King had gone for succour; she had a companion
to share with her the dread hours of waiting. She began a swift
planning; she caught up a burning brand as she had seen Mark King do,
and holding it high made a quick survey, going timidly step by step
further from the entrance, deeper into the cavern. It was much like the
one so high above, of what shape she could hardly guess, so many were
the hollows in floor, roof, and walls, so many were the tunnel-like arms
reaching further than she dared go. Gratton could not, or would not,
climb to the higher cave; then why should they not make this their
shelter? She would have to climb the cliffs again; but she would have to
do that in any case. Once up there it would be so simple a matter to
toss down blankets and food and cooking utensils; a half-hour would see
her camp moved from one cave to the other. Eager and excited, she began
to tell Gratton what she meant to do.

"Wait a while," he urged her. "I am terribly shaken, Gloria. I have
lived through experiences which a week ago I would have thought
unbearable." He shuddered; she saw that when he said he was "terribly
shaken" he had not exaggerated. And in the glare of his eyes she read
that, utterly unnerved, he dreaded to be left alone even while she went
up the cliffs. "I would say that a man would have died--or gone
mad--with the strain that I have lived through."

"I know," she said gently. "I can guess. But when you get good and
warm--and rest--I will make you a hot cup of coffee----"

"I have this. It's better than coffee for me now." He untied the mouth
of the bag with shaking fingers, groped through its contents, and at
last brought out a flask nearly full of an amber liquid. "It's the
stuff Brodie's crowd makes," he explained, unstoppering the flask.
"They've got more of it than food with them, curse their bestial hearts.
Stuff which, way back in ancient history, ... which means a week ago!...
I'd no more have thought of drinking than I'd drink poison. But it has
saved the life in me."

He put the bottle to his lips and swallowed three or four times. He sat
afterward making a wry face, his full eyes blinking. But gradually a
faint bit of colour made his pasty cheeks something less dead-white, and
the powerful raw corn whiskey injected into his blood a little
reassurance.

"Let me rest a bit and get warm?" he asked of her. "I--I'd rather you
didn't leave me just yet, Gloria."

Knowing so well what it was to have