The fears that pierced my heart may well be
imagined. Should I find Stella living or dead? Should I find her at all?
Well, we should soon know now. We stumbled on up the stony watercourse;
notwithstanding the weight of Tota I led the way, for suspense lent me
wings. Now we were through, and an extraordinary scene lay before us. We
were in a great natural amphitheatre, only it was three times the size
of any amphitheatre ever shaped by man, and the walls were formed of
precipitous cliffs, ranging from one to two hundred feet in height.
For the rest, the space thus enclosed was level, studded with park-like
trees, brilliant with flowers, and having a stream running through
the centre of it, that, as I afterwards discovered, welled up from the
ground at the head of the open space.

We spread ourselves out in a line, searching everywhere, for Tota was
too overcome to be able to tell us where Stella was hidden away. For
nearly half an hour we searched and searched, scanning the walls of
rock for any possible openings to a cave. In vain, we could find none. I
applied to old Indaba-zimbi, but his foresight was at fault here. All
he could say was that this was the place, and that the "Star" was hidden
somewhere in a cave, but where the cave was he could not tell. At last
we came to the top of the amphitheatre. There before us was a wall of
rock, of which the lower parts were here and there clothed in grasses,
lichens, and creepers. I walked along it, calling at the top of my
voice.

Presently my heart stood still, for I thought I heard a faint answer. I
drew nearer to the place from which the sound seemed to come, and again
called. Yes, there was an answer in my wife's voice. It seemed to come
from the rock. I went up to it and searched among the creepers, but
still could find no opening.

"Move the stone," cried Stella's voice, "the cave is shut with a stone."

I took a spear and prodded at the cliff whence the sound came. Suddenly
the spear sunk in through a mass of lichen. I swept the lichen aside,
revealing a boulder that had been rolled into the mouth of an opening in
the rock, which it fitted so accurately that, covered as it was by
the overhanging lichen, it might well have escaped the keenest eye. We
dragged the boulder out; it was two men's work to do it. Beyond was
a narrow, water-worn passage, which I followed with a beating heart.
Presently the passage opened into a small cave, shaped like a pickle
bottle, and c