Not a hand had touched us,
and this appeared to me a good sign, without knowing exactly why.
"They seem to have forgotten their manners," Harry observed. "The
approved method is to knock us down and carry us. I shall speak
to the king about it."
We had just reached the wall of the cavern and entered a passage
leading from it, when there came a sound, sonorous and
ear-destroying, from the farther end. We had heard it once
before; it was the same that had ended our desperate fight some
days before. Then it had saved our lives; to what did it summon
us now?
The passage was not a long one. At its end we turned to the
right, following our guide. Once I looked back and saw behind us
the crowd that had surrounded us in the cave. There was no way
but obedience.
We had advanced perhaps a hundred, possibly two hundred yards
along the second passage when our guide suddenly halted. We stood
beside him.
He turned sharply to the left, and, beckoning to us to follow,
began to descend a narrow stairway which led directly from the
passage. It was steep, and the darkness allowed a glimpse only of
black walls and the terrace immediately beneath our feet; so we
went slowly.
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