ter much
spluttering and a great deal of smoke, the flame caught, and he
started on his tour, breathing a fervent hope that it would lead him
to his lost friends.

CHAPTER XXII

A TERRIBLE NIGHT

We will return now to Mr. Hume, who was left supporting the
unconscious form of Venning on the brink of the rushing river, with
the vast vault above him, and the roar of sharp explosions bellowing
at intervals through the hollows. As he stooped over his young
companion, he caught a fluttering of the eyelids, and placing the
boy on the ground with a pillow made by his rolled-up coat, he
unfastened the little medicine-bag which each always carried, and
gave him a strong restorative. Then he chafed the cold hands, took
off the wet shoes, and did the same to the feet, which were like
marble. As the blood circulated under the friction, Venning regained
his colour, and suddenly looked about him.

"I'm here, lad," said Mr. Home, cheerily. "You grew a little dizzy,
but you're all right."

"What's that noise?" asked the boy, breathlessly. Mr. Hume picked
him up, and carried him to the door of the vault.

"Magnificent, isn't it? Aren't you glad we came? One of the wonders
of the world; and you've got the crow over Dick this time."

Venning sighed. "It's rather awful," he muttered. "It's grand, lad,
grand! See how the water juts out like a column of steam with the
roar of a big gun, and how the light falls upon it in a thousand
hues, as the fine spray falls."

Venning's eyes opened wide as they looked up. "Like golden rain at a
display of fireworks."

"The very thing, lad," answered the hunter, enthusiastically.

Venning's eyes ranged slowly down to the well of green water arching
out from the black wall, and then to the snow-white flood where the
foam hissed in its giddy descent.

"Where is she?"

"She'll be back soon. But we cannot wait for her here---there is too
much moisture. We'll get back to a drier place."

Still carrying the boy, he made his way back to the great chamber,
lit up mysteriously by those pale cones and glistening columns. Here
he found a dry place in a comer, and after placing Venning on the
ground, he struck a match.

"Here's a find," he said, pouncing on a piece of driftwood.

With his Ghoorka knife he soon split it up, and in a short time a
fire was blazing, throwing a red reflection on the stalactites. It
was an eerie place, echoing to the thunders of the explosions, with
pitch-dark come