o
ignite the tinder.

At last, though, the brimstone match was held down to the spot glowing
beneath my breath, the blue flame was succeeded by that of the wooden
splint, and once more our spirits rose as the feeble light of a candle
was reflected from the rocky walls.

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.

THE AMPHITHEATRE.

We were half numbed with the cold, but I found now that, in spite of our
troubled dreams and its apparent brevity, our sleep must have continued
for a long time, for our clothes were nearly dry.

"Now, then, Mas'r Harry," said Tom, "never mind no shrieks and cries;
let's eat what there is in that bag and drink what there is in that
bottle, and then go on our voyage of discovery. It will give us
strength for the job, besides being ever so much easier to carry. If
anything queer comes near us we've got our pistols, so let them look
out."

In spite of the feeling of tremor caused by the mysterious cries I was
eager enough to move, and we began to climb up once more through the
crack, after stepping back to the vault, holding up our candles, and
making sure that by no possibility we had overlooked the raft.

As to its floating away I felt that it would not go very far on reaching
the end of the tunnel, there were too many obstacles in the way in the
shape of great boulders to block up the stream; so that hope of relief
was but faint there even if a search was commenced.

There was no raft in sight; nothing but the strange, troubled water,
ever bubbling and leaping up; and with a shudder, as we thought of the
struggle we had had, we turned away, but not without seeing that the
sand strip was now about half bare.

It was no time for being nervous. We knew that to live we must find a
means of exit while our candles lasted, so started once more to thread
our way along through the rift and right on to the huge cavern where the
cascade of water came thundering down.

Here we halted for a time to gain breath, and then set to work to
thoroughly explore the place; so we pushed on nearer and nearer, to find
that, as we expected, we could pass right round behind the waterfall,
over the slippery, wet stones, worn into seams, as if at one time the
stream had rushed down them; but no trace of rift or passage could we
find save one small crevice through which it seemed possible that a body
might be squeezed.

"Never mind, Mas'r Harry, that can't be the way; let's try farther round
this other side."

Tom led no