f there's breath, it's on the hills; we'll surely die here."

And little Dolly, he said:

"I cannot run another step, sir; I'm beat--dead beat!"

For my part I had no word for them; it remained for Doctor Gray to lead
again.

"I will show you the road," cried he, "if you will take it."

"And why not?" I asked him. "Why not, doctor?"

"Because," he answered, very slowly, "it's the road to Edmond Czerny's
house."

CHAPTER XIV

A WHITE POOL--AND AFTERWARDS

We must have been a third of a mile from the shore when the doctor
spoke, and three hundred yards, perhaps, from the pool in the glens. It
is true that the storm seemed to clear the air; but not as we had
expected, nor as fair argument led us to hope. Wind there was, hot and
burning on the face; but it brought no cool breath in its path, and did
but roll up the fog in banks of grey and dirty cloud. While at one
minute you would see the wood, green and grassy, as in the evening
light, at another you could scarce distinguish your neighbour or mark
his steps. To me, it appeared that the island dealt out life and death
on either hand; first making a man leap with joy because he could
breathe again; then sending him gasping to the earth with all his
senses reeling and his brain on fire. Any shelter, I said, would be
paradise to men in the bond of that death-grip. Sleep itself, the
island's sleep, could have been no worse than the agony we suffered.

"Doctor," I cried, as I ran panting up to him, "Edmond Czerny's house
or another--show us the way, here and now! We cannot fare worse; you
know that. Lead on and we follow, wherever it is."

The others said, "Aye, aye, lead on and we follow." Desperation was
their lot now; the madman's haste, the driven man's hope. There, in
that fearful hollow, lives were ebbing away like the sea on a shallow
beach. They fought for air, for breath, for light, for life. I can see
Peter Thigh to this day as he staggers to his feet and cries, wildly:

"The mouth of blazes would be a Sunday parlour to this! Lead on,
doctor, I am dying here!"

So he spoke; and, the others lurching up again, we began to race
through the wood to a place where the fog lay lighter and the mists had
left. Wonderful sights met our eyes--aye, more wonderful than any words
of mine could picture for you. In the air above flocks of birds wheeled
dizzily as though the very sky was on fire. Round and round, round and
round, they darkened the heaven like some gr