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functioning of that wonderful sense she possessed in common with most other
creatures Caspakian, which makes it possible for them to move unerringly from
place to place without compass or guide.
Hand in hand we crept along, searching for an opening into the outer world, yet
realizing that at each step we might be burrowing more deeply into the heart of
the great cliff, or circling futilely in the vague wandering that could end only in
death. And the darkness! It was almost palpable, and utterly depressing. I had
matches, and in some of the more difficult places I struck one; but we couldn't
afford to waste them, and so we groped our way slowly along, doing the best we
could to keep to one general direction in the hope that it would eventually lead us
to an opening into the outer world. When I struck matches, I noticed that the
walls bore no paintings; nor was there other sign that man had penetrated this
far within the cliff, nor any spoor of animals of other kinds.
It would be difficult to guess at the time we spent wandering through those black
corridors, climbing steep ascents, feeling our way along the edges of bottomless
pits, never knowing at what moment we might be plunged into some abyss and
always haunted by the ever-present terror of death by starvation and thirst. As
difficult as it was, I still realized that it might have been infinitely worse had I had
another companion than Ajor--courageous, uncomplaining, loyal little Ajor! She
was tired and hungry and thirsty, and she must have been discouraged; but she
never faltered in her cheerfulness. I asked her if she was afraid, and she replied
that here the Wieroo could not get her, and that if she died of hunger, she would
at least die with me and she was quite content that such should be her end. At
the time I attributed her attitude to something akin to a doglike devotion to a new
master who had been kind to her. I can take oath to the fact that I did not think
it was anything more.
Whether we had been imprisoned in the cliff for a day or a week I could not say;
nor even now do I know. We became very tired and hungry; the hours dragged;
we slept at least twice, and then we rose and stumbled on, always weaker and
weaker. There were ages during which the trend of the corridors was always
upward. It was heartbreaking work for people in the state of exhaustion in which
we then were, but we clung tenaciously to it. We stumbled and fell; we sank
through pure physical inability to retain our feet; but always we managed to rise
at last and go on. At first, wherever it had been possible, we had walked hand in
hand lest we become separated, and later, when I saw that Ajor was weakening
rapidly, we went side by side, I supporting her with an arm about her waist. I
still retained the heavy burden of my armament; but with the rifle slung to my
back, my hands were free. When I too showed indisputable evidences of
exhaustion, Ajor suggested that I lay aside my arms and ammunition; but I told
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