Stornaway looked a good deal taken aback, but said after a moment: “You should have brought one! It is devilish dark inside, and you might easily miss your footing, not being familiar with the place! You had best take mine, for I should not wish you to break your leg, as my father once did!”
“You shall lead the way,” replied the Captain amiably.
Stornaway hesitated, and then rose to his feet. The entrance to the cave laid bare, he stepped into it, the Captain following him. Except when he warned the Captain to stoop, or to take care where he was setting his feet, he hardly spoke during the descent to the main chamber. John said nothing at all, being fully occupied in listening for any sound of pursuing footsteps. As he climbed down the rough stairway, the rushing noise of the water again assailed his ears, and he realized that it was loud enough, in the confined space, to drown the mere sound of footsteps. This, while it would materially assist Stogumber, would certainly make his own position more perilous, since he would be obliged to rely for warning of Coate’s arrival on the chance of seeing the light of his lantern before he darkened it, as he undoubtedly would, on reaching the main chamber. It began to seem as though he might indeed find himself playing at hide—and-seek in the dark, as Chirk had prophesied. However, the imminence of danger had never yet exercised a depressive effect upon the Captain’s spirits; it merely sharpened his faculties; and not for a moment did he hesitate to go on.
When they came to the main chamber, Stornaway immediately led John up to the chests, saying jerkily: “There they are! You may see for yourself that only one has been opened. It was Brean who did that. He came here to steal from us. That’s why Nat stabbed him. Now I’ll show you where——”
“All in good time,” interrupted John. “I’ll take a look inside the opened chest first, if you please.”
“Nothing has been removed from it!”
“Nevertheless, I will see that for myself,” replied John, beginning to undo the knot he himself had tied.
Stornaway fidgeted, and protested querulously that this was waste of time. It was plain that he was anxious to get John out of the main chamber before some reflection of the light from the lantern Coate would be forced to use on the stairway should be perceptible through the rugged opening on to the slope that led to the stair. When he thought John was not watching him, he kept glancing in the direction of the opening; but John, while pretending to be intent upon inspecting the contents of the chest, was watching him all the time, and watching also for any glimmer of light in the darkness beyond him. Suddenly, and after what seemed an aeon of time, the darkness was pierced by a flicker of light, as though someone beyond the opening had turned a lantern unwarily. In the same instant Stornaway swung round, interposing his great-coated figure between the Captain and that glimmer of light, and saying in an unnaturally loud voice: “There! You see that the chest is full! Do not let us be lingering here! I shall catch my death in this dreadful cold! You made me promise to show you Brean’s body, and I will do so. We can cord the chest again later: do, for God’s sake, make an end of this!”
“Very well,” said the Captain. “Where now do you mean to take me?”
“This way!” Stornaway said, going towards the shorter passage which led to the river. “I wish you had brought a lantern.”