The junction of the land forces with those operating on the water was effected in good order, the latter being intact under command of the captain, but the former exhibiting, by their terribly reduced numbers, the dreadful fatality of war.  Squire Walker and Mr. Bangs alone represented the cavalry; Carruthers and his corporal’s guard, the first squad, and the veteran all alone, the second squad of the infantry.  Even this remnant had its deserter, for, during the conversation between the Squire and the Captain, private Bigglethorpe stole away, and when next seen was standing far out upon a dead hemlock that had fallen into the lake, fishing with great contentment, and a measure of success, for bass.  The numbers of the force were soon augmented by the appearance of the doctor and his bearers.  The disabled physician was accommodated with a seat on the bottom of the scow, two of the Richards boys being displaced in his favour.  The Captain reported a prize in the shape of a handsome varnished skiff, which he found drawn up on some skids or rollers at the foot of a great mass of rock, that seemed as if cut all about in regular form, in readiness for quarrying.  The finding of the boat just opposite it, the worn appearance of the ground, the absence of moss or any other growth on the severed edges of the square mass of limestone, led the detective to ask if there was any report of a subterraneous passage in connection with this mysterious region.  The doctor, whom his former guide had taken by water, and insisted on blindfolding at a certain point, was sure that he had walked some distance on rock, and, although the lamp-lit room, in which he had seen his patients, was lined with wood, and had blinds on apparent windows, he doubted much that it was built in the open air.  Then, Coristine remembered how the dissipated farmer had coupled Rawdon’s geology with trap rock, as well as with galena, quartz and beryl.  Knives were produced and thrust into the seams at the top and on the two sides, as far as the blades would go, but along the bottom there was no horizontal incision answering to that above; it was perpendicular towards the earth, and of no great depth.

It was decided, in the meanwhile, to leave the Captain with Richards senior, his youngest son, and Mr. Bigglethorpe, who declined to leave his sport, as a guard on the skiff and the adjoining mysterious stone.  The rest of the party returned to the encampment, to consult with the colonel and learn the reason of his absence.  Pierre Lajeunesse was found where Mr. Terry had left him, and gladly accepted an arm up the hill.  Arrived at the stone-yard, the Squire and Coristine learnt with concern of the dominie’s wound, but were rejoiced to find it was nothing more serious, and that his was the only casualty, besides the doctor’s.  Squire Walker and Mr. Bangs accompanied the colonel, whom Coristine relieved in attendance upon the dominie, and Maguffin, to look for the felled accomplices of