"What on earth were they doing there, with the men off some place else?" "I wish that I could tell you, Bill. And what was the angel doing up in the Tamahnowis Rocks? And all by her lovely lonesome? I wish that you would tell me that." "I wish that I could. And that isn't the only thing that I wish I could tell you. What in the world are _they_ doing _here_? And what at the Tamahnowis Rocks?" "What, Bill, are we?" "But women!" said I. "Our explorers don't take women along." "Lewis and Clark took a woman along, Sacajaweah, and took her papoose to boot. And this isn't _our_ world, remember. Things may be very different down here. Maybe, in this subterranean land, the lady is the boss." "Where," I exclaimed, "isn't she the boss? You don't have to come down here to find a--a what do you call it?--a gynecocracy. Which reminds me of Saxe." "What does Saxe say, sweet misogynist?" "This, sweet gyneolater: "'Men, dying, make their wills, But wives escape a work so sad; Why should they make, the gentle dames, What all their lives they've had?'" "Bravo!" cried Milton Rhodes. And I saw the angel, who, with the older man, was leading the way, turn and give us a curious look. "And that," said Rhodes, "reminds _me_." "Of what?" "Who is the leader of this little party? Is it that man, or is it our angel?" "I'd say the angel if I could only understand why _she_ should be the leader." At length we passed the last pillar and the last stalagmite. All this time we had been descending at a gentle slope. The way now led into a tunnel, rather wide and lofty at first. The going was easy enough for a mile or so; the descent was still a gentle one, and the floor of the passage was but little broken. The spot was then reached where that tunnel bifurcates; and there were the packs of our Hypogeans, or, rather, their knapsacks. There were five, one for each, the men's being large and heavy. "You see, Bill?" queried Milton. "Evidently our little hypothesis was correct." "I see," I nodded. "We have far to go." "Very far, I fancy." Also, in this place were the phosphorus-lamps of the Dromans, one for each. These were somewhat similar to the ones that Rhodes and I carried, save that the Droman lamps could be darkened, whereas the only way we could conceal the light of ours was to put them into their cylinders. As was the case with our phials, the light emitted by these vessels was a feeble one. Undoubtedly, though, they would remain luminous for a long period, and hence their real, their very great value. Beside the lanterns, oil-burning, of which the Dromans had three, the phosphorus-lamps were somewhat pale and sorry things; but, when one remembered that they would shed light steadily for months perhaps, while the flames of the lanterns were dependent upon the oil-supply, those pale, ghostly lights became very wonderful things.