August 13, 2025 • 16 mins
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter twenty one. How we were lighted on our way
down the dark and silent river. Sudden and fierce onslaught
upon our beautiful boat of shell, a fight for life
against terrible odds, And how Bulgar stood by me through it,
all cold air and lumps of ice, our entry into
the cavern, whence they came the boat of Shell comes
(00:21):
to the end of its forage. Sunlight in the world
within a world, and all about the wonderful window through
which it poured and the mysterious land it lighted. I
dare say, dear friends, that you are puzzling your brains
to think out how it was possible for me to
row away from the wonderful city of the former folk
without running our boat continually ashore. Ah, you forget that
(00:45):
the keen eyed Bulger was at the helm, and that
it was not the first time that he had piloted
me through darkness impenetrable to my eyes. But more than this,
I soon discovered that the plashing of my silver oars
kept my little friends, the fire lizards, in a constant
state of alarm. And although I couldn't hear the crackling
of their tails, yet the tiny flashes of light served
(01:06):
to outline the shore admirably. So I pulled away with
a will and down this dark and silent river, for
there was a current, although hardly perceptible. Bulgar and I
were borne along in the beautiful bark of Tortoiseshell, with
its prow of carved and burnished silver. During my sojourn
in the land of the Pseudopsies, I had one day,
(01:26):
while calling upon the learned barrel Brow, noticed a beautifully
carved silver hand lamp of the Pompeian pattern among his curiosities.
I asked him if he knew what it was. He
replied that he did, adding that it had doubtless been
brought from the upper world by his people, and he
begged me to accept it as a keepsake. I did so,
(01:49):
and upon leaving the city of Silver, I filled it
with fish oil and fitted a silken wick to it.
It was well that I had done so, for after
a while the fire lizards disappeared entirely, and Bowker and
I would have been left in total darkness had I
not drawn forth my beautiful silver lamp, lighted it and
suspended it from the beak of the silver swan, which
(02:09):
curved its graceful neck above the bow of our boat.
After lying on my oars long enough to set some
food before bulgar and partake a sum myself, I again
started on my voyage down the silent river, no longer
shrouded in impenetrable gloom. I had not taken over half
a dozen strokes when suddenly one of my oars was
almost twisted out of my hand by a vicious tug
(02:32):
from some inhabitant of these dark and sluggish waters. I
resolved to quicken my stroke in order to escape another
such a wrench, for the silver oars fashioned by the
Pseudopsis for me, were a very delicate make, intended only
for very gentle usage. Suddenly, another vicious snap was made
at my other oar, and this time the animal succeeded
(02:52):
in retaining its hold, for I dared not attempt to
wrench the oar out of its grip for fear of
breaking it. It was a large cras station of the
crab family, and its milk white shell gave it a
ghost like look as it struggled about in the black waters,
fiercely intent to keep its hold upon the oar. The
next instant, a similar creature had fastened firmly upon my
(03:14):
other oar, and there I sat utterly helpless. But worse
than this, the dark waters were now fairly alive, with
these white armored guards of this underworld stream, each apparently
bent upon setting an immediate end to my progress through
their domain. They now began a series of furious efforts
to lay hold of the sides of my boat with
(03:36):
their large claws, but happily, its polished surface made this
impossible for them to accomplish. Up to this moment, Bulgar
had not stirred a muscle or uttered a sound, But
now a sharp growl from him told me that something
serious had happened at his end of the boat. It
was serious, indeed, for several of the largest of the
(03:56):
fierce crustaceans had laid hold of the rudder and were
wrenching it from side to side as if to tear
it off. Every attempt, of course, caused a tug at
the tiller ropes held between Bulgar's teeth, But bracing himself firmly,
he resisted their furious efforts as well as he could,
and succeeded in saving the rudder for the time being.
(04:17):
All of a sudden, our frail bark of shell crashed
into some sort of obstruction and came to a dead standstill.
