316 A DAY AT FRAMHEIM 



now in, I had to take his word for it, for it was all as 

 black as bilge-water. We had just started to move on 

 again, and I felt so secure, after all he had told me about 

 the orderly way things were kept, that I let go my 

 guide's anorak, which I had been holding. But that 

 was foolish of me. Smack! I went down at full length. 

 I had trodden on something round something that 

 brought me down. As I fell, I caught hold of some- 

 thing also round and I lay convulsively clutching it. 

 I wanted to convince myself of what it was that lay 

 about on the floor of such a tidy house. The glimmer 

 of the lantern, though not particularly strong, was 

 enough to show me what I held in my arms a Dutch 

 cheese! I put it back in the same place for the sake 

 of tidiness sat up, and looked down at my feet. What 

 was it I had stumbled over? A Dutch cheese if it 

 wasn't another of the same family! I began to form 

 my own opinion of the tidiness now, but said nothing. 

 But I should like to know why he didn't fall over the 

 cheeses, as he was walking in front. Oh, I answered 

 myself, I guess he knew what sort of order the place 

 was in. 



At the eastern end of the house the passage was 

 brilliantly lighted up by the window that looked out 

 on this side; I could now see more clearly where I was. 

 Opposite the window, in the part of the Barrier that 

 here formed the other wall of the passage, a great hole 

 had been dug; nothing was to be seen in it but black 



