What did he encounter in there?

He is still trembling.

There are many people in this side passage. They are hurrying back and forth, with the pressure bearing down on them, and all kinds of problems wearing them down from within. Stig remains standing outside the sinister door, pulling himself together.

When his joy at having escaped the resting-places has receded, it occurs to him like a blow on the head that he was really the loser in there. He achieved nothing, after forcing his way in with such authority and insolence. On the contrary he was almost swallowed up himself, and they lay there indolently, making no move to influence him. Although he just managed to get out again, he suffered a crushing defeat all the same.

I was too weak for it, he realizes. But I’ll be back again, he promises himself. Now I’m prepared for what I may have to face there.

But this decision will never be acted upon as far as Stig is concerned. He will have other things to think about. Time is running out for him, faster than he had dreamed.

As he is standing pulling himself together after his terrifying uncertainty he becomes aware that the people seem to have been blown away. There were plenty of them about, now there are none; except for one who is suddenly standing immediately behind Stig, and another at his side as if they have shot up out of the shadow. They have gilded arrows on their jackets.

The instant Stig notices them they seize him roughly. ‘You’ll have to come with us,’ they say, almost forcing Stig to his knees.

He tries to resist, he’s not going to let this happen, to be taken so soon – but it is useless, two more of them appear at once. He is held as if in a vice.

‘You’d better come along with us,’ says their leader, looking into Stig’s face.

‘So it’s you!’ he adds threateningly. ‘What business did you have in there?’

Stig is furious with himself for having been trapped. Have they been after him all the time since the finger pointed him out? How can he know? Or do they keep a watch on this door and catch all those who come out again without giving up? That’s probably what happens, since he asked so threateningly. They don’t know who he is yet. But they’ll soon find out when they take him with them.

This is the end. The thought flashes through him and he experiences something indescribable, as if everything in him has vanished so that there is nothing to see but the naked depths; a terrible moment, and then a wave of a thousand other things tumbles over it again.

‘What business did you have in there?’

‘None,’ he answers curtly. For he has regained control of himself, all except for his arms and legs, in the grip of these strong fellows. Now the final battle awaits him.

‘We’ll teach you to leave them alone in there,’ says the leader of the group. ‘You’ll have to take a little ride with us.’