Through this gate-way he first sent his horse, then entered and passed through himself, carefully shutting the verdure-hidden door behind him, and no eye could discover the place where he had disappeared.

From this entrance, a road, some five or six feet wide had been cut out into the middle of the thicket, which was a large open area covered with grass and shaded by bushy trees, of small altitude, with wide-extended branches.  Arrived at this spot, Duffel unsaddled his horse and turned him loose to crop the luxuriant grass.  A dozen others were there before him, and as it was impossible that they should get there unaided, their riders were no doubt somewhere near.  But this was something expected by the new-comer, as he manifested no surprise thereat, but appeared well pleased at the discovery.

After looking about to see that all was well, Duffel bent his steps toward a certain point in the environing thicket, and lifting a small bough, opened another verdant door, but this time of such small dimensions as to barely admit a single person.  A narrow path led away from this artfully-contrived entrance into the dark and tangled recesses beyond.  It was now growing late; twilight was over the world, but it was quite dark where the intertwined foliage of vines and branches wove their impenetrable net above and at the sides of the lonely path, and Duffel was obliged to feel his way with care.  A few minutes’ walk, however, brought him to the border of a stream of some considerable size, the banks of which formed the boundary of the thicket.  Precisely at the spot where he reached the stream, was a projecting rock, covered with a luxuriant growth of underwood, vines and flowers, which overhung its outer edge and draped down, like a thick curtain, to the depth of eight or ten feet.  This rock extended some fifty yards up the stream from the place where Duffel stood, and outwardly about an average of four feet.  Its peculiar formation, however, was hid from view by carefully trained bushes at its lower extremity.  This care had been taken to hide a secret passage, which led along the bank, under the table-leaf rock just described.

Duffel again took the precaution to cast wary looks about him, in all directions; then parting the bushes at its opening, he entered the secret passage under the rock and groped his way along.  About midway, he came to a pillar-like rock, which entirely blocked up the path.  Turning sharply to the left, he felt his way a short distance, and came to an aperture in the wall-like stone.  Here he paused a moment, and bent his ear in a listening attitude; then gave three distinct raps upon some substance that filled up the gap.

“Who is there?” was demanded in a stern voice from within.

“A friend,” was the reply.

“The pass-word.”

“Death to traitors!”

“Enter!”

And a massive door was thrown back, through which Duffel passed and found himself in a dimly-lighted and damp entrance-way, which pursuing for a short distance led him to a spacious cave, which was now brilliantly illuminated by many lights that were reflected from a thousand polished surfaces of crystalline rock.  So soon as he entered, a sentinel-watchman, whose duty it was to proclaim the names of all new-comers, announced him thus: