Panic-stricken, Ed sank to his knees and began to crawl frantically toward the passageway. His breath came in quick gasps, and the air of the place suddenly became suffocating. If only he could find the entrance to the tunnel and escape! That was his one thought as he scrambled hurriedly along in the darkness. It seemed as though he had gone a much longer distance than necessary, and he knew he must have passed by it. Suppose he had branched off into some other alcove of the cave and lost himself! The possibility sickened him, and he halted irresolutely.
Then the lad recalled that in his wild, unreasoning fright he had left his pole and candle somewhere behind him. He remembered the box of matches, and brought it from his pocket with violently trembling fingers and tried to light one. For some time he was unable to do so, owing to his excitement.
At last one of the sulphur-tipped slivers blazed up. Sheltering the tiny flame with his quaking palms, Ed endeavored to peer about by aid of its flickering glow. The match dropped from his nerveless fingers, and he uttered an agonized groan, for there, within arm’s reach of him, lay another appalling white specter!
For a minute or so he was unable to move, and he sat nervously wiping the perspiration from his brow. Then once more he made an effort to escape from the tomb-like prison. Lighting many matches, he at last found his way to a side wall. Keeping within touching distance, he began to follow it along, hopeful in that way sooner or later to find the mouth of the opening through which he had come.
After he had followed the smooth rock wall for a long time without coming to the outlet, Ed began to fear he had wandered from the original chamber. If he had, he realized the improbability of ever being able to find his way back. He used up many precious matches in a vain endeavor to locate himself. Then he decided to hoard the balance of his supply for use later on. Once his hand, stretched forth in the darkness, came in contact with something smooth and hard, and he drew back with a shudder—it felt like a human bone!
His knees and palms were scraped and bruised from contact with the hard floor of the cave, and several times he bumped his head against sharp, projecting points of rock. The air was dank and stuffy; but after his first wild panic had passed, Ed found that he could breathe with little real difficulty. This caused him to believe that the passageway fed a supply of air into the chamber. The belief encouraged him to hope he had not wandered far from it.
When the lad had first entered the cavern and surveyed it by the light of his candle, the place had not appeared so large. Now, as he crawled around it in the darkness, it seemed absolutely interminable.
Ed began to suspect that he had gone around it many times, and in some way had missed the outlet each time. He fastened his handkerchief in a seam of the wall, so that if he was doubling on his trail his hand would find it on the next circuit.
Many times, as he crawled along, he blamed himself for having dropped the pole. He felt some satisfaction in the knowledge that, oddly enough, he had retained possession of his rifle. For a long time he was unaware that he held it clutched in his hand; and when at last he became conscious of it, it greatly increased his confidence.
Suddenly he halted, listening intently. From the opposite side of the chamber he heard what sounded like a smothered ejaculation. He remained motionless, and, though he could not see a yard before his face, he grasped the rifle, his finger on the trigger.