CHAPTER LXIII.
WE ENTER INTO A CAVERN, THE LIKE OF WHICH NO MAN HAS EVER YET TOLD OF.
No sooner did this new idea come to me than I sprang down the rocks towhere our canoe lay, stepped into it, pulled up the stone which servedas an anchor, and, in a perfect rage of haste, paddled to that part ofthe lake where, as I have told, we were like to have been drawn downwith the whirlpool.
To this region we had found no occasion to go since our first hazardousvoyage thither, there being no woods, but only the high stony mountain.But now, nearing this part, I perceived, with a tumult of joy, a widecavern in the rock, disclosed by the falling of the water from itsprevious height: moreover, there was no longer any whirlpool there, butonly a gentle current flowing into the cavern, which was the naturalefflux of the streams that came down from the mountains. And it can bereadily understood that when the waters were swollen so prodigiously asto lie some depth above this cavern, there should be that vast eddy asthey were sucked down to find vent by this passage.
Without fear I pushed my canoe to the very edge of the cavern and lookedwithin; and, though the pitchy darkness of it was frightful enough, yetI was comforted by hearing no great noise of tumbling water, nor eventhe faintest echo, save of a little ripple, which convinced me that Imight safely venture therein, with the assurance that I should come tono horrid falls, but reach, in due course, the issue of this stream uponthe other side of the mountain. But I could go no further at this timefor my impatience to carry comfort to my dear lady. So back I went withas much speed as I had come, and, seeing my dear lady standing at thecavern-mouth, I cried out with all my force for joy. Then, coming allbreathless to where she stood in amaze, I essayed to tell her; but forsome moments could utter no comprehensible words.
"Why, what is the matter with you, Benet?" says she.
"My little comrade," gasps I, "you shall weep no more. Your cheek shallgrow full and rosy again. I have found the means to get from thisaccursed venomous prison!"
Lady Biddy looked at me in mute amazement, my feverish excitement givingher good reason to doubt whether I was not bereft of my reason; but, tocut the matter short, for 'twas ever to me an easier matter to act thanto talk, I begged her to step into our canoe, that I might show her mydiscovery. This she did without further ado, whereupon I pushed acrossthe lake till we came to the newly-found cavern, and there cast out ouranchor of stone, that we might examine the entrance at our ease.
"There," says I, pointing into the grotto--"there lies our road toliberty!"
She peered into the darkness some time in silence, and then, with ahushed voice--
"I see no glimmer of light, Benet," says she.
"Nay," says I, "doubtless the tunnel reaches far and has many windingsere it disembogues beyond the further side of these mountains; butassuredly it has an issue, and I conclude the passage must besufficiently commodious, since it gives no echo of break or fall, andhas sufficed to carry off the vast body of waters so speedily, for youmust remember how suddenly the lake fell after the flood ceased to rushin from the Baraquan. I believe you have nothing to dread here."
"I am ever ready," says she, "to put my life in your hands; but have youno fear for yourself?"
"I value my life only as it may serve you," says I with a transport.
On that, with a sudden impulse, she stretched out both hands to me,while her eyes were flushed with a tear of joy. As quickly I seized themin mine, pressing them as I had not hitherto dared. She did not try todraw them away, but smiled, while a single tear coursed down her cheek;and if I had drawn her to my breast that moment, I think she would havemade no resistance, so virginal innocent was her heart, and pure fromany feeling but that of responsive affection.
We lost no time in beginning our preparations for departure, and thatevening we made up into cakes for next day's baking all the cassavy mealI had ground in the morning for our week's consumption. I was up atdaylight the next morning, and, having made a good fire on the kitchenhearth, killed and dressed four acutis and a couple of chickens, forthere was no knowing how long we might go before we again got freshsupplies. By this time, my lady having come back from her morning bathall fresh and bright as any pink after a summer shower, we sat down toour breakfast very merry and hopeful, discoursing all the while on thebusiness before us. After that she set to a-baking of our cakes on thehearth and roasting meat at another fire, so that one would have thoughtwe expected to entertain friends, and were preparing a banquet for them.While this was about, I went into the wood to cut some poles for guidingus through the cavern, and also I got me some good canes, with which Iproposed to fence about our canoe, that we might be fended from suddenencounter with sharp rocks. In addition I gathered a good store of freshfruit, and a quantity of cuati nuts on their branches, which the Ingasuse for lamps, etc., than which no candles of wax give better light withless smoke.
