CHAPTER 10
THE ESCAPE
... How fearfulAnd dizzy 'tis to cast one's eyes so low! ... I'll look no moreLest my brain turn--_Shakespeare_
The while chalk was a bulwark between us and the foe; and though one ortwo of them loosed off their matchlocks, trying to get at us sideways,they could not even see their quarry, and 'twas only shooting at aventure. We were safe. But for how short a time! Safe just for so long asit should please the soldiers not to come down to take us, safe with adischarged pistol in our grasp, and a shot man lying at our feet.
Elzevir was the first to speak: 'Can you stand, John? Is the bonebroken?'
'I cannot stand,' I said; 'there is something gone in my leg, and I feelblood running down into my boot.'
He knelt, and rolled down the leg of my stocking; but though he onlymoved my foot ever so little, it caused me sharp pain, for feeling wascoming back after the first numbness of the shot.
'They have broke the leg, though it bleeds little,' Elzevir said. 'Wehave no time to splice it here, but I will put a kerchief round, andwhile I wrap it, listen to how we lie, and then choose what we shall do.'
I nodded, biting my lips hard to conceal the pain he gave me, and he wenton: 'We have a quarter of an hour before the Posse can get down to us.But come they will, and thou canst judge what chance we have to saveliberty or life with that carrion lying by us'--and he jerked his thumbat Maskew--'though I am glad 'twas not my hand that sent him to hisreckoning, and therefore do not blame thee if thou didst make me waste acharge in air. So one thing we can do is to wait here until they come,and I can account for a few of them before they shoot me down; but thoucanst not fight with a broken leg, and they will take thee alive, andthen there is a dance on air at Dorchester Jail.'
I felt sick with pain and bitterly cast down to think that I was like tocome so soon to such a vile end; so only gave a sigh, wishing heartilythat Maskew were not dead, and that my leg were not broke, but that I wasback again at the Why Not? or even hearing one of Dr. Sherlock's sermonsin my aunt's parlour.
Elzevir looked down at me when I sighed, and seeing, I suppose, that Iwas sorrowful, tried to put a better face on a bad business. 'Forgive me,lad,' he said, 'if I have spoke too roughly. There is yet another waythat we may try; and if thou hadst but two whole legs, I would have triedit, but now 'tis little short of madness. And yet, if thou fear'st not, Iwill still try it. Just at the end of this flat ledge, farthest fromwhere the bridle-path leads down, but not a hundred yards from where westand, there is a sheep-track leading up the cliff. It starts where theunder-cliff dies back again into the chalk face, and climbs by slants andelbow-turns up to the top. The shepherds call it the Zigzag, and evensheep lose their footing on it; and of men I never heard but one hadclimbed it, and that was lander Jordan, when the Excise was on his heels,half a century back. But he that tries it stakes all on head and foot,and a wounded bird like thee may not dare that flight. Yet, if thou artcontent to hang thy life upon a hair, I will carry thee some way; andwhere there is no room to carry, thou must down on hands and knees andtrail thy foot.'
It was a desperate chance enough, but came as welcome as a patch of bluethrough lowering skies. 'Yes,' I said, 'dear Master Elzevir, let us getto it quickly; and if we fall, 'tis better far to die upon the rocksbelow than to wait here for them to hale us off to jail.' And with that Itried to stand, thinking I might go dot and carry even with a broken leg.But 'twas no use, and down I sank with a groan. Then Elzevir caught meup, holding me in his arms, with my head looking over his back, and madeoff for the Zigzag. And as we slunk along, close to the cliff-side, Isaw, between the brambles, Maskew lying with his face turned up to themorning sky. And there was the little red hole in the middle of hisforehead, and a thread of blood that welled up from it and trickled offon to the sward.
It was a sight to stagger any man, and would have made me swoon perhaps,but that there was no time, for we were at the end of the under-cliff,and Elzevir set me down for a minute, before he buckled to his task. And'twas a task that might cow the bravest, and when I looked upon theZigzag, it seemed better to stay where we were and fall into the handsof the Posse than set foot on that awful way, and fall upon the rocksbelow. For the Zigzag started off as a fair enough chalk path, but in afew paces narrowed down till it was but a whiter thread against thegrey-white cliff-face, and afterwards turned sharply back, crossing ahundred feet direct above our heads. And then I smelt an evil stench,and looking about, saw the blown-out carcass of a rotting sheep lieclose at hand.
'Faugh,' said Elzevir, 'tis a poor beast has lost his foothold.'
