perceived that in the wall of the cone there was a
stair, or, to be more accurate, that some projecting knobs of rock had
been so shaped as to form a good imitation of a stair. Down this Ayesha
began to climb, springing from step to step, like a chamois, and after
her we followed with less grace. When we had descended some fifteen
or sixteen steps we found that they ended in a tremendous rocky slope,
running first outwards and then inwards--like the slope of an inverted
cone, or tunnel. The slope was very steep, and often precipitous, but
it was nowhere impassable, and by the light of the lamps we went down it
with no great difficulty, though it was gloomy work enough travelling on
thus, no one of us knew whither, into the dead heart of a volcano. As
we went, however, I took the precaution of noting our route as well as
I could; and this was not so very difficult, owing to the extraordinary
and most fantastic shape of the rocks that were strewn about, many of
which in that dim light looked more like the grim faces carven upon
mediaeval gargoyles than ordinary boulders.

For a long time we travelled on thus, half an hour I should say, till,
after we had descended for many hundreds of feet, I perceived that we
were reaching the point of the inverted cone. In another minute we were
there, and found that at the very apex of the funnel was a passage, so
low and narrow that we had to stoop as we crept along it in Indian file.
After some fifty yards of this creeping, the passage suddenly widened
into a cave, so huge that we could see neither the roof nor the sides.
We only knew that it was a cave by the echo of our tread and the perfect
quiet of the heavy air. On we went for many minutes in absolute awed
silence, like lost souls in the depths of Hades, Ayesha's white and
ghost-like form flitting in front of us, till once more the place ended
in a passage which opened into a second cavern much smaller than the
first. Indeed, we could clearly make out the arch and stony banks of
this second cave, and, from their rent and jagged appearance, discovered
that, like the first long passage down which we had passed through the
cliff before we reached the quivering spur, it had, to all appearance,
been torn in the bowels of the rock by the terrific force of some
explosive gas. At length this cave ended in a third passage, through
which gleamed a faint glow of light.

I heard Ayesha give a sigh of relief as this light dawned upon us.