She went down and down and quite disappeared. Not a foot was left for Steenie to lay hold of. Terrible and long seemed the time to him as he stood there forsaken, his darling out of sight in the heart of the earth. He knew there were wolves in Scotland once; who could tell but a she-wolf had been left, and a whole clan of them lived there underground, never issuing in the daytime! there might be the open mouth of a passage, under a rock and curtained with heather, in some other spot of the hill! What if one of them got Kirsty by the throat before she had time to cry out! Then he thought she might have gone till she could go no father, and not having room to turn, was trying to creep backward, but her clothes hindered her. Forgetting his repugnance in over-mastering fear, the faithful fellow was already half inside the hole to go after her, when up shot the head of Kirsty, almost in his face. For a moment he was terribly perplexed: he had been expecting to come on her feet, not her head: how could she have gone in head foremost, and not come back feet foremost? ‘Eh, wuman,’ he said in a fear-struck whisper, ‘it’s awfu’ to see ye come oot o’ the yird like a muckle worm!’ ‘Ye saw me gang in, Steenie, ye gowk!’ returned Kirsty, dismayed herself at sight of his solemn dread. ‘Ay,’ answered Steenie, ‘but I didna see ye come oot! Eh, Kirsty, wuman, hae ye a heid at baith en’s o’ ye?’ Kirsty’s laughter blew Steenie’s discomposure away, and he too laughed. ‘Come back hame,’ said Kirsty; ‘I maun get haud o’ a can’le! Yon’s a place maun be seen intil. I never saw, or raither faun’ (_felt_) the like o’ ’t, for o’ seein there’s nane, or next to nane. There’s room eneuch; ye can see that wi’ yer airms!’ ‘What is there room eneuch for?’ asked Steenie. ‘For you and me, and twenty or thirty mair, mebbe--I dinna ken,’ replied Kirsty. ‘I s’ mak ye a present o’ my room intil ’t,’ returned Steenie. ‘I want nane o’ ’t.’ ‘I’ll gang doon wi’ the can’le,’ said Kirsty, ‘and see whether ’t be a place for ye. Gien I cry oot, “Ay is’t,” wull ye come?’ ‘That I wull, gien ’t war the whaul’s belly!’ replied Steenie. They set out for the house, and as they walked they talked. ‘I div won’er what the place cud ever hae been for!’ said Kirsty, more to herself than Steenie. ‘It’s bigger nor ony thoucht I had o’ ’t.’ ‘What is ’t like, Kirsty?’ inquired Steenie. ‘Hoo can I tell whan I saw naething!’ replied Kirsty. ‘But,’ she added thoughtfully, ‘gien it warna that we’re in Scotlan’, and they’re nigh-han’ Rom’, I wud hae been ’maist sure I had won intil ane o’ the catacombs!’ ‘Eh, losh, lat me awa to the hill!’ cried Steenie, stopping and half turning. ‘I canna bide the verra word o’ the craturs!’ ‘What word than?’ asked Kirsty, a little surprised; for how did Steenie know anything about the catacombs?