Crossing the hall, they passed down one of the principal
tunnels, and the wavering light of the lantern gave glimpses on either
side of rooms both large and small, some mere cupboards, others nearly
as broad and imposing as Toad's dining-hall. A narrow passage at
right angles led them into another corridor, and here the same thing
was repeated. The Mole was staggered at the size, the extent, the
ramifications of it all; at the length of the dim passages, the solid
vaultings of the crammed store-chambers, the masonry everywhere, the
pillars, the arches, the pavements. 'How on earth, Badger,' he said
at last, 'did you ever find time and strength to do all this? It's
astonishing!'
'It WOULD be astonishing indeed,' said the Badger simply, 'if I HAD
done it. But as a matter of fact I did none of it--only cleaned out
the passages and chambers, as far as I had need of them. There's lots
more of it, all round about. I see you don't understand, and I must
explain it to you. Well, very long ago, on the spot where the Wild
Wood waves now, before ever it had planted itself and grown up to what
it now is, there was a city--a city of people, you know.
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