An occasional bat fluttered past us, but outside the flapping of the
wings not a sound disturbed the stillness of the place. The silence of
the outside was intensified a hundredfold. In the open, one heard the
crooning of the trees as the soft winds from the Pacific played with
their heavy foliage, but in the natural passage through which we crawled
in search of Leith the air felt as if it had not been disturbed for
centuries. It was heavy and thick, possessing a faint odour that seemed
to rise from the dust beneath our feet.
We had walked about one hundred yards along the corridor when it widened
suddenly. The walls that we were following turned off at right angles,
and from the moonlight which filtered through a dozen small fissures
high up above our heads we saw that we had entered a cavern of vast
proportions. We sensed its vastness. The few streaks of moonlight that
stabbed the darkness were like so many guide-posts that enabled us to
make a mental calculation of the height and extent of the place.
We stopped and moved together instinctively. Holman put his mouth close
to my ear.
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