The lantern which he held flew from his grasp and descended the shaft on its own account.
"You silly fool!" exclaimed Bickley whose perturbation showed itself in anger.

"There goes one of our lamps." "Hang the lamp!" muttered the prostrate Bastin.

"We shan't want it in Heaven, or the other place either." Now the stone which had quivered a little beneath the impact of Bastin, steadied itself again and with a slow and majestic movement sailed to the other side of the gulf.

There it felt the force of gravity, or perhaps the weight of the returning air pressed on it, which I do not know.

At any rate it began to fall, slowly at first, then more swiftly, and afterwards at an incredible pace, so that in a few seconds the mouth of the pit above us grew small and presently vanished quite away.
I looked up at Yva who was standing composedly in the midst of our prostrate shapes.