Baron Trumps Marvelous Underground Journey

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O LY AUTHENTIC PORTRAIT OF
WILHELM  HEINRICH  SEBASTIAN  VON  TROOMP
(FROM THE OIL PAINTING).



BARON	TRUMP'S


MARVELLOUS

UNDERGROUND

JOURNEY




BY

INGERSOL L	LOCK\VOOD
I  >
AUTHOR  OF  "TRA \'EL    A  'D  AD\'E 'TllRES   OF   LITTLE   BARON  TRU;I.IP  AND  HI    WO. 'DER FU L  DOG
B U LGER"  " W ONDERFUL  DEEDS  AKD  DOINGS  OF  LITTLE  GIA:\"T  BO AB A;.; I) HIS
T A L K I NG  R A \'EN  TABI B"  "EXTRAORD I NARY   EXPERIEN CES  O F   LIT T LE
CA P TAI N   DOI'PELKOP   0);;  THE  SHORES  O F  Btt BBLELAKD"   ETC.











ILLU  TRATED   BY

CHARLES   HOWARD	JOHNSON



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BOSTON
LEE	AND	SHEPARD	PUBLISHERS

10  MILK  STR EET




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COPYRIGHT, 1 92, BY INGERSOLL LOCKWOOD


All Rights Resert·ed


1\llARVELLOUS UNDERGROUND JOURNEY















0
•••
' .•






BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICE  OF WILHELM   HEINRICH SEBASTIAN  VON  TROOMP, COMMONLY
CALLED  LITTLE  BARON  TRUMP





As doubting Thomases seem to take particular pleasure in popping up on all occasions, Jack-in-the-Box-like, it may be well to head them off in this particular instance by proving that Baron Trump was a real baron, and not a mere baron of  the mind. The family was originally French Huguenot- De la Trompe- which, upon the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, took refuge in Holland, where its head assumed the name of Van der Troomp, just as many other of the French Prote - tants rendered their names into Dutch. Some years later, upon the invitation of the Elector of Brandenburg, N ikla" Van der Troomp became a subject of that prince, and purchased a large e tate in the province of Pomerania, again changing hi name, this time to Von Troomp.
The "Little  Baron,"  so  called  from  his  diminutive  stature, was born some time in the latter part of the seventeenth century. He was  the  last  of  his race in the direct line, although cousins of  his  are  to-day  well-known  Pomeranian  gentry.	He  began his  travels  at an  incredibly early age, and filled his castle with such  strange  object	picked  up  here  and there in the far away corners of  the	orld, that  the simple-minded peasantry  came to look  upon  him  as half	bigwig and  half	magician  -hence  the
v
Yl	BIOGRAPHICAL  l\ OTICE

growth of  the many myths and fanciful	torie		concerning  thi indefatigable   globe-trotter.		The  date  of  hi		death  cannot  be fixed with  any certainty;  but  this  much may be  said:  Among the portraits of  Pomeranian notables hanging in  the	Rathhaus at Stettin  there is one picturing a man of low stature, and with a head much too large for hi	body.	He is dre "ed in some out landi h  costume, and  holds  in  hi ' left hand	grotesque   image in ivory most elaborately carved.	The broad face is full of intel ligence  and the  large  gray eyes  are  lighted  up with  a  good natured  but  quizzical  look  that  invariably  attracts  attention. The man ·s right hand re t	upon the back of  a dog sitting on a table and looking	traight out with an air of  dignity that	ho" s that he knew he wa	itting for his portrait.
If a vi itor ask	the guide who this man is, he always get	for an   wer:-
' Oh, that's the Little Baron ! "
But little Baron who, that's the question?
"\Vhy may it not be  the  famous Wilhelm Heinrich Seba tian von  Troomp,  commonly  called" Little  Baron  Trump,' and hi wonderful  dog Bulger?


CONTENTS





CHAPTER	I.

BULGER  I ,'  GREATLY  ANNOYED   BY  THE  FA:1HLIARTTY   OF  THE VILLAGE DOGS AND THE PRESUMPTION  OF THE HOUSE CATS.
-HIS HEALTH     UFFERS   THEREBY,  A_  D   HE   IMPLORES  ME
TO SET OUT O :\TV TRA VEV AGAIN. I READILY COXSENT, FOR I HAD BEEN READL'G OF THE  WORLD  WITHIN  A WORLD I:'-1" A :.\lUSTY OLD MS. WRITTEX BY THE LEARNED DON FUl\1.- PARTING INTERVIEW  WITH  THE ELDER BARON
A.  D   THE   GRACIOUS   BARO"  E       :;\IY  MOTHER.- PREPARA


PAGE
TIONS  FOR  DEPARTURE	1
CHAPTER	II.
DON FUM S MYSTERIOuS DIRECTWN  . -BULGER  AXD  I  SET OUT FOR PETER. BURG, A ... D THENCE PROCEED TO ARCHAN GEL. -THE  TORY  OF  OUR  JOURNEY  AS  FAR  AS   ILITCH OX THE ILITCH. -IY A... THE TEAMSTER. -HOW WE MADE OUR WAY  NORTHWARD  L  EARCH  OF  THE  PORTAL  TO THE  WORLD   WITHIN   A  WORLD .-IVAN'S  THREAT. -BUL-
GER'S   DISTRUST   OF  THE   MAN   AND   OTHER   THINGS   •	1


CHAPTER  III.

IVAN MORE AND MORE TROUBLESOME. -BULGER WATCHES HIM CLOSELY. -HIS COWARDLY ATTACK UPON ME.- MY FAITH FUL BULGER TO THE RESCUE . -A DRIVER WORTH HAVL G.
-HOW  I  WAS  CARR I ED  TO  A  PLACE  OF  SAFETY. -I
THE   HANDS   OF  OLD  YULLL  A .-THE  GIA-" TS'  WELL	•	15


CHAPTER	IV.

MY		WOUND HEALS. -YULLL A TALKS  ABOUT  THE  GIANTS' WE L L. - I RESOLVE TO VISIT IT. -PREPARATIONS TO AS CEND THE  MOUNTA INS. -WHAT  HAPPENED TO YULIANA A ND TO ME. -REFLECTION AND THEN ACTION. -HOW I CONTRIVED TO CONT INUE THE ASCENT WITHOUT YU LIA A
FOR  A   GUI DE   •	20
vii
Vlll	CONTEIVT.


CHAPTER	V.

UP  AND  TILL  UP,  AND  THROUGH  THI!:  QUARRIE  OF   THF. DEMON . -H W THE CATTLE KEPT  THE  TRAIL, AND  HOW WE CAME AT LAST UPON  THE RRI   K    F THE GfA   TS' WELL.
-THE TERRA  ES  ARE	AFELY	PAS. ED.- BEGINNING OF THE  DE CE 'T  INTO  THE  WELL  IT.ELF.- ALL  DIFFTCUL
TIES   OVERCOME.- WE   REA  'H   THE   EDGE  OF  POLYPHEMU


PA   1!:
FUNNEL   .	28
CHAPTER	VI.
M ·..t   DE. PAIR   UPON    FINDfNG   THE   PIPE  OF   THE   FUNNEL   TOO SMALL  FOR  MY  BODY.- A  RAY  OF HOPE  BREAKS   IN  UPON ME.- FULL ACCOUNT  OF HOW I	UC CEEDED   IN   ENTER!  rG THE  PIPE  OF  THE  FUNNEL.- MY   PA	AGE   THROUGH  IT. BULGER'S	TIMELY	AID. -THE MARBLE	HI G HWAY   AND OME C   RIOU	THING .  CO  -  ER r iNG THE ENTRAN C E TO THE
WORLD  WITHIN  A  WORLD   .	33
HAPTER	VII.
OUR   FIR. T ·rGHT  IN  THE  UNDER  WORLD,  AND  HOW  IT  WA FOLLOWED	BY   THE   FIR  T	BREAK	OF    DAY.- lH LGKR' ' WAR   ING  A    D  WHAT  IT  MEANT.- WE  FALL  IN WITH  A  ' INHABITANT   OF   THE   WORLD   WITH! -	A    WORLD.  - HT: NAME  A  r o  'ALLI r G.- MY  TERIOUS RETV:RN OF  NIGHT. THE LAXD OF BED	AND HOW OUR NEW FRIEND PROVIDED
ONE FOR  u	42
"G  OD-MORNING  A MASTER	OLD
CHAPTER	VIII.
LON(;  A .   IT  LA . T  ."-PLAIN TALK  FROM OUL.- WO 'DER	OF GOGGLE  LA r D.- WE
ENTER  THE  CITY  OF  THE  MIKKAME  KIE . -BRIEF  DE
S RIPTION OF IT.- OUR APPROACH TO THE ROYAL PALA ' E.
-QUEEN GALAXA A-D HER C'RY. TAL  THR  NE.- MA .. TER
OLD	OUL' ' TEAR	51

CHAPTER	IX.

BULGER AND I ARE PRESENTED TO QUEE r GALAXA, THE  LADY OF THE CRY TAL THRONE.- HOW • HE RE 'EIYED US.- HER DELIGHT OYER BULGER, WHO GIVE PROOF OF HI ' WON DERFUL INTELLIGE  'CE IN MA •y WAY . -HOW THE QUEEN CREATE .  HIM LORD B  LGER.- ALL ABO  T THE THREE WL E
MEN  IN  WHO  E CARE  WE  ARE  PLACED  BY Q   EE  r  GALAXA    •	56
CONTENTS	lX


CHAPTER   X.

A BRIEF  ACCOUNT  OF  MY CONVERSATIONS  WITH   DOCTOR   NEBU LOSUS,   SIR AMBER   O'PAKE,  AND   LORD   CORNUCORE,   WHO
TELL ME MANY THINGS THAT I NEVER KNEW BEFORE,  FOR


PAGE
WHICH  I WAS VERY  GRATEFUL	63
CHAPTER  XI.
PLEASANT DAYS PASSED AMONG THE MIKKAME rKIE , AND WON DERFUL THINGS SEEN BY US.- THE SPECTRAL  GARDEN, AND A DESCRIPTION OF IT.- OUR MEETING WITH DAl\'IOZEL
GLOW  STONE,  AND WHAT  CAME  OF  IT	•	61
CHAPTER  XII.
THE SAD, AD  TALE  OF THE SORROWING  PRINCESS  WITH  A  SPECK IN HER HEART, AND WHAT ALL HAPPE ED WHEN SHE HAD ENDED  IT,  WHICH  THE  READER   MUST   READ    FOR   HIMSELF
IF  HE WOULD  KNOW	73
CHAPTER	XIII.
HOW I SET TO WORK TO UNDO A WRONG THA'f HAD BEEN DONE IN THE KINGDOM OF THE MIKKAMENKIES, AND HOW BUL GER	HELPED. -QUEEN GALAXA'S CONFESSION. - I AM CREATED PRIME MINISTER AS LONG AS SHE LIVE , -WHAT TOOK PLACE IN THE THRONE-ROOM. -MY SPEECH TO THE MEN OF GOGGLE LAND, AFTER WHICH I SHOW THEM SOME THING WORTH SEEING. - HOW I WAS PULLED IN TWO DIF-
FERENT DfRECTIONS  AND WHAT CAME OF IT	79
CHAPTER  XIV.
BULGER AND I TURN OUR BACKS ON THE FAIR DOMAIN OF QUEEN CRYSTALLIN A.- NATURE'S WONDERFUL SPEAKING TUBE. -CRYSTALLINA'S ATTEMPT TO TURN US BACK. HOW I KEPT BULGER FROM YIELDING.- SOME INCIDENTS OF OUR JOURNEY ALONG THE MARBLE HIGHWAY, AND HOW
WE  CAME  TO  THE  GLORIOUS  GATEWAY  OF  SOLID  SILVER  .	86
X	CONTENTS


CHAPTER   XV.

THE GUARD . AT THE ILYER GATEWAY.-- WHAT THEY WERE LIKE. -OUR REC'EPTIO)f BY THE!\-I. -I ::v!AKE A WO DER Fl'L DI. < 'OYERY.- THE WORLD'S FIR T TELEPHONE.- Bl L GER  A. D  I  .'t'<'CEED  I    MAKING  FRIEND    WITH  THE. E
, TRAXUER .. -A BRIEF  DESCRIPTION   OF   THE   ·OODOP.  IE .
THAT I	MAKE  BELIEVE  EYE.	OR  THE  FORMIFOLK, THAT
l.', AXT  PEOPLE.- HOW  A  BLIND  MAX  ::\lAY  READ  YOL R



PAGE
WRITING. 	91


CHAPTER   XVI.