All these things I carried back to the cavern by the time the sun hadreached the meridian, and there I found dinner spread on our table, andno more sign of disorder than on any other day, my Lady Biddy being oneof those excellent rare women, who, no matter how busy they be, keep aclear head, and neglect none of those comforting attentions on whichdomestic happiness so much depends.
The rest of that day I spent in strengthening and defending our canoe(our fate depending thereon as much as anything), while my lady packedup those things we were to carry with us; and many a time she came to mein distress to know if we could not take this, or if we must leave thator t'other, for I had bid her take no more than was needful to us.
"The truth is," says she, when I went to her once, "I have not the heartto leave anything behind; for I cannot touch a thing but that it remindsme of the pleasure you have given me in making it for my use." Thenafter a pause, in which she looks around her, "Oh! Benet," adds she, "Inever realized till now how happy we have been here; so I must needsfeel sad in leaving these tokens behind."
The next morning we packed our effects in the canoe, and this beingdone, we carried my lady's pets from the conies' cave (as I call it) tothe wood, and there set them free; but, Lord, to see these dumb thingsat the water's edge (the conies on their hind-legs), looking after theirmistress, as if they had a notion they should never see her again,touched our hearts with sad regret.
"Farewell, you dears!" says my lady tearfully; and then, as we glidedpast our cavern, "Farewell, little home!" but she could say no more.
So in silence we neared that cavern where we were about to venture ourlives; for I now perceived how serious and grave a business lay beforeme.
Before entering the grotto, I lit one of the cuati-nuts, and stuck it ina fork of green hard wood I had fixed to the prow of the canoe for thatpurpose. Then, my lady having a pole out on one side, and I one on theother, we recommended ourselves to Providence, and pushed into thedarkness.
For some time we went gently down with the current, only using our polesto keep us head foremost, and as nigh the middle of the stream as wecould judge. And here it was admirable to see how the rocks on eitherhand and above flashed back the light from our flaming nuts, for all theworld like cut diamonds; but after a while, upon looking back, theopening of this cavern (through which we had come) looked no bigger thanthe flame of a penny candle, and the glitter of the rocks grew lessperceptible, from which we concluded that the grotto, instead ofdiminishing, was increasing in capacity. At first this was no matter ofregret, but rather the contrary; but by-and-by, when we could descry nolight at all behind us, nor any reflection from the rocks around, astrange feeling crept upon me, for which I can find no name. Save thereflection of the burning nut upon the black water, and our own figuresas we stood up in the canoe (which were shadowy enough for creatures ofanother world), we could see nothing. The water under the fire lay asstill and smooth as any polished mirror; for aught we could tell, thecurrent had ceased to flow, and we had come to a standstill. I thrust mypole out on either side; it touched nothing. I slid it downwards intothe water, and my arm also up to the elbow,
without striking the bottom.Then I struck upward as far as I could reach, without meeting anyresistance. And on this I looked in my lady's face, and saw it white asa ghost's, and full of awe.
"We seem to have drifted into the world of nothing," says I sportively.
She lifts up her finger in silence a moment, and then in a whisper saysshe:
"There is no echo."
This indeed impressed me, more deeply than all the rest, with a sense ofthat vastness and obscurity in which we stood; and I could not speak,for fear of I know not what. And then, as we stood in that wondroussilence, there came a hollow voice from the immensity above, echoing mywords after all this interval, but in such a hollow, muffled sound asyou may hear after dropping a stone into a deep well.
"Are we moving, Benet?" says my lady, drawing a little nearer to me.
