understand?' asked Armand. 'I have fastened my rope ladder to the cord
that goes over the pole. Four or five of you pull and draw me in
towards that pole, and so we shall get the better of the situation.
When I have fixed the ladder to the pole you may all mount by the grand
stair.'"

By good fortune that beam held firm, and first Armand got into the cave
and then the others mounted from below. What made the entrance
treacherous was that the floor at the orifice sloped rapidly downwards
and outwards.

When within, it was seen that the posts were still solid and firmly
planted in notches cut in the rock on both sides. In line with them
were two rows of similar notches for the reception of beams extending
inwards for about twenty feet, as though at one time there had been
rafters to divide the cave into two storeys, but of such rafters none
remained. The back of the cave was occupied by a gleaming white
stalagmitic column that certainly from below bore some resemblance to a
human figure, but the floor of the cavern was so deep in birds' nests,
and droppings of bats, leaves and branches, that it was not possible at
the time to explore it. This, however, was done by M. Martel in 1905,
but nothing of archaeological interest was found. However, he noticed a
sort of ascending chimney that extended too far to be illumined to its
extremity by the magnesium wire, and he conjectured that it extended to
the surface of the rock above, where was the original entrance, now
choked with earth and stone.

But an investigation by M. A. Vire has solved the mystery of how access
was obtained to this refuge. The beams visible from below are, as
already said, two in number. The upper and largest is square, and