IDEA	OF THE FORl\.fiFOLK CO TCERNING Ol R l PPER WORLD. THE  DA_  CING  PECTRE. -THEIR  EFFORT .'  TO  LAY   HOLD OF HIM. -MY OLEM PROMISE THAT HE HOULD BEHAVE HIMSELF.- WE ET OUT FOR THE C ITY OF THE  MAKE BELIEVE  EYE  . -MY AMAZEMENT  AT  THE  MAGNIFICENCE OF THE APPROACHES TO IT.- WE  REACH  THE  GREAT BRIDGE  OF  SILVER,  .AND  I  GET MY   FIRST  GLANCE OF THE
ITY   OF   CANDELABRA.-  BRIEF   ACCO	:rT OF THE WO 'DER
PREAD OUT BEFORE MY EYES.- EXCITEMENT  OCCASIONED
BY  OUR ARRIVAL.- OUR SILVER  BED-CHAMBER	9


CHAPTER  XVII.

IN   WHICH   YOU   READ,   DEAR    FRIENDS,	OMETHING   ABOUT   A
LIVE  ALARM  CLOCK  AND  A  SOODOP  Y BATHER  AND  RUBBER.
-OUR  FIR  T  BREAKFAST   IN   THE	ITY   OF   SILVER.- A NEW WAY TO CATCH FISH WITHOUT HURTING THEIR FEEL ING . -HOW THE STREETS AND  HOU ES WERE NUMBERED AND  WHERE THE SIGNBOARDS WERE.- A VERY ORIGINAL LIBRARY IN WHICH BOOKS NEVER  GET DOG-EARED.- HOW VELVET SOLES ENJOYED HER FAVORITE POETS. -I AM PRE- ENTED TO THE LEARNED BARREL BROW, WHO PROCEED TO GIVE ME HIS VIEWS OF THE UPPER WORLD.- THEY EN-
TERTAINED  ME  AMAZINGLY  AND  MAY  INTEREST  YOU.	104


CHAPTER	XVIII.

EARLY HISTORY OF THE OODOPSIES  AS  RELATED  BY BARREL BROW. -HOW  THEY  WERE  DRIVEN  TO  TAKE  REFUGE  IN THE UNDER WORLD AND HOW THEY  CAME  UPON  THE MARBLE   HIGHWAY.  -THEIR  DISCOVERY  OF NATURAL   GAS
CONTENTS	Xl


WHICH YIELDS THEM LIGHT AND WARl\-ITH, AND OF N A TURE'S lHAGNIFI ENT TREASURE HOUSE.- HOW THEY RE PLACED THEIR TATTERED GARMENTS AND BEGAN TO  BUILD THE C ITY  OF SILVER. -THE STRAN(fE   l\11  FORTUNES  THAT
PAGE
CAME   UPON   THEM	AND   HOW   THEY   ROSE THEM,   TERRIBLE   AS   THEY   WERE   .
PERIOR   TO

114


CHAPTER  XIX.

BEGINS WITH SOMETHING ABOUT THE LITTLE SOODOPSIES, BUT BRAN ' RES OFF ON ANOTHER SUBJE('T i TO WIT i-THE SILENT	ONG  OF   J   GING  FINGERS,  THE  FA.IR  MAID  OF  THE
C ITY   OF   SILVER.- BARREL   BROW   IS   KI   D   EXOUGH   TO ENLIGHTEN  :\IE ON A   CERTAIN  POINT,  AND  HE TAKE	OCCA- ION   TO   PAY  BULGER A VERY   HIGH  COMPLIMENT, WHI CH,
OF                      COURSE,                      HE                      DESERVED                       . 	123
CHAPTER   XX.
THIS IS A  LONG  AND  A  SAD  CHAPTER. -IT TELL .  ROW DEAR, GENTLE  POUTING-LIP WAS LOST, AND HOW THE	OODOPSIE GRIEVED FOR HIM A}l D WHOM THEY , U  PECTED. -BULGER GIVES  A  STRIKING  PROOF  OF  HIS  WONDERFUL   INTELLI GENCE WHICH ENABLES ME TO  CONVINCE  THE	OODOP. IE THAT MY  "DANCING  SPECTRE" DID  NOT  CAUSE  POUTING LIP'S  DEATH.- THE  TRUE  TALE  OF  HIS  TERRIBLE  FATE. WHAT FOLLOWS MY DISCOVERY. -HOW A BEAUTIFUL BOAT IS BUILT FOR ME BY THE GRATEFUL	OODOP IES, AND HOW BULGER  AND  I  BID  ADIEU  TO  THE  LAND  OF  THE  MAKE
BELIEVE                                                EYES                                               . 	129


CHAPTER  XXI.

HOW WE  WERE  LIGHTED  ON  OUR  WAY  DOWN  THE  DARK   AND
, ILENT RIVER.- SUDDEN AND FIERCE ONSLAUGHT UPON OUR BEAUTIFUL BOAT OF  SHELL. -A FIGHT  FOR  LIFE AGAI rsT TERRIBLE ODDS, AND HOW B LGER TOOD BY ME THROUGH IT ALL.- COLD AIR AND LUMP OF ICE.- OUR ENTRY INTO THE CAVERN WHENCE  THEY  CAME. -THE BOAT OF HELL COMES TO THE END OF ITS VOYAGE.- SUN LIGHT IN THE WORLD WITHIN A WORLD, AND ALL ABOUT THE  WONDERFUL  WINDOW  THROUGH  WHICH  IT  POURED,
AND  THE  MYSTERIOU	LAND  IT  LIGHTED	. 	140
xu	CONTENTS



CHAPTER  XXII.

THE PALA CE OF ICE IN THE GOLDEN SUNLIGHT, AND WHAT I IMAGINED IT MI G HT CO TAIN.- HOW  WE  WERE  HALTED BY A COUPLE OF QUAINTLY CLAD SENTINELS. -THE KOLTY KWERPS.- HI FRIGID MAJE TY KING GELID U . -MORE ABOUT THE I CE PALA CE, TOGETHER WITH A DES C RIPTION OF  THE  THRONE-ROOM.- OUR  RECEPTION   BY  THE  KIN G
AND  HIS  DAUGHTER  SCHNEEBOULE.- BRIEF  MENTION OF




PAGE
BU LLIBRAIN 1 OR LORD HOT HEAD 	150
CHAPTER XXIII.
L O RD HOT HEAD AGAIN, AND THIS TIME A FULLER A CC O U NT OF HIM.- HIS WOKDRO U S TALE . ON CERNING THE KOLTY KWERPS: WHERE THEY CAME FROM , WHO THEY WERE, AND HOW THEY MA 'A GED TO LIVE IN THIS WORLD OF ETERNAL FRO ST.- THE   l\fANY   Q   ESTIONS   I Pt T  TO   HIM , AND   HI
AN SWERS  IN  F U LL 	159



CHAPTER XXIV.


SOME FEW THINGS CON CERNING THE DEAR LITTLE PRINCESS SCHNEEBOULE. -HOW SHE AND I BECAME FA T FRIENDS, AND HOW OXE DAY SHE CONDUCTED B LGER AND ME INTO HER FAVORITE GROTTO TO SEE THE LITTLE MAN WITH THE FROZEN  SMILE. -SOMETHING  ABOUT  HIM.- WHAT  CAME
OF  MY  HAVING  LOOKED	PON  HIM  QUITE F U LLY DES C RIBED,	164




CHAPTER   XXV.


A SLEEPLE ,S NIGHT FOR BULGER AND ME A TD WHAT FOLLOWED IT.- INTERVIEW WITH KING GELIDU . -MY REQUEST AND HIS REPLY.- WHAT ALL TOOK PLA E WHEN I  LEARNED THAT THE KING AND HI COUNCILLOR HAD  DECIDED  NOT TO  GRA r T  MY  REQUEST.-  TRANGE  TUMULT  AMONG THE I OLTYKWERP  , AND HOW HI   FRIGID MAJESTY   TILLED  IT ,
AND	OME  OTHER  THINGS    • 	171
CONTENTS	Xlll
CHAPTER XXVI.
HOW 1'HE QUARRY MEN OF KING GELIDUS CLEFT A UNDER THE CRYSTAL PRISON OF THE LITTLE MA WITH THE FROZE SMILE.- MY BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT, AND  HOW I BORE IT.- WONDERFUL HAPPENINGS OF THE NIGHT THAT FOL LOWED.- BULGER AGAIN PROVES HIMSELF TO BE AN ANI·
PAGE
MAL                OF                EXTRAORDh                 ARY                 SAGACITY 	176
CHAPTER  XXVII.
EXCITEMENT OVER FUFF COOJAH.- I CARRY HIM TO THE COURT OF KING GELIDUS.- HIS INSTANT AFFE CTION FOR  PRIN· CE SCHNEEBOULE.- I AM A CCUSED OF EXER CISING THE BLACK ART. -MY DEFE C E AND MY RE\Y ARD. -ANXIETY OF THE KOLTYKWERPS LE. T FUFF COOJAH PERISH OF HUNGER.- THIS CALAMITY AVERTED, ANOTHER STARES US IN THE FACE : H O W TO KEEP HIM FROM FREEZI G TO DEATH.- I  SOLVE THE PROBLEM,  BUT  DRAW U PO ...   ME A
STRAGE MI. FORTUNE	. 	183



CHAPTER	XXVIII.

HOW A LITTLE B U RDEN ::\>IA Y GROW TO BE A GRIEVOUS ONE. STORY OF A l\IAN WITH A MONKEY IN HIS HOOD.- MY TER RIBLE  , UFFERI G .-CON CERN!   G  THE  A" FUL PANI C  THAT
. EIZED UPO . THE KOLTYKWERPS.- MY VI IT TO THE DE SERTED I CE-PALA CE, A D WHAT HAPPE ED TO FUFFCOO JAH.- END  O F  HIS  BRIEF  B  T  STRA GE  CAREER.- A FROZE N  KJ.' ' O N  A  BLADE  OF  HORN,  OR  HOW  SCHNEEBO U LE
CHO  E  A  H U SBAXD	190




CHAP'IER	XXIX.

SOMETHING CON CER ING THE MANY PQRTALS TO THE ICY DO MAIN   OF   KING   GELID  S  AND   THE  DIFFI CULT  TA  K   OF C HOO  ING  THE  RI GHT  OXE.- HOW B  LGER  SOLVED  IT. O U R FAREWELL  TO  THE COLD-BLOODED  KOLTYKWERP • -
SCHNEEBO    LE S	ORROW  A.'l' LOSING  US	198





•
XIV	CONTE"MT.
.
CHAPTER	XXX.

ALL ABOUT  THE  l\10  T  TERRIBLE  BUT  MAG-NIFICENT  RIDE  I EVER TOOK  IN  MY  LIFE.- NINETY  MILES  ON THE  BACK  OF A FLY"ING MA OF ICE, AND HOW BULGER AND I WERE LANDED  AT  LA 'T OX  THE  BANK   OF  A   MOST  WONDERFUL





PAGE
Rll'ER. -HOW THE DAY BROKE IN THI	UXDER WORLD . 	205
CHAPTER	XXXI.
TN ·wHICH  Y"OU  READ  OF  THE  GLORIOF .'  C AYERN ' OF  WHITE MARBLE  FRONT!   G  ON  THE WO DERFUL   Rn ER. -IN THE TROPICS OF THE	NDER WORLD .-HOW WE CAME UPON A SOLITARY WANDERER ON THE BANK	OF  THE  RIVER .-MY CONVERSATION  WITH  HIM, AND  MY  JOY AT  FINDING  MY- ELF IX THE LAND OF THE RATTLEBRAINS,  OR  HAPPY FOR-
GETTER   •  -BRIEF  DE 'CRIPTION  OF   THEM 	211



CHAPTER	XXXII.

