“Did it? It was close and stifling, of course; but we took hands and won through this very tunnel we are creeping along now; and all of a sudden we came to rubbish and the murmur of voices. At that Jim shouted. They were close at hand and heard us plain; and in ten minutes we had made a hole through the heap big enough to pass through.”
“And foolish they must have looked to hear how they had sat down to die within reach of rescue.”
“Maybe.”
“Did they not, Betty?”
“How should I know? I had no eyes for them. You weren’t there.”
He stopped in the black darkness and put his arms about her.
“Dennis,” he murmured back. “Are you following? Don’t run us down, but listen to this. I love Betty Pollack with all my heart and soul.”
The girl burst into tears.
“Don’t!” she whispered, and clung to him convulsively.
He said softly over his shoulder: