You
may know we descended slowly and with care, especially when we
had reached the point where no light came from above to aid us.
We found our guide waiting for us at the bottom, alone.
We followed him down the low and narrow passage through which we
had previously come. But when we reached the steps which led up
to the passage above and to the cave where we had formerly been
confined, he ignored them and turned to the right. We hesitated.
"He's alone," said Harry. "Shall we chuck the beggar?"
"We shall not, for that very reason," I answered. "It means that
we are guests instead of captives, and far be it from us to
outrage the laws of hospitality. But seriously, the safest thing
we can do is to follow him."
The passage in which we now found ourselves was evidently no work
of nature. Even in the semidarkness the mark of man's hand was
apparent. And the ceiling was low; another proof, for dwarfs do
not build for the accommodation of giants. But I had some faint
idea of the pitiful inadequacy of their tools, and I found myself
reflecting on the stupendous courage of the men who had
undertaken such a task, even allowing for the fact that four
hundred years had been allowed them for its completion.
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