Mr. Hume sat down, and closed his eyes, but when he heard the regular breathing of the tired boy, he was up again. It was the thought of Dick that filled him with sleepless anxiety, and he leant on the parapet, fuming over plans in his mind with wearying reiteration. He was staring straight before him, when a light appeared on his own level, accompanied by the ring of metal on rock. Instinctively his rifle was levelled, and, with his finger on the trigger, he sighted a foot below the light, which was now quite stationary, but, obedient to a sudden overmastering impulse, he as quickly lowered the rifle.
A moment the light remained fixed; then it was raised, lowered, and moved from side to side as if the holder were examining the ground; then it advanced.
"Stop!" thundered Mr. Hume. "Stand back. There is a chasm at your feet."
He had suddenly remembered the platform on which he and Venning had emerged on their first attempt after leaving the Cave of Skulls, and somehow he felt that the person who held that light had strayed to that very place in ignorance.
He heard a startled exclamation, saw the light fall from the person's band, and marked its swift descent, before the flame was extinguished by the rush of air; then it was his turn to fall back.
"Who are you?"
"It's Dick," shouted Venning, with a sob in his voice.
"Dick," muttered the Hunter, cold to the heart at the thought of the falling light.
"Hurrah!" There was no mistaking that shout. "Where are you? How can
I get to you?"
"For God's sake, don't move!" cried the Hunter, in a shaken voice.
"Stay where you are. We'll join you."