idently it had been closed behind us when we had
ascended; we had had no time to notice it then. In this hole presently
appeared the head and shoulders of our guide, who beckoned to us to
follow and then disappeared below.

I started to obey, but turned to wait for Harry, who was gazing at
Desiree. His back was toward me and I could not see his face; his eyes
must have held an appeal, for I saw Desiree's lips part in a smile and
heard her call:

"You will see me!"

Then he joined me, and we began the descent together.

I found myself wondering how these half-civilized brutes had possibly
managed to conceive the idea of the spiral stair. It was known to
neither the Aztecs nor the Incas, in America; nor to any of the
primitive European or Asiatic civilizations. But they had found a
place where nothing else would do--and they made it. Another of the
innumerable offspring of Mother Necessity.

I took time to note its construction. It was rude enough, but a good
job for all that. It was not exactly circular; there were many angles,
evidently following the softer strata in the rock; they had bowed to
their material--the way of the artist.

Even the height of the steps was irregular; some were scarcely more
than three inches, while others were twelve or fourteen. You may know
we descended slowly and with care, especially when we had reached the
point where no light came from above to aid us. We found our guide
waiting for us at the bottom, alone.

We followed him down the low and narrow passage through which we had
previously come. But when we reached the steps which led up to the
passage above and to the cave where we had formerly been confined, he
ignored them and turned to the right. We hesitated.

"He's alone," said Harry. "Shall we chuck the beggar?"

"We shall not, for that very reason," I answered. "It means that we
are guests instead of captives, and far be it from us to outrage the
laws of hospitality. But seriously, the safest thing we can do is to
follow him."

The passage in which we now found ourselves was evidently no work of
nature. Even in the semidarkness the mark of man's hand was apparent.
And the ceiling was low; another proof, for dwarfs do not build for the
accommodation of giants. But I had some faint idea of the pitiful
inadequacy of their tools, and I found myself reflecting on the
stupendous courage of the men who had undertaken such a task, even
allowing for the fact that