“How high? No, but it can’t get much higher,” answered Frank as cheerfully as he could. “It’s been rising some time now, and it must stop soon.”
“It seems a long time, but it isn’t,” went on Andy in that quiet voice. “Look, it’s seven o’clock,” and he held out his watch, illuminating1 it with the flashing electric light.
“Seven in the evening,” murmured Frank. “It must be getting dark outside.” It had been dark from the beginning in the cave.
“Seven o’clock in the evening,” went on Andy, “and we came in here about four! The tide has several hours to rise yet, and—”
He did not finish, but he glanced down at the water that was steadily2 rising up on their legs.
It was chilling them, yet they dared not move much for fear of toppling off the narrow ledge3.
Frank did not answer. He was busy trying to think of some way of escape. Yet, rack his brain as he did, no way out of the cave seemed possible. Were they doomed4 to die there?
“Can we climb any higher?” asked Andy, after another period of silence. “If we could, we might get out of reach of the water, even when the tide is full. Let’s turn on both our lights and look at the wall back of us.”
They had been saving the fast-waning current in the electric lamps against the time of need. They might have but little further use for it, so both Andy and his brother pressed the springs that turned on the gleaming lights.
In the glow they could see the black and gurgling water at their knees. It was swirling5 around from the force of the tide outside that was rushing into the cave. Though the stone thrown down by the man at the entrance prevented our heroes from escaping, the bowlder did not fit so tightly but what water could come in.
“Now to see what’s back of us,” spoke6 Frank, turning around as well as he could on the small shelf, and flashing his light on the wall behind him.
“Say!” suddenly exclaimed Andy, “doesn’t it strike you that the water isn’t coming in so fast as it was?”
Frank held his light lower, and looked at the rising tide.
“There doesn’t seem to be quite so much force to it,” admitted the elder Racer lad, “but I’m afraid that’s only because it’s higher, and because it has to wind in and out of so many passages, and force itself under and around the rock which that scoundrel threw down. I wish we had him here!”
“I guess he’s far enough off by this time,” remarked Andy. “But let’s see if there’s a way to get higher up.”
Together they examined the wall of the cave against which they had been leaning. Frank uttered a cry of joy.
“It’s mostly dirt, not stone!” he exclaimed. “We can cut steps in it, and climb up. Maybe we can get high enough so that the tide won’t reach us, or at least we can keep our heads above water until it goes down. Come on, where’s your knife?”
Working by turns, with the only knife available between them, the boys began frantically7 cutting niches8 or steps in the dirt wall. Fortunately it was packed hard enough so that it did not crumble9. They took turns at the desperate labor10, one holding the torch, and the other wielding11 the knife.
All the while the tide kept coming higher, until it was now to their waists. But they had not yet made enough notches12 to enable them to stand up, clinging by their hands and toes. For it needed four niches for each lad—eight laboriously-cut holes in the wall, four niches for the hands and four for the feet, some distance apart. Even when this was done it would only raise them about twenty inches. Would that be enough?
“We can’t cut any more after this,” said Frank dully, when they had almost finished the eight.
“Why not?”
“Because we can’t hold on in these and cut any more. The footing isn’t good enough. If we only had a sort of platform to stand on, we could reach up higher. As it is, I’m afraid this isn’t going to do much good—that is for very long. The water is still rising.”
“If we only had some sticks,” exclaimed Andy hopelessly. “We could drive them in the dirt, leaving the ends projecting, and then we could go up, like on a ladder.”
“But we haven’t any sticks.”
“Maybe there are some on the shelf where we are standing13; imbedded in it.”
It was a slim chance, but worth trying, and by turns they stooped over and felt down beneath the water. This had the effect of wetting them to their shoulders, but not a piece of wood could they discover. Helplessly they stared at each other in the dying gleam of their electric torches. Relentlessly14 the water mounted higher.
“We might as well get up in the niches,” said Andy, after another long pause. “We may not be able to climb if we wait too long.”
“Wait as long as possible,” advised his brother in a low voice.
“Why so?”
“Because it’s going to be hard to cling there. It’s a stiff position to hold, and we ought to stay here, where we have a good footing, as long as possible. There’s time enough when the water gets up to our shoulders.”
It was like waiting for almost certain death, but the boys never lost their hearts. Somehow they felt that there would be a way out—yet how it would come they dared not even imagine. They only hoped and—waited.
“We’d better climb up now,” said Frank at length. “You go first, Andy, and get a good hold. I’ll follow.”
