noe. Well, it so
happened that when we all prostrated ourselves to avoid being
swept out of the boat and into the water by the rock roof, Umslopogaas's
head had come down uncommonly near this roast buck, and so soon
as he had recovered a little from the first shock of our position
it occurred to him that he was hungry. Thereupon he coolly cut
off a chop with Inkosi-kaas, and was now employed in eating it
with every appearance of satisfaction. As he afterwards explained,
he thought that he was going 'on a long journey', and preferred
to start on a full stomach. It reminded me of the people who
are going to be hanged, and who are generally reported in the
English daily papers to have made 'an excellent breakfast'.

As soon as the others saw that I had managed to light the lamp,
we bundled Alphonse into the farther end of the canoe with a
threat which calmed him down wonderfully, that if he would insist
upon making the darkness hideous with his cries we would put
him out of suspense by sending him to join the Wakwafi and wait
for Annette in another sphere, and began to discuss the situation
as well as we could. First, however, at Good's suggestion, we
bound two paddles mast-fashion in the bows so that they might
give us warning against any sudden lowering of the roof of the
cave or waterway. It was clear to us that we were in an underground
river or, as Alphonse defined it, 'main drain', which carried
off the superfluous waters of the lake. Such rivers are well
known to exist in many parts of the world, but it has not often
been the evil fortune of explorers to travel by them. That the
river was wide we could clearly see, for the light from the bull's-eye
lantern failed to reach from shore to shore, although occasionally,
when the current swept us either to one side or the other, we
could distinguish the rock wall of the tunnel, which, as far
as we could make out, appeared to arch about twenty-five feet
above our heads. As for the current itself, it ran, Good estimated,
at least eight knots, and, fortunately for us, was, as is usual,
fiercest in the middle of the stream. Still, our first act was
to arrange that one of us, with the lantern and a pole there
was in the canoe, should always be in the bows ready, if possible,
to prevent us from being stove in against the side of the cave
or any projecting rock. Umslopogaas, having already dined, took
the first turn. This was absolutely, with one exception, all
th