HOW WE ENTERED THE LAND OF THE HAPPY FORGETTERS. -
-SOMETHING MORE ABOUT THESE	URIOU ' FOLK. -THEIR DREAD OF BULGER  AXD ME . -ONLY A STAY OF 0 E  DAY ACCORDED  US. -DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  PLEA  AKT  HOME OF	THE  HAPPY	FORGETTER . - THE	REYOLYING DOOR THROUGH WHICH  BULGER AND  I ARE UNCEREMOXIOU  LY
ET OUTSIDE OF THE DOMAIN OF THE RATTLEBRAIN . -ALL
ABOl T THE EXTRAORDINARY  THING	WHICH  HAPPE rED  TO BULGER  A::'\D  l\IE THEREAFTER. -ONCE MORE  IK  THE  OPEN
AIR  OF THE  UPPER  WORLD,  AND  THEN  HOMEWARD   BOUND,	218




ILLUSTRATIONS.






Only Authentic Portr ait of Wilhelm Heinrich Seba tian von Troomp
PAGE








Prince	Crystallina uncovers her Heart	59
Crystallina's Heart on a Screen	71
Bnljer parts his Master from Princess Crystallina	3
The Formifolk try the Beat of  the Baron's Heart by Telephone	95
Barrel Brow engaged in reading Four Books at once	107
A Soodopsy Maiden reading her Favorite Poet	119
The Gigantic Tortoise that devoured  Pouting Lip	131
ailing away from the Land of  the Soodopsie	1-!3
The Battle for Life with the ·white Crabs	.	1.55
The Little Man with the Frozen Smile	167
Bulger  bows the Baron Something 'Vonderful	179
The Baron's Flight to the Ire Palace	191
Death of  Fuffcoojah	197
Koltykw erpian Quarrymen hewing a Passage through the Wall of  Ice	203
The 'Vonderful Ride on the Block of  Ice	207
The Tropics of  the Under 'Yorld	213
Through the Revolving Door	.	219
Caught up in the Arms of  the Torrent	22.5
Hurled  out  in  the  Sunshine	2;31







A MARVELLOUS UNDERGROUND J'OURNEY





CHAPTER I

BULGER IS GREATLY ANNOYED BY THE FAMILIARITY OF THE VILLAGE DOGS AND THE PRESUMPTION OF THE HOUSE CATS, HIS HEALTH SUFFERS THEREBY, AND HE IMPLORES ME TO SET OUT ON MY TRAVELS AGAIN. I READILY CONSENT, FOR I HAD BEEN READING OF THE ·woRLD WITHIN A WORLD IN A MUSTY OLD MS. \VRITTEN BY THE LEARNED DON FUM:. -PART ING INTERVIEWS vVITH THE ELDER BARON AND THE GRACIOUS BARONESS MY MOTHER. -PREPARATIONS FOR DEPARTURE.

BuLGER was not himself at all, dear friends. There was a lack-lustre  look  in  his  eyes,  and his  tail  responded with  only a half-hearted wag when Ispoke to him. Isay half-hearted, for Ialways had a notion at the other end of Bulger's tail was·. fastened to  his  heart.  His  appetite, too, had  gone  down with his spirits; and he rarely did anything more than sniff at the dainty food which Iset before him, although Itried to tempt him with fried chickens' livers and toasted cocks' combs- two of his favorite dishes.
There was evidently somethin.g on his mind, and yeti never occurred to me what that something was; for to be honest about it, it was something which of all things Inever should have dreamed of finding there.
Possibly Imight have discovered at an earlier day what it
was all about, had it not been that just at this time Iwas very busy, too busy, in fact, to pay much attention to any one, even
1
2            A  llfAR VELLOU    UNDERGROUND  JOURNEY

to my dear four-footed foster brother.  As you may remember, dear friends, my brain i a very active one; and when once I become intere ted in a ·ubject Ca tle Trump itself  might take fire and burn until the legs of my chair had become charred before I would hear the noi e and confusion, or even smell the moke.
It so happened  at the time of  Bulger ..  low spirit	that the
elder baron had, through the kindne	of  an old		chool friend, come into po · e ·ion of a fifteenth-century manuscript from the pen of  a no le ·s celebrated thinker and philo opher than the learned Spaniard, Don Constantino Bartolomeo		trepholofidge guaneriusfum, commonly known among		cholar	as Don Fum, entitled "A vVorld within a vVorld."	In this work Don Fum advanced  the  "·onderful  theory  that  there  i	every rea on to believe that the interior of  our world i		inhabited;  that, a	i well known, tlli	va t  earth  ball  i	not solid, on the contrary, being in many places quite hollow; that ages and ages ago ter rible disturbance	had taken place on its surface and had driven the inhabitants to seek refuge in these vast underground  cham bers, so va t in fact, a· well to merit the name of "World within a World.'
This  book, with  it	crumpled,  torn, and  time- tained  leaves
exhaling the odors of vaulted crypt and worm-eaten chest, exer cised a peculiar fascination upon me.  · All day long  and often far into the night, I sat poring over its musty and mil<lewed pages, quite forgetful of this surface world, and with the plum met of  thought  ounding  these  subterranean  depth ', and with the eye and ear of fancy vi iting them, and gazing upon and listening to the dwellers therein.
While I would be  thu  engaged, Bulger's  favorite  position was on a quaintly embroidered leather cu hion brought from the Orient by me on one of my journeys, and now placed on the end of my work-table nearest the window. From this point of van tage Bulger commanded a full view of the park and the terrace and  of  the  drive  leading  up  to  the  porte-cochere.     Nothing
A  MARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND   JOURNEY 	3

escaped his watchful eye. Here he sat hour by hour, amusing himself by noting the comings and goings of all orts of folk, from the hawkers of gewgaws to the noblest people in the shire. One day my attention  wa  attracted  by his  uddenly leaping down  from his  cushion  and giwng a low growl of  displeasure. I paid little heed to  it, but  to my surprise the next day about the same hour it occurred again.
My curiosity was now thoroughly aroused; and laying down Don Fum's musty manuscript, I hastened to the window to learn the cause of  Bulger's irritation.
Lo, the  secret was  out!	There stood half  a dozen  mongrel
curs belonging to the tenantry of the baronial land , looking up to the window, and by their barking and antics endeavoring to entice Bulger out for a romp. Dear friends, need I assure  you that  such  familiarity  wa  extremely  di 'tasteful  to   Bulger? Their impudence was just a little more than he could stand. Ringing my bell, I directed my servant to hunt them away. Whereupon Bulger consented to resume his seat by the window.
The next morning, ju t as I had ettled my elf down  for a good long read, I was almo t startled by Bulger bounding into the room with eyes flashing fire and teeth laid bare in anger. Laying hold of the skirt of my dressing-gown, he gave it quite a savage tug, which meant, "Put thy book a 'ide, little master, and follow me.'
I did so. He led me down- tairs across the hallway and  into the dining-room, and then this new cause of discontent on his part became very apparent to me. There grouped around hi sil ver breakfast plate sat an ancient tabby cat and four kittens, all calmly licking  or  lapping  away at  hi  breakfa  t.  Looking  up into my face, he uttered a sharp, complaining howl, as much  as to   ay, "There, little  master, look  at  that.    Isn't  that  enough to roil the patience of a  saint?  Canst  thou wonder  that  I  am not happy with all these di agreeable things  happening  to  me? I tell thee, little master, it is too much  for  flesh  and  blood  to put  up  with."
4	A  Jl!ARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND   JOURNEY

And I thought so too, and did all in my power to comfort my unhappy little friend· but judge of my urpri  e  upon  reaching my room and directing him to take his place on his cushion, to ee him refuse to obey.
It was something extraordinary, and set me to thinking.	He
noticed this and gave a joyful bark, then dashed into my sleep ing apartment. He was gone for several moments, and  then returned bearing in his mouth a pair of Oriental shoes which he laid at my feet. Again and again he di apr eared, coming back each time with some article of clothing in hi mouth. In a few moments he had laid a complete Oriental co tume on the floor before my eyes; and would you believe me, dear friends, it was the identical suit which I had worn  on my last travels in far away lands, when he and I had been wrecked on the I land of Gogulah, the land of the Round Bodies. What did it all mean? Why, thi , to be  ure :-
"Little master, can t thou  not  understand  thy dear Bulger?
,	He is weary of this dull and	piritless exi tence.	He i  tired of this increa ing familiarity on the part of these mongrel curs of
the neighborhood  and  of  the audacity of  the e kitchen  tabbie and their familie '.	He implores  thee  to  break  away from  thi life of  revery and inaction, and for the honor of  the Trump· to be up and away again:'	Stooping down  and winding  my arm around my dear Bulger   I cried out,-
" Ye , I understand thee now, faithful companion; and I promise thee that before this moon has filled her horns we shall once more turn our backs on Castle Trump, up  and  away  in earch of the portal -- to Don  Fum's World  within  a  World." Upon hearing the e words, Bulger broke out into the wilde t maddest barking, bounding hither and thither  as  if  the  very pirit of mischief had suddenly nestled  in  his  heart.  In  the midst of these mad gambols  a  low rap  on  my  chamber  door cau ed me to call out,-
''Peace, peace,  good	Bulger,  some  one knocks.	Peace,	I
.ay."
. A   MARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND       JOURNEY 	5

It was the elder baron.  With sombre mien  and stately tread he advanced and took a seat beside me on the canopy.
" Welcome, honored father ! " I exclaimed as I took his hand and raised it to my . lips. "I was upon the very point of seeking thee out."
He s'miled and then said, -
" Well, little baron, what thinkest thou of Don Fum's World
within a World?"
"I think, my lord," was my reply, ''"that Don Fum is right: that such a world must exist; and with thy consent it is my intention to set out in search of its .portals with all safe  haste and as soon as my dear mother, the gracious baroness, may be able to bring her heart to part with me."
The elder baron was silent for a moment, and then added: "Little baron, much as thy mother and  I  shall  dread  to  think of thy being again out from under the safe protection of this venerable roof, the moss-grown tiles of which have sheltered so many generations of the Trumps, yet must we not be selfish in this matter. Heaven forbid that  such  a  thought  should  move our souls to stay thee ! The  honor  of  our  family, thy fame  as an explorer of strange lands in far-away corners of the globe, call unto us to be strong hearted. Therefore, my dear  boy,  make ready aqd go forth once more in search of new marvels. The learned Don Fum's chart will stand thee by like  a  safe  and trusty counsellor. Remember, little baron, the motto of the Trumps, Per Ardua ad Astra- the pathway to glory is strewn with pitfalls and dangers -but the comforting thought shall ever be mine, that when thy keen intelligence fails, Bulger's  unerr ing instinct will be there  to guide thee."
As I stooped to kiss the elder baron's hand, the gracwus baroness entered the room.
Bulger hastened to raise himself upon his hind legs and lick her hand in token of respectful greeting.  The  tears  were pressing hard against her eyelids, but she kept them back, and encircling my neck with her loving arms, she pressed many and many a kiss upon my cheeks and brow.

"I know what it all mean , my dear on, he murmured with the sadde t of smiles: "but it never hall be aid that Gertrude Baroness von Trump stood in the way of her son adding new glories to the family 'scutcheon. Go go, little baron, and Heaven bring thee afely back to our arms and to our hearts in its own good time."
At these words Bulger  who had been listening to the conver
sation with pricked-up ears and glistening eyes, gave one long howl of joy, and then springing into my lap, covered my face with kisses. This done, he vented his happiness in a string of ear splitting barks and a series of the maddest gambols.  It was one of the happiest and proude t days of his life, for he felt that he had exerted considerable influence in screwing to the sticking point my resolution  to set out on my travels once again.
And now the patter of hurrying  feet  and  the  loud  murmur of anxious voices resounded through the castle corridors, while inside  and  out  ever  and  anon  I  could  hear  the   cry  now whi -pered and now  out poken,-
"The little baron is making ready to leave home again."
Bulger ran hither and thither, surveying everything,  taking note of all the preparations, and I could hear his joyous bark ring out as some familiar article used by me on my former journ.eys was dragged from its hiding-place.
Twenty times a day my gentle mother came to my room to repeat some good counsel or reiterate some valuable  caution. It seemed to me that I had never seen her so calm, so stately, so lovable.
She was very proud  of my great name and so, in fact, were every man, woman, and child in the castle.  Had  I  not  gotten off as I did, I should have been literally  killed with  kindness and Bulger slain with sweetcake.
A   Jl!ARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND  JOURNEY	7









HAPTER	II

DON FUM S :MYSTERIOUS DIRECTIONS. -BULGER ANDISET OUT FOR PETERSBURG, AND THENCE PROCEED TO ARCHANGEL. THE STORY OF UR JOURNEY AS FAR AS ILITCH ON THE ILITCH.- IVAN THE TEAMSTER.- HOW WE MADE OUR WAY NORTH"\VARD IN SEARCH OF THE PORTALS TO THE WORLD WITHIN  A  WORLD.- IVAN'S   THREAT.- BULGER'   DISTRUST OF THE :MA A D OTHER THINGS.