It was an ill omen enough, and I said as much, beseeching him to make hisown way up the Zigzag and leave me where I was, for that they might havemercy on a boy.
'Tush!' he cried; 'it is thy heart that fails thee, and 'tis too late nowto change counsel. We have fifteen minutes yet to win or lose with, andif we gain the cliff-top in that time we shall have an hour's start, ormore, for they will take all that to search the under-cliff. And Maskew,too, will keep them in check a little, while they try to bring the lifeback to so good a man. But if we fall, why, we shall fall together, andoutwit their cunning. So shut thy eyes, and keep them tight until I bidthee open them.' With that he caught me up again, and I shut my eyesfirm, rebuking myself for my faint-heartedness, and not telling him howmuch my foot hurt me. In a minute I knew from Elzevir's steps that hehad left the turf and was upon the chalk. Now I do not believe that therewere half a dozen men beside in England who would have ventured up thatpath, even free and untrammelled, and not a man in all the world to do itwith a full-grown lad in his arms. Yet Elzevir made no bones of it, norspoke a single word; only he went very slow, and I felt him scuffle withhis foot as he set it forward, to make sure he was putting it down firm.
I said nothing, not wishing to distract him from his terrible task, andheld my breath, when I could, so that I might lie quieter in his arms.Thus he went on for a time that seemed without end, and yet was reallybut a minute or two; and by degrees I felt the wind, that we could scarceperceive at all on the under-cliff, blow fresher and cold on thecliff-side. And then the path grew steeper and steeper, and Elzevir wentslower and slower, till at last he spoke:
'John, I am going to stop; but open not thy eyes till I have set theedown and bid thee.'
I did as bidden, and he lowered me gently, setting me on all-fours uponthe path; and speaking again:
'The path is too narrow here for me to carry thee, and thou must creepround this corner on thy hands and knees. But have a care to keep thyouter hand near to the inner, and the balance of thy body to the cliff,for there is no room to dance hornpipes here. And hold thy eyes fixed onthe chalk-wall, looking neither down nor seaward.'
'Twas well he told me what to do, and well I did it; for when I opened myeyes, even without moving them from the cliff-side, I saw that the ledgewas little more than a foot wide, and that ever so little a lean of thebody would dash me on the rocks below. So I crept on, but spent much timethat was so precious in travelling those ten yards to take me round thefirst elbow of the path; for my foot was heavy and gave me fierce pain todrag, though I tried to mask it from Elzevir. And he, forgetting what Isuffered, cried out, 'Quicken thy pace, lad, if thou canst, the time isshort.' Now so frail is man's temper, that though he was doing more thanany ever did to save another's life, and was all I had to trust to in theworld; yet because he forgot my pain and bade me quicken, my choler rose,and I nearly gave him back an angry word, but thought better of it andkept it in.
Then he told me to stop, for that the way grew wider and he would pick meup again. But here was another difficulty, for the path was still sonarrow and the cliff-wall so close that he could not take me up in hisarms. So I lay flat on my face, and he stepped over me, setting his footbetween my shoulders to do it; and then, while he knelt down upon thepath, I climbed up from behind upon him, putting my arms round his neck;and so he bore me 'pickaback'. I shut my eyes firm again, and thus wemoved alo
ng another spell, mounting still and feeling the wind stillfreshening.
At length he said that we were come to the last turn of the path, and hemust set me down once more. So down upon his knees and hands he went, andI slid off behind, on to the ledge. Both were on all-fours now; Elzevirfirst and I following. But as I crept along, I relaxed care for a moment,and my eyes wandered from the cliff-side and looked down. And far below Isaw the blue sea twinkling like a dazzling mirror, and the gulls wheelingabout the sheer chalk wall, and then I thought of that bloated carcass ofa sheep that had fallen from this very spot perhaps, and in an instantfelt a sickening qualm and swimming of the brain, and knew that I wasgiddy and must fall.
Then I called out to Elzevir, and he, guessing what had come over me,cries to turn upon my side, and press my belly to the cliff. And how hedid it in such a narrow strait I know not; but he turned round, and lyingdown himself, thrust his hand firmly in my back, pressing me closer tothe cliff. Yet it was none too soon, for if he had not held me tight, Ishould have flung myself down in sheer despair to get quit of thatdreadful sickness.
