en to his question, for the hand which
rested upon the wall felt that the stones were, growing sensibly warm,
sufficiently so to suggest that the fire was raging on the other side.

Taking a long breath of the cool fresh air, he had no difficulty in
telling which way to turn for the further door, whose half-open edge the
extended sword touched directly. Then, grasping it with his hand, it
grated heavily as he drew it towards him, passed through the low
opening, and knew that he he was at the top of the long narrow
descending stairs.

What a terrible depth it seemed as he went down very slowly step by
step, but heartened each minute by the feeling that every step took them
more out of the reach of the fire, while the steady current of air drawn
in from the wilderness and the lake side by the fire within the
building, rendered it certain that no flame or suffocating fume could
reach them there.

The bottom at last! and Scarlett paused to rest. He was bathed in
perspiration, and a curious dull feeling of exhaustion was setting in,
but he did not speak; he had set for himself the goal which he must
reach, and at which they would rest for the present. After he had bound
up his father's wounds, he might recover somewhat, so as to walk a
little with assistance; and then the opening at the end of the passage
was there, and freedom for them both, if the enemy had gone.

But he had not reached that vault-like refuge yet, and the way seemed to
be interminable. The excitement and effort had produced a dull, half
stupefying effect upon his senses, and this was growing rapidly now, so
much so, that with legs bending beneath him, he dropped his sword, which
fell with an echoing clamour upon the stones, and supported himself by
the wall.

And now in that pitchy darkness he crept slowly along, with a singular
nightmare-like sensation growing upon him; he ceased to have any command
of the power of thought, and went on and on, inch by inch, ever ready to
sink beneath his burden, but always at the last moment making a
desperate effort, and regaining enough strength to go on.

How long it took, how he ever got through his terrible task, he never
knew. All that he could ever recall was a feeling of journeying on and
on beneath an ever-increasing load, till suddenly the support on either
side ceased; he made a desperate effort to save himself, but went down
upon his hands and knees, felt that the burden he bore had suddenly
rolled