CHAPTER X
SEPARATION
They spent the remainder of that day and all the next in hardwork, making practical preparations for the arrival of the firstsettlers. Allan assured himself the waters of New Hope River were softand pure and that an ample supply of fish dwelt in the pool as well asin the rapids--trout, salmon and pike of new varieties and great size,as well as other species.
Beatrice and he, working together, put the largest and darkest of thecaves into habitable order. They also prepared, for their own use, asunny grotto, which they thought could with reasonable labor be madeinto a comfortable temporary home.
"Though it isn't our own cozy bungalow, and never can be," sheremarked rather mournfully, surveying the fireplace of roughly piledstones Allan had built. "Oh, dear, if we only could have had that tolive in while--"
He stopped her yearning with a kiss.
"There, there, little girl," he cheered her, "don't be impatient. Allin good time we'll have another, garden and sun-dial and everything.All in good time. The more we have to overcome, the more we'llappreciate results, eh? The only really serious matter to consider nowis _you!_"
"Me, Allan? Why, what do you mean? What about me?"
He sat down on the rough-hewn bench of logs that he had fashioned anddrew her to him.
"Listen, Beta. This is very serious."
"What, Allan? Has anything happened?"
"No, and nothing must, either. That's what's troubling me now. Ourseparation, I mean."
"Our--why, what--"
"Don't you see? Can't you understand? We've got to be apart a while. Imust go alone--"
"Oh, no, no, Allan! You mustn't; I can't let you!"
"You've _got_ to let me, darling! The machine will only carry, atmost, three persons and a little freight. Now if you take the tripback into the Abyss I can only bring one, just one of the Folk backwith me. And at that rate you can see for yourself how long it willtake to make even a beginning at colonization. I figure three or fourdays for the round trip, at the inside. If you go we'll be all summerand more getting even twenty-five or thirty colonists here. Whereas,if you can manage to let me do this work alone, we'll have fifty inthe caves by October. So you see--"
"You don't want to go and leave me, Allan?"
"God forbid! Shall I abandon the whole attempt and settle down withyou here, all alone, and--"
"No, no, no! Not that, Allan!"
"I knew you'd say so. After all, the future of the race means morethan our own welfare or comfort or anything. Even our safety has gotto be risked for it. So you see--"
She thought a moment, clinging to him, somewhat pale and shaken, butwith an indefinable courage in her eyes. Then asked she:
"Wouldn't it be possible in some way--for you can do anything,Allan--wouldn't it be possible for you to build another machine?Surely in the ruins of some city not too far away, in Nashville,Cincinnati, or Detroit, you could find materials! Couldn't you makeanother aeroplane and teach me how to fly, so I could help you? I'dlearn, Allan! I'd dare, and be brave--awfully brave, for your sake,and theirs, and--"
He gravely shook his head in negation.
"I know you would, dearest, but you mustn't. Half my real reason fornot wanting you to go with me is just this danger of flying. You'll besafer here. With plenty of supplies and your pistol you'll be allright. I know it seems heartless to talk of leaving you, even forthree days, but, after all, it's far the wisest way. We'll build abarricade and make a regular fort for you and stock it with supplies.Then you can wait for me and the first two settlers. And after thatyou'll have company. Why, you'll have _subjects_--for, until they'reeducated, we've simply got to rule these people. It'll be only thefirst trip that will make you lonely, and it won't be long."
"I know; but suppose anything should happen to you!"
He laughed confidently.
"Nonsense!" he exclaimed. "You know nothing ever _does_ happen to me!Everything will be all right, my best--beloved. Only a little patienceand a little courage, that's all we need now. You'll see!"
Till late that night, sheltered in their cave, they talked of thismomentous step. Redly their firelight glowed upon their walls androof, where sparkled myriads of tiny rock-facets. Far below the rapidsof New Hope River murmured a contra-bass to their voices.
And in the canyon the sighing of the night-wind, pierced now and thenby some strange cry of beast-life from the forest beyond, heightenedtheir pleasant sense of security. Only the knowledge of approachingseparation weighed heavy on their souls.
From every possible standpoint they discussed the situation. Allan'splan, viewed with the eye of reason, was really the only sane one.Nothing could have been more absurdly wasteful of time and energy thanthe idea of carrying the girl down into the Abyss each time andbringing her up with every return.
Not only would it expose her needlessly to very grave perils, but itwould bisect the efficiency of the Pauillac. Allan realized, moreover,that in the rebuilding of the world a time must inevitably come whenhe could not always stand by her side. She must learn self-reliance,harsh as that teaching might seem.
All this and much more he pointed out to her. And before midnight she,too, agreed. It was definitely decided that he was to undertake thetransportation work alone.
Thus the matter was settled. But on that night there was little sleepfor either of them. For, on the day after the morrow was to commencetheir first separation since the time they had awakened in the tower,more than a year ago.
Separation!
The thought weighed leaden on Allan's heart. As for Beatrice, thoughin the dark she hid her tears, she felt that grief could plumb noblacker depths save utter loss. Only the thought of the new world andall that it must mean steeled her to resignation.
Morning dawned, aflare with light and color, asonly a June morning in that semitropic wilderness could glow. Allanand Beatrice, early at work, resolutely attacked their labor ofpreparation.
First of all they laid in adequate supplies of fruit and game, both ofwhich, in that virgin wild, were to be had in a profusion undreamed ofin the old days of civilization. With an improvised lance Ahan alsospeared three salmon in the rapids. The game and fish he dressed forher and packed among green leaves in the cool recesses at the extremeinner end of the cavern.
