r's love of treading the
fresh and untried soil, we pressed on, climbing over loose fragments of
rock, peering into the stream that bubbled musically down the bottom of
the gorge, wending our way through the high growth of long tangled
grass, till the gorge seemed to plunge into darkness, a huge eminence
blocking the way, in whose face appeared a low, broad archway, forming
the entrance to a tunnel, leading who could tell where?

Any attempt to follow another track was vain, as I soon perceived; for,
as I saw, the gorge seemed to be continued beneath the archway, while
right and left the rock was precipitous beyond the possibility of
climbing even to the shelves, where ancient trees had securely rooted
themselves in the sparse soil, to hang over and lend their gloom to the
sombre scene.

But in spite of its mystery there was a something attractive in the vast
cavern, from which it now became evident the little river sprang; for it
ran trickling out beneath the rocks we clambered over, till we stood
gazing in towards the shadowy depth, listening to strange echoes of a
murmuring rising and falling sound that dominated all the faint whispers
that escaped, as it were, from time to time to the light of day.

"What do you think of this, Tom?" I said, after vainly trying to see
the cavern's extent.

"Think, Mas'r Harry? Why, it looks to me like the front door to
Bogyland. But do let's get back, sir; for I was never so hungry before
in my life. I say stop, Mas'r Harry--what are you a-going to do?"

"Do! Why, go in and explore the place, to be sure, Tom," I cried,
beginning to climb the rocky barrier that barred the way into the
cavern.

"No, I say, pray don't, Mas'r Harry!" cried Tom dolefully. "I ain't
afraid in the light, when you can see what you are doing, but I can't
stand the dark, nohow. Don't go, Mas'r Harry. Think of what your poor
mother would say."

"Hold your tongue, will you, you great calf!" I exclaimed angrily.

For an intense desire seemed to come over me to explore this dim,
shadowy region. For what might we not find there treasured? It might
be the ante-chamber to some rich, forgotten mine--one of the natural
storehouses from which the old Peruvians had been used to extract their
vast treasures. There were riches inexhaustible in the bowels of the
earth, I knew, and if this were one of the gates by which they could be
reached, held back from causes induced by cowardice I would not be--I
h