"I just stopped for breath," I said. "You can keep on and I'll follow in a minute."
"No," he answered, "I'll wait for you. I'm out of breath, too. Besides, I don't want you to get lost in here."
At this juncture my companion, who had moved a little way off, gave a frightful yell, which echoed horribly through the cavern.
I could not see him. I did not know what was the matter. Never mind! My one thought was of him. Perhaps he had been attacked by a wildcat or a serpent. Well, he was my fellow traveler, and I would stand by him! Even the chauffeur of the hack seemed to feel the same way. Together we turned and ran toward the place whence we thought the voice might have come—that is to say, toward the mouth of the cave. But when we reached it he wasn't there.
"He must be back in the cave, after all," I said to the driver.
"Yes," he agreed.
"Now, I tell you," I said. "We mustn't both go in after him. One of us ought to stay here and call to the others to guide them out. I'll do that. I have a good strong voice. And you go in and find out what's the matter. You know the cave better than I do."
"Oh, no I don't," said the man.
"Why certainly you do!" I said.
"I wasn't never into the cave before," he said. "Leastways not nowhere near as far as we was this time."