"There's been no working here, sir; this is all natural split in the rock." "I am perfectly aware of that, and we are wasting time." "Oh, all right, sir," said the man surlily, and he strode in through the opening, walking as fast as he could, like a sulky, offended schoolboy, for a few dozen yards; but this soon came to an end, for in place of a regular beaten well-used way, they were now compelled to pick their path over broken marble, loose angular masses, and the accumulated debris which had fallen from above, while in places they had to stride from side to side of a narrow crevice which ran straight down. But the place attracted Clive Reed as they went on and on, with the rift they traversed growing wider, and opening out into a cavern now, or contracting again, till in places their passage was so narrow that they had to squeeze through into curious-looking chambers in the rock. Then the way split and branched off into different passages, suggestive of endless labyrinths leading right away through the untrodden bowels of the earth. Below them in one place ran a good-sized stream, unseen as it threaded its way among the broken stones, but making its presence known by its musical gurgling, till, after they had been walking above it for about ten minutes, Sturgess stood still, holding up the light at the edge of a gulf, down which the water plunged with a dull, hissing roar. "Won't go no farther this way, I suppose, sir?" he said, rather mockingly. Reed made no reply, but stepped forward close to the man's side, shaded his eyes, and peered into darkness, which he could not pierce. He stooped to pick up a stone and hurl it outward, and listened till it fell and splintered, and the fragments went rattling down for some distance, before the noise they made was overcome by the roar of the water. "Along here," said Reed at last, and he pointed to his left. Sturgess hesitated for a few moments, and then began to move cautiously along the side of the vast cavern, a place apparently untouched, and very rarely, if ever, visited by man. At last he stopped short. "I don't want to show no white feathers, Mr Reed, sir," he said, "but our candles'll only last a certain time, and we've got to get back." "I have matches and three candles in my pocket," said the young engineer quietly. "But I don't know whether I can find my way back, sir, now; whilst if we go any farther, I'm sure I can't." "I have it all perfectly impressed on my brain," said Reed quietly. "But I do not want to go much farther. I only want to examine the rock here and there. Take care, man: mind!" He darted out his right hand, caught the miner by the coat and saved him from plunging down into the black abyss beneath them, for in taking a step forward, Sturgess had trodden on a piece of loose shell marble, which gave way and one foot went down.