It was not his words so much as the sound of his voice that instantly restored Blanche’s confidence. She eased her hand, and the horse continued the ascent.
They had passed the sharp angle where the ledge cut on to the face of the western hill, and mounted the last lift which terminated at the tunnel entrance. The black pressed on eagerly towards the tumbling waters, and Lightning was close behind. The clatter of hoofs became lost in the turmoil of breaking water. A light spray was floating in the air, moistening it, and tempering its heat to something pleasantly cool and humid.
Far below them the lagoon, with its surrounding of forest, looked strangely small and distant. And the creek itself, beyond that, looked nothing bigger than a glistening silver thread. In his watchful fashion Lightning had made an estimate of the height they had climbed. He knew it could not be less than four hundred feet.
As the black came to the edge of the little watercourse Lightning held up his horse. He realised the sharpness of the turn the creature ahead of him had to make. He gave the beast room, and Beelzebub passed swiftly into the water and into the tunnel.
The waiting man was about to follow on. He lifted his reins, but on the instant checked his horse. He turned about in the saddle and sat gazing far down the gorge. He sat there still and watchful until the muffled tones of Blanche’s voice encouraging him came back to him from the tunnel. Then he urged his horse, and followed her into the yawning archway.
For awhile, as the darkness engulfed him, only the light from the mouth of the cavern behind served Lightning with any idea of the nature of the tunnel through which he was passing. At first he was aware of dripping walls set nearly twenty feet apart. The roof, too, was dripping, and his horse was wading a shallow stream whose depth was no greater than sufficient to cover its fetlocks. But the sound of the movements of the horse in front came back to him, and he was satisfied. Wherever the woman led he was unafraid to follow. The pinto behind him was less easy than its stable companion. It had no rider to encourage it, and its equine terror was in full play. Once within the broad cavern, however, Lightning drew it up alongside him, and persuaded it, and soothed it, with voice and hand.
The light from behind died out, and black darkness completely engulfed him. Only was there the splash of the water underfoot to afford any sort of guidance. But this phase of the passage was little more than momentary. Almost at once, it seemed, the pitchy darkness gave way to a faint twilight that made progress possible. The light came from above, and Lightning promptly discovered that the cavern had passed, and, in its place, he was moving up the course of a stream flowing through a deep cleft in the mountain. He gazed up, searching for a sight of the sky above him, but there was none. The light percolated down through the rift, but the rugged facets of rock hid its origin.
As he rode on the light steadily increased. The rift was widening. Now Lightning could clearly see the outline of the horse and rider ahead of him. And the walls were falling back, and the bed of the stream was widening. Presently the woman and her horse passed out of view, and the watchful man understood that the passage had taken a bend to the right. He could clearly see the sharp, dark line of the wall directly ahead, and on the opposite wall was an increase of light.
He came up to the bend. He passed it. And, in a moment, he beheld full daylight. He drew a deep breath. It was an expression of that relief which never fails the human on returning to the daylight which has been denied.