To the surprise of Rhodes and myself (nothing in the place seemed to surprise Drorathusa and her companions) not a single light-wraith was anywhere to be seen. The cavern was as black as the deepest pit in Erebus.
And it was still the same when we awoke. How I would have welcomed the appearance of the faintest, loneliest ghost, as we called the small apparitions of light.
We noticed that Ondonarkus and Zenvothunbro, and the ladies also, were at some pains to have their bows in such a position that they could be drawn at an instant's warning. Ondonarkus saw us watching, and, sweeping a hand toward the darkness before us, he said:
"Loopmuke."
That, as we well knew, is the Droman word for ape-bat. Also, he tried to tell us about something else; but the only thing intelligible to us in his pantomimic explanation was that it was about a creature even more formidable than a wild loopmuke.
It was with keen anticipation on the part of Rhodes and myself that we set out that morning. For an hour or so, there was no change. Not a single light-wraith had shone in the awful blackness. Then, after passing through a particularly broken and tortuous place, we began to see them. Not many, however, and all were small and faint. Another hour passed, and of a sudden the walls drew together, and the roof came sloping down, down and down until we had to go bended over. Narrower and narrower grew the way, crowding us at last to the water's edge and then into the very stream itself.
Drorathusa and Ondonarkus were leading, Rhodes and I bringing up the rear. Fortunately the current was a gentle one; had it been otherwise, the place would have been simply impassable.
"I certainly," said Milton at last, "admire the man (maybe he was a woman) who first came through this awful place."
The next moment he made a rush forward. Nandradelphis, the white-haired girl, had slipped out into deep water. Rhodes caught her just in time to save her from immersion and drew her back to the shallow water by the wall. Not a cry, not the faintest sound had escaped her, and now she only laughed. Beauty was not the only admirable quality that these Droman ladies possessed.
For ten minutes or so, we toiled our way down that tunnel, now hugging the wall, now following the shallows out into the stream and at times to the other side. Then of a sudden there was an exclamation from Drorathusa, and the next moment we had issued from the tunnel and the stream and found ourselves in a great lofty cavern.