Jules Verne

“ A TEMPEST IN A CAVERN. Oliver Sinclair was safe and sound, and, for the moment, out of danger. The darkness of the cavern was so great that he could see nothing of the interior. Only a dim twilight penetrated between the intervals of the waves, when the entrance was left partially clear.
Nevertheless, Sinclair endeavoured his utmost to see where Miss Campbell could have found a refuge. But in vain.
“Miss Campbell! Miss Campbell!” he shouted.
No words can depict his feelings when he heard a voice answering him,—
“Mr. Sinclair! Mr. Sinclair!” ”

“ Oliver!” cried Miss Campbell, losing her self-possession in a moment of terror.
“Don't be alarmed, Helena!” replied Sinclair. “I will protect you, Helena!—I—”
He said he would protect her! But how? How could he shelter her from the violence of the waves if their fury increased, if the water rose still higher, and made their present place of refuge untenable? What other place was there to afford a shelter from this terrific crashing and leaping of water? All these contingencies passed before him in their terrible reality. ”

“ Oliver was crouching with the young girl in the farthest comer of the recess; he felt her cold, inanimate form, and endeavoured to chafe her with the little strength left him. Already the water was up to his waist, and if he, too, lost consciousness, it would be all over with them both! ”