ng. At length they came to
a chamber about twelve feet square. From this they passed on to
another of the same size. Thence to another. And so on.

Arriving at the last, Bearer No. 1 quietly deposited Buttons on a
raised stone platform, which fortunately arose about half an inch
above the water. Three other bearers did the same. Mr. Figgs looked
forlornly about him, and, being a fat man, seemed to grow somewhat
apoplectic. Dick beguiled the time by lighting his pipe.

"So this is the Grotto of the Cumaean Sibyl, is it?" said Buttons.
"Then all I can say is that--"

What he was going to say was lost by a loud cry which interrupted
him and startled all. It came from the other chamber.

"The Senator!" said Dick.

It was indeed his well-known voice. There was a splash and a groan.
Immediately afterward a man staggered into the room. He was deathly
pale, and tottered feebly under the tremendous weight of the Senator.
The latter looked as anxious as his trembling bearer.

"Darn it! I say," he cried. "Darn it! Don't! Don't!"

"Diavo-lo!" muttered the Italian.

And in the next instant plump went the Senator into the water. A
scene then followed that baffles description. The Senator, rising
from his unexpected bath, foaming and sputtering, the Italian praying
for forgiveness, the loud voices of all the others shouting, calling,
and laughing.

The end of it was that they all left as soon as possible, and the
Senator indignantly waded back through the water himself. A furious
row with the unfortunate bearer, whom the Senator refused to pay,
formed a beautifully appropriate termination to their visit to this
classic spot. The Senator was so disturbed by this misadventure that
his wrath did not subside until his trowsers were thoroughly dried.
This, however, was accomplished at last, under the warm sun, and then
he looked around him with his usual complacency.

The next spot of interest which attracted them was the Hall of the
Subterranean Lake. In this place there is a cavern in the centre of
a hill, which is approached by a passage of some considerable length,
and in the subterranean cavern a pool of water boils and bubbles. The
usual crowd of obliging peasantry surrounded them as they entered the
vestibule of this interesting place. It was a dingy-looking chamber,
out of which two narrow subterranean passages ran. A grimy, sooty,
blackened figure stood before them with torches.

[Illustration: Darn it!--Don't.]