ANXIOUS HOURS--EXPLORATION OF THE MOUNTAIN CAVERN--THE CAVE OF THE KING
OF ICE, AND GHOULS OF A THOUSAND WINTERS--TRANSFORMATION SCENES--
SNOWBLIND--LOST.
It would be difficult to say which was most to be pitied, McBain on
board the _Arrandoon_, passing long hours of inconceivable anxiety, or
our other heroes, left to spend the drear, cold night in the awful
depths of that Arctic crater.
It was with light hearts that Ralph and Rory descended from the car of
the _Perseverando_ and commenced their perilous exploration of the vast
and dimly-lighted cavern; but heavy hearts were left behind them, and
hardly had they disappeared in the gloom ere the Frenchman exclaimed to
Allan, "I greatly fear dat I have done wrong. Your two friends are big
wid impulse; if anydings happen to them dere vill be for me no more
peace in dis world."
Allan was silent.
But when hours passed away and there were no signs of their returning,
when gloaming itself began to fall around them, and the stars at the
crater's mouth assumed a brighter hue, Allan's anxiety knew no bounds,
and he proposed to De Vere to go in search of his friends.
"Ah! if dat vere indeed possible!" was the reply.
"And why not?" said Allan.
"For many reasons: de balloon vill even now hardly bear de strain on her
anchors; de loss of even your veight vould require such delicate
manipulation on my part, dat I fear I could not successfully vork in
such small space. Alas! ve must vait. But there yet is hope."
Meanwhile it behoves us to follow Ralph and Rory. They had faithfully
promised De Vere they would go but a short distance from the car, and
that promise they had meant to redeem. They found that the ground
sloped downwards from the mouth of the crater, but there was no want of
light, as yet at least, and thus not the slightest danger of being
unable to find their way back, for were there not their footsteps in the
snow to guide them? So onward they strolled, cheerfully enough,
arm-in-arm, like brothers, and that was precisely how they felt towards
each other.
The road--if I may say "road" where there was no road--was rough enough
in all conscience, and at times it was difficult for them to prevent
stumbling over a boulder.
"I wonder," said Rory, "how long these boulders have lain here, and I
wonder what is beneath us principally, and what those vast stalactite
pillars are formed of."
"`Bide a wee,' as the doctor says," replied Ralph; "don't hurry me with
too many questions, and don't forget that though I am ever so much
bigger and stronger than you, I don't think I am half so wise. But the
boulders may have lain here for ages: those ghostly-looking pillars are
doubtless ice-clad rocks, partly formed through the agency of fire,
partly by water. I think we stand principally on rocks and on ice,
with, far, far down beneath us, fire."
"Dear, dear!" said Rory, talking very seriously, and with the perfect
English he always used when speaking earnestly; "what a strange,
mysterious place we are in! Do you know, Ralph, I am half afraid to go
much farther."
"Silly boy!" said his companion, "how thoroughly Irish you are at
heart--joy, tears, sunshine and fun, but, deep under all, a smouldering
superstition."
"Just like the fires," added Rory, "that roll so far beneath us. But
you know, Ray,"--in their most affectionate and friendly moods Ralph had
come to be "Ray" to Rory, and Rory "Row" to Ralph--"you know, Ray, that
the silence and gloom of this eerie place are enough to make any one
superstitious--any one, that is, whose soul isn't solid matter-of-fact."
"Well, it _is_ silent. But I say, Row--"
"Well, Ray?"
"Suppose we try to break it with a song? I daresay they have never
heard much singing down here."
"Who?" cried Rory, staring fearfully into the darkness.
"Oh!" said Ralph, carelessly, "I didn't mean any one in particular.
Come, what shall we sing--`The wearing o' the green'?"
"No, Ray, no; that were far too melancholic, though I grant it is a
lovely melody."
"Well, something Scotch, and stirring. The echoes of this cavern must
be wonderful."
They were, indeed; and when Rory started off into that world-known but
ever-popular song, "Auld lang syne," and Ralph chimed with deep and
sonorous bass, the effect was really grand and beautiful, for a thousand
voices seemed to fill the cavern. They heard the song even in the car
of the balloon, and it caused Allan to remark, smilingly, for they had
not yet been long gone, "Ralph and boy Rory seem to be enjoying
themselves; but I trust they won't be long away."