It was garlanded from top to bottom with their roses and their leaves, all worked in pink and lilac shells, interspersed with small pieces of shining amber and polished malachite.
The flicker of the lamp he carried, made it glisten like a mass of jewel-work, and, absorbed in his close examination of this unique specimen of ancient art, Sir Philip did not at once perceive that another light beside his own glimmered from out the furthest archway a little beyond him,--an opening that led into some recess he had not as yet explored.

A peculiar lustre sparkling on one side of the shell-work however, at last attracted his attention, and, glancing up quickly, he saw, to his surprise, the reflection of a strange radiance, rosily tinted and brilliant.
Turning in its direction, he paused, irresolute.

Could there be some one living in that furthest chamber to which the long passage he had followed evidently led?
some one who would perhaps resent his intrusion as an impertinence?
some eccentric artist or hermit who had made the cave his home?
Or was it perhaps a refuge for smugglers?
He listened anxiously.

There was no sound.

He waited a minute or two, then boldly advanced, determined to solve the mystery.
This last archway was lower than any of those he had passed through, and he was forced to take off his hat and stoop as he went under it.