is not the only combustible employed by

erit the appellation? This part of the cavern, which is known as the Beehive, fully justifies its name, for it is honeycombe

l shapes rise to the dome, and form a veritable forest of stone trees through the s

calculate that Count d'Artigas' compa

f the cells, which is isolated from the others, and talking to Engineer Serko and Capt

nsporting the goods in boats to the other side, where great cellars h

e it entered. In this respect therefore Back Cup does not resemble either the grottoes of Staffa or Morgate, entrance to which is always open, even at h

igantic cup turned upside down, not only to outward appearanc

side are the storerooms filled with provisions of all kinds, bales of merchandise, barrels of wine, beer, and spirits and various packets bearing dif

es extends which conducts the current to the powerful electric lights suspended from the roof or dome, and to the incandescent lamps in each

the Count d'Artigas should prohibit me from doing so, for I cannot get farther than the surrounding walls of his myst

ould be soon noticed, and the tug would take out a dozen men who would explore every nook and cranny

ee that it has some chance of being successful, and if ever an opport

rtigas who are content to pass their monotonous existence in the depths of Back Cup. As I said before,

hich they might be classed as North Americans, Europeans or Asiatics. The color of their skin shades from white to yellow and black-the black peculiar to Australia rather than to Africa. To sum up, they appear for the most part to

ly never placed any restraint upon their passions, nor hesitated at anything, and it occurs to me that in all likelihood they have sought refuge in this cavern, where they fancy they can continue to defy the law with impunity, after a lon

e more convinced I am that I am right, especially as everything I

pear to accept his all-powerful domination without question. On the other hand, if he keeps them under his iron heel by enforcing the se

he opposite side of the lagoon, where are situated the storerooms containing the merc

nism and need of fuel, is to be seen in the place. As I had surmised, piles of extraordinary power supply the current to the lamps in the cavern, as well as to the dynamos of the tug. No doubt the current is also utilized for domestic purposes, such as warming the

proportions, is the counterpart of those I visited in Bermuda. In the latter place the

at were those reasons? I can understand monks shutting themselves behind their monastery walls with the intention of separating themselves from the world

t marvellous of the grottoes of Kentucky or the Balearics. I need hardly say that nowhere is the labor of man apparent. All this is the handiwork of nature, and it is not without wonder, mingled with awe, that I reflect upon the telluric forces capable of engend

ute attention, but have been unable to discov

he Bermudan beaches have made their home in the cavern. They have apparently

le farmyard of domestic poultry, and cows and pigs. The food supply is therefore no less assured than it is va

us, robust seafaring men, weatherbeaten and seasoned in the burning beat of tropical latitudes, whose rich blood is surcharged with oxygen by

ch an existence? Do they nev

find out ere I