Peering into the darkness. To my horror, I saw that
the wily enemy had spanned the river with chains made
up of living lynx, by each laying hold of his
neighbor's claw, the chain thus formed, being then rendered almost
(04:38):
as strong as steel by the interweaving of their double
rows of small hooked legs. Our advance was not only blocked,
but death, an awful death, seemed to be staring us
in the face. For what possible hope of escape could
there be if Bulger and I should leap into the water,
now alive, with these fast swimming creatures whirling their huge
(05:00):
claws about in search for some way to get at us.
From the brave manner in which Bulger was holding the
madly swinging helm, I saw that he was determined not
to surrender. But alas bravery is but a sorry thing
for two to fight a thousand with. And yet I
had not lost my head. Don't think that true. I
(05:21):
was hard pressed the very dust of the balance. If
thicker on their side might make my scale kick the beam,
I had hauled both oars into the boat by reaching
over and beating off the claws fastened upon them, and
had up to this moment driven back every one of
the fierce creatures, which had succeeded in throwing one of
its claws over the edge of the boat. But now,
(05:42):
to my horror, I felt that our little craft was
being slowly but surely drawn stern first toward the river bank.
In order to accomplish this, the crustaceans had thrown out
a line composed of their bodies gripped together, and had
made it fast to the rudder. Not an instant was
to be lost. Once upon the bank, the fierce creatures
would swarm around us by the ten thousands, drag us down,
(06:05):
pinch us to death, and tear us piecemeal. An idea
flashed upon me. It was this, It is folly to
attempt to resist these countless swarms of crustaceans by the
use of one pair of weak hands, even though they
be aided by Bulger's keen and willing teeth. We should,
after a brief struggle, go down, as the brave man
in the sewer went down when the famished rats leapt
(06:27):
upon him from every side at once, or as the
stray buffalo goes down when the pack of ravenous wolves
closes up its circle about him. If I am to
save my life, it must be by striking a blow
that will reach every one of these small but fierce
enemies at the same instant, and thus paralyze them, or
at least bewilder them, until I can succeed in making
(06:49):
my escape. Quickly, drawing my brace of pistols, I held
their muzzles close to the water and discharge them at
the same instant. The effect was terrific, like a crash
of a terrible thunderbolt. The report burst forth and echoed
through these vast and silent chambers, until it seemed as
if the great vaulted roof of rock had, by some
awful convulsion of nature, been cast roaring and rattling down
(07:11):
upon the face of these black and sluggish waters. When
the smoke had cleared away, a strange but welcome sight
met my gaze. Tens of thousands of the huge crabs
floated lifeless upon the surface of the river, with their
shells split by the concussion the full length of their bodies.
It proved to have been a masterly stroke on my part,
(07:34):
and dear friends, you will believe me when I tell
you that I drew a deep breath as I set
my silver oars against the thole pins, and, having worked
my boat clear of the swarm of stunned crustaceans, rowed
away for dear life, Dear life. Ah, yes, dear life.
For whose life is not dear to him? Even though
it be dark and gloomy at times? Is there not
(07:55):
always something or some one to live for? Is there
not always a glam glimmer of hope that the morrow's
sun will go up brighter than it did this morning? Well, anyway,
I repeat that I rode away for dear life, while
Bulgar held the tiller ropes and kept our frail bark
of polished shell in the middle of the stream. Whether
the air was actually colder, or whether it was merely
(08:17):
the natural chill that so often strikes the human heart
after it had been beating and throbbing with alternate hope
and fear, I couldn't say at the time, But I
knew this much, that I suddenly found myself suffering from
the cold for the first time since my descent into
the world within a world. The air nipped my finger
tips that soft, balmy, June like atmosphere was gone, and
(08:40):
I made haste to put on my fur trimmed top coat,
which I had not made much use of lately. At
that moment, one of my oars struck against some hard
substance floating in the waters. I put out my hand
to feel of it. To my great surprise, it proved
to be a lump of ice, and very soon another
and another went floating by us. We were most surely
(09:01):
entering a region where it was cold enough to make ice.
