Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1907-05-31
CHAPTER VIII.

CHAPTER VIII.
Psyche, it's not a bit of rood think
ing about working in this cave" said L,
when l had brought myself into a prac-
teal state of mind again. THE first
blow might bring another avalanche down
on us. and ones enough in 4 day. It's
still less a bit of good making any at
tempt in French Peters cave, for, to
begin with, l don't care to risk my neck
in scaling the slope without a light, and
candles are too precious to burn; and
secondly, those blocks would be found
more treacherous to work on than these
before us. Very we'll, then, if we cannot
attempt anything in these two caves, there
remains only you bedchamoer to 20 at.
That is certainly the safest of the three,
and l think we can chop away at the cliff
there till we can't chop any longer, with
no fear of dying by anything worse thar
starvation. Now, how can 1 tell you
that 1 want to be led into the little cave.
Psyche? Do you know what this means?
Splash, splash, dabble dabble, splash y
,u're a better thought reader than ever
I've known" I added, as she began to
lead me along, with a purl of satisfaction
in recognizing my wish.
/ udu llOl Dccu III ILLS cave USIOre With
out a candle, and it surprised me now to
find how much lighter it was than l ex-
pected. / could make out the form of
Psyche, and when we came Immediately
below the strip of blue l could here dis
tinguish her features. although the open
ing through which the light came was
a mere crack. The tide had cbbed, and
there was no longer u pool in the cavity,
h,,+ DSuOha nj " WV, A. 49,
scooping away a few handfuls of sand
showed me that there was still water not
far below the surface. 1 was sorry to see
this, for it had ccurred to me on seeing
the water gone that we might be able to
tunnel under the rock instead of through
it, and so make our escape by the shore.
not yet at it's lowest.
I looked up to see if it might be prac-
ticable to get to the opening, and by
charging it to escape thence. But the.
ruth of this cave was closed, not by a
IS of rubble and scattered blocks as
the others, but by a clean cut mass
sloping outward below, and presenting
no Irregularities that would facilitate
climbing. The, walls of the cave again
which it had ground its way in falling,
arched over and were even more i'm
practicable. The opening was, as I
reckoned. fifty feet over our heads.
IF that great heap of rubbish in the
next cave were only piled up here,
Psyche said 1. finding that l had laps
ed into silence.
She answered by rubbing her cheek
against my shoulder and murmuring
some unintelligible sounds.
tD..A - :--s4 o-J ..,n l.-.
out It somehow. We might drag it in lit
tie by little, to be sure, but it would take
us months to make a pile that would reach
to that opening, and I'm afraid we have
not got months to live. If we dared to
pull down one Of the timbers that shore
up the roof in the big cave, with a view
to notching it for a ladder, I'm not sure
that we could drag 1t in here; but I am
sure that we could never ser it up on
end. So that's no good, is it? No, we
must either cut through the chalk or bur
row under it. Now, %supposing we tap it
all the way along, and see if any one
part sounds less solid than the other"
side, and with the back of the Ratchet
I Knocked upon the face of the chalk
we reached the other end. 1t amused
sychc, but it disheartened me. for /
could make out no difference in the sound
anywhere.
1T doesn't matter where we begin,
Psyche. We shall just make a mark to
show some future discoverer where we
tried to escape before we lay down to
die, and that's ALL"
That's ALL" she said, catching the
words and echoing my mournful
well. here goes for a beginning" said
I, In desperation; and disengaging her
hands from my own, I gave a cut at the
chalk with my AZ. Chipping first of all
a square about two feet each way. which
1 considered sufficiently large for us to
wriggie through If ever we got the chance,
I worked on steadily till I was tired out.
Psyche stood by looking on in silence
while / was engaged; but the moment I
laid down the ak she took i. mp and car
ried on the work : nor would she give up
the ak until her strength would go no
further.
well done. Psyche. you are a brave
little helpmate," said 1; but when I took
the az from her hand l felt that she waz
trembling with exhaustion, aud her arms
and face were wet with pe-sPiration. I
wiped her face gently with my handker-
chief and made her sit down by my side.
with words of sympathy and admiratson
that sprnng from nv heart. Al for her,