It was so high that I could stand erect with ease, and the old lichen-blotched stones which lined the walls told of its great age.

At the spot where we stood the ceiling had fallen in and the original passage been blocked, but a cutting had been made from this point through the chalk to form the narrow burrow along which we had come.

This cutting appeared to be quite recent, for a mound of _debris_ and some trenching tools were still lying in the passage.
My companion, taper in hand, started off down the tunnel, and I followed at his heels, stepping over the great stones which had fallen from the roof or the walls, and now obstructed the path.
'Well,' said he, grinning at me over his shoulder, 'have you ever seen anything like this in England ?' 'Never,' I answered.
'These are the precautions and devices which men adopted in rough days long ago.

Now that rough days have come again, they are very useful to those who know of such places.' 'Whither does it lead, then ?' I asked.
'To this,' said he, stopping before an old wooden door, powerfully clamped with iron.

He fumbled with the metal-work, keeping himself between me and it, so that I could not see what he was doing.