地下墓穴（15）（在线收听）

“What would happen if the light went out?” he asked, as they hurried onwards.

“I have a spare candle and a box of matches in my pocket. By the way, Kennedy, have you any matches?”

“No; you had better give me some.”

“Oh, that is all right. There is no chance of our separating.”

“How far are we going? It seems to me that we have walked at least a quarter of a mile.”

“More than that, I think. There is really no limit to the tombs—at least, I have never been able to find any. This is a very difficult place, so I think that I will use our ball of string.”

He fastened one end of it to a projecting stone and he carried the coil in the breast of his coat, paying it out as he advanced. Kennedy saw that it was no unnecessary precaution, for the passages had become more complex and tortuous than ever, with a perfect network of intersecting corridors. But these all ended in one large circular hall with a square pedestal of tufa topped with a slab of marble at one end of it.

“By Jove!” cried Kennedy in an ecstasy, as Burger swung his lantern over the marble. “It is a Christian altar—probably the first one in existence. Here is the little consecration cross cut upon the corner of it. No doubt this circular space was used as a church.”

“Precisely,” said Burger. “If I had more time I should like to show you all the bodies which are buried in these niches upon the walls, for they are the early popes and bishops of the Church, with their mitres, their croziers, and full canonicals. Go over to that one and look at it!”

Kennedy went across, and stared at the ghastly head which lay loosely on the shredded and mouldering mitre.

两人继续快步往前走。“如果灯油用完了怎么办？”他问道。

“我还有一枝备用的蜡烛和一盒火柴，肯尼迪，你带火柴了吗？”

“没有。你最好给我几根。”

“哦，没问题。咱俩不会分开的。”

“还有多远？我觉得咱们已经走了至少四分之一英里了，”

“前面的路更长，我觉得这个墓穴没边，至少我没发现哪儿是尽头。从这儿开始就不容易辨认了，咱们恐怕得用线绳了。”

他把线的一头拴在一块凸起的石头上，把线团放在外衣的胸袋里，一边走一边往外拉。肯尼迪渐渐明白这种谨慎不是多余的一一通道越来越复杂，越来越曲折，岔道越来越纷乱。不过，这一切终于结束了，他们来到一个圆形大厅，大厅一端有个四方形台子，石灰岩基座，大理石面板。

伯格把油灯在大理石台面上一晃，肯尼迪惊喜地叫起来：“天哪！这是基督教祭坛，很可能是现存最古老的一个。

你看，这个角上刻着一个小小的献祭十字。毫无疑问，这个圆形大厅是当作教堂用的。"“完全正确，”伯格说。“如果时间允许，我愿意向你展示全部壁愈里的尸体，他们都是早期的教皇和主教，还有他们的法冠，牧杖，整套的法衣。过去看看那边那个吧！”

肯尼迪走过去，凝视着僵尸的头颅，头颅下面是破碎不堪的法冠。