through the tremendous
fissure in which we were prisoners.

"They turned back," said Holman. "They had sense enough to stay with One
Eye; we hadn't."

It was no use arguing with the youngster. He denounced our stupidity
till his tongue was too dry to utter the charges his half-crazed brain
made against us.

To divert his thoughts I proposed that we make an attempt to explore the
place, and without making any choice regarding direction we moved into
the inky darkness.

"We'll take it in turns to lead," said Holman gruffly. "Then if one of
us topples over a precipice the other has a chance to save himself. I'll
take first try at it, and if I find that I have pushed my foot into a
hole I'll yell out a warning."

I agreed, and we moved forward slowly. The chances of ever finding our
way out of that place seemed small at that moment. Leith had put us in a
spot where we would not be likely to trouble him for some time, and with
bitterness in our hearts we staggered along in the dark, alternately
damning the treachery of the ruffian and our own stupidity. We had tried
to exercise caution, but when we reviewed our actions, it seemed, as
Holman had remarked, that we had used the judgment of children.

"Why didn't we wait at the door of that place till the brute came out?"
he asked.

I had no answer to give to the question, and after an interval of
silence he fired others at me.

"Why did you let go of One Eye? Why didn't we examine the cavern near
the fire before chasing him? The girls might have been somewhere near
the fire! Do you think they were?"

"I don't think so," I answered, trying to soothe him. "I think Leith was
the only person at the fire. He picked Soma up just before we reached
the gulf."

"But where are they? Where has the devil put them?"

"God alone knows!" I cried. "Here, it's my turn to take the lead."

In silence we went stumbling on into the appalling blackness. We could
not see the dim outlines of each other when we stood only a few inches
apart. The darkness of the Cavern of Skulls had been relieved by the
silver skewers of moonlight, but in the night that rolled around us
there was not a single gleam of light.

We had no matches. Everything that was in our pockets had been jolted
out during the mad jaunt to the stone table, and now the revolver and
cartridges which we had taken from One Eye had been lost by Holman
during the slide down the mountain of volcanic ash that brought us to
the