“Mosquito Pass has disappeared.”
I stared through the gloom towards the big, indistinct shape, which
went on speaking:
“I have gone by Fagge’s plan. I have found the exact spot he
there indicates, but the pass itself has vanished. I have worked
ineffectually at the place where the opening ought to appear. There is
no way round out of the canyon. Nothing short of a balloon could help
us over the straight wall of rock that runs up to the sky.”
Again I did not believe him, but when I began to speak, his manner
changed.
“You have been here long enough,” he said unpleasantly. “I have had no
rest for hours.”
Akshelah was still undismayed. She picked up MacCaskill’s little
lantern, extinguished its light, and added it to her pack without a
word, but with a glance of contempt cast at the adventurer, sitting
silent and cold in the gloom. Then together we went down again into the
north wind.