I REPEATED MY INQUIRY. AFTER A PAUSE, DURING WHICH HE SEEMED TO REGARD ME WITH FIXED ATTENTION, HE MOTIONED WITH HIS ROLLED-UP FLAG TOWARDS A POINT ON MY LEVEL, SOME TWO OR THREE HUNDRED YARDS DISTANT. I CALLED DOWN TO HIM, 'ALL RIGHT!' AND MADE FOR THAT POINT. THERE, BY DINT OF LOOKING CLOSELY ABOUT ME, I FOUND A ROUGH ZIG-ZAG DESCENDING PATH NOTCHED OUT: WHICH I FOLLOWED. THE CUTTING WAS EXTREMELY DEEP, AND UNUSUALLY PRECIPITATE. IT WAS MADE THROUGH A CLAMMY STONE THAT BECAME OOZIER AND WETTER AS I WENT DOWN. FOR THESE REASONS, I FOUND THE WAY LONG ENOUGH TO GIVE ME TIME TO RECALL A SINGULAR AIR OF RELUCTANCE OR COMPULSION WITH WHICH HE HAD POINTED OUT THE PATH. WHEN I CAME DOWN LOW ENOUGH UPON THE ZIG-ZAG DESCENT, TO SEE HIM AGAIN, I SAW THAT HE WAS STANDING BETWEEN THE RAILS ON THE WAY BY WHICH THE TRAIN HAD LATELY PASSED, IN AN ATTITUDE AS IF HE WERE WAITING FOR ME TO APPEAR. HE HAD HIS LEFT HAND AT HIS CHIN, AND THAT LEFT ELBOW RESTED ON HIS RIGHT HAND CROSSED OVER HIS BREAST. HIS ATTITUDE WAS ONE OF SUCH EXPECTATION AND WATCHFULNESS, THAT I STOPPED A MOMENT, WONDERING AT IT. I RESUMED MY DOWNWARD WAY, AND, STEPPING OUT UPON THE LEVEL OF THE RAILROAD AND DRAWING NEARER TO HIM, SAW THAT HE WAS A DARK SALLOW MAN, WITH A DARK BEARD AND RATHER HEAVY EYEBROWS. HIS POST WAS IN AS SOLITARY AND DISMAL A PLACE AS EVER I SAW. ON EITHER SIDE, A DRIPPING-WET WALL OF JAGGED STONE, EXCLUDING ALL VIEW BUT A STRIP OF SKY; THE PERSPECTIVE ONE WAY, ONLY A CROOKED PROLONGATION OF THIS GREAT DUNGEON; THE SHORTER PERSPECTIVE IN THE OTHER DIRECTION, TERMINATING IN A GLOOMY RED LIGHT, AND THE GLOOMIER ENTRANCE TO A BLACK TUNNEL, IN WHOSE MASSIVE ARCHITECTURE THERE WAS A BARBAROUS, DEPRESSING, AND FORBIDDING AIR. SO LITTLE SUNLIGHT EVER FOUND ITS WAY TO THIS SPOT, THAT IT HAD AN EARTHY DEADLY SMELL; AND SO MUCH COLD WIND RUSHED THROUGH IT, THAT IT STRUCK CHILL TO ME, AS IF I HAD LEFT THE NATURAL WORLD. ONDESCRIPTI