But I could not say whether we were or not, nor knew I any device toascertain the truth.
I made my lady sit down, seeing she was much terrified by this strangeexperience, and replenished the fire at the prow; for though this lightwas of no service for our guidance, yet I felt that to be without itwould be terrible, in good sooth.
So we waited, gazing about us for some sign of change (with the hope wewere yet moving with a current whose now was too even for perception),until I guessed by my feelings it must be getting on for noon. Then,with what spirit I could muster, I proposed we should eat our dinner.But a more ghostly meal I never ate in my life; for all seemed so unrealthat it was difficult to believe in our own existence almost. Nay, itcrossed my mind that, for aught we knew to the contrary, we were now insome limbo of a future state.
"I do not think we are moving, Benet," says my lady, when our meal wasat an end; "shall we not use our oars?"
"With all my heart," says I; "but as to steering, we must leave that toProvidence." Indeed, I should long before have brought our oars intoplay but for the uncertainty as to whither we might come. For 'twas aslikely as not we should pull in the wrong direction, having nothing forour guidance, and so, getting out of the current (if current therewere), come into some stagnant part of those waters, where we mightpaddle about forever and a day and find no exit; but of this I saidnothing, lest I should inspire my lady with more terrors than she hadalready.
And so we rowed on, from time to time replenishing our fire, and myheart sickening at the thought that we might be pushing into the depthsof a boundless space, and away from all hope of deliverance. We had foodfor a week; but I doubted our fire-nuts would hold out three days. Andwhen they were all spent, we must row in endless night, neither seeingeach other nor any faintest glimmer, and that only till our food wasspent. At this I did fervently pray for mercy--if it were only to catchsight again of the mouth by which we had entered--that we might get backonce more into the light of day. My poor little comrade was thinking atthis time of the sunlight and her conies, with a longing to be back inour deserted cavern, as she told me.
We rowed till our strength was exhausted; then I bade my lady lie downand rest, while I watched and kept the nuts burning. When she had takenher slumbers, she insisted upon my doing likewise, and with somereluctance I, in my turn, lay down and fell asleep.
I awoke, and then seeing nothing whatever, for the light was no longerburning, I cried out with a terrible fear that my lady was no more.
But her sweet voice brought me quick relief, as she told me that she hadthought it best to economize our fuel. "And, Benet," says she, "are wenot more likely to catch sight of a faint light in the distance if wehave no fire here to dazzle our eyes?"
"Why, there you are in the right, as you ever are," says I.
"That emboldens me to another suggestion," says she. "As we have notbeen rowing for many hours, it may be that we have drifted again into acurrent, so do let us rest as patiently as we can doing nothing."
I agreed to this, and we passed an interminable time, as it seemed, asbest we might; but, truly, no hours ever spent in that dear soul'scompany were ever so tedious or weary. For, as I say, we had no means oftelling whether we were moving or standing still; but lay there, seeingnothing, hearing no sound, feeling no motion, and in a state ofuncertainty and dread of unknown possibilities that was enough to driveone to a frenzy.
And so we lay or drifted (I know not which) for a time that seemed tohave no end. Once or twice we made a pretense of being hungered, though,Lord knows, 'twas pain to swallow a morsel for our vast terror; andsometimes we made as if we would go to sleep a while, but could neverclose our eyes for blinking at the darkness in hope of seeing some signof light; and from time to time we burned a fire-nut, but withoutperceiving any change at all in our condition.
But at length, when we were beginning to talk of the advisability ofrowing again, for we were as blind to our position as ever, to ourunspeakable joy we felt the cane fender of the canoe grinding againstthe rocks, and before I could get a light to see where we were, my ladycried aloud with joy:
"Look, dear Benet--look up there!"
And casting my eyes round, without knowing whither she pointed, Ipresently spied a bright star; and the next moment the whole starryfirmament was revealed.
Thus did we come out of that wondrous cavern in the night, having goneinto it in early morning; but whether we had been therein one day orthree we could never make out.
The Admirable Lady Biddy Fane Page 63