They reached the end of the passage which opened on the furthest extremity of the orchard.

It was there that Roland had seen his spectre for an instant as it glided into the dark vault.

He made for the cistern, and so little did he hesitate that he might still have been following the ghost.

There he understood how the darkness of the night had seemed to deepen by the absence of all exterior reflection.

It was even difficult to see there by day.
Roland took two torches about a foot long from beneath his cloak, took a flint, lighted the tinder, and a match from the tinder.