e, following
and indeed walking in the deep grooves that I have mentioned. Presently
it seemed to open out as a courtyard might at the end of a passage; yes,
to open on to some vast place whereof in that gloom we could not see the
roof or the limits. All we knew was that it must be enormous--the echoes
of our voices and footsteps told us as much, for these seemed to come
back to us from high, high above and from far, far away. Bickley and I
said nothing; we were too overcome. But Bastin remarked:

"Did you ever go to Olympia? I did once to see a kind of play where
the people said nothing, only ran about dressed up. They told me it was
religious, the sort of thing a clergyman should study. I didn't think it
religious at all. It was all about a nun who had a baby."

"Well, what of it?" snapped Bickley.

"Nothing particular, except that nuns don't have babies, or if they do
the fact should not be advertised. But I wasn't thinking of that. I was
thinking that this place is like an underground Olympia."

"Oh, be quiet!" I said, for though Bastin's description was not bad, his
monotonous, drawling voice jarred on me in that solemnity.

"Be careful where you walk," whispered Bickley, for even he seemed awed,
"there may be pits in this floor."

"I wish we had a light," I said, halting.

"If candles are of any use," broke in Bastin, "as it happens I have
a packet in my pocket. I took them with me this morning for a certain
purpose."

"Not unconnected with the paraffin and the burning of the idol, I
suppose?" said Bickley. "Hand them over."

"Yes; if I had been allowed a little more time I intended--"

"Never mind what you intended; we know what you did and that's enough,"
said Bickley as he snatched the packet from Bastin's hand and proceeded
to undo it, adding, "By heaven! I have no matches, nor have you,
Arbuthnot!"

"I have a dozen boxes of wax vestas in my other pocket," said Bastin.
"You see, they burn so well when you want to get up a fire on a damp
idol. As you may have noticed, the dew is very heavy here."

In due course these too were produced. I took possession of them as they
were too valuable to be left in the charge of Bastin, and, extracting
a box from the packet, lit two of the candles which were of the short
thick variety, like those used in carriage-lamps.

Presently they burned up, making two faint stars of light which,
however, were not strong enough to show us either the roof or the sides
of