But Grom, who would allow no dissensions in his following,
answered sternly:

"Be silent. You might have done no better yourself."

Then for a time there was no more said, while Grom, sitting there
in the dark with the girl's face buried in his great shaggy chest,
thought out his plans. It was plain to him, from what he had seen in
that last instant of daylight, that the entrance was blocked
impregnably. Moreover, he judged that any attempt to work an
opening in that direction would be likely, for the present, to bring
more rocks down upon them. It would be better, first, to feel their
way on into the cave in the hope of finding another exit. He was
not afraid of getting lost, no matter how absolute the dark, because
he possessed that sixth sense, so long ago vanished from modern
man's equipment--the sense of direction. He knew that, as a matter of
course, he could find his way back to this starting-point whenever
he would.

"Come on!" he ordered at last, lifting A-ya and holding her hand in
his grasp. Reaching out with his spear, he kept tapping the ground
before him as he went, and occasionally the wall upon his left.
Sometimes, too, he would reach upwards to assure himself that there
was no lowering of the rocky ceiling. A spear's length to the right,
more or less, he got always a splash of water.

With their fine senses intensely alert, they were able to make fair
progress, even though unaided by their eyes. But Grom checked his
advance abruptly. He had a perception of some obstacle before him. He
reached out his spear as far as he could. It touched a soft object.
The object, whatever it was, surged violently beneath the touch. His
flesh crept, and the shaggy hair uplifted on his neck. "Back!" he
hissed, thrusting A-ya off to arm's length and bracing his spear point
before him to receive the expected attack. A pair of faintly
phosphorescent eyes, small, but so wide apart as to show that their
owner's head must have been enormous, flashed round upon them. There
was a hoarse squeal of alarm, and a heavy body went floundering off
into the water. They could hear it swimming away in hot haste.

Every one drew a long breath. Then, after a few moments, A-ya laughed
softly:

"It's good to find something at last that runs away from us instead of
after us!" said she.

A little further on the cave wall turned to the left. A few steps, and
their path came to an end. There was water ahead of them, and on both
sides. G