tisfied myself that the passage extended for some distance, my
first precaution was to find a slab of rock to fit the opening I had
made."

Compton laid down the book, looked out to see that no one was near,
and crept to the far end of the cave. Pressing with his hand, he
soon found the rock yield. Satisfied, he returned to the journal
with renewed eagerness.

"My first careful examination of the passage disclosed the welcome
fact that it extended a great distance in a westerly direction, but
without lights I saw it would be dangerous to attempt a thorough
investigation. Accordingly, I occupied myself for several days in
making a supply of candles, using the barrels of my gun as a mould,
and mixing beeswax with oil clarified from the fat of animals, such
as monkeys and coneys. Provided with two such candles, I began my
explorations underground, and after many failures discovered a way
of escape, which others may benefit by. The passage, in an
uninterrupted course, dips under the gorge and enters the south-west
cliff, which is completely honeycombed. After dipping under the
gorge, it branches in several directions, but care must be taken to
follow the extreme right-hand passage. This follows the outer shell,
skirts what I have called the Hall of Winds, dips down through a
long tunnel, and emerges on the outer slope at a point near the spot
where the river disappears. The passage is safe, but can only be
taken provided a candle or torch is used. If these directions should
come under the notice of some unhappy traveller, let him accept my
earnest wishes for success in his efforts to escape from a place
which to me was first a haven of rest and then a hateful prison, and
there is a feeling I have that I have not written this in vain."

The son of the lonely Englishman who had written the foregoing in
sadness of spirit, but in hope for others, sat long staring before
him with a lump in his throat.

"Not in vain, my father--not in vain did you labour," he murmured.
Again he read over the directions, then very carefully he packed the
journal and strapped it on his back, to be with him wherever he
went. Noticing how the time had passed while he had been receiving
the message from the dead, he hurried to the gorge to see if there
were any signs of his friends, and his eyes went to the dark walls,
and to the silent pool far below, with a feeling of intense
repugnance at the thought of the ghoulish women who lurked unseen,