Evidently when the water of the underground
river is high there is no beach at all, or very little, between
the border of the stream and the precipitous cliffs; but now
there was a space of seven or eight yards. And here, on this
beach, we determined to land, in order to rest ourselves a little
after all that we had gone through and to stretch our limbs.
It was a dreadful place, but it would give an hour's respite
from the terrors of the river, and also allow of our repacking
and arranging the canoe. Accordingly we selected what looked
like a favourable spot, and with some little difficulty managed
to beach the canoe and scramble out on to the round, inhospitable
pebbles.
'My word,' called out Good, who was on shore the first, 'what
an awful place! It's enough to give one a fit.' And he laughed.
Instantly a thundering voice took up his words, magnifying them
a hundred times. '_Give one a fit -- Ho! ho! ho!' -- 'A fit,
Ho! ho! ho!_' answered another voice in wild accents from far
up the cliff -- _a fit! a fit! a fit!_ chimed in voice after voice
-- each flinging the words to and fro with shouts of awful laughter
to the invisible lips of the other till the whole place echoed
with the words and with shrieks of fiendish merriment, which
at last ceased as suddenly as they had begun.
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