Down we scrambled, heedless of torn clothes and bleeding hands, the
darkness pressing closer round us. Then suddenly it became black--
black as pitch--and we could only hear each other. Another step
might mean death. We stretched out our hands, and felt each other.
Why we spoke in whispers, I do not know, but we seemed afraid of our
own voices. We agreed there was nothing for it but to stop where we
were till morning, clinging to the short grass; so we lay there side
by side, for what may have been five minutes or may have been an
hour. Then, attempting to turn, I lost my grip and rolled. I made
convulsive efforts to clutch the ground, but the incline was too
steep. How far I fell I could not say, but at last something stopped
me. I felt it cautiously with my foot: it did not yield, so I
twisted myself round and touched it with my hand. It seemed planted
firmly in the earth. I passed my arm along to the right, then to the
left. I shouted with joy. It was a fence.

Rising and groping about me, I found an opening, and passed through,
and crept forward with palms outstretched until I touched the logs of
a hut; then, feeling my way round, discovered the door, and knocked.
There came no response, so I knocked louder; then pushed, and the
heavy woodwork yielded, groaning. But the darkness within was even
darker than the darkness without. The others had contrived to crawl
down and join me. Michael struck a wax vesta and held it up, and
slowly the room came out of the darkness and stood round us.

Then something rather startling happened. Giving one swift glance
about him, our guide uttered a cry, and rushed out into the night.
We followed to the door, and called after him, but only a voice came
to us out of the blackness, and the only words that we could catch,
shrieked back in terror, were: "Saetervronen! Saetervronen!" ("The