With renewed hope I
again called Thora; but not far from where I was standing the water
curled in a cascade over its rocky bed, so to continue its
subterranean course into the sea, and the noise it made in falling
rendered my voice inaudible. The sight of that dark water gliding
smoothly to the edge of rock, and there tumbling over into greater
depths, seemed to tell me only too plainly what Thora's fate had
been.
I now began to despair of being able to escape into the outer air
before the night came on; the changing hues of the stream of light
that entered the cave already indicated the setting of the sun. But
by the welcome help of such light as remained I carefully surveyed
the chamber in which I stood.
Just as I was giving a last look round, I observed a slight
movement on the opposite edge of the stream. One hurried glance was
enough, for there, not a dozen yards from me, was Thora, clinging
with clasped hands to a large piece of rock, her long, fair hair
touched by the fading crimson light and dangling in the stream,
that rapidly passed her as though it would sweep her with it to
some unknown destiny. She seemed totally unconscious of all that
was going on around her, and I saw that her exhausted strength
could not long sustain her in her perilous position.
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