“Where are we? How dark it is!” continued she, in an awed whisper.
“We are safe.”
“Safe?—Oh, I remember.”
“Don’t talk yet, my darling. Lie still and let yourself be perfectly at rest, as much so as you can, that is, in this uncomfortable attitude. We shall have to hold on here for some time longer.”
“But you?”
“Never mind me. Wait. That’s better now,” shifting his position. And, indeed, it was a real relief—so great had been the strain upon his powers.
“Now try to sleep,” he continued. “We shall have to stay here for some time; in fact, it will be difficult to get down in the dark. We were literally washed up here—and here we had better stay.”
Though the seas no longer reached their place of refuge they still surged angrily through the chasm. Olive shivered.
“How cold it is!” she said faintly.
“Yes. Take a ‘nip’ of this. It is absolutely necessary!” he said, unscrewing the top of a small brandy flask.