He feels for this stone to push it back. But
what does this mean? The stone is no longer there, the cave is open!
He recoils for a moment with terror. He then resolutely creeps on
through the opening. Masa must have forgotten it, that is all! He
calls her--no answer.
But he had told her to retire into the second grotto, and await him
there. There she will be, there she must be.
"Masa, where are you? Masa, my white dove, Masa!"
All is still; no answer comes, no voice replies in tender greeting
to his anxious and repeated call.
"Masa! where are you, Masa?"
The silence is profound. He utters a cry that resounds fearfully
through the cave. He gropes about in the darkness. Then he turns
again, and cries out loudly, but all is still as before. He goes
back to the passage, and into the first grotto, the one with the
large opening in the roof, to the place where the sky can be seen.
The clouds have disappeared, and the moon sheds its soft light into
the cave.
"Masa, are you asleep?" he cries, as he kneels down beside the
cushions.
But they are empty, and things are thrown about in disorder in the
grotto. The moonlight shines brightly in the cave, and shows that a
terrible struggle has taken place here. The carpets and cushions are
thrown together confusedly; fragments of broken cups and saucers
strew the ground, and every thing is overturned.
Pages:
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323