As the days passed, Fandor gradually lost his buoyancy of spirits and became more and more anxious.
"What can Juve be doing?" he repeated for the hundredth time.
The continual obscurity of the place began to weigh him down. This was relieved each day for a few moments by a thin shaft of light. Fandor was quick to account for the phenomenon.
"It happens exactly at noon when the sun is directly overhead," he reasoned, "and finds an entrance through a crack in the bronze."
Many times he climbed to the body of the naiad in the hope of discovering some method of escape, but at length he realized that the thing was impossible.
He was seated one night deep in thought, puzzling his brains for the reason of Juve's defection, when a voice suddenly broke the silence.
Fandor bounded to his feet.
"Yes, I hear you."
"You must be getting uneasy?"