reached the steps leading to the tunnel under
the lake. Here our guards seemed in doubt as to just what to do; those
in front halted and stood hesitant, and it seemed to me that as they
gazed below down the stone stair their eyes held a certain shrinking
terror. Then one came up from behind and with a commanding gesture
ordered them to descend, and they obeyed.

Harry and I still found ourselves surrounded by a full company; there
were fifty or sixty ahead of us and at least twice that number behind.
The idea of a successful struggle was so patently impossible that I
believe it never entered our minds.

There was further delay at the bottom of the stairs, for, as I have
said before, the tunnel was extremely narrow and it was barely possible
to walk two abreast. None of them turned back, but Harry and I could
scarcely restrain a laugh at the sight of those immediately in front of
us treading on the toes of their fellows to keep out of our way. With
all their savage brutality I believe they possessed little real bravery.

Five minutes more and we had reached the end of the tunnel and found
ourselves at the foot of the spiral stairway. The passage was so
blocked by those ahead that we were unable to approach it; they
flattened their squatty bodies against the wall and we were forced to
squeeze our way past them.

There we stood, barely able to make out their black forms against the
blacker wall, when the one who appeared to be the leader approached and
motioned to us to ascend. We hesitated, feeling instinctively that
this was our last chance to make a stand, weighing our fate.

That was a dark moment, but though I did not know it, Providence was
with us. For, happening to glance downward, beneath the spiral
stair--for there was no ground immediately beneath it--I saw a faint
glimmer and a movement as though of a dim light in the black, yawning
space at my feet. (You must understand that we were now inside the
base of the column in the center of the great cavern.)

Moved either by curiosity or a command of Providence, I stooped and
peered intently downward, and saw that the movement was the almost
imperceptible reflection of a stray ray of light from above on the
surface of water. At the time I merely wondered idly if the water came
from the same source as that in the lake outside, not thinking it
sufficiently important to mention to Harry.

Then a question came from him:

"No good, Paul. They are a hund