ust explore and discover it."

Glancing around the mysterious vault I saw burning in a niche, with a
supply of oil sufficient to last several weeks, a single lamp that had
apparently always been kept alight. Taking it up I led the way through
the long narrow chamber. The walls, blackened by damp, were covered with
great grey fungi, while lizards and other reptiles scuttled from our path
into the darkness. At the further end, the vault narrowed into a passage
so low that we were compelled to stoop when entering it. In this burrow,
the ramifications of which were extraordinary, Liola's filmy garments
came to sad grief, for catching upon the projecting portions of rock,
they were rent from time to time, while the loss of one of her little
green slippers necessitated some delay in recovering it. Yet groping
along the narrow uneven way in search of some exit, we at length came
into a larger chamber, bricked like the others, and as we entered it were
startled by a sudden unearthly roar.

We both drew back, and Liola, in fear, clutched my arm.

"Listen!" she gasped. "What was that?"

Again the noise was repeated, causing the low-roofed chamber to echo, and
as I peered forward into the darkness, my gaze was transfixed by a pair
of gleaming fiery eyes straight before us.

Similar noises I had heard in the forest on many occasions, and the
startling truth at once flashed across my mind. Confronting us was a
lion!

I stood in hesitation, not knowing how to act, while Liola clung to me,
herself detecting the gleaming eyes and being fully aware of our peril.
Yet scarcely a moment passed ere there was a loud rushing sound in the
darkness, and the animal, with a low growl, flew through the air in our
direction. We had no time to elude him, but fortunately he seemed to have
misjudged his distance, for he alighted about half-a-dozen paces short of
us. So close was his head that the two gleaming orbs seemed to be
rivetted to us. We felt his breath, and unable to draw back, we feared
that each second must be our last.

Next moment I heard a clanking of chains, a sound that gave me instant
courage.

"Hark!" I cried joyously. "At present we are safe, for the brute is
chained!"

Such we ascertained a few minutes later was actually the case, and as I
stood there, lamp in hand, my foot struck something. Glancing down I saw
it was a human thigh-bone. The animal had already tasted the blood of
man, and, straining at his chain, was fur