ver, the walls approached so closely to each other
about half way down--within a few inches, in fact--that they were
blocked up with what appeared to be a mass of decaying branches, fallen
leaves and such _debris_.

Walter Trenfield went first, then Will, and Harry and I followed. We
found it much easier working our way up than we anticipated, for the
jutting points of rock gave us a good foothold, and the roots of trees,
living and dead, helped us greatly, for some of these grew across from
one side of the cleft to the other, and afforded us ladder-like steps.

Walter had nearly reached the mouth of the chasm, when Will, who was
ascending more leisurely and carefully behind him, put his foot upon the
thick mass of leaves and rotting wood which blocked up its centre, and,
finding it was firm, sat down upon it to rest himself. Presently,
to have some amusement at the expense of Harry and myself, who were
directly beneath him, he began to shower armfuls of dead leaves upon
us--then suddenly he uttered a cry of terror, sprang to his feet, and
clambered quickly to the top, where Trenfield seized him just as he was
about to fall.

Thinking that he had been frightened, or perhaps bitten by a black
snake or a death-adder, Harry and I climbed up after him as quickly
as possible, little heeding the cuts and bruises we inflicted upon
our naked bodies. As soon as we reached the ledge and flung ourselves,
panting and somewhat terrified, on the thick bed of leaves which covered
the ground like a carpet, we saw Walter Trenfield bending his tall,
naked figure over Will, who was crouched up in a heap and trying,
through his sobs of terror, to tell what it was that he had seen.

'There is a dead man down there,' he gasped, 'a dead man! When I took
up the last armful of leaves to throw down on Tom and Harry, I saw a
dreadful face beneath... it was almost a skull, but there is some flesh
on the face... and oh, Walter! _it has red hair like Tom May's._' Then,
overcome by the terror of that which he had seen, he sobbed afresh.

'Come,' sir,' said Trenfield to my eldest brother, 'we must go down and
look.'

Leaning over the brink of the narrow cleft, I watched Harry and
Trenfield descend, throw down the rotting leaves and timber which had
accumulated in the centre; and then I saw a dreadful sight--a shrunken,
awful face, with white, gleaming teeth, and two fleshless hands lying
together upon an all but skeleton chest. The rest of the b