At that I felt her hand move quickly, as for freedom, but I held it fast. And then slowly her head was lowered. I waited breathlessly. I felt her quick breath on my face, and the next moment her lips had found my lips, hot and dry, and remained there.
Then she raised her head, saying tremulously:
"That was my soul, and it is the first time it has ever escaped me."
At the same instant we were startled by the sound of Harry's voice in the darkness:
"Desiree! Where are you?"
I waited for her to answer, but she was silent, and I called out to him our direction. A moment later his form appeared at a distance, and soon he had joined us.
"How about it, old man?" he asked, bending over me.
Then he told us that he had found no water. He had explored two sides of the cavern, one at a distance of half a mile or more, and was crossing to find the third when he had called to us.
"But there is little use," he finished gloomily. "The place is silent as the grave. If there were water we would hear it. I can't even find an exit except the crevice that let us in."
Desiree's hand was still in mine.