“If we only had a few bows and arrows here,” said Charles, “we could hold off an army.”
“At any rate,” I answered, “we can hide here and rest. They will think we have gone on through the woods.”
We turned and faced the great rock which, I said, was as big as a house. The front of it was like an overhanging shed. Underneath was what seemed an opening to the mouth of a cavern—dark and smelling of dampness.
Step by step we ventured forward. The ground under our feet grew sticky like wet clay. The light slowly faded. A mustiness like the odor of the cellar of an old inn crept into our nostrils. The opening widened and as we advanced the light was so far gone that we had to feel along the rough wall with our hands.
Suddenly the wall turned and shut us off. I groped on further and further in the hope that the opening was only narrowing and not entirely closed. I was running my fingers from one stone to the other when I felt something flat. There was no dampness to it and it had the evenness of smooth wood. I was about to examine it further when my hand touched a latch.
Like a flash I realized I had come upon a door.
“Charles!” I exclaimed. “We are only at the beginning. There’s another cave beyond!”
My curiosity scattered all caution to the winds. I gave the latch a click and shoved on the door. To my surprise it went back on its hinges as though they were swimming in oil. And I beheld a sight that took my breath away and made me gasp in amazement.
A light shone in my eyes. It was not bright, but the unexpectedness of it made it seem like a flash. As soon as my eyes grew accustomed to it, I saw that it was only a small fire burning in a grate in the far end of the cave. There was no smoke. By some means or other a draught drew it upwards through the irregular crevices in the ceiling. I put one foot in the room and gazed around. It was as large as the common room in an inn, but scrupulously clean and neat. The floor, which was as smooth as you could wish, was covered with new straw that cracked with dryness as my foot touched it. On the walls were pegs driven in between the stones and from them were hung at least a dozen bows while the quivers filled with arrows stood beneath.
Charles grasped me by the arm.