e other two must lead to it. The first, however,
was all beyond me, and I very soon gave it up. There was also a
very small grating which let in a very little fresh air: the massive
foundations had been tunnelled in one place; a rude alcove was the
result, with this grating at the end and top of it, some seven feet
above the earth floor. Even had I been able to wrench away the bars, it
would have availed me nothing, since the aperture formed the segment of
a circle whose chord was but a very few inches long. I had nevertheless
a fancy for seeing the stars once more and feeling the breath of heaven
upon my bandaged temples, which impelled me to search for that which
should add a cubit to my stature. And at a glance I descried two
packing-cases, rather small and squat, but the pair of them together
the very thing for me. To my amazement, however, I could at first move
neither one nor the other of these small boxes. Was it that I was weak
as water, or that they were heavier than lead? At last I managed to get
one of them in my arms--only to drop it with a thud. A side started;
a thin sprinkling of yellow dust glittered on the earth. I fetched the
lantern: it was gold-dust from Bendigo or from Ballarat.

To me there was horror unspeakable, yet withal a morbid fascination,
in the spectacle of the actual booty for which so many lives had been
sacrificed before my eyes. Minute followed minute in which I looked at
nothing, and could think of nothing, but the stolen bullion at my feet;
then I gathered what of the dust I could, pocketed it in pinches to hide
my meddlesomeness, and blew the rest away. The box had dropped very much
where I had found it; it had exhausted my strength none the less, and
I was glad at last to lie down on the mattress, and to wind my body in
Rattray's blankets.

I shuddered at the thought of sleep: the rats became so lively the
moment I lay still. One ventured so near as to sit up close to the
lantern; the light showed its fat white belly, and the thing itself was
like a dog begging, as big to my disgusted eyes. And yet, in the midst
of these horrors (to me as bad as any that had preceded them), nature
overcame me, and for a space my torments ceased.

"He is aslip," a soft voice said.

"Don't wake the poor devil," said another.

"But I weesh to spik with 'im. Senhor Cole! Senhor Cole!"

I opened my eyes. Santos looked of uncanny stature in the low yellow
light, from my pillow close to the earth. H