"I saw him sniffing at the base of that statue.

I expect there is a rat in there, or perhaps a snake." Sure enough when we reached it there was Tommy with his black nose pressed against the lowest of the tiers that formed the base of the statue, and sniffing loudly.

Also he was scratching in the dust as a dog does when he has winded a rabbit in a hole.

So engrossed was he in this occupation that it was with difficulty that I coaxed him to leave the place.
I did not think much of the incident at that time, but afterwards it came back to me, and I determined to investigate those stones at the first opportunity.
Passing the wrecks of the machines, we emerged on to the causeway without accident.

After we had rested and washed we set to work to draw our canoe with its precious burden of food right into the mouth of the cave, where we hid it as well as we could.
This done we went for a walk round the base of the peak.