Part 38 (2/2)

”Shall we keep on?” debated Allen.

”We're so close that we might as well,” advised Ruth. ”Perhaps we may be able to get around it somehow.”

They went forward, though with excessive care, and a moment later stood on the brink of the most awe-inspiring spectacle they had ever witnessed.

In a deep pit perhaps six hundred feet in circ.u.mference was a lake of liquid fire! The molten lava twisted and writhed as though a thousand serpents were coiling and uncoiling. A vapor rose from the fiery ma.s.s that glowed with a hideous radiance in all the colors of the spectrum.

At intervals, huge geysers of living flame spurted up from the surface to a height of many feet and fell back in a glistening of molten gold and coruscating diamonds.

It was a scene that if it could have been viewed with safety would have drawn tourists in thousands from every corner of the globe.

But to the two spectators the thought that they were looking on one of the marvels of the world brought nothing but desolation and despair.

”This must be the source of the lava flow when the whale's hump is in eruption,” said Drew in a toneless voice.

”I suppose so,” said Ruth in a voice that for dreariness was a replica of his own. ”Do you think it's possible for us to get around it in any way, Allen?”

”Not a chance in the world,” answered Drew. ”You can see that the pa.s.sage we followed ends at the brink of the crater. From there on, there's just a wall of solid rock. The only thing left for us to do is to get back to the place where the cave split into three parts.”

They retraced their steps with hearts that grew heavier at every step.

The pa.s.sage that had seemed most promising had yielded nothing but bitter disappointment. Only two other chances remained, and who could tell that they led anywhere but to death?

At the juncture of the pa.s.sageways, they hesitated for a moment only.

There was absolutely nothing to indicate that they should take one of the remaining two paths rather than the other. Impenetrable blackness covered both.

”Which shall it be, Ruth?” asked Drew.

”You do the choosing, Allen,” Ruth responded.

At a venture he took the one leading to the left, but had not proceeded more than a hundred feet when he stopped abruptly on the very brink of a chasm that spanned the entire width of the pa.s.sage-way. There was no ledge however narrow to furnish a foothold along its sides. Once more they were absolutely blocked.

Drew checked a groan and Ruth stifled something suspiciously like a sob. The tension under which they were was fast reaching the breaking point.

”Never mind,” said Drew, stoutly recovering himself. ”There's luck in odd numbers and the third time we win.”

”First the worst, second the same, last the best of all the game,”

responded Ruth with an attempt at heartiness.

Again they went back and took the only way remaining. Upon the ending of that pa.s.sage their life or death depended.

But as they advanced steadily and no barrier interfered, their spirits rose. Then suddenly they cried aloud in their joy, for on turning a sharp bend in the path a rush of air almost extinguished the torch that Drew was carrying.

A hundred feet ahead was an opening thickly covered with bushes, but large enough to admit of forcing a pa.s.sage!

Ruth dropped her load of surplus torches. Drew, grasping her arm, hurried her along. He forced the bushes apart and pushed her through.

Then he followed. They heard a wild shout and the next minute Ruth was sobbing in her father's arms, while Tyke--hardy grizzled old Tyke--had thrown his arms around Allen in a bear's hug and was blubbering like a baby.

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