through.

Of all my adventures, this one impressed itself most strongly on my
mind. People are apt to smile when I speak of what one man called
"crawling along a passage;" yet had the terrors of the journey been
known beforehand, I think I could hardly have summoned the courage to
face them.

We went in Indian file, I being second, and my shoulders brushed the
sides of what was apparently a stonework tube. There was not a glimmer
of light, and the foul air threatened suffocation at every yard. I
could breathe only with great difficulty, my throat seemed choked, I
was bathed in perspiration, while loathsome creatures crawled or
scampered over every part of me.

Before half the distance was covered--and I make the confession without
shame--I was truly and horribly afraid. However, there was no turning
back--indeed there was no turning at all--so I crawled on, hoping and
praying for light and air.

Presently I caught sight of a dull red glow like that from a burning
torch, my breath came more easily, and at the end of another hundred
yards the guide, rising to his feet, stood upright: we had arrived at
the exit from the tunnel. Clambering up, I once more found myself in
the open air, and was instantly followed by the second Indian. Two
other men waited for us, and the four, with some difficulty, rearranged
a huge boulder which effectually blocked the aperture.

Then the light from the torch was quenched, and I was hurried off in
the darkness. For an hour perhaps we travelled, but in what direction
I had no idea. At first we had the roar of the thundering sea in our
ears, but presently that grew faint, until the sound was completely
lost. The route was rocky, and I should say dangerous; for the guide
clutched my arm tightly, and from time to time whispered a warning.

At last he stopped and whistled softly. The signal was heard and
answered, and very soon I became aware of several dusky figures,
including both men and horses. No time was wasted in talk; a man
brought me a horse, and a loose cloak with a hood in which to muffle my
head. I mounted, the others sprang to their cumbrous saddles, and at a
word from the guide we set off.

The route now lay over a desert of loose sand, in which the animals
sank almost to their fetlocks; every puff of wind blew it around us in
clouds, and but for the hood I think I must have been both blinded and
choked.

I have not the faintest idea how the leader found his wa