ven the little light that could have
been admitted through its narrow entrance; but the dense obscurity was
soon dissipated. Dragging Numerian after him to the left side of the
recess, Ulpius drew back a sort of wooden shutter, and a vivid ray of
sunlight immediately streamed in through a small circular opening
pierced in this part of the temple.

Then there became apparent, at the lower end of the apartment, a vast
yawning cavity in the wall, high enough to admit a man without
stooping, but running downwards almost perpendicularly to some lower
region which it was impossible to see, for no light shot upwards from
this precipitous artificial abyss, in the darkness of which the eye was
lost after it had penetrated to the distance of a few feet only from
the opening. At the base of the confined space thus visible appeared
the commencement of a flight of steps, evidently leading far downwards
into the cavity. On the abruptly sloping walls, which bounded it on
all sides, were painted, in the brilliant hues of ancient fresco,
representations of the deities of the mythology--all in the attitude of
descending into the vault, and all followed by figures of nymphs
bearing wreaths of flowers, beautiful birds, and other similar adjuncts
of the votive ceremonies of Paganism. The repulsive contrast between
the bright colours and graceful forms presented by the frescoes, and
the perilous and gloomy appearance of the cavity which they decorated,
increased remarkably the startling significance in the character of the
whole structure. Its past evil uses seemed ineradicably written over
every part of it, as past crime and torment remain ineradicably written
on the human face; the mind imbibed from it terrifying ideas of deadly
treachery, of secret atrocities, of frightful refinements of torture,
which no uninitiated eye had ever beheld, and no human resolution had
ever been powerful enough to resist.

But the impressions thus received were not produced only by what was
seen in and around this strange vault, but by what was heard there
besides. The wind penetrated the cavity at some distance, and through
some opening that could not be beheld, and was apparently intercepted
in its passage, for it whistled upwards towards the entrance in shrill,
winding notes, sometimes producing another and nearer sound, resembling
the clashing of many small metallic substances violently shaken
together. The noise of the wind, as well as the bubblin