God damn! Keep on going--you nearly knocked out my eye-glass!" Even over my shoulder, looking backward, I could see practically nothing, for what little light came in through the opening was swallowed by the first few yards.

There was a suspicion of paleness in the gloom behind, and the occasional suggestion of an outline of rough wall; no more.
Nor was the tunnel straight by any means.

It turned and twisted constantly; and at every bend the men who originally closed it had built up a wall of heavy masonry that Scharnhoff had had to force his way through.

In those places the broken stones were now lying in the fairway, as you knew by the suffering when you came in contact with them; some of the split-off edges were as sharp as glass.
It was good fun, all the same, while it lasted.

If we had been crawling down a sewer, or a modern passage of any kind, the sense of danger and discomfort would, no doubt, have overwhelmed all other considerations.