AccoRDING to the learned Don Fum's manuscript, the portals to the World within a World were ituated omewhere  in Northern Ru ia po ibly, so he thought from all indications somewhere on the westerly slope of the bpper Urals. But the great thinker could not locate them with any accuracy. "The people will tell thee ' wa the mysteriou phra e that occurred again and again on the mildewed page of  thi  wonderful writ ing.   "The  people  will  tell  thee.''   Ah,  but what  people  will be learned enough to tell me that? was the brain-racking ques tion which Ia ked myself, sleeping and waking, at sunrise, at high noon and at un et; at the crowing of the cock and in the silent hours of  the night.
' The people will tell thee	aid learned Don Fum.
Ah, but' hat people will tell me where to find the portals to the World within a World? "
Hitherto  on my	ravels Ihad made choice of  a semi-Oriental
garb, both on account of its  picturesqueness  and  its lightness and warmth, bn t now as Iwas about to pass quite acros Rus ia for a number of month , Ire.. olved to don the Rus ian national costume;  for  peaking  Rus ian fluently, a Idid a  ·core or more  of  language  living  and dead, Iwould thu  be enabled to come and  go without everlastingly displaying my pa   port, or having

my trains of thought constantly disturbed by inquisitive travel ling companions- a very important thing to me, for my mind possessed the extraordinary power of working out automatically any task assigned to it by me, provided it was not suddenly thrown off it track  by some ridiculous interruption. For instance, I was upon the very point one day of discovering per petual motion, when the gracious baroness suddenly opened the door and asked me whether I had pared the nails of my great toes lately, as she had obs.erved that I had worn holes in several pairs of my best stockings.
It was about the middle of February when I set out from the Castle Trump, and I journeyed night and day in order to reach Petersburg by the first of March, for I knew that the govern ment trains would leave that city for the White Sea during the first week of that month.  Bulger  and  I were  both  in the best of health and spirits, and the fatigue of the journey didn't tell upon us in the least. The moment I  arrived  at the Russian capital I applied to the emperor for permission to join one of the government trains, which was most graciously accorded. Our route lay almost directly to the  northward  for  everal day , at the end of which time we reached the shore of Lake Ladoga. This we crossed on the ice with our sledges, as a few days later we did Lake Onega. Thence by land  again, we  kept  on our way until Onega Bay had .been reached, crossing it, too, on the ice, and o reaching the station of the same name, where we halted for a day to give our horses a well-deserved rest. From this point we proceeded in a straight line over the snow fields to Archangel, an important trading-post on the White Sea.
As this was the destination of  the government train, I parted
with its commandant after a few days' pleasant ojourn at the government house, and set out, attended only by my faithful Bulger and two servants, who had been assigned to me by the imperial commissioner.
My course now carried me up the River Dwina as far as Solvitchegodsk;  thence  I proceeded on my way over the frozen


DEPARTURE  FHOl\[  CA  TLE TRUMP.

A  ft!ARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND   JOURNEY 	11

water		of the Witchegda River until we had reached the govern ment post  of  Yaren k  and from  here  on we  headed  due  Ea t until our hardy little horses had dragged u		into the picture  que village of  Ilitch  on  the  Ilitch.	Here we w re obliged to aban don  our  sledge ,  for  the  snows  had  di appeared  like  magic uncovering  long	i ta	of  green  fields  which in a few days the May sun dotted with flower	and		weet	hrub  .		At Ilitch  I was obliged  to  relinqui h  from  my service the two faithful govern ment  retainer	who  had  accompanied  me  from Archangel, for they had  now reached  the  mo t we terly point which  they had been commissioned to vi it.	I had become very much attached to  them, and  so  had  Bulger, and aft r their departure we both felt a	if  we were now, for the :firt time	among stranger, in a strange land; but  I	ucceeded in engaging  a	I thought, a trust worthy teamster  Ivan  by name, who  made  a  contract with me for a goodly wage to carry me a hundred mile		farther  north.
' But not another step farther little baron . ' aid the fellow doggedly. I was now really at the foot hills of the Northern Urals, for the rocky crests and now-clad peaks were in full sight.
I turned many a wi tfullook up toward the wild regions shut
in by their sheer wall and parapet , baggy and bri tling with black pines, for a low my teriou voice came a-whi pering in my inward ear that omewhere, ah, omewhere in that awful wilder ness, I  hould one day come upon the portal  of the World with in a World!   In spite of  all  I could  do  Bulger  took  a violent di like to Ivan and Ivan to him · and if the bargain had not been made and the money paid over I hould  have looked about me for another teamster. And yet it would  have  been  a foolish thing to do, for Ivan had two excellent hor e , as I saw at a glance, and, what's more he took the b st of care of them, at every post rubbing them until they were quite dry and never thinking of hi own  supper  until  they  had  been watered  and fed.
His  taranta	too  was quite  new and  solidly built  and well
12      .A MARVELLOUS   UNDERGROUND JOURNEY

furnished with soft blankets, all in all as comfortable as you can make a wagon which has no other springs than the two long wooden supports that reach from axle to axle. True, they were somewhat elastic; but I could notice that Bulger was not over fond of  riding in this curious vehicle with its rattlety-bang gait up and down these mountain roads, and often asked permission to leap out and follow on foot.
At length Ivan reported everything in readiness for the start;
and although I would have fai.n taken my departure from Ilitch on the Ilitch in a quiet a manner as  possible, yet  the whole village turned out to see us off- Ivan's family, father, mother, sisters, and brothers, wife and children, uncles and  aunts  and cou in by dozens alone making up people enough to stock a small town. They cheered and waved their kerchiefs, Bulger barked, and I smiled and raised my cap with all the dignity of a Trump. And so we got away at last from Ilitch on the  Ilitch, Ivan on the box, and Bulger and I at the back, sitting close together like two brothers that we were- two breasts with but a single heart-beat and two brain. busy with the same thought that come perils or come sudden attacks, come covert danger or bold and open-faced onslaught, we should  stand  together  and fall together! :Many and many a time as Ivan's horses went crawling up the long stretches of mountain road and I lay stretched  upon  the  broad-cushioned  seat  of  the  tarantass with a blanket rolled up for a pillow, I would find myself  uncon sciou ly repeating those mysterious words of Don Fum:-
"The people will tell thee !	The people will tell thee . "
So steep were the road	that some days we would not make more than five mile , and on others a halt of	everal hours woull have to be made to enable  Ivan to tighten his horses' shoes, grease the axles, or do some needful thing in or about his wagon. It was slow work, ay, it was very	low and tedious,  but what matters it how many or great the difficulties, to a man who ha made up his mind to accompli h a certain task?	Do the storks or the wild geese	top to count the thousands of miles between

them and their far-away homes when the time  comes  to  turn their heads southward? Do the brown ants pause to count the hundreds of thousands of grains of sand which they must carry through their long corridors and winding pa sages before they have burrowed  deep enough  to escape  the  frost of  midwinter?
There had been many Trumps but never one that had thrown
up his arm  and cried, 'I surrender !,and should I be the first to do it? "Never. Not even if it meant never to see dear old Ca tle Trump again.'
One morning as we went zigzagging up a particularly nasty bit of mbuntain road, Ivan suddenly wheeled about and without even taking off his hat, cried out,-
"Little baron I cover the last mile of the hundred to-day. If thou would. t go any farther north thou must hire thee another team ter; dost hear? '
"Silence."  aid I  ternly, for the fellow had broken in upon a very important train of thought.
Bulger, too re ented the man'. insolence and growled and showed his teeth.
"But, little baron, listen to reason, ' he continued in a more
re pectful tone, removing his cap : "my people will expect me back.	I promi ed my father-- I'm a dutiful son- I-'
Nay, nay Ivan' I interrupted harply,' curb that tongue of thine lest it harm thy oul. Know, then that I ·poke with thy father, and he promised me that thou should t go a second hun dred miles with me if need were but on condition that I give thee double pay. It hall be done, and on top of that a goodly present for your golubtchika (darling)."
"Little baron, thou art a hard  master,	whimpered the man.
If the whim took thee thou wouldst bid me leap into the Giants' Well ju t to see whether it has a bottom or not. St. Nichola ,  ave me.'
'Nay Jyan' said I kindly ' I know no uch word as cruelty although I do confess that right eems har h at times, but thou wert born to  erve and I to command.   Providence hath made
14        A  MARVELLOUS   UNDERGROUND  JOURNEY

thee poor and me rich. We need each other.  Do thou thy duty, and thou wilt find me just  and considerate.  Disobey me, and thou wilt find that this short arm may be stretched  from Ilitch to  Petersburg."
Ivan turned pale at this hidden threat of mine ; but I deemed
it necessary to make it, for I a well as Bulger had scented treachery and rebellion about this boorish fellow, whose good trait was his love of his horses, and it has always been my rule in life to open my eyes wide to the good that there is in a man, and close them to his faults.  But, in spite of  kind words and kind treatment, Ivan grew surlier and moodier the moment we had passed the hundredth milestone.
Bulger watched him with a gaze  so steady  and  thoughtful that the man fairly quailed before it. Hour by hour he became more and more restive, and upon leaving a roadside tavern, for the very first time since we had left Ilitch on the Ilitch, I noticed that the fellow had been drinking  too  much  kwass.  He  let loose his tongue, and raised his hand against his horses, which until that moment he had been wont to load down with caresses and pet names.
"Look  out  for  that  driver  of  thine, little baron," whispered
the tavern-keeper.  ' He's in a reckless mood.  He'd not pull up if the Giants' Well were gaping in front of him. St. Nicholas have thee in his safe keeping!"








CHAPTER	III


IV AN MORE AND MORE TROUBLESOME.- BUL ER WATCHES HIM CLOSELY.- HI COWARDLY ATTACK UPON fE.- MY FAITH FUL BULGER  TO THE RESCUE.- A DRIVER WOHTH HAVING.
-HOW  I  WA	CARRIED TO A PLACE OF	AFETY.- IN  THE
HANDS OF OLD YULIANA.- THE GIANT	WELL.

WHEN we halted for the night it was only by threatening the man with evere punishment upon my return to Ilitch  that I could bring him to rub hi horses dry and feed and water them properly; but I tood over him until he had done his work thoroughly, for I knew that no such horses could be had for love or money in that country, and if they should go lame from
·tanding with wet  coat   in  the  chill night air, it mio-ht mean a
week'   delay.
Scarcely had I thrown myself on the hard mattres' which th e tavern-keeper called the best bed in the house, when I wa ' aroused by loud and hoi terous talking in the next room. Ivan was drinking and quarrelling with the villager . I  trode into the room with the arrow of indignation shooting from my eye·, and the faithful Bulger close at my heels.
The  moment  Ivan  set eyes upon us he  ·hrank away, half  in
earnest and half in jest, and called out,-
"Hey, look at the  mazuntchick!  [Little  Dandy!]  How smart  he  looks!   He  frighten   me!     ee his  eye    how they
·hine in the dark!    Look at the little demon on four legH be ide
him ! ave me, brother ! Save me- he will throw me down into the Giant ' Well! Marianka will never se me again! Never!   Save me, brother  ! "
•' Peace, fellow," I called out	ternl. .	"How dare ·t thou
exercise thy dull wit on thy rna ter?     Get thee to bed alj once,

or  I'll  have  thee  whipped  by  the  village  constable	for	thy drunkenness."
Ivan clambered up upoa the top of the bake oven, and stretched himself   out  on a sheepskin;  then turning to the tavern-keeper, I forbade him under  any pretext whatever  to give my servant any more liquor to drink.  "Akh,  Vasha prevoskhoditel  tvo [Ah, your Excellency l] " exclaimed the tavern-keeper with a gesture of disgust, "the fools never know when they have had enough. It matters not what  the  tavern-keeper  may  say  to them. They tell us  not  to spoil our own trade.  Akh I  [Ah !] they don't know when  to  stop.  They have  throats  as deep as the  'Giants' Well!   "
"The   Giants'  Well!		The  Giants' Well. ' I murmured	to myself, as I again threw myself down upon the bag of hay which did service as a mattress for tho e who could afford to pay for it.	It's strange how tho e words seem to be in every peasant' mouth, but I thought no more about it at that time.	Sleep got the better  of me, and with my nsual good-night te the elder baron and the graciou	baroness, my mother, I dropped off into sweet forgetfulnes .
It is a good thing that I had the power of  falling  asleep almost at will, for with my restle s  brain ever throbbing and pulsating with its own over-abundance  of  trength, ever tapping at the thin panels of bone which covered it, like an imprisoned inventor pounding on his cell door  and  pleading to be let out into the daylight with his plans and scheme , I should simply have become a lunatic.
A it was, with the mere power of thought I ordered sweet lumber to come to my re cue, and so obedient wa  this good angel of mine, that all I had to do was simply to set the time when I wi. hed to awaken and the thing was done to the very minute.
A for Bulger, I never pretended to lay down any rules for him. He made it a practice of catching forty winks when he was persuaded  that no danger of any kind threatened me  and
A  JJ1ARVELLOU'	UNDERGROUND  JOURN'EY	17

