Looking back, a wall seemed to have risen behind us; it was a distinctly perplexing moment, hard upon the nerves.

The tomb was empty, except for a few bones that might have been anything huddled at the bottom, and Mrs.Portheris sat down on the lower end of it.

"I really do not feel able to go any further," she said; "the ascent is so perpendicular." I was going to protest that the place was as level as a street, but Dicky forestalled me.

"Eucalyptus," he said soothingly, "often has that effect." "We are lost," continued Mrs.Portheris lugubriously, "in the Catacombs.
We may as well make up our minds to it.

We came here this morning at ten o'clock, and I should think, I should think--thish mus' be minnight on the following day." "My watch has run down," said Dicky, "but you are probably quite right, Mrs.Portheris." "It is doubtful," Mrs.Portheris went on, pulling herself together, "whether we are ever found.