“Why don’t you go first?”
“Oh, you might fall.”
“So might you.”
“Go ahead, I tell you!” and Frank spoke more sharply to his brother than he had ever done before. Andy turned and clambered up in the niches. They had cut them slanting15 to give their feet and hands a better grip, and this was a wise provision, for it was desperate holding at best.
Frank followed his brother, and then, at the last stand, they clung there together, listening to the lapping of the water that, raised up as they were, even now wet their legs.
How long they clung thus they did not know. It seemed a long time, but it could not have been more than fifteen minutes they agreed afterward16, for the water did not gain much. But suddenly the silence of the night outside was broken by a loud report.
“Signal guns!” exclaimed Andy. “Some vessel17 is in distress18.”
“No, that’s thunder!” said Frank. “There’s a storm coming up. But we won’t know it—in here.”
“I hope our boat is safe, and that the Gull19 is well anchored,” went on the younger lad anxiously.
“As if that mattered,” thought Frank, but he did not say so. He began to think they would never have any further use for their craft. He choked back the dreadful fear that seemed to take possession of him.
Once more came a terrific clap of thunder, and it seemed to shake the very island to its center.
“It’s a fierce one,” murmured Andy.
In quick succession came a number of awful reports. The earthy wall to which they were clinging seemed to tremble. The water gurgled below them, rising higher and higher.
“I wonder—” began Andy, after a terrific clap, but his words were silenced in the thunderous vibration20 that followed. It was the hardest clap yet, and the boys felt a tingling21, numbing22 sensation in their fingers.
“That struck near here!” yelled Frank.
His face was turned upward toward the roof of the cavern23. He felt something falling on his cheeks. It seemed to be particles of dirt. Then he felt a dampness that was not from the waters below him. More particles fell.
“What’s the matter?” cried Andy. “Something is happening. What is it?”
Before Frank could answer, had he known what was taking place, there came a loud splash in the water at Andy’s left.
“Is that you Frank? Have you fallen?” he cried desperately24.
“No, I’m here,” replied his brother. “That must have been part of the side or roof of the cave jarred off by the thunder. Hold fast, Andy.”
There came a second splashing sound in the water, followed by another. The drops of dampness and particles of earth continued to rain down into the faces of the lads.
“The cave’s crumbling25 in!” cried Andy. “The roof is falling.”
“Hold—” began Frank.
A roar interrupted him. Suddenly the cave seemed to be illuminated26 by a dazzling light bluish in color. By it the boys could see each other as they clung to the wall. They could see the black and swirling waters now waist high. But they could see something else.
They could look up and out through a jagged hole in the roof of the cavern, and through that opening they had a glimpse of the fury of the storm. They could see the lightning flashing in the sky.
For a moment the meaning of it was lost on them. Then Frank uttered a cry of hope.
“We’re saved, Andy, saved! Now we can crawl up out of the top of the cave and escape! The tide can’t reach us now! We’re saved!”
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1
illuminating
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| a.富于启发性的，有助阐明的 | |
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steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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ledge
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| n.壁架，架状突出物；岩架，岩礁 | |
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doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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swirling
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| v.旋转，打旋( swirl的现在分词 ) | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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frantically
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| ad.发狂地, 发疯地 | |
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niches
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| 壁龛( niche的名词复数 )； 合适的位置[工作等]； （产品的）商机； 生态位（一个生物所占据的生境的最小单位） | |
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crumble
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| vi.碎裂，崩溃；vt.弄碎，摧毁 | |
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labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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11
wielding
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| 手持着使用（武器、工具等）( wield的现在分词 )； 具有； 运用（权力）； 施加（影响） | |
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12
notches
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| n.（边缘或表面上的）V型痕迹( notch的名词复数 )；刻痕；水平；等级 | |
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13
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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relentlessly
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| adv.不屈不挠地；残酷地；不间断 | |
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slanting
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| 倾斜的，歪斜的 | |
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afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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gull
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| n.鸥；受骗的人；v.欺诈 | |
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vibration
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| n.颤动，振动；摆动 | |
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tingling
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| v.有刺痛感( tingle的现在分词 ) | |
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numbing
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| adj.使麻木的，使失去感觉的v.使麻木，使麻痹( numb的现在分词 ) | |
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cavern
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| n.洞穴，大山洞 | |
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desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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crumbling
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| adj.摇摇欲坠的 | |
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illuminated
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| adj.被照明的；受启迪的 | |
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