cheerless and menacing.

'You have gone rather far to turn back, my good friend,' said my
companion. 'You must either trust me altogether or not trust me at
all.'

'I am at your disposal.'

'Pass in then, and I shall follow.'

I crept into the narrow passage, which was so low that I had to crawl
down it upon my hands and knees. Craning my neck round, I could see the
black angular silhouette of my companion as he came after me. He paused
at the entrance, and then, with a rustling of branches and snapping of
twigs, the faint light was suddenly shut off from outside, and we were
left in pitchy darkness. I heard the scraping of his knees as he
crawled up behind me.

'Go on until you come to a step down,' said he. 'We shall have more
room there, and we can strike a light.'

The ceiling was so low that by arching my back I could easily strike it,
and my elbows touched the wall upon either side. In those days I was
slim and lithe, however, so that I found no difficulty in making my way
onwards until, at the end of a hundred paces, or it may have been a
hundred and fifty, I felt with my hands that there was a dip in front of
me. Down this I clambered, and was instantly conscious from the purer
air that I was in some larger cavity. I heard the snapping of my
companion's flint, and the red glow of the tinder paper leaped suddenly
into the clear yellow flame of the taper. At first I could only see