32 BY ORDER OF THE CZAR.
own hands," pointing to the furniture; "it has been a labor of love for twenty years, and here you may rest and be secure. My wife has been here, but without my aid no person could discover this sanctuary, nor finding the passage could suspect the door, nor finding the door could open it except by siege, and besieging it could not prevent the inmate's escape, as I will show thee when thou hast refreshed thyself and surveyed thy new abiding place."
Ferrari found his curiosity as well as his gratitude ex- cited to the utmost, and was as anxious to know the story of the cavern as Moses Grunstein was to know the details of what had passed at the house of his dear friend Kloss- tock.
" First be seated," said Grunstein, "and I will disclose to thee thy store of wine and food."
Ferrari's kindly host lighted another lamp and produced candles from a spacious cupboard, where there were stores of biscuits in tins, unleavened bread, dried fish, jars of honey and fruits ; beneath this cupboard was a lower one containing wines and medicines ; while close by were various cooking utensils, and wood and charcoal.
11 It is rarely cold here," said Grunstein, " and I am dis- posed to believe there is a natural warmth in this part of the cave arising from a hot spring ; for there is a warm mist always rising beyond the further compartment, and I hear a bubbling of waters ; but I have made a cheerful fire, and with perfect security. At first I feared that the smoke thereof might betray me ; but it has not; it seems to me that this cavern is almost endless ; five and twenty years ago I discovered it, and I have spent days within its hills and valleys but have never found any ending of it. Did the Russian law enable a Jew to buy land I would have pur- chased this estate and made money by exhibiting this wonder of Czarovna, as money is made in other parts of the world by similar exhibitions. I know the history of
