bove his head, waiting patiently till
the panic should subside. Order was at length restored in some degree,
but the thirst of enterprise was cooled, and the natives loudly
declared they would follow the devil no farther, and that we must
return forthwith. Shah Pursund Kh[=a]n, who was just as great a coward
as the rest, declared it was no use following the track any more, for
it was well known the cavern extended to Cabul!!! Finding it useless
endeavouring to revive the broken spirits of these cravens, we
reluctantly commenced a retrograde movement, and I was obliged to
remain in lasting ignorance of the nature of the mysterious origin of
the footprint.

We had considerable difficulty in finding our way back to the ice
rooms; the fears of our followers had now completely got the better of
them; they lost their presence of mind, and, consequently, their way;
and it was not till after we had wandered about for more than an hour
that we hit upon the ledge which eventually led us to the drop which
we had originally descended by means of the ladder of turbans. At the
head of this drop we had left a couple of men to haul us up; as soon
as they perceived the light of our expiring torches, they called out
loudly to us to make haste and get out of the place, for they had seen
the _Sheit[=a]n_, about an hour ago, run along the ledge beneath them,
and disappear in the gloom beyond. This information raised the terror
of the poor natives to a climax; all made a rush for the rope of
turbans, and four or five having clutched hold of it, were in the act
of dragging down turban, men, and torches upon our devoted heads, when
Sturt interfered, and by his firm remonstrances, aided by the timely
fall of a few well-aimed stones upon the heads of the crew, made them
relax their grasp and ascend one by one.

The chief, being the lightest, claimed the privilege of being drawn up
first, which was readily agreed to; and so in succession each when he
had mounted assisted in drawing up his companions, till at last we
were all safely landed at the top, out of the reach of _any ordinary
sized_ devil. We soon emerged into the open air, covered with dust
from head to foot like Indian Faqueers, after having been for nearly
four hours wandering in the bowels of the earth. Our followers soon
regained their courage now that the danger was past, and each in turn
began to boast of his own valour and sneer at the pusillanimity of his
comrade; but all agree