'Keep thine eyes shut, John,' he said, 'and count up numbers loud to me,that I may know thou art not turning faint.' So I gave out, 'One, two,three,' and while I went on counting, heard him repeating to himself,though his words seemed thin and far off: 'We must have taken ten minutesto get here, and in five more they will be on the under-cliff; and if weever reach the top, who knows but they have left a guard! No, no, theywill not leave a guard, for not a man knows of the Zigzag; and, if theyknew, they would not guess that we should try it. We have but fifty yardsto go to win, and now this cursed giddy fit has come upon the child, andhe will fall and drag me with him; or they will see us from below, andpick us off like sitting guillemots against the cliff-face.'
So he talked to himself, and all the while I would have given a world topluck up heart and creep on farther; yet could not, for the deadlysweating fear that had hold of me. Thus I lay with my face to the cliff,and Elzevir pushing firmly in my back; and the thing that frightened memost was that there was nothing at all for the hand to take hold of, forhad there been a piece of string, or even a thread of cotton, stretchedalong to give a semblance of support, I think I could have done it; butthere was only the cliff-wall, sheer and white, against that narrowestway, with never cranny to put a finger into. The wind was blowing infresh puffs, and though I did not open my eyes, I knew that it was movingthe little tufts of bent grass, and the chiding cries of the gullsseemed to invite me to be done with fear and pain and broken leg, andfling myself off on to the rocks below.
Then Elzevir spoke. 'John' he said, 'there is no time to play the woman;another minute of this and we are lost. Pluck up thy courage, keep thyeyes to the cliff, and forward.'
Yet I could not, but answered: 'I cannot, I cannot; if I open my eyes, ormove hand or foot, I shall fall on the rocks below.'
He waited a second, and then said: 'Nay, move thou must, and 'tis betterto risk falling now, than fall for certain with another bullet in theelater on.' And with that he shifted his hand from my back and fixed itin my coat-collar, moving backwards himself, and setting to drag meafter him.
Now, I was so besotted with fright that I would not budge an inch,fearing to fall over if I opened my eyes. And Elzevir, for all he was sostrong, could not pull a helpless lump backwards up that path. So he gaveit up, leaving go hold on me with a groan, and at that moment there rosefrom the under-cliff, below a sound of voices and shouting.
'Zounds, they are down already!' cried Elzevir, 'and have found Maskew'sbody; it is all up; another minute and they will see us.'
But so strange is the force of mind on body, and the power of a greaterto master a lesser fear, that when I heard those voices from below, allfright of falling left me in a moment, and I could open my eyes without atrace of giddiness. So I began to move forward again on hands and knees.And Elzevir, seeing me, thought for a moment I had gone mad, and wasdragging myself over the cliff; but then saw how it was, and movedbackwards himself before me, saying in a low voice, 'Brave lad! Oncecreep round this turn, and I will pick thee up again. There is but fiftyyards to go, and we shall foil these devils yet!'
Then we heard the voices again, but farther off, and not so loud; andknew that our pursuers had left the under-cliff and turned down on to thebeach, thinking that we were hiding by the sea.
Five minutes later Elzevir stepped on to the cliff-top, with meupon his back.
'We have made something of this throw,' he said, 'and are safe foranother hour, though I thought thy giddy head had ruined us.'
Then he put me gently upon the springy turf, and lay down himself uponhis back, stretching his arms out straight on either side, and breathinghard to recover from the task he had performed.
* * * * *
The day was still young, and far below us was stretched the moving floorof the Channel, with a silver-grey film of night-mists not yet lifted inthe offing. A hummocky up-and-down line of cliffs, all projections,dents, bays, and hollows, trended southward till it ended in the greatbluff of St. Alban's Head, ten miles away. The cliff-face was gleamingwhite, the sea tawny inshore, but purest blue outside, with the straightsunpath across it, spangled and gleaming like a mackerel's back.
The relief of being once more on firm ground, and the exultation of anescape from immediate danger, removed my pain and made me forget that myleg was broken. So I lay for a moment basking in the sun; and the wind,which a few minutes before threatened to blow me from that narrow ledge,seemed now but the gentlest of breezes, fresh with the breath of thekindly sea. But this was only for a moment, for the anguish came backand grew apace, and I fell to thinking dismally of the plight we were in.How things had been against us in these last days! First there was losingthe Why Not? and that was bad enough; second, there was the being knownby the Excise for smugglers, and perhaps for murderers; third and last,there was the breaking of my leg, which made escape so difficult. But,most of all, there came before my eyes that grey face turned up againstthe morning sun, and I thought of all it meant for Grace, and would havegiven my own life to call back that of our worst enemy.
