[Pieces of Eight by Richard le Gallienne]@TWC D-Link bookPieces of Eight CHAPTER XI 5/8
He had evidently been stunned by his fall, and another pull at my flask set him on his feet.
But, as I helped him up, and, striking a light, we began to look around the hole he had tumbled into, he gave a piercing shriek, and fell on his knees, jabbering with fear. "The ghosts! the ghosts!" he screamed. And the sight that met our eyes was certainly one to try the nerves.
We had evidently stumbled upon a series of fairly lofty chambers hollowed out long ago first by the sea, and probably further shaped by man--caverns supported here and there by rude columns of the same rock, and dimly lit from above in one or two places by holes like mine shafts, down one of which fell masses of snake-like roots of the fig tree, a species of banyan. Within the circle of this light two figures sat at a table--one with his hat tilted slightly, and one leaning sideways in his chair in a careless sort of attitude.
They seemed to be playing cards, and they were strangely white--for they were skeletons. I stood hushed, while Tom's teeth rattled at my side.
The fantastic awe of the thing was beyond telling.
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