"True. It is only a few minutes' walk from here. If we go through the cathedral and turn a little to the left, we shall reach the only outlet which leads further among the rocks. It is a very narrow, rocky way, suddenly ending in a sheer abyss. It is for us to discover to-day whether it is possible to be lowered by a rope into its depths and to find sufficient foothold below to enable us to continue our exploration. When, four or five years ago, I last entered the cave, quite alone, I could go no further, and so I returned from this spot."
"Must we turn to the left!" asked the Judge. "You are mistaken; we must turn to the right; to the left the cave is completely blocked by a heap of rocky fragments."
Franz Schorn regarded the speaker with surprise, bethought himself a moment, and then exclaimed:
"True, you are right. I remember now that I found a heap of rocks on my left, and then turned to the right to find an outlet. But how did you know this, Herr Foligno?"
One of the two porters laughed aloud, and answered in the Judge's stead with some words in Slavonic, which seemed to surprise the Captain as well as Schorn.
"What, Herr Foligno, you were here in the cave a week ago, with Rassak, and ventured as far as the abyss, and never told us anything about it yesterday?" exclaimed the Captain.
"I told you that I had entered the cave, but had not gone far. I do not talk much of such trifles," he replied irritably, adding:
"Shall we not light a couple of torches to see how high the roof is?"
The torches were lighted, but did not suffice to reveal the height of the cave. Only when the magnesium light flamed up and cast its dazzling radiance upwards did we perceive for a few moments the rocky roof some twenty yards above us.
"This is gruesome," said the Captain, with a long breath, as the brilliant light was extinguished and the darkness around us seemed deeper and blacker than before. "We can now understand how the floor beneath our feet is so covered with fragments of rock. Evidently large pieces fall from the roof and are broken into a hundred bits below. Look, Herr Foligno; the stones just here show traces of having been but lately broken. At any minute another fragment might fall and be the death of us."