that was through the tunnel. It was not a very
pleasant idea to walk back alone through the dark, oppressive tunnel at
midnight; luckily he had his lantern with him.

"How could I have been such an idiot!" he muttered to himself again. He
found some bread and cheese in his pocket, which he ate with a good
appetite. His headache had gone, and he felt much refreshed after his
sleep. Then he put on his cloak, lighted the lantern, and set out
cheerfully to walk through the tunnel.

He had not gone far into the black darkness, when he thought he heard
voices whispering and talking not far away from him; then he distinctly
felt something or somebody brush past him.

"Hullo, who's there?" he called out. Complete silence. He was not easily
frightened; but his heart began to beat quicker than usual. "Well, if
it's robbers or tramps, they won't find much to rob on me," he thought;
for he had only a few shillings in his pocket for his night's lodging.

It was probably a bat that had strayed in at the opening, he decided.
Suddenly he came to a standstill. Right across the way was a mass of
freshly fallen earth and rock that quite obstructed his further
progress. "Well this is a pretty fix to be in. How aggravating!" he said
to himself, and leant for a moment against the wall of the tunnel, to
consider what would be best to do. The wall instantly gave way, he
stumbled, bruised his arm against a sharp corner of the rock, and his
lantern went out. At the same time he heard a sound resembling the
slamming of a door. "Donnerwetter!" he exclaimed--a mild German swear
which means literally "thunder-weather!"--"whatever shall I do now?" He
had a box of matches in his pocket and soon succeeded in relighting the
lantern.

"There is nothing for it, but to go back again to where I started from,
and wait for daybreak," he thought.

By this time he had become confused, and had lost the sense of
direction; but there _could_ be only one way back. So he tramped along a
long winding passage that he took to be the excavated tunnel. "How
curious, I could have been certain that the tunnel was much wider, and
more direct than this. Can I be still dreaming?" he thought.

Suddenly he was startled and astonished to come on a flight of steps
leading downwards. There had certainly been no stairs in the tunnel! He
saw too that the walls were painted in a decorative way like some of the
Catacombs in Rome; only these were far more elaborate. "I'm in for