So steep were the sides of this cone of lava, that it seemed to Alice that she was surrounded by precipices over which she must certainly tumble if she dared to move.
Here Keona left her, having first, however, said, in a low, stern voice: "If you moves, you dies!" The poor child was too much terrified to move, even had she dared; for she, too, had heard the unaccountable cries of Poopy, although, owing to distance and the wild nature of these cries, she had failed to recognize the voice.

When, therefore, her jailer left her with this threat, she coiled herself up in the smallest possible space, and began to sob.
Meanwhile, Keona re-entered the cavern, with a diabolical grin on his sable countenance, which, although it savored more of evil than of any other quality, had in it, nevertheless, a strong dash of ferocious joviality, as if he were aware that he had got his enemies into a trap, and could amuse himself by playing with them as a cat does with a mouse.
Soon the savage began to step cautiously, partly because of the rugged nature of the ground and the thick darkness that surrounded him, and partly in order to avoid alarming the three adventurers who were advancing towards him from the other extremity of the cavern.

In a few minutes he halted; for the footsteps and the whispering voices of his pursuers became distinctly audible to him, although all three did their best to make as little noise as possible.
"Wot a 'orrid place it is!" exclaimed Bumpus, in a hoarse, angry whisper, as he struck his shins violently, for at least the tenth time, against a ledge of rock.

"I do b'lieve, boy, that there's nobody here, and that we'd as well 'bout ship and steer back the way we've comed; tho' it _is_ a 'orrible coast for rocks and shoals." To this, Corrie, not being in a talkative humor, made no reply.
"D'ye hear me, boy ?" said Jo, aloud, for he was somewhat shaken again by the dead silence that followed the close of his remark.
"All right; I'm here;" said Corrie, meekly.
"Then why don't ye speak ?" said Jo, tartly.
"I'd advise _you_ not to speak so loud," retorted the boy.
"Is the dark 'un there ?" inquired Bumpus.
"What d'ye say ?" "The dark 'un; the lump o' charcoal, you know." "Oh! she's all safe," replied Corrie.

"I only hope she won't haul the clothes right off my body; she grips at my waistband like a--" Here he was cut short by Keona, who gave utterance to a low, dismal wail that caused the blood and marrow of all three to freeze up, and their hearts for a moment to leap into their throats and all but choke them.
"Poopy's gone," gasped Corrie, after a few seconds had elapsed.
There was no doubt of the fact; for besides the relief experienced by the boy, from the relaxing of her grip on his waistband, the moment the wail was heard, the sound of the girl's footsteps, as she flew back to the entrance of the cave was distinctly heard.
Keona waited a minute or two to ascertain the exact position of his enemies, then he repeated the wail, and swelled it gradually out into a fiendish yell that awoke all the echoes of the place.