'Hurrah!' shouted the man.
The girl, in a single sob, unheard by her companion, expressed her pent-up feelings.
'Yes, there's the port-hole right enough,' said the man. 'Now you know the way.'
'Come along straight,' she said.
She led him as before, and touching the wall, made a true course for the opening. But as she advanced she grew very uneasy on observing that no light fell through the hatch-hole, and that the short flight of steps was not visible in any definition of colour. Her companion, stumbling slowly alongside of her, presently noticed this.
'How did you get in?' said he.
'By a trap which I left open.'
'It isn't night again, I hope,' said he, with a ghastly laugh.
'I see no light,' she answered, 'and this is the corridor of the entrance. Oh, my God! I fear some meddlesome wretch, whilst I've been talking to you, instead of hastening above, has shut us down.'