now," said Ned Sinton, as they sat down on a rock in one of the
inner chambers to rest, "this place recalls vividly to my remembrance a
strange dream which I had just before leaving England."

"Indeed!" said Tom; "I hope you're not a believer in dreams. Don't, I
beseech you, take it into your head that it's going to be realised at
this particular moment, whatever it was."

"It would take a very strong amount of belief indeed to induce me to
expect the realisation of _that_ dream. Shall I tell it you?"

"Is it a very ghostly one?" inquired Tom.

"No; not at all."

"Then out with it."

Ned immediately began the narration of the remarkable dream with which
this story opens, and as he went on to tell of how the stout old
gentleman snuffed gold-dust, and ultimately shot up to the roof of the
cave, and became a golden stalactite, Tom Collins, whose risible
tendencies were easily roused, roared with laughter, until the vaulted
caverns echoed again. At the end of one of these explosions, the two
friends were struck dumb by certain doleful and mysterious sounds which
proceeded from the further end of the inmost chamber. In starting to
his feet, Tom Collins let fall his torch, and in the convulsive clutch
which he made to catch it, he struck the other torch out of Ned's hand,
so that instantly both were left in the profoundest darkness, with their
hearts beating like sledge-hammers against their ribs.

To flee was their first and natural impulse; but to flee in the dark,
over rough ground, and with very imperfect ideas as to the position of
the cave's outlet, was dangerous.

"What _is_ to be done?" ejaculated Tom Collins in a tone that indicated
the perturbation of his heart too clearly.

At that moment Ned remembered that he had a box of matches in the pocket
of his hunting-coat; so, without answering, he drew it forth, struck a
light, and re-ignited the torches.

"Now, Tom," he said, "don't let us give way to unmanly fears. I have no
belief whatever in ghosts or spirits, good or evil, being permitted to
come in visible or audible form to frighten poor mortals. Every effect
has a cause, and I'm determined to find out the cause of these strange
sounds. They certainly proceed from animal lungs, whether from man or
beast remains to be seen."

"Go ahead, then, I'll follow," said Tom, whose courage had returned with
the light, "I'm game for anything that I can see; but I confess to you
that I can _not_ stand howls