One who ought to know about such things, told me that when St.
Aldhelm first came to Purbeck, he bound the old Pagan gods under a ban deep in these passages, but that the worst of all the crew was a certain demon called the Mandrive, who watched over the best of the black marble.
And that was why such marble might only be used in churches or for graves, for if it were not for this holy purpose, the Mandrive would have power to strangle the man that hewed it.
It was by the side of one of these old shafts that Elzevir laid me down at last.

The light was very low, showing all the little unevennesses of the turf; and the sward crept over the edges of the hole, and every crack and crevice in steps and slide was green with ferns.

The green ferns shrouded the walls of the hole, and ruddy brown brambles overgrew the steps, till all was lost in the gloom that hung at the bottom of the pit.
Elzevir drew a deep breath or two of the cool evening air, like a man who has come through a difficult trial.
'There,' he said, 'this is Joseph's Pit, and here we must lie hid until thy foot is sound again.

Once get to the bottom safe, and we can laugh at Posse, and hue and cry, and at the King's Crown itself.

They cannot search all the quarries, and are not like to search any of them, for they are cowards at the best, and hang much on tales of the Mandrive.