Then the girl, who was standing on the edge of the lake, bent down and plunged her hand into it.
“No—no—I couldn’t stand this icy water; I really couldn’t,” she said.
She went back into the grotto, and he followed her.
A quarter of an hour passed; and to Ralph it seemed a long quarter of an hour indeed.
At last he said: “We ought to be going. The situation is becoming dangerous.”
She followed him out of the grotto. But at the moment she mounted his back, there came the whine of a bullet and the shower of splinters from the face of the cliff. The report of the rifle rang.
She dropped from his back. A second bullet whined and struck the cliff. He picked her up, carried her into the grotto, sat her down, and sprang out of it as if he were dashing to the assault.
“Ralph! Ralph! I forbid you! They’ll kill you!” she cried, following him.
He caught her up again, and forced her back into the grotto. But this time she did not let go of him, but clung to and held him back.
“Stay here—please!” she cried. [[274]]