CHAPTER XXXI
MARJORY'S ADVENTURE
As I felt that time, in which I had the passage all to myself, wasprecious, I turned back to the main way down. The path was very steepand low and the rock underfoot was cut in rude steps; as I held thelantern before me I had to droop it so that I could smell the hot metalwhere the flame touched the back. It was indeed a steep and difficultway, made for others than men of my own stature. As I went, I felt myfirst fears passing away. At first I had dreaded a lack of air, and allsorts of horrors which come to those who essay unknown passages. Therecame back to my recollection passages in Belzoni's explorations in thePyramids when individuals had got lost, and when whole parties werestopped by the first to advance jamming in a narrow passage as hecrawled along on his belly. Here, though the roof came down in placesdangerously low, there was still ample room, and the air came up sweetand cool. To any one unused to deep burrows, whether the same be naturalor artificial, there is a dread of being underground. One is cut offfrom light and air; and burial alive in all its potential horrors isalways at hand. However, the unexpected clearness and easiness of theway reassured me; and I descended the steep passage with a good heart.All distance underground seems extravagantly long to those unaccustomedto it; and to me the mere depth I had descended seemed almost impossiblewhen the way before me became somewhat level again. At the same timethe roof rose so that I could stand upright. I guessed that I mustbe now somewhere at the foot of the hillock and not far from the oldchapel; so I went forward carefully, keeping my hand ready to cover upthe front of the lamp. As the ground was fairly level, I could in away pace it; and as I knew that there was only about two hundred feetdistance from the foot of the hill to the chapel, I was not surprisedwhen after some eighty paces I found the passage end in a sort of rudechamber cut in the rock. At right angles to the place of my entry therewas a regular stairway, partly cut in rock and partly built, leadingupward. Before I ascended I looked around carefully and could see thatsections of the walls of the chamber were built of great blocks ofstone. Leaving further investigation for the future I went upward with abeating heart.
The stair was rudely circular, and I had counted thirty steps when I sawthe way blocked by a great stone. For a few seconds I was in fear lest Ishould find this impossible; then I looked carefully for any means ofmoving the obstacle. I thought it more than likely that something of thesame process would be adopted for both ends of the passage.
Luck was certainly on my side to-day! Here were two iron handles, muchthe same as those with which I had been enabled to move the monumentfrom within. I grasped them firmly, and began to experiment as to whichway the stone moved. It trembled under my first effort; so exerting avery little of my strength in the same direction the great stone beganto move. I saw a widening line of open space through which a dim lightshone in upon me. Holding the stone in poise with one hand, I coveredthe front of the lamp with my cap, and then resumed the opening process.Slowly, slowly, the stone rolled back till a clear way lay abreast of methrough which, doubled up, I could pass. From where I stood I could seepart of the wall of a building, a wall with long low windows in massivestone; and I knew that at last I had reached the old chapel. A joyousfeeling rushed over me; after the unknown perils of the cavern passageat last I had reached safety. I bent low and began to step out throughthe narrow opening. There was fully four feet in the circumference ofthe stone so that two such steps as were possible to me were necessaryto take me out. I had taken one and my foot was lifted for the secondwhen a clear firm voice said in a whisper:
"Hands up! If you move you are a dead man!" I stopped of course, andraising my face, for my head was bent low in the necessary effort ofstooping, I found myself opposite the muzzle of a revolver. For aninstant I looked at it; it was firm as the rock around me, and I feltthat I must obey. Then I looked beyond it, to the hand which held it,and the eyes which directed. These too were inflexible; but a great joycame over me when I recognised that the hand and eyes were those ofMarjory. I would have sprung forward to her, but for that ominous ringof steel in front of me. I waited a few seconds, for it seemed strangethat she did not lower the revolver on seeing who it was. As, however,the pistol still covered me unpleasantly, I said:
"Marjory!" In an instant her hand dropped to her side. I could not butnotice with an admiration for her self-control and the strength of herresolution, that she still held the revolver in her grasp. With a gladcry she leaped towards me with a quick impulsive movement which made myheart bound, for it was all love and spontaneity. She put her left handon my shoulder; and as she looked into my eyes I could feel the gladtremor that swept through her.
