not probable that these barbarians would harm Juanna. They followed
the tunnel or passage for about a hundred and fifty paces; at first it
sloped downwards, then the floor became level till at length they began
to ascend a stair. There were sixty-one stone steps in this stairway,
for Leonard counted them, each about ten inches high, and when all were
climbed they advanced eleven paces along a tunnel that echoed strangely
to their steps, and was so low that they must bend their heads to pass
it. Emerging from this tunnel through a narrow opening, they stood upon
a platform also of stone, and once more the chill night air fanned their
brows.

So dense was the gloom that Leonard could tell nothing of the place
where they might be, but from far beneath them rose a hissing sound
as of seething water, and combined with it another sound of faint
murmuring, as though thousands of people whispered each to each. Also
from time to time he heard a rustling like that of a forest when
a gentle wind stirs its leaves, or the rustling of the robes of
innumerable women.

This sense of the presence of hidden waters and of an unseen multitude
was strange and terrifying in the extreme. It was as though, without
perceiving them, their human faculties suddenly became aware of the
spirits of the unnumbered dead, thronging, watching, following--there,
but intangible; speaking without words, touching without hands.

Leonard was tempted to cry aloud, so great was the strain upon his
nerves, which usually were strong enough; nor was he alone in this
desire. Presently a sound arose from below him, as of some person in
hysterics, and he heard a priest command silence in a fierce voice.
The sobbing and laughter went on till it culminated in a shrill scream.