"Where shall I find it?"
"There is one behind you, in the hamper."
Semenoff coolly produced the candle.
"Are you really going?" asked a tall girl, magnificently proportioned.
Lialia called her Sina, her surname being Karsavina.
"Of course I am. Why not?" replied Yourii, striving to show utter
indifference. He recollected having done this when engaged in some of
his political adventures. The thought for some reason or other was not
an agreeable one.
The entrance to the cavern was damp and dark. "Brrr!" exclaimed Sanine,
as he looked in. To him it seemed absurd that Yourii should explore a
disagreeable, dangerous place simply because others watched him doing
it. Yourii, as self-conscious as ever, lighted the candle, thinking
inwardly, "I am making myself rather ridiculous, am I not?" But so far
from seeming ridiculous, he won admiration, especially from the ladies,
who were in an agreeable state of curiosity bordering on alarm. He
waited till the candle burnt more brightly and then, laughing to avoid
being laughed at, disappeared in the darkness. The light seemed to have
vanished, also. They all suddenly felt concern for his safety and
intense curiosity as to what would happen.
"Look out for wolves!" cried Riasantzeff.
"It's all right. I've got a revolver!" came the answer. It sounded
faint and weird.
Yourii advanced slowly and with caution. The sides of the cavern were
low, uneven, and damp as the walls of a large cellar. The ground was so
irregular that twice Yourii just missed falling into a hole. He thought
it would be best to turn back, or to sit down and wait a while so that
he could say that he had gone a good way in.
Suddenly he heard the sound of footsteps behind him slipping on the wet
clay, and of some one breathing hard. He held the light aloft.
"Sinaida Karsavina!" he exclaimed in amazement.
"Her very self!" replied Sina gaily, as she caught up her dress and
jumped lightly over a hole. Yourii was glad that she, this merry,
handsome girl, had come, and he greeted her with laughing eyes.
"Let us go on," said Sina shyly.
Yourii obediently advanced. No thoughts of danger troubled him now, and
he was specially careful to light the way for his companion. He
perceived several exits, but all were blocked. In one corner lay a few
rotten planks, that looked like the remains of some old coffin.
"Not very interesting, eh?" said Yourii, unconsciously lowering his
voice. The mass of earth oppressed him.