It required a mental effort to move one foot past
the other, and whenever one of the girls stumbled, her little cry of
alarm brought untold agony to Holman and myself as we took a grip of
the rope and braced ourselves against the happening which our excited
minds expected any moment. We were walking hand in hand with dread--a
dread that became greater when we thought that a false step of ours
might drag to death the two women that we loved.
On, and on, and on, we bored into the horrible night. With blind
footsteps we walked fearfully through the Stygian waves that rolled
around us. The place seemed to be of enormous size, and in the dead
silence that surrounded us our footsteps woke clattering echoes that
appeared to mock our efforts to escape.
The air in places had a strange odour that reminded us of camphor. This
peculiar smell seemed to be in certain stratas of the atmosphere through
which we passed, and whenever our passage through these scented layers
was unduly prolonged, we experienced a sensation that I can only liken
to the near approach of seasickness. It made the girls sick and faint,
but they walked on without complaining.
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