Some of the crystals which were of the purest quartz hanging from the roof, were of an enormous size, giving reflections which made the brilliancy perfectly bewildering. The floor of the cavern was covered, not with Brussels or Wilton carpets, but with the skins of the deer and bear, which to the tread were as pleasant as the softest velvet. Around the room were a number of frames, rudely constructed to be sure, of branches, but none the less convenient on that account, over which skins were stretched, forming comfortable couches where the men might sleep or doze away their time when not actively employed. Near the center of the room was a large flat stone rising about two feet above the floor. The top of this stone had been made perfectly level, and over it a rich damask cloth had been spread so as to make it answer all the purposes of a table. Boxes covered with skins, and packages of merchandise answered the purpose of chairs, when chairs were wanted. "Where is the king, I should like to know?" said Captain Flint, looking with pride around the cavern now fully lighted up; "who can show a hall in his palace that will compare with this?" "And where is the king that is half so independent as we are?" said one of the men. "And kings we are," said Captain Flint; "didn't they call the Buccaneers Sea Kings in the olden time?" "But this talking isn't getting our supper ready. Where has that Indian she-devil taken herself off again?" The person here so coarsely alluded to, now made her appearance again, bearing a basket containing a number of bottles, decanters and drinking glasses. She was not, to be sure, so very beautiful, but by no means so ugly as to deserve the epithet applied to her by Captain Flint. She was an Indian woman, apparently thirty, or thirty-five years of age, of good figure and sprightly in her movements, which circumstance had probable gained for her among her own people, the name of Lightfoot. She had once saved Captain Flint's life when a prisoner among the Indians, and fearing to return to her people, she had fled with him. It was while flying in company with this Indian woman, that Captain Flint had accidently discovered this cave. And here the fugitives had concealed themselves for several days, until the danger which then threatened them had passed. It was on this occasion that it occurred to the captain, what a place of rendezvous this cave would be for himself and his gang; what a place of shelter in case of danger; what a fine storehouse for the plunder obtained in his piratical expeditions! He immediately set about fixing it up for the purpose; and as it would be necessary to have some one to take charge of things in his absence, he thought of none whom he could more safely trust with the service, than the Indian woman who had shared his flight. From that time, the cave became a den of pirates, as it had probably at one time been a den of wild beasts.