en he came to the chamber he struck a match. The lantern
was on the empty box. He lighted it, and began looking for the scarf.
Suddenly he heard a sound. He turned, and saw Joanne standing in the glow
of the lantern.

"Can you find it?" she asked.

"I haven't--yet."

They bent over the rock floor, and in a moment Joanne gave a little
exclamation of pleasure as she caught up the scarf. In that same moment, as
they straightened and faced each other, John Aldous felt his heart cease
beating, and Joanne's face had gone as white as death. The rock-walled
chamber was atremble; they heard a sullen, distant roaring, and as Aldous
caught Joanne's hand and sprang toward the tunnel the roar grew into a
deafening crash, and a gale of wind rushed into their faces, blowing out
the lantern, and leaving them in darkness. The mountain seemed crumbling
about them, and above the sound of it rang out a wild, despairing cry from
Joanne's lips. For there was no longer the brightness of sunshine at the
end of the tunnel, but darkness--utter darkness; and through that tunnel
there came a deluge of dust and rock that flung them back into the
blackness of the pit, and separated them.

"John--John Aldous!"

"I am here, Joanne! I will light the lantern!"

His groping hands found the lantern. He relighted it, and Joanne crept to
his side, her face as white as the face of the dead. He held the lantern
above him, and together they stared at where the tunnel had been. A mass of
rock met their eyes. The tunnel was choked. And then, slowly, each turned
to the other; and each knew that the other understood--for it was Death
that whispered about them now in the restless air of the rock-walled tomb,
a terrible death, and their lips spoke no words as their eyes met in that
fearful and silent understanding.

CHAPTER XIX

Joanne's white lips spoke first.

"The tunnel is closed!" she whispered.

Her voice was strange. It was not Joanne's voice. It was unreal, terrible,
and her eyes were terrible as they looked steadily into his. Aldous could
not answer; something had thickened in his throat, and his blood ran cold
as he stared into Joanne's dead-white face and saw the understanding in her
eyes. For a space he could not move, and then, as suddenly as it had fallen
upon him, the effect of the shock passed away.

[Illustration: "The tunnel is closed," she whispered.... "That means we
have just forty-five minutes to live.... Let us not lie to