"and then I will try and pull you up, or we will both
go together. Are you ready?"

By way of answer I let go, first with my left hand and then with the
right, and, as a consequence, swayed out clear of the overshadowing
rock, my weight hanging upon Leo's arms. It was a dreadful moment. He
was a very powerful man, I knew, but would his strength be equal to
lifting me up till I could get a hold on the top of the spur, when owing
to his position he had so little purchase?

For a few seconds I swung to and fro, while he gathered himself for the
effort, and then I heard his sinews cracking above me, and felt myself
lifted up as though I were a little child, till I got my left arm round
the rock, and my chest was resting on it. The rest was easy; in two or
three more seconds I was up, and we were lying panting side by side,
trembling like leaves, and with the cold perspiration of terror pouring
from our skins.

And then, as before, the light went out like a lamp.

For some half-hour we lay thus without speaking a word, and then at
length began to creep along the great spur as best we might in the dense
gloom. As we drew towards the face of the cliff, however, from which the
spur sprang out like a spike from a wall, the light increased, though
only a very little, for it was night overhead. After that the gusts of
wind decreased, and we got along rather better, and at last reached the
mouth of the first cave or tunnel. But now a fresh trouble stared as
in the face: our oil was gone, and the lamps were, no doubt, crushed to
powder beneath the fallen rocking-stone. We were even without a drop of
water to stay our thirst, for we had drunk the last in the chamber
of Noot. How were we to see to make our way through this last
boulder-strewn tunnel?

Clearly all that we could do was to trust to our sense of feeling, and
attempt the passage in the dark, so in we crept, fearing that if
we delayed to do so our exhaustion would overcome us, and we should
probably lie down and die where we were.

Oh, the horrors of that last tunnel! The place was strewn with rocks,
and we fell over them, and knocked ourselves up against them till we
were bleeding from a score of wounds. Our only guide was the side of
the cavern, which we kept touching, and so bewildered did we grow in the
darkness that we were several times seized with the terrifying thought
that we had turned, and were travelling the wrong way. On we went,
feebly, and still more