“I once took two Americans into one of the catacombs, along with a party of a dozen or more. They had been drinking somewhat, and were not very sober. We had quite a long journey through the galleries, as it was late in the day, and I knew that no other party would be allowed to enter. We spent some time in the place, and then we went out, and I was so busy talking when we came out that I forgot to count the party. I locked the door and went home, supposing all was right.
“In two or three hours the driver of a carriage came to wake me, and said he had been all that time trying to find me. I asked what he wanted. He said he took two American gentlemen to go into the catacombs, and they had gone there; they had not come back to the carriage yet, and he was beginning to get alarmed about his pay. He did not think they would run away and cheat him, but he could not tell what had become of them.
“Just then I happened to think that I did not count the party when they came out, and quite likely the crowd might have been two men short; so I went and found the custodian of the place, and got permission to go into the catacombs. The rules forbid us to go into the catacombs between sunset and sunrise, unless we have a good reason; and I thought my excuse was good enough at that time. I was afraid that those Americans might be shut up there in the dark, as their candles were not very long, and unless they burned them singly, were not good for more than three hours.
“From the time I shut up the place until I got there again and unlocked the place, it was nearly five hours. The Americans are a strange people, as I found when I went down there.
“I expected to find these men, if I found them at all, half dead with fright, and wandering about or trembling in the darkness; but they were nothing of the sort. When I got down into the place and walked along one of the galleries, I heard somebody singing. He would sing a little while, and then he would whistle. I could hear a rattling of bones and a sound as if somebody was dancing.
DANCING WITH A SKELETON.
“Well, gentlemen, as sure as I am a guide, when I came in sight of those men they were in a place where the gallery widened out into a sort of chamber, and there were some skeletons which had been tied together with wires and thongs. The chamber was about ten feet square, and these skeletons were in the niches in the side. Those fellows were there. One of them was sitting on the edge of a niche, and making music by singing or whistling. He kept time with a couple of leg-bones which he had in his hands. The other was hugging a skeleton as if it had been a queen of the ballet. I stood still five or ten minutes to see what they would do.
“When the fellow that was waltzing got tired, he seated his skeleton in the corner, bowed to it as if it had been a young lady, patted it on the cheek, and sat down. Then the other one got up and picked up the same skeleton; the one who had just been dancing made the music, and the scene was repeated.
“I shouted to them; they looked a little surprised, and answered me.