me instant the secret door, by which he was escaping,
silently closed and the lock snapped to. No sooner had this occurred
than his guide struck a light, and he found himself at the head of a
flight of tiny, narrow, stone steps. Hurriedly they descended these,
which seemed unending, and, before they reached the bottom, Helmar
concluded they had passed down several hundreds of them.

The atmosphere became very damp and rank, all sound from above had
died away, and for a while, at least, George thought they were safe.
At the bottom they came to an earthen passage; along this they ran,
the light from his guide's torch steering them through the many
obstacles this apparently ancient and decayed passage presented. It
was a weird flight, the ruddy glow on the broken and uneven walls
and roof made the place very ghostly, while the flapping, whirring
little bats shooting past their heads, often flying blindly into
their faces, gave George a creepy sensation that was anything but
pleasant.

At last they came to the end of the passage, and another flight of
stone steps presented itself; this time they had to ascend. Half-way
up they came to a solid stone wall, the sight of which filled George
with dismay, but the guide, with perfectly assured action, stooped
and in a moment touched a spring, and the solid mass revolved on a
pivot, disclosing more steps. They passed through the opening, and
the stone swung back into its original position as they hurried up
the steps.

"We are quite safe from pursuit now," said the guide. "They cannot
move that stone; only three persons know its secret--Naoum, Mariam,
and I. We have nothing to fear until we reach the open air."

"When will that be?" asked Helmar, glad to think that they would at
last leave this underground passage.

"At the top of these steps," replied the guide. "Then we shall have
to reach a postern in the wall of the grounds. That is our greatest
danger."

A few moments later they reached the end of the steps. A small
wooden trap formed the outlet to this place. The guide raised it and
looked out, then cautiously pushed his way up through it, and
assisted Helmar to do the same; the trap was then replaced. As soon
as he reached the open air George turned to see what outward sign of
its presence the trap gave, and was surprised to see none. It was
covered with a thin layer of soil, and, when replaced in its
setting, a few scrapings of his guide's foot sufficed to obliterat