We sensed that Barbara Herndon was
feeling her way toward her sister, and presently the younger girl gave a
shriek of alarm that stirred a million echoes in that place of terror.
"Edith!" she shrieked. "Edith! Edith! Where are you?"
Holman and I clawed fiercely upon the rope, moving toward each other in
an effort to find a quick solution for the mystery. We collided
violently as we reached the spot where the rope had circled Edith
Herndon's waist, and we stood, stunned and speechless, as we fingered
the cord. In some manner, probably severed by a knifelike projection of
rock, the loop which I had knotted around her body had been cut through,
and the rope had fallen unnoticed from the waist of the weary girl!
"Great God!" I cried. "Where did we lose her? What way did we come?"
The questions were ridiculous. The numbing influence of the place had
made us walk for an hour or so in complete silence, and it was
impossible to say when she had lost her position in the line. And now,
as we moved round and round, endeavouring to peer into the blackness, we
lost all sense of direction.
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