prefer?"

I fired another shot in futile rage. It struck the cliff and sent a
stone flying into the stream.

Then silence followed. And I took Jacqueline and carried her back into
the little hollow place. I put my hand upon her breast.

It stirred. She breathed faintly, though she showed no sign of
consciousness.

And then I acted as a trapped animal would act. I raged up and down
the tunnel from cataract to cave, and at each end I fired wildly,
though there was no sign of any guard. Why should their guards expose
themselves to fire at me when they had me at their mercy?

They could surprize me from either end, and I suppose I thought by this
trick to maintain the illusion of having some companion. Heaven knows
what was in my mind. But now I stood beneath that awful cataract
firing at the blind rock, and now I was back behind the earth-bags
shooting into the tunnel.

And again I was at Jacqueline's side, crouching over her, holding her
hand in mine, pressing my lips to hers, imploring her to live for my
sake, or, if she could not live, to open her eyes once more and speak
to me.

So the afternoon wore away. The sun had sunk behind the cliffs. I had
fired away all but six of my cartridges. Then the memory of my similar
act of folly before came home to me. I grew more calm.

I understood Leroux's intentions--he meant to surprize me in the night
when I was worn out, or when I made a blind dash in the dark for the
tunnel.

I felt my way around the cave with the faint hope that there might be
some other egress there.

There was none, but I made out a recess which I had not perceived,
about one-half as large as the cave itself, and opening into it by a
small passage just large enough to give admittance to a single person.
Here I should have only one front to defend.

So I carried Jacqueline inside and began laboriously to drag the bags
of earth into this last refuge. Before it had grown quite dark I had
barricaded Jacqueline and myself within a place the size of a hall
bedroom enclosed upon three sides with rock.

And there I waited for the end.

What an eternity that was!

I strained my ears to hear approaching steps. I beard the gurgle of
the stream and the slow drip of water from the rocks, but nothing more.
The star-light was just bright enough to prevent an absolute surprize.

But I was utterly fatigued. My eyes alone, which bore the burden of
the defence, remained awake; the rest of m