"You had better get down again," he said, after a little reflection.
"It is dry below, and the lamp is there."
"I can help you."
Malipieri looked at the slight figure and the little gloved hands and
smiled.
"I am very strong," Sabina said, "much stronger than you think.
Besides, I could not sit all alone down there while you are groping
about. The water might come down and drown me, you know."
"It cannot run down, now. If it could, I should be drowned first."
"That would not exactly be a consolation," answered Sabina. "What are
you going to do? I suppose we cannot break through the roof where we
are, can we?"
"There must be ten or fifteen feet of earth above it. We are under the
courtyard here."
Sabina's slight shoulders shuddered a little, for the first time, as
she realized that she was perhaps buried alive, far beyond the
possibility of being heard by any human being.
"The water must have risen very soon after we came down," Malipieri
said thoughtfully. "That is why my man could not get to us. He could
not get into the well."
"At all events he is not here," Sabina answered, "so it makes no
difference where he is."
"He will try to help us from without. That is what I am thinking of.
The first thing to be done is to put out that lamp, for we must not
waste light.
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