"All right," he said, conscious that his voice was shaking. "Just a minute." Pulling himself together, he set his foot on the first staple and began to descend very slowly, not daring to look down into the black depths. He reached the hole in the wall, struck a match, lit a candle end he had in his pocket, and followed Royce into the tunnel. "What's up?" asked Royce. "You're as white as a sheet. Surely that little bit of a climb didn't make you dizzy?" "No, I'm all right. Goruba's gone!" "Gone? What do you mean? Of course he's gone." "Down the well," said Challis, almost in a whisper. "He was climbing up with a knife. I went for him, and he fell." For a moment Royce was speechless with astonishment. Then he said: "But I don't understand. Where did he come from? He didn't pass me. Are you sure it was Goruba?" "Certain. It was horrible." "Poor old chap! Look here, you're shaken. Rest a bit while I go down. Perhaps the fellow isn't much hurt." He took the candle from Challis's hand and went carefully down by the staples to the bottom of the well. There, huddled in a pool of water, lay all that was left of the gigantic negro. He was quite dead. It was clear that in his descent he had struck the stone slab projecting into the well. His neck was broken. Awed by this strange tragedy, puzzled at the presence of Goruba here, Royce climbed up again and rejoined his friend. "The poor wretch is dead," he said. "What an extraordinary fatality! He must have been in the darkness below. But what could he have been doing there?" Together they sat on the stone floor with the candle between them. For some time neither spoke. "I see part of the explanation," said Challis at last. "When he escaped from us he must have guessed that we should continue the pursuit, and slipped back at full speed to secure his treasure, or some of it, in our absence." "The ruling passion!" said Royce. "Yes, that's it. But still I don't understand why he was down the well. If I had met him in the tunnel, now, there would have been no mystery about it." "Perhaps he was in the room above, saw us coming, and came down to be out of our way." "Ah! and to follow us through the tunnel and stab us in the back. That's it, to a certainty. Your going back for the matches saved our lives, Tom." "We've a lot to be thankful for," said Challis. "We have indeed! ... Now for Rabeh's hoard, old man." They went along the tunnel, found the slab in the floor, lifted it, and made their way into the cave. Challis gasped when he saw the immense array of tusks. "They are worth a fortune," he said. "No wonder Goruba wanted to drive us out." "He has been moving things!" exclaimed Royce. "That row at the end there isn't as I left it. At least a dozen tusks are gone. I wonder what he has done with them. Let us go on to the farther entrance."