For several seconds she stood, and then with a sigh said in a voice ofself-reproach:
"And _I_ did not know _you_!" The way she spoke the words "I" "you" wasluminous! Had I not already known her heart, she would in that momenthave stood self-revealed.
We were manifestly two thoroughly practical people, for even in therapture of our meeting--to me it was no less than rapture to comefrom so grim an aperture in the secret cavern passage--we had our witsabout us. I think she was really the first to come to a sense of oursurroundings; for just as I was opening my mouth to speak she held up awarning finger.
"Hush! Some one may come; though I think there is no one near. Waitdear, whilst I look!" she seemed to flit noiselessly out of the doorwayand I saw her vanish amongst the trees. In a few minutes she returnedcarrying carefully a wicker basket. As she opened it she said:
"Some one might suspect something if they saw you in that state."She took from the basket a little bowl of water, soap, towel and aclothes-brush. Whilst I washed my face and hands she was brushing medown. A very short time completed a rough toilet. Then she pouredthe water carefully into a crack in the wall, and putting the thingstogether with my lamp, back in the basket, she said:
"Come now! Let us get to the Castle before any one finds us. They willthink that I have met you in the wood." We went as unobtrusively as wecould to the Castle; and entered, I think, unobserved. I had a thoroughclean up before I let any one see me; our secret was too precious torisk discovery by suspicion. When I had seen Mrs. Jack, Marjory took meto her boudoir in the top of the castle, and there, whilst she sat byme holding my hands, I told her every detail of my adventure. I couldfeel how my story moved her; when there was any passage of especialinterest the pressure of her clasp grew tense. She, who had seemingly nofear for herself, was all in fear for me!
Then we talked matters over. We had now a good clue to the comingsand goings of the kidnappers; and we felt that by a little thoughtfulorganisation we might find their hours, and be able to trace them oneby one. By lunch time we had decided on our plan of action. We took ouridea from one of the old "Tales of the Genii" where the conquered kingwas brought by his faithful vizier into a cavern and asked to cut a ropewhich was stretched before him, and which he soon discovered releasedthe great rock which roofed the pavilion specially built by the vizierto be seen and occupied by the conqueror. We would fix a fine thread tothe top of the monument and bring it secretly to the castle, where itsbreaking would apprise Marjory of the opening of the passage; thus shewould discover the hour of the coming of the kidnappers to the chapel.We arranged another ingenious device, whereby a second thread, fastenedto the stone in the old chapel, would be broken by the opening of thestone, and would cause a book to fall on Marjory's bed and wake her ifshe were asleep. The better part of the afternoon was taken up by uscarrying out these ideas, for we went slowly and cautiously to work.Then I went home.
I was early at the monument in the morning, and getting behind the stonesignalled to the Castle roof in case Marjory should happen to expect meand be there. But there was no answer. So I sat down to wait till itwould be decent time to go to the Castle for an early breakfast.
As I sat waiting I thought I heard a sound, either close to me andmuffled, or else distant; I could hardly tell which. Matters might belively if I were discovered; so I got my revolver ready. Wi
th my heartbeating so heavily that I mistook it at moments for the foreign sound, Ilistened and listened, all ears.
It was as I had suspected; the sound came from the tunnel beneath me. Ihardly knew whether to stay or go. If I waited I could see who came fromthe opening; but on the other hand I should at once be known to havediscovered the secret. Still as the stone might roll back at any moment,it was necessary that I should make up my mind; I should either go orstay. I decided that I would stay and make discovery at once. In anycase should I succeed in capturing a blackmailer, or even in discoveringor partially discovering his identity, I should be aiding in Marjory'ssafety. So I got my revolver ready; and standing back so that I couldnot be seen at once by any one emerging, waited.
No one came; but I could still hear a slight sound. Filled with agrowing unrest, I determined to take the initiative, and began to moveclose to the stone. As I looked, it began to quiver, and then to moveslowly. As it rolled softly back I kept behind it so that I might not beseen; and waited with revolver ready and what patience I could.
There was dead silence; and then a hand holding a revolver rested amoment on the edge of the opening.
