The vaulted roof above us re-echoed the name of the Indian, who immediately replied. The bats now ceased their flight; but when the light reappeared the uproar began afresh. Lucien related our accident to his friend, who, in his hurry to come to our rescue, fell several times over the rocks. At last he reached us, and, lighting our torches, he guided us over the dangerous ground. When we cleared the fallen rocks, we entered a chamber studded with stalactites, on which Sumichrast's torches threw a light, and the walls of the cave glittered as if they had been covered with crystal stars. From the ground, from the roof, and from the walls, clusters of variegated rays were reflected in every direction, as if emanating from ten thousand diamonds. The beauty of this scene was quite sufficient to dazzle far less enthusiastic spectators than we were. But it was not long before a repulsive, oppressive, thick smoke compelled us to move on, and a few paces through a passage brought us into the centre of an immense hall, lighted by an aperture into the open air. I joyfully hailed the blue sky, and then closely examining the ground we were treading on, noticed that it was covered with fragments of baked clay. Removing this, it was not long before we came to a layer of damp charcoal. L'Encuerado went outside and cut some branches, which, when pointed at the end, helped us in our digging. After two hours of hard work, we succeeded in laying bare more than a square yard of black and greasy mould. Thoroughly exhausted, in spite of my curiosity being excited, I was compelled to follow Sumichrast out of the cave in order to breathe the fresh air. A fine rain was falling, and I was so devoted to the idea of my excavation in the cave, that I was very glad to use the state of the weather as a pretext for putting off our departure to the next day. My companions had hardly recovered their breath before I summoned them back to work. L'Encuerado, as the hole became larger, was quite excited, and soon fancied that he could perceive gold. The fact is, that every Indian believes that all caves and grottoes contain unheard-of treasures, either the work of nature or buried by man, and that these treasures are guarded by some malicious genius, who allows the searchers just to catch a glimpse of the hidden riches, but never permits their being carried away. "Don't laugh, Tatita," said the Indian to me, with a mysterious air; "especially just at this moment." [Illustration: "The animal continued to retreat before him, and led him to the mouth of a cave."]