“We’ve blundered again,” cried the colonel in hollow tones. “We have returned to the starting point. In some manner we have missed the outlet, and now all must be done over again.”
“Could the canoe have been turned completely about during our journey?” exclaimed Forbes.
“Impossible,” said the colonel. “I can prove it instantly. When we started away from the spot where the river enters on our trip around the lake, the shore was on our right. When we arrived here just now it was still on our right, whereas, had we unconsciously turned the canoe about and reversed our course, the shore would be on our left. We have circumnavigated the lake and returned to our starting point, and in some way missed the outlet.”
“No,” cried Chutney in tones that chilled his hearers with horror. “We did not miss the outlet.”
“What do you mean?” cried the colonel.
“I say we did not miss the outlet,” continued Guy, “because there was no outlet to miss. No exit from the lake exists. We are entombed forever and ever. None of us will ever see the light of day again. We shall die here in the bowels of the earth, and the serpents will mangle us as they mangled those poor unfortunates yonder on the island. Better to know the truth now than later. It is useless to hope. I tell you we are doomed men and——”
Here Guy’s voice faltered, and sinking down into the canoe, he covered his face with his hands.
Sir Arthur uttered a heartrending cry and fell back in a faint. He lay unnoticed. The torch dropped from the Greek’s nerveless hands and expired with a hiss. In darkness and silence they floated on and on until the roar of the inflowing water became fainter and fainter. Then it died out entirely and all was intensely quiet.
The darkness was grateful to their stricken hearts. They wanted time to realize the awful misfortune that had fallen so suddenly and heavily upon them.
It was impossible to grasp the truth in a moment, especially when that truth meant utter hopelessness and a terrible death. So they drifted in silence under the great vault of the cavern, living-dead in a living tomb.