My senses were now fully alive, and I determined that it should go hard with those who tried to hinder my escape. To my dismay I discovered that I had left my iron bar behind, and that I had no weapons, save my two hands, which had naturally been weakened by my long imprisonment. However, there was no time for despair, so I followed close on Eli's heels, who wriggled his way down the crooked and often difficult descent. We must have got down perhaps one hundred feet, when, turning a corner, a current of air came up, blowing out Eli's light and leaving us in darkness. "Can 'ee zee, Maaster Jasper?" cried Eli. "Just a little. Can you?" "I cud allays zee in the dark," he grunted, but his statement was not altogether borne out, for his speed was much lessened. Still we managed to get on fairly well, for Eli could see in places which to most people would be impenetrable darkness, and I had been so much accustomed to the dark that I was not altogether helpless. After all I suppose it is difficult to find perfect darkness. Light is only a relative term, and depends very much on the nature of our eyes. Thus it was that while we could not go nearly so fast as we had been going, we could still with difficulty find our way. Presently we heard the sound of footsteps, and I knew by their rapid movement that our pursuers would gain upon us. Eagerly we hurried on, and each minute the sound of the footsteps behind us became plainer. "How much farther, Eli?" I panted. "A long way yet, and a hard job when we git to the end," he replied. "How?" "The mouth of this 'ere addit es fathoms above the say," he replied. "How did you get here?" then I asked. "I'll tell 'ee when we git away," he said, impatiently. Then I chided myself for asking so much, for even these few words must have somewhat lessened our speed. Meanwhile, the steps came nearer and nearer. "Stop!" cried Eli, presently. We stopped suddenly, while we both listened eagerly. "There be three on 'em," he grunted. "Yes, or more." "No, only three--we caan't git away--" "We must, we will!" I cried. "Only by fightin' 'em." "Well, then, we'll fight them," I cried. "Come on then--there es a big place down 'ere. Furder down tes awful to git along, and we caan't go wi'out a light." A few seconds later we stood in an open place. It was almost round, and might have been twenty feet across. I saw this by the light which Eli managed to fit as soon as we got there. It took him some few seconds to fit it, however, and by that time our pursuers were upon us.