“We’re not out yet,” said Curdie.
“We soon shall be,” returned Irene confidently. And now the thread went downwards, and led Irene’s hand to a hole in the floor of the cavern, whence came a sound of running water which they had been hearing for some time.
“It goes into the ground now, Curdie,” she said, stopping.
He had been listening to another sound, which his practised ear had caught long ago, and which also had been growing louder. It was the noise the goblin-miners made at their work, and they seemed to be at no great distance now. Irene heard it the moment she stopped.
“What is that noise?” she asked. “Do you know, Curdie?”
“Yes. It is the goblins digging and burrowing,” he answered.
“And you don’t know what they do it for?”
“No; I haven’t the least idea. Would you like to see them?” he asked, wishing to have another try after their secret.
“If my thread took me there, I shouldn’t much mind; but I don’t want to see them, and I can’t leave my thread. It leads me down into the hole, and we had better go at once.”
“Very well. Shall I go in first?” said Curdie.
“No; better not. You can’t feel the thread,” she answered, stepping down through a narrow break in the floor of the cavern. “Oh!” she cried, “I am in the water. It is running strong—but it is not deep, and there is just room to walk. Make haste, Curdie.”
He tried, but the hole was too small for him to get in.
“Go on a little bit,” he said, shouldering his pickaxe.