even  then, I  am  half  inclined  to  believe  that, like  an anxiou mother over her babe, he never quite clo ed both eye	at once.
Though entirely	obered by daybreak, yet Ivan went about the  task  of  harne	ing  up with	uch an ill grace  that I ' a obliged  to reprove  him	everal times before we had left the tavern  yard.	He was like a viciou	but cowardly animal that quails before  a strong and steady eye, but watche	its oppor tunity to spring upon you when your back is turned.
I not  only called  Bulger'	attention  to  the  fellow	action , and warned him to be very watchful, but I al o took the precau tion  to  examine  the  priming  of  the  brace	of	pani h  pistol which I carried thrust into my belt.
We had scarcely pulled out into the highway when a low growl from Bulger aroused me from a fit of meditation· and thi · growl was followed by such an anxious whine from my four footed  brother, as he  rai ed  hi '	peaking  eyes  to  me, that  I glanced hastily from one	ide of the road to the other.
Lo and behold! the treacherous Ivan was deliberately engaged in an attempt to overturn the taranta s and to get rid of his enforced task of tran porting us any farther on our journey.
' Wretch!" I cried, springing up and laying my hand on hi houlder.	"I perceive very plainly what thou ha tin mind, but I warn thee most solemnly that if thou makest another attempt to overturn thy wagon, I'll	lay thee where thou sitte t."
For only answer and with a lightning-like quickne	he struck
a back-hand blow at me with the loaded end of hi	whip tock.
It took me full in the right temple, and sent me to the bottom of the tarantass like a piece of lead.
For an in tant the terrible blow robbed me of my enses, but then I aw that the cowardly villain had turned in his  eat  and had swung the heavy handled whip aloft  with  intent  to  de patch me with a second and a surer blow.
Poor fool! he reckoned without hi	ho t; for with a  hriek of
rage, Bulger leaped at hi  throat like a  tone from a catapult, and truck his teeth deep into the fellow'  fie h.

He roared with agony and attempted to shake off this unex pected foe, but in vain.
By this time I had come to a full realizing sense of the terri ble danger Bulger and I were both in, for Ivan had dropped his whip and was reaching for his  heath-knife.
But he never gripped it, for a well-aimed shot from one of my pistols struck him in the forearm, for I had no wish to  take the man's life, and broke it.
The shock and the pain so paralyzed him that he fell over against the dashboard half in a faint, and then rolled completely out of the wagon, dragging Bulger with him. The horses now began to rear and plunge.   I saw no  more.   There was  a noise as of the roar of angry waters in my ears, and then the light of life went out of my eyes entirely.    I had swooned dead away.
It seemed to me hours that I lay there on my back in the bottom of the tarantass with my head hanging over the side, but of course it was only minutes. I wa arou ed by a prickling sensation in my left cheek, and a I lowly came to myself I discovered that it proceeded from the gravel thrown up against it by one of the front wheels of the taranta s, for the horses were galloping along at the top of their speed, and there on the driver's seat sat my faithful Bulger, the reins in his teeth, bracing himself so as to keep them taut over the horses' backs; and as I sat up and pressed my hand against my poor hurt head, the whole truth broke upon me:-
The moment Ivan had struck the ground Bulger had released his hold upon the fellow's throat, and ere he had had a chance to revive had leaped up into the driver's seat, and, catching up the reins in his teeth, had drawn them taut and thus put an end to the rearing and plunging of the frightened beasts and  started them on their way, leaving the enraged Ivan brandi hing  his knife and uttering imprecations upon mine and  Bulger's  heads as he saw his horses and wagon disappear in the distance. Noyv was it that a mad shouting :tssailed my ears and I caught a glimpse of half a dozen peasants who, seeing this, as they thought,
A  JlfARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND  JOURNEY	19

empty  tarantass	come	nearer	and	nearer  with	its  galloping horse  , had abandoned their work and rushed out to intercept it.
Judge of their amazement, dear friend , as their eyes fell upon the calm and skilful driver bracing  himself  on  the  front  seat, and with oft repeated backward tosses of his head urging those horses to bear his beloved ma ter farther and farther away from the treacherou,  Ivan'   sheath-knife.
As the peasants seized the animals by the heads and brought them to a standstill, I staggered to my feet, and threw my arms around my dear Bulger. He wa more than pleased with what he had done, and licked my bruised brow with many a piteous moan.
"St. Nicholas, save us." cried one of the peasants, devoutly making the sign of the cross; "but if I should live long enough to fill the Giants' Well with pebbles, I never would expect to see the like of this again."
"The Giants' Well, the Giants' Well!" I murmured to my self as I followed one of the peasants to his cot, standing a little back from the highway, for I stood &ore in need of rest after the terrible experience I had ju t had. The blow of Ivan's whip handle had jarred my brain, and I was ·skilled enough in surgery to know that the hurt called for immediate attention. As good luck would have it, 1 found beneath the peasant's roof one of those old women, half witche perhaps, who have recipes for· everything and who know an herb for every ailment. After she: bad examined the cut made by the loaded whip-handle, she mut tered  out,-
" It is not as broad as the mountain, nor as deep as the Giants'
Well, but it's bad enough, little master."
"The Giants' Well again," thought I, as I laid me down on the best bed they could make up for me. "I wonder where it may be, that Giants' Well, and bow deep it is, and who drinks the water that is drawn from it? '
20          A  MARVELLOU     UNDERGROU.l\D  JOURNEY









CHAPTER	IV


MY WOUND HEALS.- YULIANA TALKS ABO T THE GIANTS' WELL.-I RESOLVE TO VISIT IT.-PREPARATIONS TO ASCEND THE MOUNTAINS. -WHAT HAPPENED TO YULIANA AND TO l\1E.
-REFLECTION  AND  THEN  ACTION.- HOW I  CONTRIVED  TO
CONTINUE  THE ASCENT  WITHOUT  YULIANA  FOR  A  GUIDE.

IT was a day or so before I could walk steadily, and meantime I made unusual  efforts to keep my brain quiet, but in spite of all I could do every mention of the Giants' Well by one of the peasants sent a strange thrill through me, and I would find my- elf suddenly pacing up and down the floor, and repeating over and over again the words, ' Giants  Well.  Giants' Well! "
Bulger was greatly troubled  in his mind, and sat watching
me with a most bewildered look in his loving eyes. He had half a su picion, I think, that that cruel blow from Ivan's whip handle had injured my reasoning powers for at times he uttered a low, plaintive whine. The moment I took notice of him, how ever, and acted more like myself, he gamboled about me in the wildest delight. As I had directed the pea ants to drive Ivan's horses back towards Ilitch on the Ilitch, until they should meet that miscreant and deliver them to him, I was now without any means of continuing my journey northward, unless I set out, like many of my famous predeces ors, on foot. They had longer legs than I, however, and were not loaded with so heavy a brain in proportion to their size, and a brain, too, that scarcely ever slept, at least not soundly. I wa too impatient to reach the portals to the World within a World to go trudging along a dusty highway.  I must have horses and another tarantass, or at least a peasant's cart. I must pu h on. My head was quite healed now, and my fever gone.
A 11-'IARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND  JOURNEY	21

"Hearken, little master," whispered Yuliana; such was the name of the old woman who had  taken  care of  me, "thou art not what thou seemst. I never saw the like of thee before. If thou wouldst, I believe thou couldst  tell me how high the sky is, how thick through the mountains are and how deep the Giants'  Well  is.''
I smiled, and then I said,-
"Did t ever drink from the Giants' Well, Yuliana? '
At which she wagged her head and sent forth a low chuckle. "Hearken, little master," she then whispered, coming close
to  me, and  holding  np  one  of  her  long,  bony  fingers, "thou
canst not trick me- thou knowest that the Giants' Well hath no bottom. "
"No bottom? ' I repeated breathlessly, as Don Fum' my - terious words, "The people will tell thee !" flashed through my mind.   "No bottom, Yuliana? "
"Not unless  thine  eyes are better than mine, little master,"
she murmured, nodding her head   lowly.
' Listen, Yuliana ' I burst out impetuously, ' where is this bottomless well? Thou shalt lead me to it; I must see it. Come let's start at once. Thou shalt be well paid for thy pains."
"Nay, nay  little  rna ter, not so fa t	she replied.	' It's far
up the mountains. The way is steep and rugged, the paths are narrow and winding, a false step might mean instant death, were there not orne strong hand to ave thee. Give up such a mad thought a ever getting there, except it be on the stout shoulders of some mountaineer.
'Ah, good woman,' was  my reply, "thou hast ju  t said that
I am not what I seem, and thou aid t truly. Know, then, thou seest before thee the world-renowned traveller, Wilhelm Hein rich Seba tian von Troomp,  commonly called 'Little Baron Trump,' that though short of stature and frail of limb, yet what there is of me i of iron. There, Yuliana, there's gold for thee; now lead the way to the Giants' Well."
22	A  MARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND   JOURNEY


"Gently, gently, little baron, ' almost whispered the old peasant woman, as her shrivelled hand closed upon the gold piece. "I have not told thee all.  For leagues about, I ween, no living being excepting me knows where the Giants' Well is. Ask them and they'll say, "It's up yonder in the mountains, away up under the eave  of  the  sky.  That's all.  That's all they can tell thee. But, little master, I know where it is, and the very herb that cured thy hurt head and saved thee from certain death by cooling thy blood, was plucked by me from the brink of the well !" These words sent a thrill of joy through me, for now I felt that I was on the right road, that the words of the great master of all masters, Don Fum, had come true.
"The people will tell thee !"
Ay, the people had told me, for now there was not the faintest shadow of doubt in my mind that I had found the portals to the World within a World! Yuliana should be  my guide.  She knew how to thread her way up the narrow pass, to turn aside from overhanging rocks which a mere touch might topple over, to find the steps which nature had hewn in the sides of the rocky parapets, and to pursue her way safely through clefts and gorges, even the entrance to which might be invi ible to ordi nary eyes. However, in order that the superstitious peasants might be kept friendly to me, I gave it out that I was about to betake myself to the mountains in search of curiosities for my cabinet, and begged them to furnish me with ropes and tackle, with two good tout fellows to carry it for me, promising gen erous payment for the services.
They made haste to provide me with all I asked for, and we set out for the mountain path at daybreak. Yuliana, in order not to seem to be of the party, had gone on ahead by the light of the moon, telling her people that she wished to gather certain herbs before the sun's rays struck them and dried the healing dew that beaded their leaves.
All went well until the sun was well up over our heads, when suddenly I heard a woman, who proved to be Yuliana, utter a




ALONG  A  HIGHWAY  OF  'l'HE  UNDER  WORLD.

