th
her robe. It was an ancient ring that I had bought in Egypt, fashioned
of gold in which was set a very hard basalt or other black stone. On
this was engraved the ank or looped cross, which was the Egyptian symbol
of Life, and round it a snake, the symbol of Eternity. The gold was for
the most part melted, but the stone, being so hard and protected by the
shield and asbestos cloak, for such I suppose it was, had resisted the
fury of the flash. Only now it was white instead of black, like a burnt
onyx that had known the funeral pyre. Indeed, perhaps it was an onyx. I
kissed it and hid it away, for it seemed to me to convey a greeting and
with it a promise.

Then we started, a very sad and dejected trio. Leaving with a shudder
that vast place where the blue lights played eternally, we came to the
shaft up and down which the travelling stone pursued its endless path,
and saw it arrive and depart again.

"I wonder he did not send us that way," said Bickley, pointing to it.

"I am sure I am very glad it never occurred to him," answered Bastin,
"for I am certain that we could not have made the journey again without
our guide, Yva."

I looked at him and he ceased. Somehow I could not bear, as yet, to hear
her beloved name spoken by other lips.

Then we entered the passage that she pointed out to us, and began a most
terrible journey which, so far as we could judge, for we lost any exact
count of time, took us about sixty hours. The road, it is true, was
smooth and unblocked, but the ascent was fearfully steep and slippery;
so much so that often we were obliged to pull each other up it and lie
down to rest.

Had it not been for those large, felt-covered bottles of Life-water,
I am sure we should never have won through. But this marvelous elixir,
drunk a little at a time, always re-invigorated us and gave us strength
to push on. Also we had some food, and fortunately our spare oil held
out, for the darkness in that tunnel was complete. Tommy became so
exhausted that at length we must carry him by turns. He would have died
had it not been for the water; indeed I thought that he was going to
die.

After our last rest and a short sleep, however, he seemed to begin to
recover, and generally there was something in his manner which suggested
to us that he knew himself to be not far from the surface of the earth
towards which we had crawled upwards for thousands upon thousands of
feet, fortunately without meeting with any zo