found it impossible to open it again. That did not
matter so much, however, for the room was a prison and
the only way of escape seemed ahead of him.

Along the corridor he crept until, turning a
corner, he found himself in a large domed cavern that
was empty and deserted. Here also was a dim light that
permitted him to see another corridor at the opposite
side; so he crossed the rocky floor of the cavern and
entered a second corridor. This one twisted and turned
in every direction but was not very long, so soon the
boy reached a second cavern, not so large as the first.
This he found vacant also, but it had another corridor
leading out of it, so Inga entered that. It was
straight and short and beyond was a third cavern, which
differed little from the others except that it had a
strong iron grating at one side of it.

All three of these caverns had been roughly hewn from
the rock and it seemed they had never been put to use,
as had all the other caverns of the nomes he had
visited. Standing in the third cavern, Inga saw what he
thought was still another corridor at its farther side,
so he walked toward it. This opening was dark, and that
fact, and the solemn silence all around him, made him
hesitate for a while to enter it. Upon reflection,
however, he realized that unless he explored the place
to the very end he could not hope to escape from it, so
he boldly entered the dark corridor and felt his way
cautiously as he moved forward.