l death would be their fate, they resolved
to make good their defence at every hazard. The mouth of the cave was
small, and no sooner did the invaders rush in than they were cut down
by those inside; in vain were more men thrust in to take the place of
those slain; the advantages of position were too great, and they were
obliged at length to desist. But Genghis was not to be balked of his
victims, and his devilish cunning suggested the expedient of lighting
straw at the mouth of the cave to suffocate those inside, but the size
of the place prevented his plan from taking effect; so he at last
commanded a large fragment of rock to be rolled to the mouth of the
cavern, adding another as a support, and having thus effectually
barred their exit, he cruelly abandoned them to their fate. Of course
the whole party suffered a miserable death, and it is perhaps the
spirits of the murdered men that, wandering about and haunting it,
have given a suspicious character to the place; but," concluded he,
rather dogmatically, "the devil _does not_ live there now--it is too
cold!!"[*]

[* Note: Those who have been familiarized to the atrocities
perpetrated by the French in Algeria will not feel the horror that the
moollah's tale would otherwise have excited; the similarity of these
outrages to humanity is so striking, that I quote a passage extracted
from the French paper, "The National," which will speak for itself.

"The National gives a frightful picture of Marshal Bugeaud's doings
in Africa. According to the accounts published by this paper,
fifty prisoners were one day shot in cold blood--thirteen villages
burned--the Dahra massacre acted over again, for it appears that a
portion of a tribe having hid themselves in a cave, the same means
were resorted to exactly as those employed by Colonel Pelissier, and
all smoked and baked to death. The Marshal himself is the author of
all these horrors--his last triumph was a monster razzia--he has
ordered the most strict secresy as to his barbarous proceedings; and
the writer of the accounts calls him a second Attila, for he puts all
to the sword and fire, sparing only women and children."]

After scrambling over loose stones, climbing up precipices, and
crawling round the projecting rocks, which consumed an hour, we found
ourselves on a small ledge in front of the outer aperture, which was
nearly circular and about fifty feet high. We were now in a cavern
apparently of no great extent, and a