Mennell wiped the sweat off his forehead. “Look down there, Ferrers,” said he hoarsely. “Can you see anything?”
Ferrers took hold of the lantern and peered down into the blackness. Then suddenly he stood up and looked closely into Mennell’s face. “There is something there,” said he in an awe-struck voice. “Something that looks like men.”
“You saw too?”
“Aye, William.”
“Then it was no ghost.”
Down the rope ladder went Mennell, followed by Ferrers. They bent over the inanimate forms of Alan and Desmond Forsyth and gently carried them up into the mine.
“What’s that?” Ferrers pointed to a far corner of the cave.
“It’s a woman.”
Tenderly also was Jez-Riah carried up the swaying ladder. The miners were all speechless. How was it possible for three human beings to have got into such a position?
Reverently they were carried to the office at the bottom of the shaft where the manager was busy writing. Mennell told him what had happened, and the boys were laid side by side upon the floor. But when they looked at Jez-Riah they could not repress a shudder. She looked almost inhuman with her purple skin and protruding horn. They overcame their repugnance, however, and forced brandy between her parched lips.