"No need whatever for you to leave the cave while I'm gone," he warnedher. "I'm not forbidding you to, because I'm not your master. All Isay is I'll be far happier if you stay close at home. Will you promiseme that, whatever happens, you won't wander from the cave?"
"I needn't promise, dearest. All I need to know is your wish. That'senough for me!"
Together they set about fortifying the place. They built a rough butstrong barricade of rocks across the mouth of the cavern, leaving onlyone small aperture, just sufficient to admit a single person on handsand knees.
Allan fetched a rounded stone that she could roll into this door bynight and arranged a stout sapling to brace the stone immovably. Hesupplied her well with fire-wood and saw to it that her bandolierswere full of cartridges. In addition, he left her the extra gun andammunition they had found in the crypt under the cathedral.
With a torch he carefully explored every crevice of the cave to makesure no noxious spiders, centipedes, or serpents were sheltered there.
From the Pauillac he brought his own cloak, which he insisted on herkeeping. This, with hers, would add to the comfort of the bed they hadmade with fragrant ferns and grasses.
He fashioned, out of the tenacious clay of an earth-bank about half amile down stream, two large water-jars, and baked them for some hoursin a huge fire on the terrace in front of the cave.
When properly hardened he scoured them carefully with river-sand andfilled them one at a time, struggling up the hard ascent with a stoutheart--for all this toil meant safety for the girl; it was all anotherstep on the hard pathway toward the goal.
In her sleep that night he bent above her, kissed her tenderly, andrealized how inexpressibly dear she was
to him.
The thought: "To-morrow I must leave her!" weighed heavy on him. Andfor a long time he could not sleep, but lay listening to the nightsounds of the forest and the brawling stream. Once a deep, boomingroar echoed throughout the canyon, and thereto, hollow blows.
But Allan could not think their meaning. Only he knew the wild wasfull of perils; and in his mind he reviewed the precautions he hadtaken for her welfare. Bit by bit he analyzed them. He knew that hecould do no more Now Fate must solve the rest.
He slept at length, not to waken till morning with its garish eyepeeped in around the crevices of the rock doorway. Returning from hisswim in the pool, he found Beatrice already making breakfast. They atein silence, overborne with sad and bodeful thoughts.
But now the decision had been made, nothing remained save to executeit. Such a contingency as backing out of an undertaking once begun layfar outside their scheme of things.
The leave-taking was not delayed. They both realized that an earlystart was necessary if he were to reach the village of the Folk beforesleep should assail him. Still more, they dreaded the departure lessthan the suspense.
Together they provisioned the Pauillac, back there on the rockybarren, and made sure everything was in order. Allan assured himselfespecially that he had fuel enough to last four or five hours.
"In that time," he told the girl, "I can easily reach the rim of theAbyss. You see, I needn't fly northward to the point where we emerged.That would be only an unnecessary waste of time and energy. I'mpositive the chasm extends all the way up and down what was once theMississippi Valley, and that the Great Central Sea is fed by that andother rivers. In that case, by striking almost due west, I can reachthe rim. After that I can volplane easily till I sight the water."
"And then?"
"Then the power goes on again and I scout for the west shore and thevillage. The sustaining power of that lower-level air is simplymiraculous. I realize perfectly well it's no child's play, but I cando it, Beta. I can find the place again. You see, I'm perfectlyfamiliar with conditions down there now. The first time it was all newand strange. This time, after all those months in the Abyss, why, itwill be almost like getting back home again. It'll be quite atriumphal return, won't it? The chief getting back to his tribe, eh?"
He tried to speak lightly, but his lips refused to smile. She franklywept.
"There, there, little girl," he soothed her. "Now let's go back to thecave and see that you're all right and safe. Then I'll be going.Remember on the third night to kindle the big fire we've agreed onjust outside your door on the terrace--the beacon-fire, you know. I'llhave to reckon by the chronometer, so as to make the return by night.The risk of bringing any of the Folk into daylight is prohibitive. Andthe fire will be tremendously important. I can sight it a long wayoff. It will guide me home--to you!"
She nodded silently, for she did not trust herself to speak.. Hand inhand they returned along the path they had beaten through the rankhalf-tropic growth.
One last inspection he gave to all things necessary for her comfort.Then, standing in the warm, bright sunlight on the ledge before thenew home, he took her in his arms.
A long embrace, a parting kiss that clung; then he was gone.
Not long after the girl, still standing there upon the windsweptterrace overlooking New Hope River, heard the rapid chatter of theengine high in air and rapidly approaching.
A swift black shadow leaped the canyon and swept away across theplain. Far aloft she saw the skimming Pauillac, very small and blackagainst the dazzling blue.
Did Allan wave a hand to her? Could she hear his farewell cry?
Impossible to tell. Her ears, confused by the roaring of the rapids,her eyes dazzled by the shimmer of the morning heavens and dimmed byburning tears, refused to serve her.
But bravely she waved her cloak on high. Bravely she strove to watchthe arrow-flight of the swift bird-man till the tiny machine dwindledto a moving blur, a point, a mere speck on the far horizon, thenvanished in the blue.
Choked with anguish, against which all her courage, all her philosophycould not make way, Beatrice sank down upon the rocky ledge andabandoned herself to grief.
Allan was gone at last! Gone--ever to return? At last she was alone inthe unbroken wilderness!
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