"Come on, or remain alone," said Nattie, grimly.
The giant porter promptly followed them, but his huge frame shook with superstitious fear. At the end of five minutes, a brief halt was made. The tunnel was filled with a dark, moldy air, difficult to breathe. Gasping and coughing, Mori turned an inquiring eye to his friend.
"We must not turn back," replied the lad. "They passed through here, and we can also. Come; we are losing time. See, the torches are burning out. If we do not hasten we will be left in darkness."
The very possibility of such a dread occurrence sent the trio on almost at a run. To be left in darkness in the tunnel, with its ghastly tenants, was terrifying to contemplate. Sumo magnified the horrors a hundredfold through his ignorance, and his plight was pitiful to see.
On, on; the torches flickering; grotesque shadows surrounding them; the atmosphere becoming more dank and difficult to breathe with each passing moment. Huge rodents pattering before, their sharp, piercing eyes gleaming like the optics of fleeing demons; a dripping of water here and puddles of foul scum there.
Only one thing strengthened the little party as they sped along, and that was the knowledge that other humans had passed through the same horrors but a few brief moments before.
"How much farther?" gasped Mori, for the tenth time.
"How much farther?" echoed Sumo, with a groan.
"Heart up," replied Nattie, redoubling his speed. "We must be almost there. Don't give up. Remember Ralph and the others took the same journey. Are they more brave than we?"
"You are right, my boy. We must persist; the end cannot be far away."