"Hand them over." "Yes; if I had been allowed a little more time I intended--" "Never mind what you intended; we know what you did and that's enough," said Bickley as he snatched the packet from Bastin's hand and proceeded to undo it, adding, "By heaven! I have no matches, nor have you, Arbuthnot!" "I have a dozen boxes of wax vestas in my other pocket," said Bastin.
"You see, they burn so well when you want to get up a fire on a damp idol.

As you may have noticed, the dew is very heavy here." In due course these too were produced.

I took possession of them as they were too valuable to be left in the charge of Bastin, and, extracting a box from the packet, lit two of the candles which were of the short thick variety, like those used in carriage-lamps.
Presently they burned up, making two faint stars of light which, however, were not strong enough to show us either the roof or the sides of that vast place.

By their aid we pursued our path, still following the grooves till suddenly these came to an end.

Now all around us was a flat floor of rock which, as we perceived clearly when we pushed aside the dust that had gathered thickly on it in the course of ages, doubtless from the gradual disintegration of the stony walls, had once been polished till it resembled black marble.