We had not gone a hundred yards before the ground grew rough, and the undergrowth thick; and yet through all ran a kind of path which enabled us to advance, dark as it was now growing.

Very soon the bank on which we moved began to rise above the water, and grew steep and rugged.

We turned a shoulder, where the stream swept round a curve, and saw we were in the mouth of a small ravine, dark and sheer-sided.

The water brawled along the bottom, over boulders and through chasms.

In front, the slope on which we stood shaped itself into a low cliff; but halfway between its summit and the water a ledge, or narrow terrace, running along the face, was dimly visible.
'Ten to one, a cave!' the Captain muttered.