hung back for a moment, then reluctantly followed.
As she moved down the embankment, the confusion lifted from her, and she knew where she was going. Her step grew sure, and she began moving with the suppleness and agility that had always before taken her so swiftly to the large boulder that hid the entrance to the cavern tunnel.
And then they were there. The three of them huddled together in the shadow of the immense rock, and Jimmy looked at Elizabeth quizzically.
“Is this it?” he said, his voice implying that it was less than he had expected.
“This is the entrance,” Elizabeth whispered. “Come on.”
And suddenly she was gone. Jimmy stared at the spot where she had crouched an instant before, and then he realized that there must be a tonnet Eagerly, he followed Elizabeth into the hole in the face of the embankment.
In the pit, Kathy Burton was not immediately aware of the scuffling sounds from above. She lay on the floor of the cave, the water container clutched in her hand. She had lost it once in the darkness, and had had to spend what seemed like an eternity searching for it, ranging back and forth across the cold damp floor of the cavern, not knowing whether she was searching all the area or only circling over a small portion of it. At one point in her gropings in the dark her hand had closed on a strange object, and it had been a few moments before she realized that it was a bone, a part of the skeleton that still lay neatly along one wall.
Another time her hand had brushed against the furry surface of the corpse of the cat, and she had retched for a few moments before being able to continue her search.
The smell in the cave was getting foul, for the flesh of the cat was beginning to rot, and Kathy had had to relieve herself several times. Mixed in was the sour smell of her retching.
She had found the water bottle at last, and had developed the habit of clutching it whenever she was awake. When exhaustion overcame her and she fell into a fitful sleep for a few moments, the bottle stayed beside her, and it was the first thing she groped for when she woke up.
She had stopped hearing the sound of the surf long ago, she wasn’t sure when, and the only sounds that still registered on her mind were the scrapings of what she thought had been rats. It had turned out that they weren’t rats, but tiny crabs, scuttling among the rocks, finding refuge and food among the small pools of sea water that collected here and there from seepage. She had not yet tried to eat one of them, but she was afraid she was getting close to the point where she would have to. She was pondering the wisdom of this when she suddenly became aware of the sounds from above.
She froze where she was and waited quietly. She wanted to cry out, but was afraid to; she didn’t know what was above her. And then the beam of the flashlight hit her, for the first time in three days. By now her eyes were so used to the total blackness that the light was physically painful. She heard a voice above her, but could not make out the words.
“Look,” Jimmy Tyler was saying, his voice kept low by sudden fear. “There’s somebody down there.”
“Shh,” Elizabeth said. “They’ll hear you.”
“I’m afraid,” Jimmy said, his fear of the cave overcoming his fear of being thought a coward.
“It’s all right,” Elizabeth soothed him. “They can’t get up here.”
And then Kathy Burton opened her eyes, and moved her head into the beam again, looking upward. She tried to speak, and found to her dismay that she couldn’t. All that came out was a low gurgling sound.
“It’s Kathy,” Jimmy said. “We’ve found Kathy Burton.”
“Yes,” Elizabeth said slowly. “We have, haven’t we.” Jimmy Tyler did not notice the strange tone that had crept into her voice, the odd rasping sound.
“What’s wrong with her?” he whispered. “Is she all right?” He raised his voice. “Kathy,” he called. “It’s me. It’s Jimmy.”
Below, Kathy Burton felt a surge of relief come over her. She was safe. Jimmy Tyler would bring help, and she would get out of here.
“Go get someone,” she whispered hoarsely.
“I can’t hear you.”
She heard his voice echo down. “Help!” she croaked, a little louder.
Jimmy turned to Elizabeth. “We’ve got to get her out