We took this suggestion,and,feeling along the wall with the hand,while trying the ground before at every step,we departed from that accursed treasure chamber on our terrible quest.If ever it should be entered again by living man,which I do not think it will be,he will find a token of our presence in the open chests of jewels,the empty lamp,and the white bones of poor Foulata.When we had groped our way for about a quarter of an hour-along the passage it suddenly took a sharp turn,or else was bisected by another,which we followed,only in course of time to be led into a third.And so it went on for some hours.We seemed to be in a stone labyrinth which led nowhere.What all these passages are,of course I cannot say,but we thought that they must be the ancient workings of a mine,of which the various shafts travelled hither and thither as the ore led them.This is the only way in which we could account for such a multitude of passages.
At length we halted,thoroughly worn out with fatigue,and with that hope deferred which maketh the heart sick,and ate up our poor remaining piece of biltong,and drank our last sip of water,for our throats were like lime kilns.It seemed to us that we had escaped Death in the darkness of the chamber only to meet him in the darkness of the tunnels.As we stood,once more utterly depressed,I thought I caught a sound,to which I aired the attention of the others.It was very faint and very far off,but it was a sound,a faint,murmuring sound,for the others heard it then,and no words can describe the blessedness of it after all those hours of utter,awful stillness.
"By Heaven!it's running water,"said Good.
"Come on."
Off we started again in the direction from which the faint murmur seemed to come,groping our way as before along the rocky walls.As we went it got more and more audible,till at last it seemed quite loud in the quiet.On,yet on,now one could distinctly make out the unmistakable swirl of rushing water.And yet how could there be running water in the bowels of the earth?Now we were quite near to it,and Good,who was leading,swore that he could smell it.
"Go gently,Good,"said Sir Henry,"we must he close."Splash!and a cry from Good.
He had fallen in.
"Good!Good!where are you?"we shouted,in terrified distress.
To our intense relief,an answer came back in a choky voice.
"All right;I've got hold of a rock.Strike a light to show me where you are."Hastily I lit the last remaining match.Its faint gleam discovered to us a dark mass of water running at our feet.How wide it was we could not see,but there,some way out,was the dark form of our companion hanging on to a projecting rock.
"Stand dear to catch me,"sung out Good."'I must swim for it."Then we heard a splash and a great struggle.Another minute and he had grabbed at and caught Sir Henry's outstretched hand,and we had pulled him up high and dry into the tunnel.
"My word!"he said,between his gasps,"that was touch and go.
If I hadn't caught that rock,and known how to swim,I should have been done.It runs like a mill-race,and I could feel no bottom."'
It was clear that this would not do;so after Good had rested a little,and we had drunk our fill from the water of the subterranean river,which was sweet and fresh,and washed our faces,which really needed it,as well as we could,we started from the banks of this African Styx,and began to retrace our steps along the tunnel,Good dripping unpleasantly in front of us.At length we came to another tunnel leading to our right.
"We may as well take it,"said Sir Henry,wearily;"all roads are alike here;we can only go on till we drop."Slowly,for a long,long while,we stumbled,utterly weary,along this new tunnel,Sir Henry leading now.
Suddenly he stopped,and we bumped up against him.