As he spoke, they turned about together, and began the ascent with hastening steps, for the thought that the torch might die out while they were still within the cavern was far from pleasant to either of them. The girl’s anxiety was revealed in the next question:
With a start of dismay, Saxe recalled that he had left his match-safe in the pocket of his coat, which remained in the canoe. Nevertheless, he made a perfunctory search.
“No,” he admitted reluctantly; “I left them in the canoe.” He heard the girl sigh; but she said nothing more, only hastened her steps. The dimming of the torch was very apparent now.
The two scrambled over the unevennesses of the passage with what haste they might. Saxe congratulated himself on the fact that there had been no other passages branching from that in which they had made the descent, for the turns, while never sharp, had been frequent enough to breed perilous confusion were there need of choice. In the next instant, however, he remembered the abstraction of his thoughts during the traversing of the route, and he was filled with self-reproach at the realization that, after all, there might have been such branches. And, just then, the two halted abruptly, arrested by a sudden consciousness of the truth. They were descending!
For a moment, neither spoke. In that little interval, the feeble glow of the torch died out altogether.
There came a gasp of dismay from Margaret. Saxe’s clasp on her hand tightened in the instinct of protection. Then he essayed a cheerful laugh, albeit there was small merriment in it.
“Now,” he declared briskly, “we must stop right where we are until we’ve planned a campaign. This is a real adventure.” Even as he spoke, miserably aware of the serious predicament into which the going out of the torch had plunged them, he was conscious of the delicate fragrance of her hair, so near his lips, and the vague, yet penetrant, perfume that exhaled from her to the ravishing of his senses. He fought manfully against the temptation to draw her to his breast, as every fibre of him besought. Under the stress of desire denied, his voice came with a ring of imperiousness. “I had a lot of experiences in caves, when I was a boy. This thing will be easy.”