I was not sorry for this, for, to tell the truth,
Bulgar and I were both beginning to feel the effects
of our long sojourn in the rocky chambers of this underworld,
whose atmosphere, though soft and warm, yet lacked the elasticity
of the open air ice caverns would be a complete change,
and the cold air would no doubt send our blood
(09:22):
tingling through our veins, just as if we were out
a slain in the upper world on a winter's night,
when the stars twinkle over our heads and the snow
crystals creak beneath our runners. Soon now huge icicles began
to dot the roof of rock that spanned the river
and shafts and columns of ice dimly visible along the shore,
seemed to be standing there like silent sentries, watching our
(09:45):
boat as it threaded its way through the ever narrowing channel,
and now to a faint glow of light reached us
from I knew not where, so that by straining my
eyes I could see that the river had taken a
sweep and entered a vast cavern with roofs and walls
of ice fretted and carved into fantastic depths and niches,
and shells and cornices. With hearing, their shapes so fanciful
(10:09):
that it seemed to me I had entered some vast
hall of statuary, where hero and warrior, Nymph and maiden
shepherd and bird catcher filled these shells and niches in
glorious array. Farther advance by water was impossible, for the
blocks of ice, knitted together like a floe, closed the
river completely. I therefore determined to make a landing, draw
(10:30):
my boat upon the shore, and continue my journey on foot.
The mysterious light, which up to this moment had shed
its pale glimmer like an Arctic night, upon the roofs
and walls of ice of these silent chambers now began
to strengthen, so that Bulgar and I had no difficulty
in picking our way along the shore. In fact, we
crossed and recrossed the river itself when the whims seized us,
(10:52):
for it now went winding on ahead of us, like
a broad ribbon of ice, through caverns and corridors. Suddenly
I came to a halt and stood as motionless as
the fantastic forms of ice surrounding me. What could it mean?
Were my eyes weakened by my long sojourn in the
world within a world plain me cruel tricks. Surely there
(11:13):
can be no mistake, I whispered to myself. That light yonder,
which pours its glorious effulgence upon those spires and pinnacles,
those towers and turrets of ice, is the sunshine of
the upper world. Can it be that my marvelous underground
journey is ended, that I stand upon the threshold of
the upper world once more? Vulgar too recognizes this flood
(11:37):
of sunshine, and, breaking out into a fit of joyous barking,
dashes on ahead to be the first one to feel
its gentle warmth. After our long journey through the dark
and silent passages of the world within a world. But
I dare not trust my eyes, and, fearing lest he
should fall into some ambush or meet with some dread accident,
(11:58):
I called him back to me. Together we hurry along
as rapidly as possible. Now I note that we are
drawing near to the end of the vast corridor through
which we have been making our way for some time,
and that we stand upon the portal of a mighty
subterranean region, lighted with real sunlight. It stretches away as
(12:18):
far as the eye can reach, And so high is
the roof that spans this vast under world that I
cannot see whether it be of ice or not. All
that I can see is that through one of its
sloping sides there streams a mighty torrent of sunlight, which
pours its splendor with unstinting hand upon the wide highways,
the broad terraces, the sheer parapets, and the sloping banks
(12:43):
which diversify this ice world. Can it be that one
side of this mighty mountain, which nature has here hollowed
out and set like a peaked roof over this vast
subterranean region, is a gigantic window of ice itself, through
which the sunlight of the outer world streams in in
this grand way, like a silent cataract of light, like
(13:03):
a deluge of sunshine. No, this could not be, for now,
upon a second look, I saw that this flood of light,
thus streaming through the side of the mountain, came through
it like a mighty pencil of rays, and striking the
opposite walls with its brilliancy a hundredfold increased, rebounded in
a thousand directions, flooding the whole region with its s effulgence,
(13:25):
and dying away in faint and pearl like glimmer in
the vast approach where I had first noted it. And
therefore I understood that Nature must have set a gigantic
