“Put it out! put it out!” murmured Ralph, with his hand on his brow.
It presently burned out, but lo! the change!—total darkness!
Rory and Ralph were snowblind!
“Oh, boy Rory!” said Ralph, “that brilliant of yours has sealed our fate. It will be hours ere our eyes can be restored, and long before then the darkness of night will have enshrouded us. We are lost!”
“Let us not lose each other, at all events,” said Rory, feeling for his friend’s arm, and linking it in his own.
“You think we are lost; dear Ralph, I have more hopes. Something within me tells me that we were never meant to end our days in the awful darkness of this terrible cavern. Pass the night here it is certain we must, but to-morrow will bring daylight, and daylight safety, for be assured Allan and De Vere will not leave us, unless—”
Here the hope-giver paused.
“Unless,” added Ralph—“for I know what you would say—an accident should be imminent—unless they must leave. A balloon needs strange management.”
“Even then they will return to seek us by morning light. Do you know what, Ray?” he continued, “our adventures have been too foolhardy. Providence has punished us, but He will not utterly desert us.”
“Hope springs eternal in the human breast.”