as i felt that time, in which i had the passage all to myself, was precious, i turned back to the main way down. the path was very steep and low and the rock underfoot was cut in rude steps; as i held the lantern before me i had to droop it so that i could smell the hot metal where the flame touched the back. it was indeed a steep and difficult way, made for others than men of my own stature. as i went, i felt my first fears passing away. at first i had dreaded a lack of air, and all sorts of horrors which come to those who essay unknown passages. there came back to my recollection passages in belzoni’s explorations in the pyramids when individuals had got lost, and when whole parties were stopped by the first to advance jamming in a narrow passage as he crawled along on his belly. here, though the roof came down in places dangerously low, there was still ample room, and the air came up sweet and cool. to any one unused to deep burrows, whether the same be natural or artificial, there is a dread of being underground. one is cut off from light and air; and burial alive in all its potential horrors is always at hand. however, the unexpected clearness and easiness of the way reassured me; and i descended the steep passage with a good heart. all distance underground seems extravagantly long to those unaccustomed to it; and to me the mere depth i had descended seemed almost impossible when the way before me became somewhat level[252] again. at the same time the roof rose so that i could stand upright. i guessed that i must be now somewhere at the foot of the hillock and not far from the old chapel; so i went forward carefully, keeping my hand ready to cover up the front of the lamp. as the ground was fairly level, i could in a way pace it; and as i knew that there was only about two hundred feet distance from the foot of the hill to the chapel, i was not surprised when after some eighty paces i found the passage end in a sort of rude chamber cut in the rock. at right angles to the place of my entry there was a regular stairway, partly cut in rock and partly built, leading upward. before i ascended i looked around carefully and could see that sections of the walls of the chamber were built of great blocks of stone. leaving further investigation for the future i went upward with a beating heart.
the stair was rudely circular, and i had counted thirty steps when i saw the way blocked by a great stone. for a few seconds i was in fear lest i should find this impossible; then i looked carefully for any means of moving the obstacle. i thought it more than likely that something of the same process would be adopted for both ends of the passage.
luck was certainly on my side to-day! here were two iron handles, much the same as those with which i had been enabled to move the monument from within. i grasped them firmly, and began to experiment as to which way the stone moved. it trembled under my first effort; so exerting a very little of my strength in the same direction the great stone began to move. i saw a widening line of open space through which a dim light shone in upon me. holding the stone in poise with one hand, i covered the front of the lamp with my cap, and then resumed the opening process. slowly, slowly, the stone rolled back till a clear way lay abreast of me through[253] which, doubled up, i could pass. from where i stood i could see part of the wall of a building, a wall with long low windows in massive stone; and i knew that at last i had reached the old chapel. a joyous feeling rushed over me; after the unknown perils of the cavern passage at last i had reached safety. i bent low and began to step out through the narrow opening. there was fully four feet in the circumference of the stone so that two such steps as were possible to me were necessary to take me out. i had taken one and my foot was lifted for the second when a clear firm voice said in a whisper:
“hands up! if you move you are a dead man!” i stopped of course, and raising my face, for my head was bent low in the necessary effort of stooping, i found myself opposite the muzzle of a revolver. for an instant i looked at it; it was firm as the rock around me, and i felt that i must obey. then i looked beyond it, to the hand which held it, and the eyes which directed. these too were inflexible; but a great joy came over me when i recognised that the hand and eyes were those of marjory. i would have sprung forward to her, but for that ominous ring of steel in front of me. i waited a few seconds, for it seemed strange that she did not lower the revolver on seeing who it was. as, however, the pistol still covered me unpleasantly, i said:
“marjory!” in an instant her hand dropped to her side. i could not but notice with an admiration for her self-control and the strength of her resolution, that she still held the revolver in her grasp. with a glad cry she leaped towards me with a quick impulsive movement which made my heart bound, for it was all love and spontaneity. she put her left hand on my shoulder; and as she looked into my eyes i could feel the glad tremor that swept through her.
