Page:Doughty--Mirrikh or A woman from Mars.djvu/243

, and yet Thibet is not an earthquake country.”

“Who knows whether it is or not? Who knows anything about it? Who can tell where we are?”

In my opinion it is much more likely to have been a landslide, caused by the rain.”

“By Jove! You’ve hit it, George! No doubt you are right, and we’ve heard the last of it. Here, let me have the lamp and I'll go and have a look around for myself. See what Maurice is talking about, if you can make out.”

“Has he spoken before?”

“No.”

“And Walla?”

“I have seen nothing of the girl. It wouldn’t surprise me if she had wandered off into the depths of the cavern  and lost herself; or like as not she has committed suicide. Her’s is one of those dreamy, over-morbid natures. For weeks she has lived in the anticipation of Maurice’s return,  and now that he is back again and has rejected her, Lord  knows what the effect may be.”

He caught up the lamp which I had brought with me from the outer cavern and hurried away. I turned to Maurice who had now risen to a sitting position; his face was toward me, the eyes were filled with tears, the hands extended pleadingly as though beseeching help—help which I  could not give.

“What is the trouble?” I asked, seating myself beside him. “That noise was nothing. If you heard my startling disclosure let me beseech you to try and be something like  your old self once more. I need your help, Maurice—I do indeed.”

Not to my surprise, but to my infinite sorrow, he began rattling on in that same strange way. I listened attentively. It was certainly a definite language he was speaking. Its sounds were soft and extremely melodious, far more so even than  Spanish. As my ear grew accustomed to them I could detect the frequent repetition of certain particular words. “This,” I thought, “must be one of the languages of Mars.”

“I cannot understand you old fellow,” I said, sadly. “It is no use. Awhile ago you had no difficulty in speaking English. Why not do it now?”

Again he broke into weeping and laying his head against my breast sobbed like a child. I put my arm around him, stroked his hair and spoke soothing words. Did he