Then Elzevir sat up, stretching himself like one waking out of sleep, andsaid: 'We must be gone. They will not be back for some time yet, and,when they come, will not think to search closely for us hereabouts; butthat we cannot risk, and must get clear away. This leg of thine will keepus tied for weeks, and we must find some place where we can lie hid, andtend it. Now, I know such a hiding-hole in Purbeck, which they callJoseph's Pit, and thither we must go; but it will take all the day to getthere, for it is seven miles off, and I am older than I was, and thou tooheavy a babe to carry over lightly.'
I did not know the pit he spoke of, but was glad to hear of some place,however far off, where I could lie still and get ease from the pain. Andso he took me in his arms again and started off across the fields.
I need not tell of that weary journey, and indeed could not, if I wished;for the pain went to my head and filled me with such a drowsy anguishthat I knew nothing except when some unlooked-for movement gave me asharper twinge, and made me cry out. At first Elzevir walked briskly, butas the day wore on went slower, and was fain more than once to put medown and rest, till at last he could only carry me a hundred yards at atime. It was after noon, for the sun was past the meridian, and very hotfor the time of year, when the face of the country began to change; andinstead of the short sward of the open down, sprinkled with tiny whitesnail-shells, the ground was brashy with flat stones, and divided up intotillage fields. It was a bleak wide-bitten place enough, looking as if'twould never pay for turning, and instead of hedges there were drearywalls built of dry stone without mortar. Behind one of these walls,broken down in places, but held together with straggling ivy, andbuttressed here and there with a bramble-bush, Elzevir put me down atlength and said, 'I am beat, and can carry thee no farther for thispresent, though there is not now much farther to go. We have passedPurbeck Gates, an
d these walls will screen us from prying eyes if anychance comer pass along the down. And as for the soldiers, they are notlike to come this way so soon, and if they come I cannot help it; forweariness and the sun's heat have made my feet like lead. A score ofyears ago I would have laughed at such a task, but now 'tis different,and I must take a little sleep and rest till the air is cooler. So sitthee here and lean thy shoulder up against the wall, and thus thou canstlook through this broken place and watch both ways. Then, if thou seeaught moving, wake me up.--I wish I had a thimbleful of powder to makethis whistle sound'--and he took Maskew's silver-butted pistol again fromhis bosom, and handled it lovingly,--'tis like my evil luck to carryfire-arms thirty years, and leave them at home at a pinch like this.'With that he flung himself down where there was a narrow shadow closeagainst the bottom of the wall, and in a minute I knew from his heavybreathing that he was asleep.
The wind had freshened much, and was blowing strong from the west; andnow that I was under the lee of the wall I began to perceive thatdrowsiness creeping upon me which overtakes a man who has been tousledfor an hour or two by the wind, and gets at length into shelter.Moreover, though I was not tired by grievous toil like Elzevir, I hadpassed a night without sleep, and felt besides the weariness of pain tolull me to slumber. So it was, that before a quarter of an hour was past,I had much ado to keep awake, for all I knew that I was left on guard.Then I sought something to fix my thoughts, and looking on that side ofthe wall where the sward was, fell to counting the mole-hills that werecast up in numbers thereabout. And when I had exhausted them, andreckoned up thirty little heaps of dry and powdery brown earth, that layat random on the green turf, I turned my eyes to the tillage field on theother side of the wall, and saw the inch-high blades of corn coming upbetween the stones. Then I fell to counting the blades, feeling glad tohave discovered a reckoning that would not be exhausted at thirty, butwould go on for millions, and millions, and millions; and before I hadreached ten in so heroic a numeration was fast asleep.
A sharp noise woke me with a start that set the pain tingling in my leg,and though I could see nothing, I knew that a shot had been fired verynear us. I was for waking Elzevir, but he was already full awake, and puta finger on his lip to show I should not speak. Then he crept a few pacesdown the wall to where an ivy bush over-topped it, enough for him to lookthrough the leaves without being seen. He dropped down again with a lookof relief, and said, ''Tis but a lad scaring rooks with a blunderbuss; wewill not stir unless he makes this way.'
A minute later he said: 'The boy is coming straight for the wall; weshall have to show ourselves'; and while he spoke there was a rattle offalling stones, where the boy was partly climbing and partly pullingdown the dry wall, and so Elzevir stood up. The boy looked frightened,and made as if he would run off, but Elzevir passed him the time of dayin a civil voice, and he stopped and gave it back.