A  MARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND  JOURWEY 	25


piercing scream. In a moment or so  the  my tery was  olved. The old beldam came rushing down the mountain, her thin wisp of gray hair fluttering in the wind. Her hands were tied behind her, and two young pea ant with birchen rods were beating her every chance they got.
'Turn back, turn back brother ' they cried to my two men. ''The little wizard there has struck hand with thi old witch. They're on their  way  to  the  Giants  vVell.  They ll  loo 'en  a band of black pirit about our ear . We hall all be bewitched. Quick.  Quick.   Ca t off the loads ye re bearing and follow u  .'·
The two men didn 't wait for a second bidding and throwing the tackle on the ground, they all di appeared like a  flash  but for  everal moments  I could hear  the scream   of poor Yuliana a the e young wretches beat the old woman with their birchen rod.
Well,  dear  reader	what	ay  ye  to  thi  ?	Wa	I  not  in  a
pleasant po ition truly? Alone with Bulger in that wild and gloomy mountain region, the black rocks hanging like frowning giants and ogres over our heads, with the dwarf pines for hair, clumps of white mo s for eye , va , gaping cracks for mouth , and gnarled and twi 'ted roots for terrible finger ready to reach down for my poor little weazen frame.
Did I fall a-trembling? Did I make haste to follow tho e craven pirit down the mountain side ? Did I  hift the peg of my courage a single hole lower?
Not I.	If I had I wouldn't have been worthy of the name I
bore. What I did do was to throw myself  at full length on  a bed of mo , call Bulger to my side and  clo e my eyes to the outer world.
I have heard of great men going to bed  at high  noon  to give
themselves up to thought, and I had often done it myself  b fore I had heard of  their doing it.
In fifteen  minute , by nature's watch -the	un on the face
of the mountain -I had solved the problem. Now, there '\i ere two difficultie    taring me in the face; namely, to find  orne-

body to show me the way up the mountain, and if that body couldn't carry my tackle, then to find somebody el e who could..
It suddenly occurred to me that I had noticed some cattle crrazing at the foot of the mountain, and, what's more, that the e cattle wore very peculiar yoke .
'' What are those yoke	for?" Iasked myself, for they were of
a make quite different from any that Iremembered ever having een, and consisted of a tout wooden collar from the 'bottom of which there projected backward between the bea t's foreleg a straight piece of wood armed with an iron spike pointing toward the ground.   At the top the yoke was bound by a leather thong to the animal's horns. So long, therefore, as the bea t held hi · head naturally or even lowered it to graze, the yoke was drawn forward and the hook was kept free from the  ground, but  the very moment the animal raised hi head in the air, at once the hook was thrown into the ground and he was prevented from taking another tep  forward.  Now, dear  readers,  you  may  or may not know that when a cleft-hoofed animal   tart   to  a cend a steep bank, unlike a solid-hoofed beast, he throws hi head into the air instead of lowering it, and therefore it struck me at once that the purpo e of thi yoke was to keep the cattle from making their way up the   ides of the mountain and getting lost.
But why  hould they want to clamber up the mountain	ide ? imply because there was some kind of grass or herbage growing up there which wa	a delicacy to  them, and  knowing, as Iwell did,  what  risks  animals  will  take  and  what  fatigue  they  will undergo to reach a favorite grazing-ground, it struck me at once that if Iwould make it po	ible for them to  reach  this  favorite food of theirs, they would be very glad to give me a lift  on  my
way.
No  sooner said  than  done .	I  forthwith   retraced   my  step until I fell in with a group  of  these cattle;  and  it  did not take me many minute	to loo en their yoke	from their horns and tie the hooks up under  their  bodies  so  that  their  progress  up  hill would not be interfered with.
A   MARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND     JOURNEY 	27

They were delighted to find themselves so unexpectedly freed from the hateful drawback which permitted them  merely  to view the coveted grazing-grounds  from  afar, and  then  having cut me a suitable goad, I again started up the mountain, driving my new friends leisurely on ahead of me.
Upon reaching the spot where the superstitious peasant had thrown the tackle to the ground, I proceeded to load it upon the back of the gentlest beast of the  lot, and was soon on my way aga1n.























•








CHAPTER  V


UP AND STILL UP, .AND THROUGH THE QUARRIES OF THE DEMONS.- HOW THE CATTLE KEPT THE TRAIL, AND HOW WE CAME AT LAST UPON THE BRINK OF THE  GIANTS' WELL. THE TERRACES ARE SAFELY PASSED.- BEGINNING OF THE DESCENT INTO THE WELL ITSELF. -ALL DIFFICULTIES OVEH. OOME.- WE H.EACH THE EDGE OF POLYPHEMUS'  FUNNEL.

GENERALLY speaking, people with very large head		are fitted out by nature with a pair of rather pipe-stemmy legs, but such was not my case.	I was blest with legs of  the sturdiest sort, and found no difficulty in keeping pace with my new four-footed friends who, to my delight, were not long in convincing me that they had been there before.	Not for an instant did they halt at any fork in the path, but kept continually on the move, often passing over stretches of ground where there was no trail visible but coming upon it again with unfailing accuracy.	Once only they halted, and that was to slake their thirst at a mountain rill Bulger and I following their example.
It was only too evident to me that they had in mind a certain grazing-ground, and were resolved to be satisfied with no other; so I let them have their own way, for, as it was still up, up, up, I felt that it was perfectly safe to follow their lead.
At last the mountain side began to take on quite another character. The gorges grew narrower, and at times overhanging rocks shut out the sunlight almost entirely.    We were  entering a region of peculiar wildness, of fantastic grandeur.
I had often read of what travellers termed the "Quarries of the Demons' in the Northern Urals, but never  till now had I the faintest notion of what the expression meant.
Imagine to yourself  the usual look of ruin and devastation
A   MARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND   JOURNEY. 	29


around and about a quarry worked by  human  hands  then  in your thoughts conceive every chip to be a block, and every block a rna ; add four times its size to every slab and post and pedi ment, and then turn a mighty torrent through the place and roll and twist and lift them up in wild confusion, end on end and on each other piled, till these wild waters have builded fantastic portals to temples more fantastic, and arched wild gorges with roofs  of  rock  which seem to hang  so lightly that  a breath  or f ootfall might bring them down with terrible  crash, and  then, dear friends, you may succeed in getting a faint idea of the wild and awful grandeur of the scene which now lay spread  out before me.
Would the cattle that had now led  Bulger  and  me  so  safely up the mountain  side  know where  to  find  an  entrance  to  thi wilderness  of  broken  rock, and what was  more  important still, would  they, when once  engaged within  it  winding  courts and corridors, its darkened maze of wall and parapet, its streets and plazas  roughly paved  as if  by  demon  hands  impatient  of  the ta 'k, know how to find their way out again?
Dear friends, man has always been too distru tful of his four footed companions. They have much that they might tell U" had they but speech to tell it with. I have often trusted them when it would have seemed foolhardy to you, and neYer once have I had cause to repent of doing so.
So Bulger and I, with stout  hearts,  followed straight after
these silent guides, although I must confess my legs were begin ning to feel the terrible strain I had put them to; but I resolved to push on ahead, at least until we had cleared the Demon ' Quarry, and then to bring my little herd  to  a halt  and  pa  ' the rest of the day and the night season in well-earned repose.
Once within the quarry, however, all sense of fatigue vanished,
and my thankful mind, entranced and fascinated by the deep silence, the awful grandeur, the mysterious lights and shadows of the place, lent me new strength.    4-t length we had traver ed
30         A  ft,fARVELLOUS   UNDERGROUND  JOURNEY


this city of ilence and gloom, and once again we emerged into the full glory of the afternoon sun.
Suddenly my little drove of cattle, with playful tossing of their heads, broke into a run, Bulger and I at their heels, how ever. It was a mad race; but dear friend , when it ended I took off my fur cap and tossed it high into the air with a wild cry of joy, and Bulger broke out in a string of yelps and barks, for, look ye, the cattle were grazing away for dear life there in front of me, and a their breath reached me my keen nostrils recognized the ·odor of Yuliana 's herbs whiCh she had bound on my hurt head.
Yes, we  stood  almost  upon  the brink  of  the Giants' Well, but  I wa	too tired  to take another step farther, too tired, in fact, to eat, although I had a	took of dried fruit in my pockets and noticed that the nests of the wild fowl were well supplied with eggs.		Having unloosened the tackle from the back of the good beast that had carried it up the mountain for me, I threw myself on the ground and was soon fast asleep, with my faithful Bulger coiled up clo e against my breast.
In the morning  the  cattle were  nowhere  to be  seen, but  I
didn't trouble myself about them, for I knew that old Yuliana would be sent up after them the moment they were missed. After a hearty breakfast on half a dozen roasted eggs of the wild fowl, with some dried fruit and wintergreen berries, Bulger and I advanced to the edge of the Giants' Well, or, rather, to the edge of the vast terraces of rock leading down to it, each of which was from thirty to fifty feet in sheer height.
Before I go any farther, dear friends, I must beg you to remember that I am an expert in the use of tackle, there being no knot, noose, or splice  known to a sailor which I didn't have at my fingers' ends, a fact not to be wondered at when you take into consideration the thousands of miles which I have travelled on water.
Nor would I have you shake  your heads and look only half persuaded  when I go on describing our descent into the Giants'
A  MARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND   JOURNEY 	31

Well, for of course you'll be asking yourselves how I succeeded in getting the tackle down when there was no one left at the other end to untie it!
Know, then, that that was the smallest of my troubles; for, as any sailor will tell you, you only need to tie  your  line in what is known as a "fool's knot," to one end of which you make fast a mere cord. The moment you  have  reached  the  bottom, a sharp tug at the cord unties  the fool's knot, and  your tackle falls down after you. My method was  to  lower Bulger down first, and then let myself down after him. In this way we pro ceeded from parapet to parapet, until at last we stood upon the very edge of the vast well, the existence of which had been so mysteriously hinted at in  Don  Fum's  manuscript.  Its  mouth was probably fifty feet in width, and by straining my eyes I satisfied myself of the existence of  a shelf  of  rock on one side, as nearly as I could judge about seventy-five feet down.    It was a goodly stretch, and would require  every  foot  of  my  rope. You will not smile, I'm sure, when I tell you that I pressed Bulger to my breast, and kissed him fondly before  lowering away. He  returned  my caresses, and  by his  joyous  yelp gave me to understand  that he had perfect faith in his little master.
In a few moments I had joined him on this narrow shelf of rock.   Below us now was darkness, but think you I hesitated? I knew that my eyes would soon become accustomed to the gloom, and I also knew that when my eyes failed Bulger's keener ones were there to help me out.
I rigged my tackle now with extra care, for I was really low
ering my little brother on a sort of trip of discovery.
He was  soon out of  sight, and then, in spite of  my calmness, I drew a quick breath, and my heart started  upward a barley corn  or  so.  But  hark!  his quick, sharp bark comes plainly up to me. It means that he has landed upon a safe shelf or ledge, and the  next  moment  my legs  encircled the rope, and I began to glide noiselessly down into the stilly depths, his glad voice ringing in my ears.
32        A  MARVELLOUS    UNDERGROUND  JOURNEY


Again and again did I send my wise and watchful  little brother down ahead of me, until at last, standing there and looking up, naught remained to me of the mighty out "ide world but a bright sil er peck, like a  tiny  ray of  light  treaming through a pin-hole in the curtains of your chamber.
But	top, have we reached the bottom of the Giant ' Well?
for with  a trial plummet  I find  that the walls  are no longer beer;  they slope  inward, and  gently too, alma t so much	o that  I hardly need  a line  to  continue  my descent.	Lighting one of my little taper		I make my way cautiou ly around the edge.	In half  an hour I find my elf back at the starting-place. The curve to the path has been alway	the same, while my trial plummet  at all time	has indicated the same slope to the rocky ba in.		And then for the first time, two certain words made u e of	by that learned Master  of  Masters, Don Fum, till  then		a my tery to me, stood out before my eye	as if written with a pen of fire upon tho e black walls thousands of feet below the great world of  light which I had quitted a few hours before.	Tho e
\vords were Polyphemus' Funnel. Ye , there could be no doubt of it: I had reached the bottom of the Giants' Well. I toad upon the edge of Polyphemus' Funnel!























.. '
A  .MARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND   JOURNEY 	33









CHAPTER	VI


l\IY DESPAIR UPON FINDING THE PIPE OF THE FUNNEL TOO SMALL FOR MY BODY.- A RAY OF HOPE BREAKS IN PON ME.- FULL ACCOUNT OF HO\V I SUCCEEDED IN ENTERING THE PIPE OF THE FUNNEL. -:MY PASSAGE THRO GH IT. BULGER'S TIMELY AID. -THE l\IARBLE HIGRWAY AND SOl\IE CURIOlJS THINGS CONCER..L lNG Tf!E ENTRANCE TO THE ·woRLD WITHIX  A  \VORLD.

THE rocky ide of Polyphemus'  Funnel were  apparently as well poli heel as those of any tin funnel that I had ever seen hanging in the kitchen of Castle Trump, so making  fa t  my tackle and taking Bulger in my arm , away we went sliding down the side with the line passed under my arm for safety's sake.
It was nearly a hundred feet to the bottom, for I had measured off the full length of my line before I had come to the apex of this gigantic cone, and not caring to tumble headlong down its pipe, I proceeded to light a taper and look about me.
Ah, dear friends, I can feel that shudder now, so terrible was it, and what wonder, too, for a glance at the pipe of the funnel told me that it was too small to let my body pass through. The agonizing thought fla heel through my mind that I had com mitted a terrible error- that I had mistaken some vast pit for the Giants' Well, that I had thrown Bulger's and my own life away in mad and unrea oning haste, that I should never reach the wonderful World within a vVorld, that there in that thick gloom mu t we lay our bodies and bone .
Or  thought  I, may not  the  learned  Master of  Masters, Don
Fum, have made an error himself in holding out the idea that the pipe of Polyphemus' Funnel wa large enough to admit the passage of a man's body?
34        A  llfARVELLOU     Ui\DERGROUND  JOURNEY


In my almost frenzy I advanced to the mouth of the pipe, and, lowering myself into it, let my body   ink a  far a   it would.
ft caught at the  houlders, and after a careful examination I wa · forced to reach the brain-racking conclu ion· that my faithful Bulger and I had travelled our la t mile together.
There wa	nothing for u	to do but to lie down and die.
Lie down  and  die?   Never!    I  had  noticed  in  making  the d cent into the Giants Well that it side had much the appear ance of  being walled around by blocks of   tone.    V\1 ith Bulger
.s trapped to my back I would   lowly climb up from shelf to  helf
until my strength failed me and then I would wait until  I thought old Yuliana had come back to p-ather herb , and pos i bly I might make her hear me.
In my despair I sighed and clutched my own arm , and as I did so one of my hand· came into contact with omething cold and slippery having the feel of  tallow. Taking a pinch of the sub tance between my thumb and finger, I rubbed it thoughtfully for a moment, and then a ra3 of hope broke through the awful gloom that en hrouded me so pitile ·sly. It wa black lead there could be no doubt of it. It had made its way through a crack or crevice in Polyphemus' Funnel, and I had rubbed it off in sliding down the side. vVith this greasy material to rub on the in ide of the pipe to the funnel, and also to be mear myself with, mayhap I might yet slip through into the \Vorld within a World!
At any rate, I determined to make the trial, even if I left  orne of my skin on the flinty rock.
In order to collect my thought	thoroughly, and that I might
proceed step by step in that sy tematic order so characteristic of all my wonderful exploit I at down, and putting my arm around dear Bulger'' neck and drawing him up against me, I communed with myself for a good half-hour.
Then all wa in readine · for action; and to prove to you, dear friends, how careful Bulger wa  not to interrupt my train of thought, I have to report to you that although a   mall animal of


'


B FORE  HER  MAJESTY  GALAXA, QUEEN OF THE MIKKAl\IENKIES,

A    MARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND     JOURNEY	37

the rat family came out from a crevice in the rock while I at there thinking, a I could see by the light of my tiny w x taper, and had the temerity first to ·niff at  Bulger'::; tail and then to give  it  a  playful  nip, yet  the  sagacious  animal  never  budged a hair's breadth.
Mind hath ordered, now let hands obey·! ' I exclaimed  a, I
sprang up and began tripping  off  my outer  garments.  Thi · done, I clambered up on the side of the funnel, and began to collect a upply of the black lead, which I deposited near th e opening of the pipe. The next thing to do was to get Bulger through the pipe ahead of me. To this end I tied him up in my clothing, bag fashion, and began to lower away.
After  paying  out	ixty-five or	·eventy feet of  the line	he ruck bottom, and by his loud barking gave me to under taml that  it was  all right, that  I might  make  the	descent myself. Cpon hearing hi	voice, I gave the line a few sharp tugs.	He was not slow to comprehend my meaning, and in a moment ur so had not only scrambled out of the bag him elf, but pulled my
clothing loose, so that I might draw the line up again.
My next step was to contrive a way to weight myself  when the moment arrived to begin the descent, for I felt sure that I neYer should be able to arrange it so a to slip through the pipe unle s something was pulling at my heels.
Cutting off about ten feet of the rope, I made fast one end of the piece to a long piece of rock, weighing about a hundred pounds. This I laid near the mouth of  the pipe ready for u ·e. But now came the most  difficult thing of  all- it was to draw my shoulders  in  on  my brea t  and  la h  them  ecurely in that po ition, by which plan I expected to reduce my width by at least two good inches.
These  two  inches  thus  gained, or, rather, lost, might  be  th means  by which  I would  be  able  to	lip  through  the  pipe of Polyphemu  ' Funnel  and  reach  the vast  underground  pa	age 1 ading to the World ' ithin a Worl L	Putting a noose around my che t, j ust  below my collar bone, I drew my shoulder	in as
38         A  MARVELLOUS   UNDERG'ROUND  JOURNEY


tight as I could bear, and changed the slip knot into a hard one; then having  made the other end of the line fast to the side of the funnel, I proceeded to wind my elf up as the housewives often do a big sausage to keep it from bursting. This done, I set about rolling in the black lead until I was thoroughly smeared with it.
There was no'  but one thing more to do before dropping my self into the pipe, and that was to make fast the weight to my feet.	It was no easy task, wound  up as I was, with my arm lashed  down again t my body, but by the use of  slip knots I finally accomplished the feat, and sitting down put my legs into the pipe and drew a long breath, for I felt as if  I was skewered up in a straight jacket.
Bending down, I called out to Bulger. He answered with a yelp of joy that brought fresh vigor to my heart. Now was come the supreme moment which was to witness success or failure. Failure! Oh, what a dread word is that! and yet how often must human lips pronounce it, and in so doing breathe out the sigh in which it ends! Qui kly lowering the weight, I wriggled off the edge of the opening, and straightened myself out as I slipped into the pipe.
Had I stopped it like a cm·k, or was I moving?	Yes, down,
down, gently, lowly, noisele sly, I went slipping through  the pipe to Polyphemus' Funnel. What did I care how that weight caused the line to cut into my ankles? I was moving, I was drawing nearer and nearer to Bulger, whose joyous bark I could hear now and then nearer to the inner gates  of  the World within  a World!
But woe is me !	I suddenly	top, and in spite of all my effort
to start again by twi ·ting, turning,  and shaking my body, it refused to sink another inch  and th re I stick.
"Oh	Bulger	Bulg r" I  moan	'faithful	friend, if	thou
couldst but reach me, one tug from thee might save thy little master!"
In a  ort of a wild and desperate way I now be  an to feel about
A   :MARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND     JOURNEY 	39

me as well as I could with my hands wedged in so close to my sides, but in a moment or so I had discovered the cause of my coming to such a sudden standstill.
I had struck a portion of the pipe that had a thread to it, lil e that which encircles a bolt of iron and makes a screw of it, and. the  thought  came  to me that if  I could only succeed in giving a revolving motion to my body, I would with every turn twist myself farther down toward the end of the pipe.
I could feel that my knuckles and finger tips were being bruised and lacerated by this  arduous work, but what  cared  I for the keen  pain  that  darted from hands to wrists, and wri ts to elbows! It was like  twisting  a  screw  slowly  through  a long nut, only the thread in this case was on the nut and the grooves in the screw, and that screw was my poor bruised little body!
All  of  a  sudden, by the swinging of  the weight, I could tell
that it had passed out at the lower end of the pipe. It was pull ing cruelly hard on my tender ankles, but I could twist myself no more; my strength wa gone. I was at the point of swoon ing when I heard Bulger utter a loud yelp, and the next instant there was such a strong tug at my ankles that I sent forth a groan, but that tug saved me! It was Bulger who had leaped into the air, and catching the rope in his teeth had dragged his little master out of the pipe of Polyphemus ' Funnel!
We  all fell  into the  same  heap, Bulger  I, and the weight,
fully ten feet, and very serious might have been the consequences for me had  my fall not been broken by my striking on the pile of my clothing placed directly under the opening; and, dear friends, if you talked until the crack o doom  you  could not make me believe that my four-footed brother hadn't  placed those  clothes  there  to  catch  me.
They weren't  thrown  higgledy-piggledy into a heap either,
but were laid one upon  the  other,  the  heaviest  at  the bottom.
Having  unwound  myself  and lighted one of  my wax tapers,
40	A  MARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND   JOURNEY

I made haste to cast away the undergarment with its coating of black lead and resmn e my clothing; then stooping down, Imade an examination of the floor.	It wa , composed of huge blocks of marble of various color , polished almo t as smooth as if  the hand of man had wrought the work ; and then I knew that I was on Natur e's Marble Highway leading to the cities of the under '\Vorld which Don Fum had mention ed in his book, and I remem bered,  too,  that  he had spoken  of	Nature'	Mighty Mosaics, huge fantastic figureti on the walls of these lofty corridors, made up of variouti colored block		and fragments laid one upon the other as if with detiign, and not by the wild, temr e tuous whims of upbursting forces thousand	of year	ago, when the earth wa    in its mad and wayward  youth.	After a rest of several hour , during which I nursed my torn hands and bruised fingers, Bulger and I were up and off again along this broad and glorious Marble Highway.	Strange to say, it was not the inky darkness of the ordinary cavern which filled these magnificent chambers, through which the Marble Highway went winding in stately and massive grandeur; far from it.	The gloom wa tempered by a faint glow that met us  on the way ever and anon, like a ray of  twilight gone a tray.	Anyway,  Bulger, I noticed, could see perfectly well; so tying a bit of  twine to his collar, I sent him on ahead, convinced that I could have no surer guide.
At time	our path would be lighted up for an instant by the
bursting-out  of  a  little  tongue  of  flame  either.on the sides or from the roof of th e gallery.	I was puzzled for quite a while to tell what  it  proceeded  from;  but  at  last I caught sight of   the source, or  rather  the  maker, of  this welcome  illumination.	It proceeded from a lizard-like animal, which, by suddenly uncoil ing its tail, had the power to emit this extremely  bright flash of phosphorescent  light, and  in  so  doing  he  made  a sharp crack, for  all  the world  like  the  noise  of  an electric spark.	Bulger was delighted with  this  performance;  and on one occasion, not being able to control his feeling, he uttered a sharp bark, where upon	apparently	ten	thousand	of	these	little   torch-bearers
A  11-IARVELLOU	Ul¥DERGROUND    JOURNEY 	41
napped their tail· at me at the same in tant, and filled the va t place with a flash of light of almo ' lightning-lik e intensity.
Bulger was	·o frightened  by th	re ult  of  hi · applause that he took good care to keep quiet after thi ·.
42	A  .MARVELLOU	UNDERGROUND  JOURNEY









HAPTER	VII

0 R  FIRST NIGHT  I:;::{   THE	NDER WORLD	AJ.  How·  IT  \VAS FOLLOWED	BY	THE	FIRST	BREAK	OF		DAY.- BULGER 'S
\VARNI.YG A D WHAT IT  :MEANT.-WE FALL IN WITH AN INHABITA 'r OF THE WORLD  WITHIN  A  WORLD.- HIS NillE ... D CALLING.- MYSTERIOUS RETURN OF  .J.  IGHT. THE LA D OF BEDS, AND HOW 0 R NEW FRIEND PROVIDED ONE FOR   S.

