hen my health returned I would devote
some holiday to exploring those mysterious depths and finding out for
myself how far the Roman had penetrated into the Derbyshire hills.

Strange how superstitious these countrymen are! I should have thought
better of young Armitage, for he is a man of some education and
character, and a very fine fellow for his station in life. I was
standing at the Blue John Gap when he came across the field to me.

"Well, doctor," said he, "you're not afraid, anyhow."

"Afraid!" I answered. "Afraid of what?"

"Of it," said he, with a jerk of his thumb towards the black vault, "of
the Terror that lives in the Blue John Cave."

How absurdly easy it is for a legend to arise in a lonely countryside!
I examined him as to the reasons for his weird belief. It seems that
from time to time sheep have been missing from the fields, carried
bodily away, according to Armitage. That they could have wandered away
of their own accord and disappeared among the mountains was an
explanation to which he would not listen. On one occasion a pool of
blood had been found, and some tufts of wool. That also, I pointed
out, could be explained in a perfectly natural way. Further, the
nights upon which sheep disappeared were invariably very dark, cloudy
nights with no moon. This I met with the obvious retort that those were
the nights which a commonplace sheep-stealer would naturally choose for
his work. On one occasion a gap had been made in a wall, and some of
the stones scattered for a considerable distance. Human agency again,
in my opinion. Finally, Armitage clinched all his arguments by telling
me that he had actually heard the Creature--indeed, that anyone could
hear it who remained long enough at the Gap. It was a distant roaring
of an immense volume. I could not but smile at this, knowing, as I do,
the strange reverberations which come out of an underground water
system running amid the chasms of a limestone formation. My
incredulity annoyed Armitage so that he turned and left me with some
abruptness.

And now comes the queer point about the whole business. I was still
standing near the mouth of the cave turning over in my mind the various
statements of Armitage, and reflecting how readily they could be
explained away, when suddenly, from the depth of the tunnel beside me,
there issued a most extraordinary sound. How shall I describe it?
First of all, it seemed to be a great distance away, far d