heerfully, remarking upon
this unpleasant circumstance. "It is all plain sailing; there are no
obstacles in our way; and if we have to grope slowly along, still the
marvellous sight we have seen is well worth so trifling a penalty. Give
me your hand, sweetheart, and let us get into the passage, for I shall
have to abandon the light, it is scorching my fingers as it is."

Blanche silently gave her hand to her lover, a trifle nervous at having
to traverse so long a distance in impenetrable darkness, and buried--who
knew how deep--beneath the surface. _Buried_! The idea was a most
unpleasant one just then; and she shuddered as they plunged hand in hand
into the passage, Lance at the same moment flinging the charred stump of
the burnt-out torch back into the great cavern behind them.

Cautiously they groped their way onward, Lance feeling his way along the
wall of the passage, and making sure of his footing at every step by
passing his foot lightly forward over the ground before advancing.

In this manner the pair proceeded for what seemed to them a considerable
length of time--at least Blanche thought it so, for at last she said
with a slight tremor in her voice--

"How much longer do you think we shall be, Lance! Surely we cannot be
very far from the entrance now."

"No, we must be getting pretty close to it," said Lance; "but surely you
are not feeling frightened, little woman?"

"Not exactly frightened," answered Blanche; "but this terrible darkness
and this awful silence makes me nervous. It seems so dreadful to be
groping one's way like this, without being able to see where one is
going; and then I have a stupid feeling that the rocks above us may give
way at any moment and bury us."

"Not much fear of that," said Lance with a laugh, which went echoing and
reverberating along the passage in such a weird unearthly manner that
Blanche clung to her companion in terror. "These rocks," he continued,
"have supported for years--probably centuries--the weight above them,
and it is not at all likely they will give way just now without any
cause. I daresay the time _does_ seem long to you, darling, but you
must remember we are walking at a much slower pace now than we were when
we passed over the ground before. Of course we _might_ walk faster,
since we know the ground to be tolerably even and regular; still it is
best to be cautious; if either of us happens to stumble here in the dark
we might receive a rather