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Truly, the Death

CHAPTER XXXVII

ROUND THE CLOCK

When the water had fallen so far that we could sit on the ledge, werested for a few , cramped and chilled as ere But we soon felt the chill ofthe water and stood again till the rocky ledge was quite free Then weenjoyed a rest, if the word "enjoy, exhausted condition I et soht be saved fro out our clothes as well aswe could, and with braver hearts set ourselves down to the second spellof our dark captivity Well we knew that the tide had risen higher thanthe tin box in the corner of the cave, and tacitly put off the e Presently when the chill had somewhat passed froet down the box Shecould not reach it, so I rose and took it down Then we resuan to investigate

It was a sadly helpless perforard to size as well as to shape Our wet hands couldnot of the et or dryIt was only e found that the box was quite full of water that werealised that there was no hope of light in this quarter, and that weh the darkness as well as we could I thinkthat Marjory cried a little She covered it up for me in some womanlyway But there are eyes in the soul that can see even through cih nWhen I touched her face,Still ere happy in a way The fear of death had passed, andere only waiting for light and warmth We knew that every ; and we knew too that wecould grope our way through the cavern We rejoiced now that there wasno labyrinth of offshoots of the cave; and ere additionally gladthat our clue, the cord which we had taken with us, rein to move, for there was no stir ofwater to shift it and draw it away

When we thought that a sufficient time must have elapsed, even at thedeadly slow pace at which it crawled, we kissed each other and began ourfirst effort to escape

We easily found the cord, and keeping hold of it, felt our way slowlyalong the rugged wall I ht, for I was feeling way by the left hand alone I feared lestshe should get bruised by the jagged rock which protruded here andthere It ell I did so, for in the first dozen yards I got soht have permanently scarred her tender skin Theexperience made me careful, however, and after it I took care to feela step I found by experience that it wasthe cord which had le, and so taking e where we had originally dropped it as ent along

When we had passed the first two bends, the anxious time came; it washere that the roof dropped, and we did not know if the tide had fallenlow enough to let us through We pushed on however into the deepeningwater, Marjory still keeping close behind o onalone and explore We found that the rock dipped below the water levele had gone soood while--it seeain, andfound that though the water was still high there were some inches ofspace between rock and water

Joyfully we pushed on slowly; our hearts beat gladly e could raiseour heads fro position and raise them freely in the airIt only took us a few the cord as a clue to the narrow opening we scrambled up as well as wecould I helped Marjory as ood as I was; nay better, for all her woh the narrow hole Then verycarefully we clicord, came at last to the tackle by which we had lowered ourselves intothe cave It was rather a surprise to us e reached it, for weexpected to see the welco before we had comeunder it

At first, in the whirl of thoughts, I i, a rock fallen in, or soeneral collapse Then Ifancied that we had been tracked down, and that some one had tried tobury us in the cave It is wonderful what strange thoughts coed spell of absolute darkness; no wonder that evenlow-grade, violent, uniinative cri; but when she spoke, it was evident from herwords that she had some of the same ideas herself There was a tone ofrelief in her voice which was un thought:

"Of course not! It is only that the la tihtshaven't!" It was evident enough now We had been so hts were exhausted; and at no tiht in the cellar

I found it a little difficult to work the tackle in the dark with mynumbed hands Hope, however, is a parah the hole in the rock I called to her to getlight as soon as she could; but she refused point blank to do anythinguntil I was beside her When I got the rope round me, we both pulled;and in a very few seconds I too was up through the hole and in thecellar I found the ht even in this spluttering forer an instantbut moved to the door, which I unlocked, and we stepped out and ranup the steps The lantern on the roof which lit the staircase was allablaze with sunshine, and we felt bathed in light For a second or te could not realise it, and blinked under the too lare

And then, with inconceivable rapidity, we caht In less than a second ereagain in the realities of life; and the whole long night of darkness andfear was behind us like a dream

I hurried Marjory into the room where she had dressed, and where werea store of her clothes; and then I proceeded toroom was made after the old fashion, wideand deep, and had in the back a beautiful old steel rack with bracketson which to hang pots and kettles I thought this would be the bestplace for a fire, as it was the biggest in the house So I got fromthe fuel house off the kitchen an armful of dry furze and another ofcut billets of pine which I dule e fire roaring up thechi it in theblaze, and then, when I found myself in a cloud of steam from my wetclothes, ran into low, and a hich was exquisite, I putroo readya meal--supper, breakfast, dinner, we did not knohat to call itOne glad ether wethanked God for the great mercy which He had shown us Then we resumedpreparations to eat, for ere ravenous The kettle was beginning tosing, and we soon had hot delicious tea, which sent a glow through usThere were plenty of cooked provisions, and we did not wait to warmthem: such luxuries as hot food would come into our lives later It wasonly e had satisfied our appetites that we thought of looking atthe time My oatch had stopped when I had first tried the entranceto the great cave and had been waist high in water, but Marjory had lefthers in her rooed her dress for the expedition Itwas now one o'clock and as the sun was high in the heavens it was--P MAllowing for the ti, we must have been in allin the caves sost athered that as the tide was full athalf past six o'clock we must as the normal rise of the tide was betweeneleven and twelve feet have been immersed in the water some

four hoursThe very thought of it er and ether