But this door only opened into another passage, and we had to follow him for fifty feet and then through another door into a cavern that was bigger than any.

And this time our host was not alone.

We were expected by a dozen lean, bronze men, who squatted in a row on one mat with expressionless faces.

They were not wearing masks, but they looked as if they might have been.
This last cavern was certainly a blow-hole.

Its round roof, blackened with smoke, was like the underside of a cathedral dome.