“At least it will do us no harm to try.�
“Come then,� said I, extending my hand to her and holding the lantern before me for pitfalls.
We went down the cave. To find the water was easy. Sure enough, it led away through a narrow rift, in what direction we could not tell, although its tendency was downward and I knew that it must come out upon the beach somewhere. It had not seemed to me, as I had examined it before the earthquake, that the rift was more than large enough to carry the water, but it might have been opened wider by the shock, and so we followed it. Although sometimes the walls closed over the watercourse, making low and narrow tunnels, we managed to force our way through them. I went in the advance, for I knew that what my body could pass would present no difficulty for her. We wandered in and out among the coral until it seemed to me that we had gone miles, although in reality it might have been but a few hundred yards.
At last we came to a place too low and too narrow for me, although I might have perhaps thrust her through.
“You see,� she said, “this is the end.�
“No, not yet,� I answered, resolved never to give over the attempt while I could move hand or foot or draw a breath.
I still had the axe with me and the sword which I had thrust into my belt. The rock seemed soft and pliable. Lying down upon my back and covering my eyes with one hand, I struck at it overhead with the axe, which I grasped near the head, thus gradually enlarging the passage. The water flowing beneath me was deathly cold, the candle in the lantern was burning lower and lower, but I hung on. Never did I work so hard, so rapidly, so recklessly in my life as then. At last I loosened a huge piece of the rock which fell suddenly upon me. Had I not seen it coming and dropped the axe and stayed its progress with both upraised hands, it might have crushed me. As it was, it fell fairly upon my breast. I could not throw it aside, the way was too narrow. I held it off with my hands and forced my way through the opening, now barely enough to admit my passing, although what I should meet with or where I should bring up on the other side, I knew not. I had no idea how large the fallen rock was, for all its weight, but my mistress has told me that it was a monster stone, and that none but a giant could have carried it. I thrust hard and harder with my feet and presently my way was clear and I shoved myself through the opening. With one great final effort I rolled the rock aside and then lay on my back on the sand, breathless, exhausted.
She dragged herself through the passage I had thus made and over my body, and then knelt by my side, kissed me, murmuring words I did not dare to listen to lest I should go mad with joy. And indeed, I was so exhausted that I could scarcely credit that I had heard anything real. Presently, however, I staggered to my feet again. She had forgot the precious lantern, but I went back after it.
We were now in a more spacious cave; the stream fed by other brooks had become larger; the descent was much more rapid. The cliff wall was, I believe, narrower at the cave than anywhere else in the island. It was perhaps not more than half a mile wide. We stumbled rapidly down the long vaulted passage to the outer wall. As we approached it, I half feared that the rock might be solid and that the brook might plunge beneath it, but fortune did not do its worst for us yet. There was a rift in the wall around which the brook ran into a sort of tunnel or passageway, tall enough for me to stand upright and broad enough to enable us to walk side by side. A long distance away appeared to me a spot of dimness. Recklessly we clasped hands and ran.
Alas, when we reached the light, we found that the entrance was closed by a huge stone. It did not exactly fit the opening and light filtered around it. I stood panting, staring at it.