lens twice a thousand feet or more in diameter in
the sloping side of this hollow mountain, a perfect lens
of purest rock crystal, which, in gathering in its mysterious bosom,
(13:46):
the sunlight of the outer world threw it intensely radiant
and dazzling white into the gloomy depths of this world
within a world, so that when the sun went up
out there, it went up and here as well, but
became cold as it was beautiful, bringing no warmth, no
other cheer save light to this subterranean region, which for
(14:07):
thousands of centuries had lain locked in the crystal embrace
of frozen lakes and brooks, and rivers and torrents and waterfalls,
once bubbling and flowing and rushing headlong through fair lands
of the Upper world, but suddenly checked in their course
by some bursting forth of mighty pent up forces, and
turned downward into these icy depths, condemned to everlasting rest
(14:32):
and silence, their crystals, locked in a sleep that never
would know an awakening, mocked in their dreams by this
mysterious sunlight that came with the smile and the fair,
winsome look of the real, and yet was so powerless
to set them free, as once it did when the
springtime came in the upper world. All these thoughts, and
(14:55):
many others besides, flitted through my mind as I stood
looking up at that mighty lens in its setting of
mightier rock, And so deeply impressed was I by the
sight of such a great flood of sunlight pouring through
this gigantic hull's eye which Nature had set in the
rocky side of the hollow mountain peak and illumining this underworld.
(15:16):
That the longer I gazed upon the wonderful spectacle, the
more firmly enthralled my senses became by it. The deep silence,
the deliciously pure air, the ever varying tints of the light,
as the mighty ice columns acting the part of prisms,
literally filled those vast chambers with the rainbow's glorious glow,
imparted unto the spell resting upon me such unearthly power
(15:41):
that it might have held me there until my limbs
hardened into icy crystals, and my eyes looked out with
a frozen stare, had not the ever watchful Bulgar given
a gentle tug at the skirt of my coat and
aroused me from my enthralling meditation. End of Chapter twenty
one
Chapter twenty one. How we were lighted on our way
down the dark and silent river. Sudden and fierce onslaught
upon our beautiful boat of shell, a fight for life
against terrible odds, And how Bulgar stood by me through it,
all cold air and lumps of ice, our entry into
the cavern, whence they came the boat of Shell comes
(00:21):
to the end of its forage. Sunlight in the world
within a world, and all about the wonderful window through
which it poured and the mysterious land it lighted. I
dare say, dear friends, that you are puzzling your brains
to think out how it was possible for me to
row away from the wonderful city of the former folk
without running our boat continually ashore. Ah, you forget that
(00:45):
the keen eyed Bulger was at the helm, and that
it was not the first time that he had piloted
me through darkness impenetrable to my eyes. But more than this,
I soon discovered that the plashing of my silver oars
kept my little friends, the fire lizards, in a constant
state of alarm. And although I couldn't hear the crackling
of their tails, yet the tiny flashes of light served
(01:06):
to outline the shore admirably. So I pulled away with
a will and down this dark and silent river, for
there was a current, although hardly perceptible. Bulgar and I
were borne along in the beautiful bark of Tortoiseshell, with
its prow of carved and burnished silver. During my sojourn
in the land of the Pseudopsies, I had one day,
(01:26):
while calling upon the learned barrel Brow, noticed a beautifully
carved silver hand lamp of the Pompeian pattern among his curiosities.
I asked him if he knew what it was. He
replied that he did, adding that it had doubtless been
brought from the upper world by his people, and he
begged me to accept it as a keepsake. I did so,
(01:49):
and upon leaving the city of Silver, I filled it
with fish oil and fitted a silken wick to it.
It was well that I had done so, for after
a while the fire lizards disappeared entirely, and Bowker and
I would have been left in total darkness had I
not drawn forth my beautiful silver lamp, lighted it and
suspended it from the beak of the silver swan, which
(02:09):
curved its graceful neck above the bow of our boat.
