t even
Otter, who certainly could not be called squeamish, hastened to descend
the rock. As he passed round it his attention was attracted by the
skeleton of a man who, from various indications, must have been alive
within the last few weeks. The bones were clad in a priest's cloak,
of which the dwarf, who was trembling with cold, hastened to possess
himself. As he picked up the robe he observed beneath it a bag of tanned
ox-hide that doubtless had once been carried by the owner of the cloak.

"Perhaps he kept food in this," thought Otter; "though what he who came
to visit the Water Dweller should want with food I cannot guess. At
the least it will be bad by now, so I will leave it and be gone. Only a
vulture would stay for long in this house of the dead." Then he started
forward.

For a few yards more he had light to guide his steps, but very soon the
darkness became complete; still the cave was not difficult to travel,
for everywhere the rock was smooth and the water shallow. All that he
needed to do was to walk straight on, keeping touch of one side of the
tunnel with one hand. Indeed he had but two things to fear, that he
should fall into some pit and that he might suddenly encounter another
crocodile, "for doubtless," thought Otter, "the devil was married."

But Otter fell into no hole and he saw no crocodile, since, as it
chanced, the Water Dweller of the People of the Mist was a bachelor.

When the dwarf had travelled up a steep slope for rather more than half
an hour, to his intense joy he saw light before him and hurried towards
it. Presently he reached the further mouth of the cavern that was almost
closed by blocks of ice, among which a little water trickled. Creeping
through an aperture he found himself upon the crest of the impassable
precipice at the back of the city, and that before him a vast glacier of
green ice stretched upwards, whereon the sun shone gloriously.

CHAPTER XXXIII

TRAPPED

It will be remembered that some hours before Otter found himself in
the light of day, after his conquest of the reptile god, Leonard found
himself in a very difference place, namely, in a secret passage bearing
the senseless form of Juanna in his arms, and being guided by Soa,
whither he knew not.

On they went through various tunnels, of the turnings of which Leonard
tried to keep count in his mind, till at length Soa ushered him into a
rock-hewn cell that evidently had been prepared for their reception,