But here was Elinor, and he must think of her first.
At that instant, the doorway darkened, and a form slipped
into the cavern somewhere. Oh, wind and rain, and forked blue
lightning and the thunder's roar, the river's mad floods,
the steep, slippery rocks, and jagged ledges, all were kind beside
this secret human presence, cruelly silent and treacherous.

Victor Burleigh drew Elinor closer to him, and whispered low:

"Don't be afraid with me to guard you."

Even in that deep gloom, he caught the outline of a white face
with star-bright eyes lifted toward his face.

"I'm not afraid with you," she whispered.

Behind them stealthy movements somewhere. Between them and the doorway,
stealthy movements somewhere; but all so still and slow, they stretched
the listening nerve almost to the breaking point. Suddenly, a big,
hard hand gripped Burleigh's shoulder, and a dead still voice, that Vic
could not recognize, breathed into his ear, "Go quick and quiet!
I'll stand for it. Go!"

It was old Bond Saxon.

Vic caught Elinor's arm, and with one stride they sprang
from the cave's mouth up to the open ground beyond it.
Something behind them, it might have been a groan or a smothered oath,
reached their ears, as they sped away down a narrow ravine.
The rain had ceased and overhead the stars were peeping from