After lying on my oars long enough to set some
food before bulgar and partake a sum myself, I again
started on my voyage down the silent river, no longer
shrouded in impenetrable gloom. I had not taken over half
a dozen strokes when suddenly one of my oars was
almost twisted out of my hand by a vicious tug
(02:32):
from some inhabitant of these dark and sluggish waters. I
resolved to quicken my stroke in order to escape another
such a wrench, for the silver oars fashioned by the
Pseudopsis for me, were a very delicate make, intended only
for very gentle usage. Suddenly, another vicious snap was made
at my other oar, and this time the animal succeeded
(02:52):
in retaining its hold, for I dared not attempt to
wrench the oar out of its grip for fear of
breaking it. It was a large cras station of the
crab family, and its milk white shell gave it a
ghost like look as it struggled about in the black waters,
fiercely intent to keep its hold upon the oar. The
next instant, a similar creature had fastened firmly upon my
(03:14):
other oar, and there I sat utterly helpless. But worse
than this, the dark waters were now fairly alive, with
these white armored guards of this underworld stream, each apparently
bent upon setting an immediate end to my progress through
their domain. They now began a series of furious efforts
to lay hold of the sides of my boat with
(03:36):
their large claws, but happily, its polished surface made this
impossible for them to accomplish. Up to this moment, Bulgar
had not stirred a muscle or uttered a sound, But
now a sharp growl from him told me that something
serious had happened at his end of the boat. It
was serious, indeed, for several of the largest of the
(03:56):
fierce crustaceans had laid hold of the rudder and were
wrenching it from side to side as if to tear
it off. Every attempt, of course, caused a tug at
the tiller ropes held between Bulgar's teeth, But bracing himself firmly,
he resisted their furious efforts as well as he could,
and succeeded in saving the rudder for the time being.
(04:17):
All of a sudden, our frail bark of shell crashed
into some sort of obstruction and came to a dead standstill.
Peering into the darkness. To my horror, I saw that
the wily enemy had spanned the river with chains made
up of living lynx, by each laying hold of his
neighbor's claw, the chain thus formed, being then rendered almost
(04:38):
as strong as steel by the interweaving of their double
rows of small hooked legs. Our advance was not only blocked,
but death, an awful death, seemed to be staring us
in the face. For what possible hope of escape could
there be if Bulger and I should leap into the water,
now alive, with these fast swimming creatures whirling their huge
(05:00):
claws about in search for some way to get at us.
From the brave manner in which Bulger was holding the
madly swinging helm, I saw that he was determined not
to surrender. But alas bravery is but a sorry thing
for two to fight a thousand with. And yet I
had not lost my head. Don't think that true. I
(05:21):
was hard pressed the very dust of the balance. If
thicker on their side might make my scale kick the beam,
I had hauled both oars into the boat by reaching
over and beating off the claws fastened upon them, and
had up to this moment driven back every one of
the fierce creatures, which had succeeded in throwing one of
its claws over the edge of the boat. But now,
(05:42):
to my horror, I felt that our little craft was
being slowly but surely drawn stern first toward the river bank.
In order to accomplish this, the crustaceans had thrown out
a line composed of their bodies gripped together, and had
made it fast to the rudder. Not an instant was
to be lost. Once upon the bank, the fierce creatures
would swarm around us by the ten thousands, drag us down,
(06:05):
pinch us to death, and tear us piecemeal. An idea
flashed upon me. It was this, It is folly to
attempt to resist these countless swarms of crustaceans by the
use of one pair of weak hands, even though they
be aided by Bulger's keen and willing teeth. We should,
after a brief struggle, go down, as the brave man
in the sewer went down when the famished rats leapt
(06:27):
upon him from every side at once, or as the
stray buffalo goes down when the pack of ravenous wolves
closes up its circle about him. If I am to
save my life, it must be by striking a blow
that will reach every one of these small but fierce
enemies at the same instant, and thus paralyze them, or
at least bewilder them, until I can succeed in making
(06:49):
my escape. Quickly, drawing my brace of pistols, I held
their muzzles close to the water and discharge them at
the same instant. The effect was terrific, like a crash
of a terrible thunderbolt. The report burst forth and echoed
through these vast and silent chambers, until it seemed as
if the great vaulted roof of rock had, by some
awful convulsion of nature, been cast roaring and rattling down
(07:11):
upon the face of these black and sluggish waters. When
the smoke had cleared away, a strange but welcome sight
met my gaze. Tens of thousands of the huge crabs
floated lifeless upon the surface of the river, with their
shells split by the concussion the full length of their bodies.
