"Thank God!" murmured Cleek, as they mounted the rough steps and came out
into the open air, with the free sky above them and a fine wind blowing
that soon dispelled the effects of their underground journey. "Gad! it's
good to smell the fresh air again--eh, Dollops? Where on earth are we? I
say--look over there, will you?"
Dollops looked; then gasped in wonder, astonishment, and considerable
awe.
"The Flames, guv'nor--the blinkin' Frozen Flames!"
Cleek laughed.
"Yes. The Flames all right, Dollops. And nearer than we've seen 'em, too!
We must be right in the middle of the Fens, from the appearance of those
lights, so, all told, we've done a mile or more underground, which isn't
so bad, my lad, when you come to look at the time." He brought out his
watch and surveyed it in the moonlight. "H'm. Ten past eleven. You'll
have to look sharp, boy, if you're to get to the docks by twelve. We've a
good four miles' walk ahead of us, and--what was that?"
"That" was the sound of a man's feet coming swiftly toward them; they had
one second to act, and flight over this marshy ground, filled with pit
holes as it was, was impossible.
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