t this, for it seemed as though
Samory had led us into a veritable death-trap that the soldiers of Mo had
themselves prepared. Suddenly, as a last chance, I remembered I had not
examined the three great marble columns, each of such circumference that
a man could not embrace them in his arms. I dashed forward, and in the
blinding smoke, that caused my eyes to water and held my chest
contracted, I tried to investigate whether they were what they appeared
to be, solid and substantial supports. The first was undoubtedly
fashioned out of a single block of stone, the lower portion polished by
the thousands of people who during many centuries had brushed past it.
The second was exactly similar, and the third also. But the latter seemed
more chipped and worn than the others, and just as I was about to abandon
all hope I made a sudden discovery that thrilled me with joy. As I
grasped it a portion of it fell back, disclosing that the column was
hollow.

The hole was just sufficient to admit the passage of one's body, and
without an instant's hesitation I drew Liola forward, and urged her to
get inside. The flames were now lapping about us, and another moment's
delay would mean certain death. Therefore she dashed in, and as she did
so sank quickly out of sight, while the portion of the marble column
closed again with a snap.

The rapidity with which she disappeared astounded me, the more so, when,
after the lapse of about a minute the platform whereon she had stepped
rose again, and with a click returned to its place. Only then was I
enabled to re-open the cavity. Apparently it worked automatically, and
being balanced in some way, as soon as Liola had stepped off it, had
risen again. Instantly I stepped upon it, and with hands close to my
sides, sank so swiftly into the darkness that the wind whistled through
my garments and roared in my ears. The descent was, I judged, about two
hundred feet, but in the pitch darkness I could not discern the character
of the shaft. Of a sudden with a jerk it stopped, and finding myself in a
strange dimly-lit chamber bricked like a vault, with Liola standing
awaiting me, I stepped off, and as I did so the platform shot up again
into its place.

"We have, at all events, escaped being burned alive," my fair companion
exclaimed when she recovered breath. "But this place is weird and dismal
enough."

"True," I answered. "There must, however, be some exit, or Samory would
not have entered it. We m