It proved to have been a masterly stroke on my part,
(07:34):
and dear friends, you will believe me when I tell
you that I drew a deep breath as I set
my silver oars against the thole pins, and, having worked
my boat clear of the swarm of stunned crustaceans, rowed
away for dear life, Dear life. Ah, yes, dear life.
For whose life is not dear to him? Even though
it be dark and gloomy at times? Is there not
(07:55):
always something or some one to live for? Is there
not always a glam glimmer of hope that the morrow's
sun will go up brighter than it did this morning? Well, anyway,
I repeat that I rode away for dear life, while
Bulgar held the tiller ropes and kept our frail bark
of polished shell in the middle of the stream. Whether
the air was actually colder, or whether it was merely
(08:17):
the natural chill that so often strikes the human heart
after it had been beating and throbbing with alternate hope
and fear, I couldn't say at the time, But I
knew this much, that I suddenly found myself suffering from
the cold for the first time since my descent into
the world within a world. The air nipped my finger
tips that soft, balmy, June like atmosphere was gone, and
(08:40):
I made haste to put on my fur trimmed top coat,
which I had not made much use of lately. At
that moment, one of my oars struck against some hard
substance floating in the waters. I put out my hand
to feel of it. To my great surprise, it proved
to be a lump of ice, and very soon another
and another went floating by us. We were most surely
(09:01):
entering a region where it was cold enough to make ice.
I was not sorry for this, for, to tell the truth,
Bulgar and I were both beginning to feel the effects
of our long sojourn in the rocky chambers of this underworld,
whose atmosphere, though soft and warm, yet lacked the elasticity
of the open air ice caverns would be a complete change,
and the cold air would no doubt send our blood
(09:22):
tingling through our veins, just as if we were out
a slain in the upper world on a winter's night,
when the stars twinkle over our heads and the snow
crystals creak beneath our runners. Soon now huge icicles began
to dot the roof of rock that spanned the river
and shafts and columns of ice dimly visible along the shore,
seemed to be standing there like silent sentries, watching our
(09:45):
boat as it threaded its way through the ever narrowing channel,
and now to a faint glow of light reached us
from I knew not where, so that by straining my
eyes I could see that the river had taken a
sweep and entered a vast cavern with roofs and walls
of ice fretted and carved into fantastic depths and niches,
and shells and cornices. With hearing, their shapes so fanciful
(10:09):
that it seemed to me I had entered some vast
hall of statuary, where hero and warrior, Nymph and maiden
shepherd and bird catcher filled these shells and niches in
glorious array. Farther advance by water was impossible, for the
blocks of ice, knitted together like a floe, closed the
river completely. I therefore determined to make a landing, draw
(10:30):
my boat upon the shore, and continue my journey on foot.
The mysterious light, which up to this moment had shed
its pale glimmer like an Arctic night, upon the roofs
and walls of ice of these silent chambers now began
to strengthen, so that Bulgar and I had no difficulty
in picking our way along the shore. In fact, we
crossed and recrossed the river itself when the whims seized us,
(10:52):
for it now went winding on ahead of us, like
a broad ribbon of ice, through caverns and corridors. Suddenly
I came to a halt and stood as motionless as
the fantastic forms of ice surrounding me. What could it mean?
