Part 26 (1/2)
It is impossible to set down any statement that will enable the reader to for which took place in that spot of eternal night Hands groped for hands in the darkness, and sobs and cries and words of comfort went out into the silence Edith and Barbara Herndon wept, the Professor shrieked out denunciations of Leith, and Holman and I were nearly choked by the lumps that rose in our throats
Explanations caer prevented hiirls were not in a condition to give a lucid account of their sufferings since the night we had left theathered from the hysterical utterances, however, that Leith had rushed the froed the fate he intended for us when he had dispatched us to the table of the centipede
The reduction in his bodyguard caused him to make immediately for the secret retreat, and as he considered it inadvisable to press his argument with the Professor and Edith at that moment, he had lowered his three prisoners into the devil chamber into which we had accidentally fallen
”This is the place you ht you left the camp,”
said the Professor
”We mentioned?” repeated Holman in amazement ”We didn't know the place existed till we rolled into it!”
”But you read it out of the note that Soma dropped,” cried the scientist ”Don't you remember where he threatened to put the five babies?”
”The Black Kindergarten!” I staarten,” said the old man ”That is what the inhuman brute called the place when he lowered us into it We are to stay here till I sign papers that will give him possession of my property, and till--till Edith consents tothe words out into the stillness, and for a few minutes no one spoke The horror of the situation had the sa Three days before, ere in possession of Leith's letter to the one-eyed man, in which he had reht, and yet we had not been able to avert the fate which the brute had in store for us in case the Professor and Edith Herndon refused to consider his villainous proposals The Professor's irl's hand! The words made me physically sick, and I sat down upon the floor of the place till the dizziness had passed from my brain
”And food?” Holman put the question, but the words seereat distance
”He told us he would lower it to us once a day till we--till we came to our senses,” said Edith Herndon quietly ”We received our first supply soo”
She tried to speak bravely, but the little catch in her voice belied the courageous front which she endeavoured to assume under cover of the darkness Barbara was silent, except for an occasional sob which she was unable to stifle, while the Professor poured forth his story of Leith's deception when he firstscoundrel had poured into the ears of the laurel-hungry scientist the tales of skulls and ruins which he would find upon the Isle of Tears The skulls and ruins were there, but it looked as if ould add our own skeletons to the cru-dead Polynesians, the peculiarities of whose whitened brain cases were to supply the subjectfaist It was an indescribably mournful reunion We could not see each other, and when silence fell upon us I had a horrible sensation that the choking, depressing darkness of the place afting Edith Herndon away froed to find and clasp the hand that had taken ht on board _The Waif_ when I made an offer of my services
The Professor had explained that the opening through which they had been lowered was immediately above their heads They had not ain to obtain the food which Leith had promised to send till they saw fit to accede to his proposals, and when Holation the old orously
”We will lose ourselves, and ill never be able to find our way back here to get the food,” he cried
”But ill never get out by re here,” said Holman ”If he has rounds upon which he will grant you your liberty, I don't see that it will serve any good to re the food he thron”
”That's true,” murmured Edith, and I blessed her mentally for the cal darkness had no terrors for her in comparison to the fate that awaited her above The ue convinced me that the proposals that had been made since the time that Leith had shone out in his true colours had produced a terror which she endeavoured to hide from her father and sister
But the dark terrified the Professor Although he viewed Leith's proposals with the greatest abhorrence, the hole above his head appeared to him to be the only path back to the outer world, and he was afraid to stray
”There ht be another way out of the place,” said Holman ”Can Verslun and I make the attempt and leave you three here?”
”No, no!” cried Barbara ”Please stay here with us!”
”I think it will be better if we reether,” said Edith ”If you and Mr Verslun did discover an opening it would be exceedingly difficult to find your way back here, and if you got out of this place you h which ere lowered Perhaps the way to it is known only to Leith”
Edith's argu them in that black cavern was purely an accident, and it was hardly probable that Holman and myself would be able to find our way back to the spot if ent off on a tour of investigation Personally I had no desire to leave the girls Leith's deviltry had so i, and if he thought ere out of the way, I had no doubt that he would take ie of the Professor and his daughters by means that were familiar to him I could well understand that Edith Herndon's love for her father would coed Professor in front of the great stone centipede, and that ht happen at any moment now that Leith considered that he had disposed of all active opposition
For hours we debated the reed to move forward on an inspection tour of the vast subterranean place the moment the next supply of food ca the wait Holman and I made short trips into the darkness, but ere careful that we did not get out of the hearing of the two girls, who called at intervals so that ould be able to find our way back The place e-inspiring Its size could only be guessed at Stones that were flung in a certain direction where the floor sloped gradually doard could be heard rolling for uessed that it was earlytorch illuminated a round hole about seventy feet above our heads, and Hol scoundrel would be in ignorance of the reunion There was no possibility of the torchlightour presence known It would take a score of torches to enable hie of the hole while Soh, the ruffian inquired if his victied their minds
”No, we have not,” replied the Professor, his thin, quavering voice sounding strangely weak after the deep-throated bellow of the bully on top