Tom la besa, sentint que un nus li escanyava la gorja, i va fer veure que confiava de trobar els cercadors o una eixida de la cova. Després, amb el cordill d'estel a la ma, ana davallant a les palpentes, a grapes i damunt els genolls, per un dels passadissos, devastat per la fam i emmalaltit per les pronostigues de les imminents acaballes.
Tom kissed her, with a choking sensation in his throat, and made a show of being confident of finding the searchers or an escape from the cave; then he took the kite-line in his hand and went groping down one of the passages on his hands and knees, distressed with hunger and sick with bodings of coming doom.