She shook her head. "We must find him first," she answered.
"But that is impossible," I protested. "How can we go wandering among these dark passages when we do not know where he has gone? You know he is invaluable to Leroux, and he will come to no harm with him. If we get free, we can return with aid and rescue him."
"We cannot go without my father," she answered, shaking her head in determination.
"But——"
"Oh, don't you see that we must find him?" she cried wildly. "But you must go. You cannot be burdened with me. Give up your hopeless mission to rescue us, monsieur, and save yourself!"
At that my hopes, which had been so high, went crashing down.
"Jacqueline," I said, "if we can find your father you will come with me? Because it has occurred to me," I went on, "that if he had come this way, his footprints would be in the mud beside the stream. It would take an hour or two for them to fill up again. So, perhaps, he did not come this far, but is hiding in some cave in the tunnel through which we came. Will you wait for me here while I go back and search?"
She nodded, and I went back into that interminable tunnel again.