iscovery; and on entering the cell we saw
a most unexpected tableau. By the opposite wall stood two torch-bearers
with their flaming torches, as motionless as if they were transformed
into stone caryatides; and from the wall, about five feet above the
ground, protruded two legs clad in white trousers. There was no body to
them; the body had disappeared, and but that the legs were shaken by
a convulsive effort to move on, we might have thought that the wicked
goddess of this place had cut the colonel into two halves, and having
caused the upper half instantly to evaporate, had stuck the lower half
to the wall, as a kind of trophy.

"What is become of you, Mr. President? Where are you?" were our alarmed
questions.

Instead of an answer, the legs were convulsed still more violently,
and soon disappeared completely, after which we heard the voice of the
colonel, as if coming through a long tube:

"A room... a secret cell.... Be quick! I see a whole row of rooms....
Confound it! my torch is out! Bring some matches and another torch!" But
this was easier said than done. The torch-bearers refused to go on;
as it was, they were already frightened out of their wits. Miss X----
glanced with apprehension at the wall thickly covered with soot and then
at her pretty gown. Mr. Y---- sat down on a broken pillar and said he
would go no farther, preferring to have a quiet smoke in the company of
the timid torch-bearers.

There were several vertical steps cut in the wall; and on the floor we
saw a large stone of such a curiously irregular shape that it struck
me that it could not be natural. The quick-eyed Babu was not long in
discovering its peculiarities, and said he was sure "it was the stopper
of the secret passage." We all hurried to examine the stone most
minutely, and discovered that, though it imitated as closely as possible
the irregularity of the rock, its under surface bore evident traces of
workmanship and had a kind of hinge to be easily moved. The hole was
about three feet high, but not more than two feet wide.

The muscular "God's warrior" was the first to follow the colonel. He was
so tall that when he stood on a broken pillar the opening came down to
the middle of his breast, and so he had no difficulty in transporting
himself to the upper story. The slender Babu joined him with a single
monkey-like jump. Then, with the Akali pulling from above and Narayan
pushing from below, I safely made the passage, though the na