THE CAVERN OF BONES
DOWN, down, down she fell, one hand clawing wildly at the soft earth,
the other clenching unconsciously at the tiny pistol. She was rolling
down a steep slope. Once her feet came violently and painfully into
contact with an out-jutting rock, and the shock and the pain of it
turned her sick and faint. Whither she was going she dared not think. It
seemed an eternity before, at last, she struck a level floor and,
rolling over and over, was brought up against a rocky wall with a jolt
that shook the breath from her body.
Eternity it seemed, yet it could not have been more than a few seconds.
For five minutes she lay, recovering, on the rock floor. She got up with
a grimace of pain, felt her hurt ankle, and worked her foot to discover
if anything was broken. Looking up, she saw a pale star above, and,
guessing that it was the opening through which she had fallen, attempted
to climb back; but with every step she took the soft earth gave under
her feet and she slipped back again.
She had lost a shoe: that was the first tangible truth that asserted
itself. She groped round in the darkness and found it after a while,
half embedded in the earth. She shook it empty, dusted her stockinged
foot, and put it on. Then she sat down to wonder what she should do
next. She guessed that, with the coming of day, she would be able to
examine her surroundings, and she must wait, with what philosophy she
could summon, for the morning to break.
It was then that she became conscious that she was still gripping the
earth-caked Browning, and, with a half-smile, she cleaned it as best she
could, pressed down the safety-catch and, putting the weapon inside her
blouse, thrust its blunt nose into the waistband of her skirt.
The mystery of Bhag’s reappearance was now a mystery no longer. He had
been hiding in the cave, though it was her imagination that supplied the
queer animal scent which was peculiarly his.
How far did the cave extend? She peered left and right, but could see
nothing; then, groping cautiously, feeling every inch of her way, her
hand struck a stone pillar, and she withdrew it quickly, for it was wet
and clammy.
And then she made a discovery of the greatest importance to her. She was
feeling along the wall when her hand went into a niche, and by the
surface of its shelf she knew it was man-fashioned. She put her hand
farther along, and her heart leapt as she touched something which had a
familiar and homely feel. It was a lantern. Her other hand went up, and
presently she opened its glass door and felt a length of candle, and, at
the bottom of the lantern, a small box of matches.
It was no miracle, as she was to learn; but for the moment it seemed
that that possibility of light had come in answer to her unspoken
prayers. Striking a match with a hand that shook so that the light went
out immediately, she at last succeeded in kindling the wick. The candle
was new, and at first its light was feeble; but presently the wax began
to burn, and, closing the lantern door, her surroundings came into view.
She was in a narrow cave, from the roof of which hung innumerable
stalactites; but the dripping water which is inseparable from this queer
formation was absent at the foot of the opening where she had tumbled.
Farther along the floor was wet, and a tiny stream of water ran in a
sort of naturally carved tunnel on one side of the path. Here, where the
cave broadened, the stalactites were many, and left and right, at such
regular intervals and of such even shape that they seemed almost to have
been sculptured by human agency, were little caves within caves, narrow
openings that revealed, in the light of her lantern, the splendour of
nature’s treasures. Fairylike grottos, rich with delicate stone
traceries; tiny lakes that sparkled in the light of the lantern. Broader
and broader grew the cave, until she stood in a huge chamber that
appeared to be festooned with frozen lace. And here the floor was
littered with queer white sticks. There were thousands of them, of every
conceivable shape and size. They showed whitely in the gleam of her
lantern, in the crevices of the rocks. She stooped and picked one up,
dropping it quickly with a cry of horror. They were human bones!
With a shuddering gasp she half walked, half ran across the great
cavern, which began to narrow again and assumed the appearance of that
portion of the cave into which she had fallen. And here she saw, in
another niche, a second lantern, with new candle and matches. Who had
placed them there? The first lantern she had not dared to think about:
it belonged to the miraculous category. But the second brought her up
with a jerk. Who had placed these lanterns at intervals along the wall
of the cave, as if in preparation for an expected emergency? There must
be somebody who lived down here. She breathed a little more quickly at
the thought.
Going on slowly, she examined every foot of the way, the second lantern,
unlighted, slung on her arm. At one part, the floor was flooded with
running water; at another, she had to wade through a little subterranean
ford, where the water came over her ankle. And now the cave was curving
imperceptibly to the right. From time to time she stopped and listened,
hoping to hear the sound of a human voice, and yet fearing. The roof of
the cave came lower. There were signs in the roof that the stalactites
had been knocked off to afford head room for the mysterious person who
haunted these underground chambers.
Once she stopped, her heart thumping painfully at the sound of
footsteps. They passed over her head, and then came a curious humming
sound that grew in intensity, passed and faded. A motor-car! She was
under the road! Of course, old Griff Tower stood upon the hillside. She
was now near the road level, and possibly eight or nine feet above her
the stars were shining. She looked wistfully at the ragged surface of
the roof, and, steeling herself against the terrors that rose within
her, she went on. She had need of nerve, need of courage beyond the
ordinary.
The cave passage turned abruptly; the little grotto openings in the wall
occurred again. Suddenly she stopped dead. The light of the lantern
showed into one of the grottos. Two men lay side by side——
She stifled the scream that rose to her lips, pressing her hands tight
upon her mouth, her eyes shut tightly to hide the sight. They were
dead—headless! Lying in a shallow pool, the petrifying water came
dripping down upon them, as it would drip down for everlasting until
these pitiful things were stone.
For a long time she dared not move, dared not open her eyes, but at last
her will conquered, and she looked with outward calm upon a sight that
froze her very marrow. The next grotto was similarly tenanted, only this
time there was one man. And then, when she was on the point of sinking
under the shock, a tiny point of light appeared in the gloom ahead. It
moved and swayed, and there came to her the sound of a fearful laugh.
She acted instantly. Pulling open the door of the lantern, she stooped
and blew it out, and stood, leaning against the wall of the cave,
oblivious to the grisly relics that surrounded her, conscious only of
the danger which lay ahead. Then a brighter light blazed up and another,
till the distant spaces wherein they burnt were as bright as day. As she
stood, wondering, there came to her a squeal of mortal agony and a
whining voice that cried:
“Help! Oh, God, help! Brixan, I am not fit to die!”
It was the voice of Sir Gregory Penne.