'What are you doing here, son?' Block asked.
'Scaring rooks for Farmer Topp,' was the answer.
'Have you got a charge of powder to spare?' said Elzevir, showing hispistol. 'I want to get a rabbit in the gorse for supper, and have droppedmy flask. Maybe you've seen a flask in walking through the furrows?'
He whispered to me to lie still, so that it might not be perceived my legwas broken; and the boy replied:
'No, I have seen no flask; but very like have not come the same way asyou, being sent out here from Lowermoigne; and as for powder, I havelittle left, and must save that for the rooks, or shall get a beating formy pains.'
'Come,' said Elzevir, 'give me a charge or two, and there is half a crownfor thee.' And he took the coin out of his pocket and showed it.
The boy's eyes twinkled, and so would mine at so valuable a piece, andhe took out from his pocket a battered cowskin flask. 'Give flask andall,' said Elzevir, 'and thou shalt have a crown,' and he showed him thelarger coin.
No time was wasted in words; Elzevir had the flask in his pocket, and theboy was biting the crown.
'What shot have you?' said Elzevir.
'What! have you dropped your shot-flask too?' asked the boy. And hisvoice had something of surprise in it.
'Nay, but my shot are over small; if thou hast a slug or two, I wouldtake them.'
'I have a dozen goose-slugs, No. 2,' said the boy; 'but thoumust pay a shilling for them. My master says I never am to use them,except I see a swan or buzzard, or something fit to cook, come over: Ishall get a sound beating for my pains, and to be beat is worth ashilling.'
'If thou art beat, be beat for something more,' says Elzevir the tempter.'Give me that firelock that thou carriest, and take a guinea.'
'Nay, I know not,' says the boy; 'there are queer tales afloat atLowermoigne, how that a Posse met the Contraband this morning, and shotswere fired, and a gauger got an overdose of lead--maybe of goose slugsNo. 2. The smugglers got off clear, but they say the hue and cry is upalready, and that a head-price will be fixed of twenty pound. So if Isell you a fowling-piece, maybe I shall do wrong, and have the Governmentupon me as well as my master.' The surprise in his voice was changed tosuspicion, for while he spoke I saw that his eye had fallen on my foot,though I tried to keep it in the shadow; and that he saw the boot clottedwith blood, and the kerchief tied round my leg.
''Tis for that very reason,' says Elzevir, 'that I want the firelock.These smugglers are roaming loose, and a pistol is a poor thing to stopsuch wicked rascals on a lone hill-side. Come, come, _thou_ dost not wanta piece to guard thee; they will not hurt a boy.'
He had the guinea between his finger and thumb, and the gleam of the goldwas too strong to be withstood. So we gained a sorry matchlock, slugs,and powder, and the boy walked off over the furrow, whistling with hishand in his pocket, and a guinea and a crown-piece in his hand.
His whistle sounded innocent enough, yet I mistrusted him, having caughthis eye when he was looking at my bloody foot; and so I said as much toElzevir, who only laughed, saying the boy was simple and harmless. Butfrom where I sat I could peep out through the brambles in the open gap,and see without being seen--and there was my young gentleman walkingcarelessly enough, and whistling like any bird so long as Elzevir's headwas above the wall; but when Elzevir sat down, the boy gave a carefullook round, and seeing no one watching any more, dropped his whistlingand made off as fast as heels would carry him. Then I knew that he hadguessed who we were, and was off to warn the hue and cry; but beforeElzevir was on his feet again, the boy was out of sight, over thehill-brow.
'Let us move on,' said Block; 'tis but a little distance now to go, andthe heat is past already. We must have slept three hours or more, forthou art but a sorry watchman, John. 'Tis when the sentry sleeps thatthe enemy laughs, and for thee the Posse might have had us both likedaylight owls.'
With that he took me on his back and made off with a lusty stride,keeping as much as possible under the brow of the hill and in the shelterof the walls. We had slept longer than we thought, for the sun waswestering fast, and though the rest had refreshed me, my leg had grownstiff, and hurt the more in dangling when we started again. Elzevir wasstill walking strongly, in spite of the heavy burden he carried, and inless than half an hour I knew, though I had never been there before, wewere in the land of the old marble quarries at the back of Anvil Point.
