midday
There is no doubt in my mind that in the great buccaneering days of the seventeenth century , and probably much later , the place was the haunt of pirates . One fancies that Captain Sampson of the _ Bonny Lass _ may have known of it before he brought the treasure to the island . There were queer folk to be met with in those days in the Western Ocean ! The cave is cool at blazing midday , and secret , I fancy , even from the sea , because of the droop of great rock-eaves above its mouth . Either for the keeping of stores or as a hiding-place for men or treasure it would be admirable . Yes , the cave has seen many a fierce , sea-tanned face and tarry pigtail , and echoed to strange oaths and wild sea-songs . Men had carved those steps in the passage -- thirty-two of them .