The girl’s eyes flashed as she spoke, and there was an imperious ring in her voice, which spoke clearly her determination to be the last to leave their dangerous position. She was a girl—yes. But what of that? She was as brave as any man, and would brook no semblance of inequality between herself and the other sex.
Sir Francis at once saw her determination and respected it, and Piñone knew Aniwee too well not to be aware, that when she made up her mind to anything, nothing would move her from it. The two men, therefore, grasped the lassos, and began to swing themselves aloft.
When halfway up, another shock shook the cave, and sent Aniwee on to her knees, while a lump of rock, not twenty paces from Sir Francis, detached itself, and thundered into the lake beneath. For a moment Piñone hesitated, and glanced at the yawning gulf below, where the girl Queen was standing alone amidst the falling rocks.
“Oh, Aniwee!” he groaned, “love of Piñone’s heart! How can I leave thee?” and he began letting himself down again.
“Piñone!” shouted Sir Francis sternly, “are you mad? Do you not know Aniwee well enough to be certain that what she has said, she has said? Ah! if you would save her, make haste to reach the top, and then we can drag her up.”
The Indian still hesitated, when Aniwee’s voice reached him in clear, ringing notes. “Mount, Piñone, mount. Aniwee will be the last to leave the cave. Has not Aniwee spoken?”
Then he knew that Sir Francis was right, and with desperate exertion made haste to reach the top. He was at that time fully forty feet from the summit, and could see the eager faces looking down upon him from above. But the forty feet appeared to him like miles, and it seemed as though he would never reach the end of his dreary ascent.
Far off there was a distant rumbling, a sound which none mistook; for since they had entered the mountains it had been frequently heard, and its causes witnessed by the party on each occasion.
“Hurry, Francis, hurry!” cried Lady Vane, as she seized the lasso to which her husband clung, and assisted by some of the others, pulled him clean up the remaining face, Chorlo, Coquet, and El Toro acting likewise by Piñone. As they grasped the summit, willing hands seized them and drew them into safety. But as they did so, the booming noise grew louder. It was a great rushing sound.
“Follow me, for your lives!” shouted Topsie, as she darted back, and hurried across the fallen trees and wreck created by the late avalanche. And the others were quick to obey, save Piñone, Blancha, and Graviel.