"I have stopped," said Brace, whose voice sounded to the rest of the party hollow and echoing, dying away in the distance like a peculiar whisper. "There's a great pillar here, and the passage branches off to right and left." "Well, let's have lights." "I don't think we shall want them if we take the passage to the left, for I can see light shining in through a hole. Yes, and there's another hole farther on. It's a passage going down at a slope. Why, it's all steps." "Steps?" cried Briscoe, as he heard the tap, tap of the steel plate covering the butt of Brace's gun as he felt his way. "And so it is away here to the right: steps going down into black darkness. I know! down to the great tank, into which the water falls from ever so high up." "Then you stop, young fellow," cried Briscoe hoarsely, "or you'll be falling too from ever so high up, and I daresay that's a big stone cistern half a mile deep, and full of water-snakes and polligoblins." "Listen," said Brace; "I'm going to feed them. Be quiet, everybody," he added, for the passage behind was now being filled up, the captain and Sir Humphrey in front. "What are you going to do now, sir?" asked Lynton. "Here's a great mass of stone that seems to have fallen down from the roof close to my feet. Hold my gun." He passed his piece to the mate, who could faintly make out the speaker's shape by the feeble light which came from beyond him to the left. "Heavy," panted Brace, "Hah!" He raised the stone right above his head and heaved it from him, the expiration of his breath being plainly heard by the listeners in the painful silence which followed for a couple of seconds. Then there were sparks emitted from somewhere below, where the stone struck with a crash and bounded off into space. The crash was echoed, and seemed to reverberate round and round some great vault, and then came directly after a dull, solemn, weird-sounding _plosh_! evidently not many feet below where they were standing. After this, there were peculiar whisperings and sounds, as if numbers of disturbed occupants of the water were beating and lapping at the walls of the place: then silence once more. "Be careful, Brace!" cried Sir Humphrey. "It's all right," said Brace coolly. "There: I've left that place. All of you bear off to the left and follow me down these steps. Hurrah! I believe we've found the way to the great temple at last." "It's all right, sir," cried Briscoe, who had passed Lynton. "I can see plainly now. There's a narrow flight of steps leading down close to the face of the cliff, and it's lit every few yards by big square holes, only they're most of them grown over and choked by creepers." "Hi! Look out there, everyone," shouted Brace. "Lie down."