t below here, I'll cave in your head with this hoe."

Then he began to whine; and then, as I was stubborn, he swore to shoot
me as I came out, which I believed him quite capable of doing; and so
matters were again at a deadlock.

"Very well," said I at last. "As I won't trust you an inch beyond my
sight, heave that revolver down first, and then I won't touch you. If
you stick to it, I know you'll try to make cold meat of me in the hopes
I shan't be found down here."

"But you might shoot me, Mr. Cospatric--by accident, of course."

"Make your dirty little soul comfortable on that score. If I wanted to
be quit of you, I've got ten fingers quite capable of squeezing the
life out of your miserable carcass."

"Still, I think I'll unload it first, if you don't mind."

"Go ahead," said I, "if it amuses you." And out came the cartridges one
by one, and then the weapon was tossed down to me. One hand grip on the
barrel and another on the stock, a good strong pressure of the wrists
together, and that gaudy little weapon was effectually spiked.

"I may come in safety now?" asked Weems, after watching this operation
with a groan.

"You won't be touched by me if you behave yourself, although you do
deserve half-killing. But mind, if I catch you playing any more pranks,
I shall just do as I said--strangle you. See those fingers? They're
lengthy, and they're ve-ry strong. _Sabe?_"

Down he came, heralded by a brown tricklet of soil and a few stones. He
knelt at the edge of the opening for a moment, and I saw his white face
peering down with "funk" writ big all over it. But he soon mastered his
scruples, and dropped through on to the flooring beside me, though a
nervous upward lifting of one elbow showed that he wouldn't have been
surprised at getting a blow. However, I didn't meddle with him, but
only bade him curtly enough light that candle.

The sulphur match spluttered and stank, and I'm blessed if his fingers
didn't tremble so much when it came to lighting the wick that he
dropped the burning splinter altogether. I grabbed the things
impatiently enough out of his hands, got a light, and led the way.

The walls beside us sloped in towards the top, where they were bridged
by flat slabs some foot or eighteen inches above my head. The passage
had been built before men knew of the arch. Under foot the ground was
hard and dry, and as I should guess, we passed over some dozen yards of
it before we came into the chamber. That