Although I knew little of these quarries, and certainly was in evilplight to take note of anything at that time, yet afterwards I learntmuch about them. Out of such excavations comes that black Purbeck Marblewhich you see in old churches in our country, and I am told in otherparts of England as well. And the way of making a marble quarry is tosink a tunnel, slanting very steeply down into the earth, like a wellturned askew, till you reach fifty, seventy, or perhaps one hundred feetdeep. Then from the bottom of this shaft there spread out narrow passagesor tunnels, mostly six feet high, but sometimes only three or four, andin these the marble is dug. These quarries were made by men centuriesago, some say by the Romans themselves; and though some are still workedin other parts of Purbeck, those at t
he back of Anvil Point have beendisused beyond the memory of man.
We had left the stony village fields, and the face of the country wascovered once more with the closest sward, which was just putting on thebrighter green of spring. This turf was not smooth, but hummocky, forunder it lay heaps of worthless stone and marble drawn out of thequarries ages ago, which the green vestment had covered for the mostpart, though it left sometimes a little patch of broken rubble peeringout at the top of a mound. There were many tumble-down walls and lowgables left of the cottages of the old quarrymen; grass-covered ridgesmarked out the little garden-folds, and here and there still stood aforlorn gooseberry-bush, or a stunted plum- or apple-tree with itsbranches all swept eastward by the up-Channel gales. As for the quarryshafts themselves, they too were covered round the tips with the greenturf, and down them led a narrow flight of steep-cut steps, with a slideof soap-stone at the side, on which the marble blocks were once hauled upby wooden winches. Down these steps no feet ever walked now, for not onlywere suffocating gases said to beset the bottom of the shafts, but menwould have it that in the narrow passages below lurked evil spirits anddemons. One who ought to know about such things, told me that when St.Aldhelm first came to Purbeck, he bound the old Pagan gods under a bandeep in these passages, but that the worst of all the crew was a certaindemon called the Mandrive, who watched over the best of the black marble.And that was why such marble might only be used in churches or forgraves, for if it were not for this holy purpose, the Mandrive wouldhave power to strangle the man that hewed it.
It was by the side of one of these old shafts that Elzevir laid me downat last. The light was very low, showing all the little unevennesses ofthe turf; and the sward crept over the edges of the hole, and every crackand crevice in steps and slide was green with ferns. The green fernsshrouded the walls of the hole, and ruddy brown brambles overgrew thesteps, till all was lost in the gloom that hung at the bottom of the pit.
Elzevir drew a deep breath or two of the cool evening air, like a man whohas come through a difficult trial.
'There,' he said, 'this is Joseph's Pit, and here we must lie hid untilthy foot is sound again. Once get to the bottom safe, and we can laugh atPosse, and hue and cry, and at the King's Crown itself. They cannotsearch all the quarries, and are not like to search any of them, for theyare cowards at the best, and hang much on tales of the Mandrive. Ay, andsuch tales are true enough, for there lurk gases at the bottom of most ofthe shafts, like devils to strangle any that go down. And if they do comedown this Joseph's Pit, we still have nineteen chances in a score theycannot thread the workings. But last, if they come down, and thread thepath, there is this pistol and a rusty matchlock; and before they come towhere we lie, we can hold the troop at bay and sell our lives so dearthey will not care to buy them.'
We waited a few minutes, and then he took me in his arms and began todescend the steps, back first, as one goes down a hatchway. The sun wassetting in a heavy bank of clouds just as we began to go down, and Icould not help remembering how I had seen it set over peaceful Moonfleetonly twenty-four hours ago; and how far off we were now, and how long itwas likely to be before I saw that dear village and Grace again.
The stairs were still sharp cut and little worn, but Elzevir paid greatcare to his feet, lest he should slip on the ferns and mosses with whichthey were overgrown. When we reached the brambles he met them with hisback, and though I heard the thorns tearing in his coat, he shoved themaside with his broad shoulders, and screened my dangling leg from gettingcaught. Thus he came safe without stumble to the bottom of the pit.
When we got there all was dark, but he stepped off into a narrow openingon the right hand, and walked on as if he knew the way. I could seenothing, but perceived that we were passing through endless galleries cutin the solid rock, high enough, for the most part, to allow of walkingupright, but sometimes so low as to force him to bend down and carry mein a very constrained attitude. Only twice did he set me down at aturning, while he took out his tinder-box and lit a match; but at lengththe darkness became less dark, and I saw that we were in a large cave orroom, into which the light came through some opening at the far end. Atthe same time I felt a colder breath and fresh salt smell in the air thattold me we were very near the sea.
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