y gradually subsided, though it was some
minutes later before the quivering finally ceased.

Dazed and bewildered, Allen Drew scrambled to his feet. His hands were
scraped and bleeding, though he thought little of this in his mental
perturbation.

His thought turned instantly to Ruth. What might have happened to her
while he was away from her? The trees were thick near the mouth of the
cave. Suppose one had fallen and caught her before she could escape?

He started to rush back to the entrance, but to his astonishment, could
see no trace of the light that had marked the place where the opening
had been.

He stopped short, puzzled and alarmed.

"That's queer," he muttered. "I guess that jar I got has turned me
around. It must be in the other direction."

He hastily retraced his steps. But as the cave grew wider and he found
no sign of the narrow passage by which he had entered, he knew that he
was wrong.

"Must have had it right the first time," he thought, "but it's strange
that I didn't see any light. Perhaps there was a bend in the passage
that I hadn't noticed."

Again he went back, feeling his way. The path narrowed and his
outstretched hand came in contact with a shred of cloth that had been
torn from his coat when he had entered. This was proof positive that
he was on the right track. But where then was the light?

The answer came to him with startling suddenness when he plunged
violently into a mass of earth and rock that barred his way.

_The entrance to the cave had vanished!_

In its place was a vast mass of earth, a slice of the mountain side
that had been torn loose by that last mighty writhing of tortured
nature and that now held him as securely a prisoner as though he were
in the center of the earth.

CHAPTER XXIII

A DESPERATE SITUATION

Mechanically, Drew took his handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the
cold sweat from his brow. He tried to steady his reeling brain and
bring some semblance of order into his thoughts.

This then was the end! Trapped like a rat in a cage, shut out forever
from the world of men, doomed to die miserably and hopelessly,--sealed
in a tomb while yet alive!

All the dreams he had cherished, all the hopes he had nourished, all
the future he had planned--planned with Ruth----

Ruth!

The thought of her wrung his soul with anguish, but it also woke him
from his torpor.

He _would_ see her again! He would not surrender! He would _not