Were my eyes weakened by my long sojourn in the
world within a world plain me cruel tricks. Surely there
(11:13):
can be no mistake, I whispered to myself. That light yonder,
which pours its glorious effulgence upon those spires and pinnacles,
those towers and turrets of ice, is the sunshine of
the upper world. Can it be that my marvelous underground
journey is ended, that I stand upon the threshold of
the upper world once more? Vulgar too recognizes this flood
(11:37):
of sunshine, and, breaking out into a fit of joyous barking,
dashes on ahead to be the first one to feel
its gentle warmth. After our long journey through the dark
and silent passages of the world within a world. But
I dare not trust my eyes, and, fearing lest he
should fall into some ambush or meet with some dread accident,
(11:58):
I called him back to me. Together we hurry along
as rapidly as possible. Now I note that we are
drawing near to the end of the vast corridor through
which we have been making our way for some time,
and that we stand upon the portal of a mighty
subterranean region, lighted with real sunlight. It stretches away as
(12:18):
far as the eye can reach, And so high is
the roof that spans this vast under world that I
cannot see whether it be of ice or not. All
that I can see is that through one of its
sloping sides there streams a mighty torrent of sunlight, which
pours its splendor with unstinting hand upon the wide highways,
the broad terraces, the sheer parapets, and the sloping banks
(12:43):
which diversify this ice world. Can it be that one
side of this mighty mountain, which nature has here hollowed
out and set like a peaked roof over this vast
subterranean region, is a gigantic window of ice itself, through
which the sunlight of the outer world streams in in
this grand way, like a silent cataract of light, like
(13:03):
a deluge of sunshine. No, this could not be, for now,
upon a second look, I saw that this flood of light,
thus streaming through the side of the mountain, came through
it like a mighty pencil of rays, and striking the
opposite walls with its brilliancy a hundredfold increased, rebounded in
a thousand directions, flooding the whole region with its s effulgence,
(13:25):
and dying away in faint and pearl like glimmer in
the vast approach where I had first noted it. And
therefore I understood that Nature must have set a gigantic
lens twice a thousand feet or more in diameter in
the sloping side of this hollow mountain, a perfect lens
of purest rock crystal, which, in gathering in its mysterious bosom,
(13:46):
the sunlight of the outer world threw it intensely radiant
and dazzling white into the gloomy depths of this world
within a world, so that when the sun went up
out there, it went up and here as well, but
became cold as it was beautiful, bringing no warmth, no
other cheer save light to this subterranean region, which for
(14:07):
thousands of centuries had lain locked in the crystal embrace
of frozen lakes and brooks, and rivers and torrents and waterfalls,
once bubbling and flowing and rushing headlong through fair lands
of the Upper world, but suddenly checked in their course
by some bursting forth of mighty pent up forces, and
turned downward into these icy depths, condemned to everlasting rest
(14:32):
and silence, their crystals, locked in a sleep that never
would know an awakening, mocked in their dreams by this
mysterious sunlight that came with the smile and the fair,
winsome look of the real, and yet was so powerless
to set them free, as once it did when the
springtime came in the upper world. All these thoughts, and
(14:55):
many others besides, flitted through my mind as I stood
looking up at that mighty lens in its setting of
mightier rock, And so deeply impressed was I by the
sight of such a great flood of sunlight pouring through
this gigantic hull's eye which Nature had set in the
rocky side of the hollow mountain peak and illumining this underworld.
(15:16):
That the longer I gazed upon the wonderful spectacle, the
more firmly enthralled my senses became by it. The deep silence,
the deliciously pure air, the ever varying tints of the light,
as the mighty ice columns acting the part of prisms,
literally filled those vast chambers with the rainbow's glorious glow,
imparted unto the spell resting upon me such unearthly power
(15:41):
that it might have held me there until my limbs
hardened into icy crystals, and my eyes looked out with
a frozen stare, had not the ever watchful Bulgar given
a gentle tug at the skirt of my coat and
aroused me from my enthralling meditation. End of Chapter twenty
one
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