He returned the pressure which she bestowed, and held her hand until, blushing, she withdrew it, and told him that they had best proceed.
They entered her cave-home with extreme caution, and, to their relief, found it tenantless. The gloom was dissipated by the flint, and igniting a bunch of bark films, Silver Rifle led her companion to the southern corner of the cavern.
“I’ll tell you why I shrieked when that Indian crossed our trail in the forest,” she said, pointing to an excavation at their feet. “’Twas here that I buried Dohma and Renadah. See, but one remains—’tis the giant. Dohma escaped from his tomb, and when I beheld him in the wood, believing him a ghost, I betrayed our presence. I wonder if the trader killed him?”
“He is dead; they never escape whom Doc Cromer chokes,” answered the White Tiger, shuddering at the thought of a man digging out of his own grave. “He has repeatedly choked panthers to death, so, of course, there is no hope for the Indian.”
“Oh, had I but known that Dohma was not dead when I buried him!” said the girl, in genuine regret. “But he lay so still that I was completely deceived. He saved my life, as I have told you, and I would have rewarded him. We will hope that Cromer did not slay him.”
“Are there no avenues of escape from this cave save that by water?” asked the youth, when they had returned to the fire.
“There is one other,” was the reply, “and I will make you acquainted with it.”
So she drew a torch from the fire, which they deadened, and led the way from the main cavern. Past the grave of Renadah and into a narrow, rocky corridor the twain walked, and, after many tortuous windings, felt the cool lake breeze on their faces.
“We have journeyed three miles under ground,” said the girl, thrusting her torch around a rock, that its light might not attract the attention of foes who, perhaps, were abroad on the lake. “There are places in the corridor where we could successfully defend ourselves against a tribe of red-men. We are below the pictured rocks now, having passed almost directly beneath the chapel. I seldom use this entrance, because bears and panthers have been known to lodge in the corridor, and I would not encounter the brutes unawares. Shall we return now?”
“Yes, it is getting light on the water,” said the youth, “and perhaps our presence is needed in the great cave.”