It was now so dark that I could barely distinguish the outlines of our guide, who walked ahead of me.  Suddenly he stopped and asked me if I had any matches.  I handed him my box, which he dropped, and the matches were scattered about in the mud at our feet.  He gave me back my box, and asked Ajax for his matches.  I dare say older and wiser men would have apprehended mischief, but we were still in our salad days.  Ajax gave up his box without a protest; the man struck a match, after some fumbling lit a piece of candle, and returned to my brother his box.  It was empty—­for he had cleverly transferred the matches to his own pocket—­but we did not know that then.  By the light of the candle I was able to take stock of my surroundings.  We were facing a stout door:  a door that without doubt had been constructed for purposes of defence, and upon the centre of this our guide tapped softly—­three times.  It opened at once, revealing the big body of a Celestial, evidently the Cerberus of the establishment.  Upon his fat impassive face lay the seal of an unctuous secrecy, nothing more.  Out of his obliquely-set eyes he regarded us indifferently, but he nodded to our guide, who returned the salutation with a sly laugh.  For some inexplicable reason that laugh fired my suspicions.  It was—­so to speak—­an open sesame to a chamber of horrors, the more horrible because intangible and indescribable.  Ajax said afterwards that he was similarly affected.  The contagion of fear is a very remarkable thing, and one little understood by the physiologists.  I remember I put my hand into my pocket, because it began to tremble, and I was ashamed of it.  And then, as I still stared at the fat Chinaman, his smooth mask seemed to drop from his face, and treachery, cunning, greed, hatred of the “white devil” were revealed to me.

I was now convinced we had come on a fool’s errand that was like to end evilly for us, but, being a fool, I held my peace and said nothing to Ajax, who confessed later that if I had spoken he would have seconded a motion to retreat.  We advanced, sensible that we were being trapped:  a psychological fact not without interest.

Opposite the door through which we had just passed was another door as stout as the first.  The Chinaman unlocked this with a small key, and allowed us to enter, the guide with the candle leading the way.  And then, in a jiffy, before we had time to glance round us, the candle was extinguished; the door was closed; we heard the click of a patent lock; and we knew that we were alone and in darkness.

The first thing that Ajax said, and his voice was not pleasant to hear, was:  “This serves us right.  Of all the confounded fools who meddle with what does not concern them, we are the greatest.”

Then I heard him fumbling for his matchbox, and then, when he discovered that it was empty, he made some more remarks not flattering to himself or me.  I was more frightened than angry; with him rage and disgust were paramount.