Harry turned, quivering from head to foot.
"Little enough," he said between his teeth, and again he knelt
beside the body of Desiree and took her in his arms.
But her fate spoke eloquently of our own danger, and I roused him
to action. Together we picked up the form of our dead comrade and
carried it to the rear. I hesitated to pull forth the barbed head
of the spear, and instead broke off the shaft, leaving the point
buried in the soft throat, from which a crimson line extended
over the white shoulder.
A short distance ahead we came to a projecting boulder, and
behind that we gently laid her on the hard rock. Neither of us
had spoken a word. Harry's lips were locked tightly together; a
lump rose in my throat, choking all utterance and filling my eyes
with tears.
Harry knelt beside the white form and, gathering it gently in his
arms, held it against his breast. I stood at his side, gazing
down at him in mute sympathy and sorrow.
For a long minute there was silence--a most intense silence
throughout the cavern, during which the painful throbbing of my
heart was plainly audible; then Harry murmured, in a voice of the
utmost tenderness: "Desiree!" And again, "Desiree! Desiree!"
until I half expected the very strength and sweetness of his
emotion to bring our comrade back to life.
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