Cynthia said quietly: ‘Henry?’ ‘Yes?’ ‘What chance have we?’ ‘Very good, provided we keep our heads.’ ‘You shouldn’t lie to me.’ He lifted his head to look at her; the light from his lamp dazzled...

While they were scrambling up towards the hole, Henry turned his headlamp, for the last time, on the cave which they were abandoning. The water level was very close to where they stood. Its steady,...

‘We’re travelling up, I take it,’ Peter said. ‘Wherever we can. It may not always be possible. But this is a good start, and the current of air is from above. Is everyone sorted out?...

Henry had belayed the top of the ladder on a couple of irons driven into the ground, and was watching them to make sure they held firm. The only light was from his headlamp, which...

Albrecht was lighting the acetylene lamp. In its brightness, the magic of their surroundings broadened and became more general, but was not lessened on that account. The cave here was some thirty feet across. The...

Cynthia lay on the smooth expanse of stalagmite, with Heather on one side of her and Henry on the other. She was able to tell, from the deeper regularity of her breathing, that Heather had...

It happened very quickly, and without the others’ being able to make out much of what had happened; they were at the point in the crossing where the light, from either source, was least effective....

The roar of the waters had the merciless drumming insistence that was, she remembered, like the sound of German bombers during the war. It was something that must be faced, before it unnerved her completely....

At last, Cynthia halted, resting her left side against the inward arch of the rock. Conscious of the added pull on the rope, Albrecht turned around and flashed the torch on her. She did not...

As she plodded and stumbled forward, the desire to surrender, to stop struggling and let the river take her where it willed, began to rise again, like the anticipation of a secret pleasure. But they...