[254]
for several seconds she stood, and then with a sigh said in a voice of self-reproach:
“and i did not know you!” the way she spoke the words “i” “you” was luminous! had i not already known her heart, she would in that moment have stood self-revealed.
we were manifestly two thoroughly practical people, for even in the rapture of our meeting—to me it was no less than rapture to come from so grim an aperture in the secret cavern passage—we had our wits about us. i think she was really the first to come to a sense of our surroundings; for just as i was opening my mouth to speak she held up a warning finger.
“hush! some one may come; though i think there is no one near. wait dear, whilst i look!” she seemed to flit noiselessly out of the doorway and i saw her vanish amongst the trees. in a few minutes she returned carrying carefully a wicker basket. as she opened it she said:
“some one might suspect something if they saw you in that state.” she took from the basket a little bowl of water, soap, towel and a clothes-brush. whilst i washed my face and hands she was brushing me down. a very short time completed a rough toilet. then she poured the water carefully into a crack in the wall, and putting the things together with my lamp, back in the basket, she said:
“come now! let us get to the castle before any one finds us. they will think that i have met you in the wood.” we went as unobtrusively as we could to the castle; and entered, i think, unobserved. i had a thorough clean up before i let any one see me; our secret was too precious to risk discovery by suspicion. when i had seen mrs. jack, marjory took me to her boudoir in the top of the castle, and there, whilst she sat[255] by me holding my hands, i told her every detail of my adventure. i could feel how my story moved her; when there was any passage of especial interest the pressure of her clasp grew tense. she, who had seemingly no fear for herself, was all in fear for me!
then we talked matters over. we had now a good clue to the comings and goings of the kidnappers; and we felt that by a little thoughtful organisation we might find their hours, and be able to trace them one by one. by lunch time we had decided on our plan of action. we took our idea from one of the old “tales of the genii” where the conquered king was brought by his faithful vizier into a cavern and asked to cut a rope which was stretched before him, and which he soon discovered released the great rock which roofed the pavilion specially built by the vizier to be seen and occupied by the conqueror. we would fix a fine thread to the top of the monument and bring it secretly to the castle, where its breaking would apprise marjory of the opening of the passage; thus she would discover the hour of the coming of the kidnappers to the chapel. we arranged another ingenious device, whereby a second thread, fastened to the stone in the old chapel, would be broken by the opening of the stone, and would cause a book to fall on marjory’s bed and wake her if she were asleep. the better part of the afternoon was taken up by us carrying out these ideas, for we went slowly and cautiously to work. then i went home.
i was early at the monument in the morning, and getting behind the stone signalled to the castle roof in case marjory should happen to expect me and be there. but there was no answer. so i sat down to wait till it would be decent time to go to the castle for an early breakfast.
as i sat waiting i thought i heard a sound, either close to me and muffled, or else distant; i could hardly tell[256] which. matters might be lively if i were discovered; so i got my revolver ready. with my heart beating so heavily that i mistook it at moments for the foreign sound, i listened and listened, all ears.
it was as i had suspected; the sound came from the tunnel beneath me. i hardly knew whether to stay or go. if i waited i could see who came from the opening; but on the other hand i should at once be known to have discovered the secret. still as the stone might roll back at any moment, it was necessary that i should make up my mind; i should either go or stay. i decided that i would stay and make discovery at once. in any case should i succeed in capturing a blackmailer, or even in discovering or partially discovering his identity, i should be aiding in marjory’s safety. so i got my revolver ready; and standing back so that i could not be seen at once by any one emerging, waited.
no one came; but i could still hear a slight sound. filled with a growing unrest, i determined to take the initiative, and began to move close to the stone. as i looked, it began to quiver, and then to move slowly. as it rolled softly back i kept behind it so that i might not be seen; and waited with revolver ready and what patience i could.
there was dead silence; and then a hand holding a revolver rested a moment on the edge of the opening.
i knew the hand, and i knew the revolver, and i knew the quickness of both. i did not say a word or make a sound, till marjory with an alert movement seemed to sweep up out of the opening and whirled round with ready pistol, as though suspecting an enemy on every side.
marjory, all covered with dust, her cheeks as white as snow, so that the smears of dust lay on them like soot; and eyes with pupils distended as in coming from the[257] dark. for a few seconds she seemed hardly to recognise me; but when she did she sprang gladly into my arms.
