re had been storing them like that for long ages some
upheaval happened, and this cleft and lake opened through the heart of
the preserve. Probably the river once ran far up there where the
starlight was crowning the blue cliffs with a silver diadem of light,
only when this hollow opened did it slowly deepen a lower course,
spreading out in a lake, and eventually tumbling down those icy steps
lose itself in the dark roots of the hills. It was very simple, no
doubt, but incredibly weird and wonderful to me who stood, the sole
living thing in that immense concourse of dead humanity.

Look where I would it was the same everywhere. Those endless rows of
frozen bodies lying, sitting, or standing stared at me from every niche
and cornice. It almost seemed, as the light veered slowly round, as
though they smiled and frowned at times, but never a word was there
amongst those millions; the silence itself was audible, and save the
dull low thunder of the fall, so monotonous the ear became accustomed
to and soon disregarded it, there was not a sound anywhere, not a
rustle, not a whisper broke the eternal calm of that great caravansary
of the dead.

The very rattle of the shingle under my feet and the jingle of my navy
scabbard seemed offensive in the perfect hush, and, too awed to be
frightened, I presently turned away from the dreadful shine of those
cliffs and felt my way along the base of the wall on my own side. There
was no means of escape that way, and presently the shingle beach itself
gave out as stated, where the cliff wall rose straight from the surface
of the lake, so I turned back, and finding a grotto in the ice
determined to make myself as comfortable as might be until daylight
came.

CHAPTER XII

Fortunately there was a good deal of broken timber thrown up at
"high-water" mark, and with a stack of this at the mouth of the little
cave a pleasant fire was soon made by help of a flint pebble and the
steel back of my sword. It was a hearty blaze and lit up all the near
cliffs with a ruddy jumping glow which gave their occupants a
marvellous appearance of life. The heat also brought off the dull rime
upon the side of my recess, leaving it clear as polished glass, and I
was a little startled to see, only an inch or so back in the ice and
standing as erect as ever he had been in life, the figure of an
imposing grey clad man. His arms were folded, his chin dropped upon his
chest, his robes of the finest stuff,