"Follow me," the old sage said in a low tone as, throwing himself down before the mysterious hole, he crept forward, being compelled to lie almost flat on his stomach, so small was the fissure. His example we all quietly followed, finding ourselves groping forward in the darkness, but discovering to our satisfaction that the further we proceeded the wider the crack in the rock became, so that before long we were enabled to walk upright, although we deemed it best to hold our hands above our heads lest we should strike them against any projecting stones. Without light, and in air that was decidedly close and oppressive, we proceeded. At least we were safe from the howling mob, for since leaving the great cavern all was silence, and it was now evident from the confident manner in which Goliba went forward that he was assured of the way. Soon we negotiated a steep ascent, now and then so difficult that we were compelled to clamber up on all fours, and for a long time this continued until our hands and feet were sore with scrambling upward. A spring shed its icy drippings upon us for some little distance, soaking us to the skin and rendering us chilly and uncomfortable, but at length we reached what seemed to be a ponderous door that barred our passage. Goliba groped about for a few minutes without speaking, when quickly it opened to his touch and we found ourselves in a long stone passage lit here and there by evil-smelling oil lamps that flickered in the rush of air from the great fissure through which we had ascended. "This is amazing," cried Omar dumbfounded, as the old sage struggled to close the heavy iron door behind us. "Why, we are in the vaults beneath the palace!" "True, O Master," Goliba answered, breathless after his exertions. "There is but one entrance and one exit to this labyrinth of vaults and foul chambers wherein the Naya confineth her prisoners. The entrance is, as thou knowest, immediately beneath the Emerald Throne; the exit is this door, which can only be opened by those possessed of the secret. Thirty years ago, when Keeper of the Prison, this door puzzled me considerably, for all attempts to open it on the part of the men I employed failed. It is of such construction and mechanism that nothing short of explosives could make it yield, and these I feared to use. But years afterwards a gaoler who had obtained the secret from his father, also a gaoler, but who was dead, imparted it to me on his death-bed in return for some good-will I had shown him. I believe therefore that I am the only person who has knowledge of the means by which to open it." "The knowledge hath, in any case, saved our lives, Goliba," Omar answered. "But the great cavern and all those horrible rites introduced into the worship of Zomara, are not they new?"