Malleville helped him do all this. When a sufficient supply of wood was gathered, Phonny laid some of it across his stone andirons, and then prepared to light the fire. He rubbed one of his matches against a dry log, and the match immediately kindled. Phonny looked at the blue flame a moment, and then, as if some sudden thought had struck him, he blew it out again, and said, "On the whole, I will go and ask Beechnut. We may as well be sure." So he ran down from the entrance of the cavern, and thence along by the way that they had come, through the thicket, until he came in sight of Beechnut. "Beechnut," said he, calling out very loud, "we have found a cavern;--may we build a fire in it?" "Yes," said Beechnut. Then Phonny went back, and telling Malleville that Beechnut had said yes, he proceeded to kindle his fire. It happened that there were two large stones, tolerably square in form, each of them, and flat upon the upper side, which were lying in the cavern in such places as to be very convenient for seats. When the fire began to burn, Phonny sat down upon one of these seats, and gave Malleville the other. The fire blazed up very cheerily, and the smoke and sparks, winding their way up the side of the rock, which formed the back of the cavern, escaped out through the opening at the top in a very satisfactory manner. "There," said Phonny, "this is what I call comfortable. If we only now had something to eat, it is all I should want." "I'll tell you what," said he again, after a moment's pause, "we will send home by Beechnut, when he goes with his next load, to get us something to eat." "Well," said Malleville, "so we will." Beechnut very readily undertook the commission of bringing Phonny and Malleville something to eat. Accordingly, when his cart was loaded he went away, leaving Phonny and Malleville in their cavern. While he was gone the children employed themselves in bringing flat stones, and making a fireplace by building walls on each side of their fire. In due time Beechnut returned, bringing with him a large round box, which he said that Mrs. Henry had sent to Phonny and Malleville. It was too heavy for Phonny to lift easily, and so Beechnut drove his cart along until it was nearly opposite the cavern. Then he took the box out of the cart and carried it into the cavern, and laid it down upon Malleville's seat. Phonny opened it, and he found that it contained a variety of stores. There were four potatoes and four apples, each rolled up in a separate paper. There were also two crackers. These crackers were in a tin mug, just big enough to hold them, one on the top of the other. The mug, Phonny said, was for them to drink from, and as there was a spring by the side of the cavern they had plenty of water. "One cracker is for me," said Phonny, "and the other for you, Malleville. I mean to split my cracker in two, and toast the halves." At the bottom of the box there was half a pie. [Illustration: THE CAVERN.]