“A pigeon, sir,” replied the mate, handing the bird into the captain’s grasp.
McBain’s hands shook as he had never remembered them shake before, as he undid the tiny missive from the pigeon’s leg.
It ran briefly thus:—
“We are detained here in the crater all night. Do not be alarmed. To-morrow will, please Providence, see us safely home.”
Chapter Fourteen.
Anxious Hours—Exploration of the Mountain Cavern—The Cave of the King of Ice, and Ghouls of a Thousand Winters—Transformation Scenes—Snowblind—Lost.
It would be difficult to say which was most to be pitied, McBain on board the Arrandoon, passing long hours of inconceivable anxiety, or our other heroes, left to spend the drear, cold night in the awful depths of that Arctic crater.
It was with light hearts that Ralph and Rory descended from the car of the Perseverando and commenced their perilous exploration of the vast and dimly-lighted cavern; but heavy hearts were left behind them, and hardly had they disappeared in the gloom ere the Frenchman exclaimed to Allan, “I greatly fear dat I have done wrong. Your two friends are big wid impulse; if anydings happen to them dere vill be for me no more peace in dis world.”