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from about a bend in the corridor just ahead of us and at the top of a steep
incline; and instantly I realized that Ajor and I had stumbled by night almost to
the portal of salvation. Had chance taken us a few yards further, up either of the
corridors which diverged from ours just ahead of us, we might have been
irrevocably lost; we might still be lost; but at least we could die in the light of day,
out of the horrid blackness of this terrible cave.
I tried to rise, and found that sleep had given me back a portion of my strength;
and then I tasted the water and was further refreshed. I shook Ajor gently by the
shoulder; but she did not open her eyes, and then I gathered a few drops of water
in my cupped palm and let them trickle between her lips. This revived her so that
she raised her lids, and when she saw me, she smiled.
"
What happened?" she asked. "Where are we?"
"
We are at the end of the corridor," I replied, "and daylight is coming in from the
outside world just ahead. We are saved, Ajor!"
She sat up then and looked about, and then, quite womanlike, she burst into
tears. It was the reaction, of course; and then too, she was very weak. I took her
in my arms and quieted her as best I could, and finally, with my help, she got to
her feet; for she, as well as I, had found some slight recuperation in sleep.
Together we staggered upward toward the light, and at the first turn we saw an
opening a few yards ahead of us and a leaden sky beyond--a leaden sky from
which was falling a drizzling rain, the author of our little, trickling stream which
had given us drink when we were most in need of it.
The cave had been damp and cold; but as we crawled through the aperture, the
muggy warmth of the Caspakian air caressed and confronted us; even the rain
was warmer than the atmosphere of those dark corridors. We had water now,
and warmth, and I was sure that Caspak would soon offer us meat or fruit; but
as we came to where we could look about, we saw that we were upon the summit
of the cliffs, where there seemed little reason to expect game. However, there
were trees, and among them we soon descried edible fruits with which we broke
our long fast.
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