"You don't think it a human voice?"
"I do, and at any rate I am going to see. There! Hear it?"
Again came the shrill cry, echoing from the rocky walls. "Help! For God's sake, don't leave us here to perish!"
At the sound Peveril sprang forward, and the major tremblingly followed him.
Back in the gloom, a hundred yards from where they had halted, they came upon a scene that neither will ever forget so long as he lives.
A slender youth and a white-haired man stood clinging to each other, and gazing with wildly incredulous eyes at the advancing lights.
"It is Richard Peveril, father! Oh, thank God! Thank God, sir, that you have come in time!" cried the younger of the two.
"Richard Peveril?" repeated the old man, huskily. "No, no, Mary! It can't be! It must not be! Richard Peveril is dead, and the contract is void. He has no claim on the Copper Princess. It is all mine. Mine and yours. But don't let him know. Keep the secret for one week longer—only one little week—then you may tell it to the world."