Part 45 (2/2)

”What the deuce!” he exclai to help me up ”Are you as weak as that? Gad, I'm sorry!”

”That is the second fall he has had,” said Desiree, with a e!

Butstretch our diet would hardly have been conducive to health, but it was exactly what I needed to put blood and strength in ain I had to withstand Harry's eager dean within two hours to insist on exploring the cave, and would hardly take a refusal

”I won't stir a foot until I am able to knock you down,” I declared finally and flatly ”Never again will I attempt to perform the feats of a Hercules when I am fit only for an invalid's chair” And he was forced to wait

As I say, however, , and when it started it ca perfectly; only one reot nothing but the merest scratches

Desiree improved very slowly The strain of those four days in the cavern had been severe, and her nerves required s than a dark and dareeable diet than raw meat, to adjust themselves

Thus it was that when Harry and I found ourselves ready to start out to explore the cavern and, if possible, find an exit on the opposite side from the one where we had entered, we left Desiree behind, seated on a pile of skins, with a spear on the ground at her side

”We'll be back in an hour,” said Harry, stooping to kiss her; and the phrase, which ht have co for a little sojourn with friends on the corner, brought a smile to my face

We went first toward the spot where lay the remains of ”our friend with the eyes,” as Harry called hiht by our noses, for the odor of the thing was beginning to be--to use another phrase of Harry's--”most awful vile”

There was little to see except aflesh As we approached, several hundred of the animals hich Harry had filled our larder scahters,” I observed, turning to watch thereed ”See here,” he added suddenly, holding up a piece of the hide of the reptile; ”this stuff is an inch thick and tough as rats It ought to be good for so ers, and I pulled him away

Several hundred yards farther on we ca to the right; but though it was uneven andboulders and deep crevices, we found no exit We had gone at least half a mile, I think, e caht, and we took the new direction, which was toward the spot where we had left Desiree, only considerably to the left

Another five e of the stream, which at that point was much swifter than it was farther up We waded in and discovered that the cause was its extreo to?” asked Harry, taking the words fro the bank to the left, within fifty feet we came to the wall There the stream entered and disappeared

But, unlike the others we had seen, above this there was a wide and high arch, whichunder a e The current ift but not turbulent, and there was soht through the lanced at each other quickly, ht

There was an electric thrill in that glance

But we did not speak--then

For suddenly, startlingly, a voice sounded throughout the cavern--Desiree's voice, raised in a shrill cry of terror

It was repeated twice before our startled senses found themselves; then we turned with one impulse and raced into the darkness toward her

Chapter XIX

AFLOAT

As we ran swiftly, following the edge of the strea echoes They could not quicken our step; ere already straining every muscle as we bounded over the rock Luckily, the as clear, for in the darkness we could see but a few feet ahead Desiree's voice was sufficient guide for us