“oh! archie, i am glad to see you. it was so terrible and lonely in the dark. i began to fear i might never find my way out!” in the dark! i began to fear, and asked her:
“but, dear one, how did you come; and why? hadn’t you got a light with you? surely you didn’t come unprepared, if you did venture into the cave!” then in a rush she told me the whole story. how before dawn she had been waked by the dropping of the book and had hurried to the castle roof to watch the stone. with her field glass she had presently seen it move. she was then satisfied that the watchers had gone home; and had determined on a little adventure on her own account.
“i put on a grey tweed dress, and taking my revolver and bicycle lamp, stole out of the castle and reached the old chapel. having lit my lamp, i rolled back the stone and set out to explore the tunnel. i followed from your description, the passage to its bifurcating, and determined to explore the other arm to the reservoir. i easily found it, a deep, dark tank cut in the rock and seemingly fed by springs which bubbled up from patches of fine sand, the accumulation of years of wasting rock. whilst i was trying to look into the depth of the reservoir, holding my bicycle lamp so as to throw its light downwards, i saw something white at the bottom. just then the lamp from its inverted position began to smoke, but as i looked in that last moment through the crystal pure water i recognised that the white object was a skull. in the sudden shock of the discovery, the lamp dropped from my hand and disappeared hissing and bubbling in the last flicker of light.” as she told me this, i took her hand for i feared that the memory of such an appalling moment must have unnerved her; but to my surprise[258] her nerves were as firm as my own. she let her hand remain in mine; but she had evidently understood my thought for she said:
“oh! it’s all right now, archie. for a moment or two i do believe i was frightened. you can have the laugh on me there if you like! but then common sense came to my aid. i was in a tight place, and it would need all i knew to get out. i thought the matter over as coolly as i could; and do you know that coolness seemed to grow with the effort! i was in the dark, in a cave, deep underground, the entrance to which was secret; i had no means of getting a light even for an instant, for though i had taken plenty of wax matches they were all in my lamp. the only thing i could do was to try to grope my way out. i had noted the passage as i came along, but i found so soon as i had felt my way out of the reservoir chamber, how little use an abstract recollection is when every second there is a new detail. i found, too, the astonishing difference between sight and touch; what i had remembered had been with my eyes and not with my fingers. i had to guard all round me, my head, my feet, my sides. i am amazed, now when i think of it, how many different kinds of mistakes and calculations i made in a few yards. it seemed a terribly long time till i came to the place where the passage forks. there i weighed up the matter of whether it would be better to go back by the way i had come to the old chapel, or to go up the other passage to the monument of which you told me. somehow the latter seemed to me the more feasible. i think it must have been that i trusted you more than myself. you had not shrunk from going into that passage; and i would not shrink from going out.”
i squeezed her hands hard, i had got both by this time. she blushed a little and looked at me fondly and went on:
[259]
“there was something cheering in the mere fact of going up instead of down. it was like coming towards the air and light again; and the time did not seem so long till i came to the end of the passage, for so far as i could feel there was nothing but solid rock all round me. for a little bit my heart sank again; but i soon bucked up. i knew that this must be the way out; and i felt around for the iron handles of which you had told me. and then, thank god for his goodness! when the stone began to turn i saw the light, and breathed fresh air again. they seemed to give me back all my courage and caution. up to this i had not troubled about kidnappers; there was quite enough to think of in getting along the passage. but now i was my own woman again, and i determined to take no chances. when i saw it was your gun that was aimed at me i was glad!”
