oise. After about a minute of this battery, the tapir came up
again, shoved Clubhead aside, and putting its own head into the hole
began gnawing at the sides of it with the finger of its nose, in such a
fashion that the fragments fell in a continuous gravelly shower into
the water. In a few minutes the opening was large enough for the
biggest creature among them to get through it.

Next came the difficulty of letting them down: some were quite light,
but the half of them were too heavy for the rope, not to say for his
arms. The creatures themselves seemed to be puzzling where or how they
were to go. One after another of them came up, looked down through the
hole, and drew back. Curdie thought if he let Lina down, perhaps that
would suggest something; possibly they did not see the opening on the
other side. He did so, and Lina stood lighting up the entrance of the
passage with her gleaming eyes.

One by one the creatures looked down again, and one by one they drew
back, each standing aside to glance at the next, as if to say, Now you
have a look. At last it came to the turn of the serpent with the long
body, the four short legs behind, and the little wings before. No
sooner had he poked his head through than he poked it farther
through--and farther, and farther yet, until there was little more than
his legs left in the dungeon. By that time he had got his head and
neck well into the passage beside Lina. Then his legs gave a great
waddle and spring, and he tumbled himself, far as there was betwixt
them, heels over head into the passage.

'That is all very well for you, Mr Legserpent!' thought Curdie to
himself; 'but what is to be done with the rest?' He had hardly time to
think it, however, before the creature's head appeared again through
the floor. He caught hold of the bar of iron to which Curdie's rope
was tied, and settling it securely across the narrowest part of the
irregular opening, held fast to it with his teeth. It was plain to
Curdie, from the universal hardness among them, that they must all, at
one time or another, have been creatures of the mines.

He saw at once what this one was after. The beast had planted his feet
firmly upon the floor of the passage, and stretched his long body up
and across the chasm to serve as a bridge for the rest. Curdie mounted
instantly upon his neck, threw his arms round him as far as they would
go, and slid down in ease and safety, the bridge just bending a li