The sides of the cavern were a veritable maze
of boulders, sloping ledges, and narrow crevices. Nature here
scarcely seemed to have known what to do with herself.
I seated myself on a bit of projecting limestone, still wet and
shivering. I had no boots nor trousers; my feet were bruised and
swollen, and my flannel shirt and woolen underwear were but
scanty protection against the chill air, damp as they were. Also,
I seemed to feel a cold draft circling about me, and was
convinced of the fact by the flickering flames in the golden
urns.
Desolate, indeed, for I gave Harry up as lost. The thought
generated no particular feeling in me; death, by force of
contrast, may even appear agreeable; and I told myself that Harry
had been favored of the gods.
And there I sat in the half-darkness, shrinking from a danger of
whose existence I was not certain, clinging miserably to the
little that was left of what the world of sunshine had known as
Paul Lamar, gentleman, scientist, and connoisseur of life; sans
philosophy, sans hope, and--sans-culotte.
But the senses remain; and suddenly I became aware of a movement
in the water of the lake.
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