to bright sunshine, and I have some recollection of being driven
against stones and tossed here and there, till I dragged myself out of a
shallow place among the rocks and up amongst the green growth. Then a
curious drowsy feeling came over me, and all was blank again. That's
all."

"But weren't you in agony--in horrible fear?"

"Yes, when I felt myself falling and tried to save myself."

"I mean afterwards, when you were being forced through, that horrible
passage."

"What horrible passage?" said Lennox, with a faint smile.

"What horrible passage, man? Why, the tunnel, or channel, or whatever
it is--the subterranean way of the stream under the kopje, in the bowels
of the earth."

"I told you I was horrified for a moment, and then I was choking in the
water, till all seemed blank, and then I appeared to wake in the hot
sunshine, where I was knocked about till I crawled out on to the bank."

"But didn't you suffer dreadfully?"

"No."

"Didn't you think about England and home, and all that?"

"No," said Lennox quietly.

"Weren't you in fearful agony as you fought for your life?"

"Not the slightest; and I don't think I struggled much."

"Well, upon my word!" cried Dickenson in a tone of disgust. "I like
this!"

"Do you, Bob? I didn't."

"You didn't? Look here, Drew, I'm disgusted with you."

"Why?" said Lennox, opening his eyes wider.

"Because you're a miserable impostor--a regular humbug."

"What! don't you believe I went through all that?"

"Oh yes, I believe you went through all the--all the--all the hole; but
there don't seem to have been anything else."

"Why, what else did you expect, old fellow?"

"What I've been asking you--pains and agonies and frightful sufferings
and despairs, and that sort of thing; and there you were, pop down into
the darkness, pop under the kopje, pop out into the sunshine, and pop--
no, I mean, all over."

"Well, what would you have had me do? Stop underneath for a month?"

"No, of course not; but, hang it all! if it hadn't been that you got
that cut on your forehead and a few scratches and chips, it was no worse
than taking a dive."

"Not much," said Lennox, looking amused.

"Well, I really call it disgusting--a miserable imposition upon your
friends."

"Why, Bob, you are talking in riddles, old fellow, or else my head's so
weak still that I can't quite follow you."

"Then I'll try and make my meaning clear to your miserably weak
comprehension