The narrow
defile through which she had passed had led out of the ring of peaks
and now abruptly debouched into nothingness. As she had turned with
the twisting passageway, expecting to see another wall of rock before
her, she saw instead the sky filled with stars. She stood almost at
the edge of a sheer precipice.
"Throw the light to the left now," commanded Norton. "See what looks
like the entrance to a cave? We go in there."
She walked on, moving slowly, warily, a little faint from the one
startled view before her, her body tight pressed to the rocks upon the
left, her feet only a pace from the edge of the cliff. Now she saw the
mouth of the cave, a black ragged hole just above a flat rock which
thrust itself outward so that it seemed hanging, balanced insecurely,
over the abyss. By the pale rays of the lantern she saw the fairly
smooth, gently sloping floor of the cavern; then, stooping, she passed
in, turned, and held the light for Norton.
He came on steadily, bearing his burden lightly. Still holding the
lantern for him, turning as he came closer, she saw that the cave was
lofty and wide, that it ran farther back into the mountain than her
lantern's rays could follow.
"Back there," said Norton, "you'll find blankets. I'll hold him while
you spread some out for him.
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