I knew the hand, and I knew the revolver, and I knew the quickness ofboth. I did not say a word or make a sound, till Marjory with an alertmovement seemed to sweep up out of the opening and whirled round withready pistol, as though suspecting an enemy on every side.
Marjory, all covered with dust, her cheeks as white as snow, so that thesmears of dust lay on them like soot; and eyes with pupils distendedas in coming from the dark. For a few seconds she seemed hardly torecognise me; but when she did she sprang gladly into my arms.
"Oh! Archie, I am glad to see you. It was so terrible and lonely in thedark. I began to fear I might never find my way out!" In the dark! Ibegan to fear, and asked her:
"But, dear one, how did you come; and why? Hadn't you got a light withyou? Surely you didn't come unprepared, if you did venture into thecave!" Then in a rush she told me the whole story. How before dawn shehad been waked by the dropping of the book and had hurried to the castleroof to watch the stone. With her field glass she had presently seen itmove. She was then satisfied that the watchers had gone home; and haddetermined on a little adventure on her own account.
"I put on a grey tweed dress, and taking my revolver and bicycle lamp,stole out of the castle and reached the old chapel. Having lit my lamp,I rolled back the stone and set out to explore the tunnel. I followedfrom your description, the passage to its bifurcating, and determined toexplore the other arm to the reservoir. I easily found it, a deep, darktank cut in the rock and seemingly fed by springs which bubbled up frompatches of fine sand, the accumulation of years of wasting rock. WhilstI was trying to look into the depth of the reservoir, holding my bicyclelamp so as to throw its light downwards, I saw something white at thebottom. Just then the lamp from its inverted position began to smoke,but as I looked in that last moment through the crystal pure water Irecognised that the white object was a skull. In the sudden shock of thediscovery, the lamp dropped from my hand and disappeared hissing andbubbling in the last flicker of light." As she told me this, I took herhand for I feared that the memory of such an appalling moment must haveunnerved her; but to my surprise her nerves were as firm as my own. Shelet her hand remain in mine; but she had evidently understood my thoughtfor she said:
"Oh! it's all right now, Archie. For a moment or two I do believe I wasfrightened. You can have the laugh on me there if you like! But thencommon sense came to my aid. I was in a tight place, and it would needall I knew to get out. I thought the matter over as coolly as I could;and do you know that coolness seemed to grow with the effort! I was inthe dark, in a cave, deep underground, the entrance to which was secret;I had no means of getting a light even for an instant, for though I hadtaken plenty of wax matches they were all in my lamp. The only thing Icould do was to try to grope my way out. I had noted the passage asI came along, but I found so soon as I had felt my way out of thereservoir chamber, how little use an abstract recollection is when everysecond there is a new detail. I found, too, the astonishing differencebetween sight and touch; what I had remembered had been with my eyes andnot with my fingers. I had to guard all round me, my head, my feet, mysides. I am amazed, now when I think of it, how many different kinds ofmistakes and calculations I made in a few yards. It seemed a terriblylong time till I came to the place where the passage forks. There Iweighed up the matter of whether it would be better to go back by theway I had come to the old chapel, or to go up the other passage to themonument of which you told me. Somehow the latter seemed to me the morefeasible. I think it must have been that I trusted you more than myself.You had not shrunk from going into that passage; and I would not shrinkfrom going out."
I squeezed her hands hard, I had got both by this time. She blushed alittle and looked at me fondly and went on:
"There was something cheering in the mere fact of going up instead ofdown. It was like coming towards the air and light again; and the timedid not seem so long till I came to the end of the passage, for so faras I could feel there was nothing but solid rock all round me. For alittle bit my heart sank again; but I soon bucked up. I knew that thismust be the way out; and I felt around for the iron handles of which youhad told me. And then, Thank God for His goodness! when the stone beganto turn I saw the light, and breathed fresh air again. They seemed togive me back all my courage and caution. Up to this I had not troubledabout kidnappers; there was quite enough to think of in getting alongthe passage. But now I was my own woman again, and I determined to takeno chances. When I saw it was your gun that was aimed at me I wasglad!"