ent first,
carrying only the strange lantern, and Mr. Hume a foot behind, ready
to support the boy with a helping hand if he were again overcome by
dizziness. Their progress was slow, owing to the dark, but the going
was easy enough with a gradual ascent. What pleased them very much
was the dwindling of the hubbub made by the waters--a sign that they
were going away from that source of danger. In silence and in
darkness they kept on up to a point where the walls widened out, and
where there was a familiar hut-like smell, necessitating a pause for
investigation. Mr. Hume struck a match--for the fungus-lamp shed no
ray--and holding it up, disclosed a slab of rock with a pile of
white ash on it. Blowing upon this, he started a glow from the still
live embers beneath, and placing on a few half-burnt sticks, soon
made a fire. By its light they saw a couple of rush-mats, such as
the natives make, on the floor, and these, added to the fire, made a
blaze which lit up a cavern bearing evidence of frequent use; for
there were other mats on a ledge, together with several calabashes,
and an earthen pot of native make. Seeing where the passage
continued, they hurried on, for these human belongings reminded them
forcibly of the existence of beings they had no wish to meet in
those dark passages.

"How do you account for people living down here?" asked Venning.

"They may be outcasts from the village, afflicted either by disease
or madness, or they may be members of some dark superstition."

"Ugh! I wonder if the Inkosikasi has any connection with them?"

"I rather think so, and when we get out we will have a word with
her."

"When we get out! But it will be fine to see old Dick again, and to
see the birds and insects on the move in the sun. Halloa! the path
turns again--bends to the left."

"Keep on slowly."

As they went the noise of waters again reached them, growing in
volume; and when the path turned abruptly to the right, they looked
out through a small opening on billows of mist that rolled upwards
out of sight.

"Seem to have reached a spot above last night's resting-place."

The wall on their left was very thin, and shook to each report; but
presently the passage made a bend to the right, which took them away
once more from the mist-laden vault, and then, through a narrow
doorway, opened into one of the best-lighted caverns they had yet
entered. The light which streamed in from the wall beyond was very
welcome to