With that horrible laugh still ringing in their ears, Wythe followed after, half-dead with terror. Gasping, nearly suffocated by the wild throbbings of his heart, Duplin gained the chamber, and then sunk down weak and trembling. Though life depended upon the exertion, he could go no further. "Burr--where are you?" he gasped, agitatedly. "Here--thank God we are together!" came the low reply, as Wythe crept to his side. "But the light--where is it?" "I dropped it--I was so astonished. But we can kindle another. I have matches and you have wood." "I?--no, I must have lost it as I ran. I had two sticks when we entered, but they are gone now," slowly returned Wythe. Both remained silent. Each realized the full force of this new calamity. Without a light how could they ever hope to find their way out of this labyrinth? With a light, the task would be hard enough--without one, it become simply impossible. "We must regain them, even though we have to face that horrible sight once more," muttered Duplin, with a resolution that was simply sublime, when his superstitious nature is remembered. "Did _you_ hear it, too?" "The laughter--yes. It was no delusion. Pray God that I may never hear it again!" "Hark!" A low, indistinct sound met their ears. It seemed to proceed from the passage they had just left. Its precise nature they could not define, but--perhaps the thought was excited by what had just occurred--they fancied it was the faint echo of that horrible peal of laughter. "It's coming nearer--what shall we do?" gasped Duplin, tremblingly. "Remember what Jack showed us. There is some trickery here, I feel sure. If we flee blindly through these passages, we are indeed lost. We must meet what is coming. If really supernatural, we can not run away from it. If human, we can solve the mystery with a pistol-bullet," hurriedly muttered Burr, as his revolver clicked sharply. His resolution seemed to restore Duplin, and then, in silence they awaited the result, though in painful suspense, for neither was free from a sickening dread. Few men are equally brave in the dark and light. The suspense was not of long duration. Another shrill, unearthly peal of laughter rung through the rocky chamber, and then, as if by magic, a glowing skeleton with every bone plainly outlined, stood before the two gold-hunters. Duplin hastily cocked his revolver. It seemed that the sharp metallic _click_ was not unheard, for another laugh, low and taunting, came from where the ghastly object stood. Then a voice--the same that had addressed them at their camp, the preceding night--uttered the words: