Another proof of ingenuity soon warned them of the necessity of keeping together. They found that the many rooms that surrounded the central hall were arranged on the principle of a maze or labyrinth, with so many and such unexpected openings, one into the other, that it was almost impossible to meet at any agreed spot. And there were so many of these rooms and passages that the vast underground construction suggested the Catacombs of Rome.
In the middle of the day they took another morsel of food and a swallow of water. Soon even this would be denied them. Again they set out on their desperate quest, tightening their belts to still the gnawings of hunger. Their tongues became swollen and their lips cracked from the thirst that tortured them.
The coming of the night found them again at their rendezvous in the central hall, baffled and defeated, no nearer the solution of their terrible problem than when they had started in the morning.
A tiny morsel of food and a sip of water were all they dared allow themselves. Then, haggard and hollow-eyed, they crouched as near as they could get to each other and—waited.
For what?
The same unspoken thought was in the mind of each.
Would that terrible figure appear again?
CHAPTER XVII
Trapped
When Don had raised his shout of discovery Captain Sturdy, Professor Bruce and Phalos had rushed in the direction of the rock that reared itself near the top of the rugged slope.
At times it was obscured by other boulders, and they had difficulty in getting their bearings, but they kept steadily getting nearer, and at last they stood before it.