Part 31 (1/2)
I paced the floor with feverish i by thisthe sharp pangs of hunger, I slashed a bit of leather froht chew a dry bone Inbitter taunts at the unseen upper world Exhausted by such useless frenzy, I would sink prone to the floor, every nerve unstrung, lying there panting in helplessness until returning strength again sent me back and forth in that awful tramp from wall to wall I perceived that the strain of that horrible haunted silence was driving ain did I break fro God for mercy Yet I arose without rest, without peace At last I sank weakly down against the wall and lay tre eyes
I had coer to supportscenes of hellish ingenuity Ah! look! see! yonder coray face floating against the wall! Away, you foul fiend! I arows! It is as large as aup until they e, unnatural radiance over the cave I is about ood God! do my eyes actually look upon the day once more--the sweet, sweet, blessed day? Surely it is but a drea down fro so that I was co doard ht, now in the radiance, anon in the shadoisting and turning like a great snake, a grass rope steadily dropped ring by ring until its loosened end coiled on the stone floor I saw it, never believing the testi hand had actually closed upon it Then, with the touch in ushed froave way, and I was Geoffrey Benteen once more A cautious whisper pierced the silence
”If you reth to mount the rope quickly?”
So parched and swollen were rasp upon the cord, and, finding it firmly held above,for one who had passed through the strain which had befallensoth, while an intense desire to escape fro to venture I was dih the s of that loosened rope, the slipperiness of its grassy strands betweenuphile sloinning toilsole for life as I everto hope, when I finally felt a hand close firled on, until, panting and exhausted, I sank upon the skin-carpeted floor of the apart toazed into the face of lad eyes met those of Eloise de Noyan
”Oh, hush!+” she sobbed ”Do not speak of what you have suffered, for I read it all in your eyes Oh, my poor, poor boy! I thank thethat deuards are everywhere The slightest soundone to the door, and it will be better that she believe you her victiaze at her,in sobs of pain
”How chanced it, Mada from contact with the rope, ventured to touch her own
She looked into my eyes bravely, a red flush in either cheek
”I overheard those bold words you spoke to her last night across the partition”
”Last night? Rather a week since”
She s
”Ah, no, Geoffrey It has see opportunity for service, yet 'tis scarcely eight hours since you were hurled into yonder hole See; the sun in the sky tells the story truly But every moment we delay only serves to increase our peril of discovery assist th, to relay this stone slab
It testedit aside No doubt there is a cunning spring soht after it in vain”
Toiling together we finally succeeded in returning the flat cover to its proper position in the flooring, and spread over it a thick skin
Seeing everything was left exactly as when she entered, Madame, who had become a neoh a narrow curtained recess to the second apartned as the Queen's reception roo, the loalls covered with shi+elds of beaten copper, while burnished bits of the saold and iron, were scattered everywhere in strange profusion
Varied tinted stones and sea-shells had been built into a raised platform, on which stood a couch hidden beneath rich robes of skin, and draped about with ether it was an interior of rich barbaric splendor, savage in its unusual beauty, yet possessing here and there an odd touch of civilization al by contrast You aze about and note such details, for Mada ether a partially concealed passage behind where the couch stood
Hereintoshelf, concealed by a curtain of scarlet cloth
”Eat heartily,” she commanded quickly, ”for you see watch lest we be taken by surprise Should I give a signal, lift yonder red curtain at its farther end, and hide there in silence until I coh, yettime for speech
”Have you some plan, Madame?” I questioned anxiously ”You said but now this house was held under heavy guard”
”I spoke truly I e is at ain Oftentimes they peer within when the Queen is absent, to assure theed”
”And this Naladi--does she treat you well?”