rent part, and came quickly
up to Nic.

"I am obliged to be watchful," he said. "I did not know but that you
might have some one following you; but all seems to be clear. Now then,
come along."

He struck off in among the trees, and Nic followed closely, till,
wondering at the course his companion was taking, he said suddenly:

"Are you making some short cut? Does the gorge bend round anywhere
here?"

"Oh no: I am going quite right."

"But you are leaving the edge of the precipice right behind."

"Yes; that is right. No one would look for the way down where I am
leading."

Nic gazed at him wonderingly, for the man's manner seemed moment by
moment to grow more strange; but they trudged on for quite a quarter of
an hour, through a wonderful chaos of rocks and stunted trees, which
formed a dense thicket through which it was hard to pass, and which was
at last barred by the rocks closing in.

Here the convict turned sharply to his left, went in, and out for a
couple of score yards, and then came to a halt at a rock face, from
beneath which a little stream of water gurgled down a long gully for a
short distance, and then disappeared.

"Is the water good?" said Nic eagerly.

"Delicious. Drink."

"Then you have been coming to find that?" cried Nic, after taking a
long, deep draught. "It is good. But I thought you were going to show
me the way down into the gorge."

"Yes: there it is."

"What? Why, where?" cried Nic, staring.

"Down there, where the water goes. Follow that, and you will reach the
great valley."

"But," cried Nic, gazing in wonder at what seemed to be a mere split in
the rock, down which the light penetrated but a short distance, "that
goes underground."

"Yes, nearly all the way."

"A cavern."

"A series of caverns. You do not care to go now?"

"Well, it looks--It is so--One can't hardly--Yes, one can," cried the
boy, ceasing his stammering and drawing himself up. "I am quite ready.
Will you go first?"

The convict smiled, bent down a little, and passed out of the boy's
sight.

"You can jump down boldly here," came in deep, echoing tones: "there is
good foothold. A little slippery, but I'll catch you if your foot
glides away."

It requires a little effort of mind to leap down off _terra_ _firma_
into a black-looking hole whose bottom is invisible, and Nic hesitated
for a moment or two. Then:

"Trust for trust," he said to himself, and leaped, to feel for a brief
i