So heav	with leep did my eyelids become at last that I knew that it mu t be night in the outer world and so we halted and I	tretched myself at full length on that marble floor which b, the wa , was plea antly warm beneath u ; and the air too was trangely comforting to the lung , there being a complete ab ence of that smell of earth and odor of dampnes	so common in va t ubterranean chamber .
"Niy sleep wa long-continued  and  roo t refreshing;  Bulger wa · already awake, however, when I at up and ried to look about me.
He began  tugging at the	tring which I had fastened to his
collar as if he wanted to lead me omewhere so I humored him and followed along after.   To my delight he led me straight to a pool of deliciou ly sweet and cold water. Here we drank our fill, and after a very frugal breakfast on some dried fig e out again on our journe along the :Marble Highway. Suddenly to my more than jo , the faint and uncertain  light of  the place
began to	trengthen.	\Vhy, it	eemed  almo t as if  the  day of
the upper world were about  to break,	o delicate were  the vari ou	hue	in	hich the e  er-increasing light clothed itself:  then as if  affrighted at its own increa ing  glory  it would  fade away again to almo t gloom.	Ere man	moments again thi	fain	and
A   MARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND     JOURNEY 	43

mysterious glow would return, beginning with the softest yellow, then changing through a dozen different tints, and, like a fickle maid uncertain which to wear, put all aside and don the lily's garb. Bulger and I wandered along  the  :Marble  Highway almost afraid to  break a stillness so deep  that it seemed  to me as if I could hear those sportive rays of light  in  their  play against the many-colored rocks arching this mighty corridor.
Nmv, a  the Marble Highway swept around in a graceful curve,
a dazzling flood of light burst upon us.
It was sunrise in the World within a World.
Whence came this flood of dazzling light whieh now cau 'ed the sides and arching roof to glow and sparkle as if we had sud denly entered one of Nature's vast storehouses of polished gems'? Shading my eyes with my hand I looked about  me in order to try and solve the mystery.
It did not take  me long to understand  it all.	Know then,
<lear friends, that the ceilings, domes, and arched roofs of this underground world were fretted with a metal of greater hardness than any known to us children  of  sunshine.  Its  seams  ran hither and thither like the veins of gigantic leaves; and at certain hours currents of electricity from  some vast  internal  reservoir of Nature's own building, streamed through these metal traceries until they glowed with a heat so white as to give off  the flood of dazzling light of which I have already spoken.
The current never came with a sudden rush	or burst,  but
began gently and timidly, so to speak, as if feeling its way along. Hence the beautiful tints that always preceded sunrise in this lower world, and made it o much like the coming and going of our glorious sunshine.
The Marble Highway now divided, and the two l1alves of  the
fork curving away to the right and left enclosed a small but exquisitely ornamented park, or pleasure ground I might call it, provided with seats of some dark wood beautifully polished and carv:ed. This park was ornamented with four fountains, each springing from a crystal basin and   preading out into a f  athery
44         A  MARVELLOUS   UNDERGROUND  JOURNEY

·pray that glistened like whirling snow in the dazzling white light. As Bulger and I directed our steps toward one of the benches with the intention of taking a good rest, a low growl from him warned me to be on the alert .  I gave a second  look. A human being was  seated  on  the bench.  Beside myself, a  I wa , with curiosity to come face to fa e with this inhabitant of the under world, the first we had met, I made a halt, determined to a certain, if po sible, whether he wa quite harmless before accosting him.
He was small in stature, and clad entirely in black, a sort of loose, flowing robe much like a Roman toga. His head was bare, and what I could see of it was round, smooth, and rosy, with about as much hair, or rather fuzz, upon it as the head of an infant six weeks old.  His face was hidden by a black fan which he carried in his right hand, and the uses of  which  you will learn later on. His eyes were shielded from the intense glare of the light by a pair of colored glass  goggles.  As he raised his hand between me and the light I couldn't help catching my breath.  I could  see right  through  it: the bones were as clear as amber. And his head, too, was only a little less opaque. Suddenly two "·ords from Don Fum's manuscript flashed through my mind, and I exclaimed jo; ously,-
"Bulger, we're in the Land of the Transparent Folk!"
At the sound of my voice the little man arose and made a low bow, lowering his fan to his breast where he held it. His baby face was ludicrously sad and solemn.
'Yes, Sir Stranger," ·aid he, in a low, musical voice, "thou
art indeed in the Land of the Mikkamenkies (Mica Men), in the Land of  the Tran  parent Folk, called al o Goggle Land·  but if I hould show thee my heart thou wouldst see that I am deeply pained to think  that  I  should  have been  the first  to bid  thee w lcome, for know, Sir Stranger, that thou speakest with Master Cold Soul the Court Depressor, the acldest man in all Goggle Land, and, by the way, sir, permit me to offer thee a pair of gog gles  for  thyself, and also a pair  for thy four-footed companion,
A   MARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND     JOURNEY 	45

for  our  intense  white  light  would  blind  thee  both  in  a  few days."
I thanked Master Cold Soul very warmly for the goggles, and proceeded to set one pair astride my nose and to tie the other in front of Bulger's eyes. I then in most courteous manner  in formed Master Cold Soul who I was, and begged him to explain the cau e of his great sadness. 44 Well, thou must know, little baron " said he, after I had taken a seat beside him on the bench, H that we, the loving subjects of  Queen  Galaxa,  whose  royal heart is almost run down,- excuse these tears, living as we ·do in thi beautiful world so unlike the one you inhabit, which our wise men tell us is built, strange to say, on the very outside of the earth's crust where it is most expo ed to the full sweep of blinding snow, freezing blast, pelting hail, drowning rain, and choking dust, -living as we do, I say, in this vast temple by Nature's own hands builded, where disease is unknown, and where our hearts run down like clocks that may have but one winding, we are prone, alas, to be too hapvy; to laugh too much; to spend too much time in idle gayety, chattering the time away like thoughtless children amused with baubles, delighted with tinsel nothings. Know then, little baron, that mine is the business to check this gayety, to put an end to this childish glee, to depress our people's spirit 1 lest they run too high. Hence my garb  of inky  hue,  my  rueful  countenance,  my  frequent  outflowing  of t ars, my voice ever attuned to sadneRs.  Excuse  me,  little baron, my fan slipped then; didst see through me ? I would not have thee see my heart to-day, for some way or other I cannot bring it to a slow pace;  it is dreadfully  unruly."
I assured him that I had not seen through him as yet.
And now, dear friends, I must explain that by the laws of the Mikkamenkies each man, woman, and child must wear in their garments a heart-shaped opening on their breast directly over their hearts, with a corresponding one at the back,  so  that under certain conditions, when the law allows it, each may have the right to take a look at his neighbor's  heart  and  see  exactly
46          A   llfARVELLOUS   UNDERGROUND  JOURNEY

how it is beating- whether fa t  or  slow, whether  throbbing or leaping or whether pulsating calmly and naturally.  But this privilecre is only accorded a I have said, under certain condi tion hence to shut off inqui ·itiv glances each Mikkamenky is allowed to carry a black fan with which to  cover the heart
::;haped opening above described, and in this way conceal hi ' or
her feelings to a degree. I ay to a degree, for I may as well tell you right here that fal ehood i unknown, or, more  correctly tated, impos ible in the land of the Tran parent  Folk  for  the rea on that so wondrou::;ly clear, limpid and crystal-like  are their eye that the  lighte t attemr t to say one thing while they are thinking another roils and cloud' them as if a drop of milk had fa1len into a glas  of the pure t water.
A	I	at gazing at this	trange little being seated on the bench there be ide me, I r called a conver ation which I had had with a learned Russian at		olvitchegodsk.	Said he,	peaking  of  hi people,  "We  are  all  born  with  light  hair,  brilliant	eyes,  and pale  face , for  we  have  sprung  up  under  the	now."	And   I thought to myself  how delighted  how entranced, he would have been to look upon thi	curious being, born not under  the		now, but  far  under  the  surface  of  the  earth,  where  in  these  va t chambers of  this World within  a World, this  strange  folk had, like plant	grown  in  a  dark, deep  cellar, gradually parted with all their coloring until their eyes glowed like orb	of pure  cry - tal, until their bone	had been bleached to amber  clearness, and their blood coursed colorless through colorless veins.
While sitting there following out this train of  thougl1t, the clear white light suddenly began to flicker and to play fanta tic trick upon the wall by dancing in garbs of ever-changing hue , now brightest yellow, now pale t green.  now  glorious  purple, now deepest crimson.
"Ah, little baron!	exclaimed  Master  Cold Soul, "that was an uncommonly short day.	Rise, please."
I made haste to obey, whereupon he touched a spring and the bench opened in the centre, di clo ing two very comfortable bed  .
I:
I
















































A  DINNER  EASILY  PROVIDED  FOR.

A    MARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND     JOURNEY	49

"In a few moments night will be upon us," continued the Mikkamenky, "but thou seest that we have not been taken by surprise. I should explain  to  thee, little  baron, that  owing  to the capricious manner in which our River of Light is apt both to begin and to cease flowing, we are never  able to  tell how long a day or a night will prove to be. This is what we call twilight. In thy world I suppose day goes out with a  terrible  bang, for our wise men tell us that nothing can be done in the upper world without making a noise; that your people really love noise; and that the man who makes the greatest noise is considered the greatest  man.
"Owing to the fact, little baron,  that  no  one  in  Goggle Land can tell how long the day will last, or how long it may be necessary to sleep, our laws permit no one to set any exact time when a thing shall be done, or to exact any promise to do this or that on a certain  day, for, bless  thy soul, that  day may not  be ten minutes long. Hence we say, 'If to-morrow be over  five hours long, come to me at the beginning of the sixth hour;' and we never wish each otheT  a plain good-night, but say, 'Good night, as long as it lasts.'
"What's more, little baron, as night is apt to come upon  us this way unawares, by law all the beds belong to the state; no one is allowed to own his own bed, for when night overtakes him he may be at the other end of the city, and some other sub ject of Queen Galaxa may be in front of his door, and no matter where night may overtake a :Mikkamenky, he is sure to find a bed.	There are beds everywhere.	By touching a spring they drop from the walls, they pull out like drawers, they are under the tables and divans, in the parks, in the market-place, by the roadside ; benches, bins, boxes, barrows, and barrels by pressing spring may in an instant be transformed into beds.	It  is  the Land of Beds, little baron.	But ah. behold, the twilight goes to its end.	Good-night as long as it lasts!" and with this Mas ter Cold Soul stretched himself  out and began to snore, having first carefully covered up the two holes in the front and back of

his garment, so that I shouldn't have a chance to take a peep through him in case I should wake up first. Bulger and I were right glad to lay our limbs on a real bed, although from the way my four-footed brother followed his tail around and around, I could see that he wa n't particularly delighted with the softness of the couch.

















..
A	JARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND   JOURNEY 	51








CHAPTER	VIII	I


"GOOD-MORNING	AS	LONG	AS		IT	LASTS."- PLAIN	TALK FROM MASTER COLD SOUL.- "WONDERS OF GOGGLE LAND. - WE ENTER THE CITY OF THE MillKAMENKIES. -BRIEF DE SCRIPTION OF IT.-OUR APPROACH TO THE ROYAL PALACE. QUEEN	GALAXA		AND	HER	CRYSTAL	THRONE.- MASTER COLD SOUL'S TEARS.

I DON'T think the darkness lasted over three hours, perhaps it was longer; but Master Cold Soul was obliged to shake me gently ere he could rouse me.
" Now, little baron," said he, after he had wished me a good morning with the usual "as long as it lasts" tacked to it, "if thou art quite willing, I'll conduct thee to the court of our gra cious mistress, Queen Galaxa. Our wise men have  often dis coursed to her concerning the upper world and the terrible sufferings of its people, exposed as they are to be first frozen by the pitiless cold and then burned by the scorching rays of what they call their sun, and she will no doubt deign to be pleased at sight of thee, although I must warn thee that thou art mo t uncomely, that thou seemst so black and hard to me as scarcely to be human, but rather a bit of living earth or rock. I greatly fear me that thou wilt make our people extremely vain by com parison. Thy four-footed companion we know well by  sight, having often seen his petrified image in the rocks of the dark chambers of our world."
"Master Cold Soul," said I, as we walked along, "when thou gettest to know me better thou wilt find me more comely, and although I shall not be able to show thee my heart, I hope to be able to prove to thee and thine that I have such a thing."
"No doubt, no doubt, little baron,"  exclaimed  Master  Cold

Soul, "but be not offended. It is not more pleasant for me to tell thee these disagreeable things than it is for thee to hear them, but I am paid to do it and I must earn my wage. Vanity grows apace in our world, and I prick its bubbles whenever I see them."
To my great wonder I now discovered  that  the  world  of  the
Mikkamenkies had its lakes and rivers like our own, only of course they were smaller and  mirror-faced, being  never visited by the faintest zephyr. To my  question  as  to  whether  they were peopled with living things, Master Cold Soul informed me that they literally  swarmed  with  the  most  delicious  fish, both in scales and shells.
"But think not, little baron," he added, "that we  of  Goggle
Land have no other food than such as we draw from the water; for in our gardens grow many kinds of delicate  vegetables, springing up in a single night almost as light as foam  and  just as white.   But we are small eaters, little  baron, and  rarely find it necessary to put to death a large shellfish.  We  merely lay hold of his great claw, which he  obligingly drops  into  our hand,  and forthwith sets about growing another."
"But tell me, I pray thee, Master Cold Soul," said I, "where ye find the silk to weave such soft and beautiful stuff as that thy garment is fashioned from?"
"In this under  world  of  ours, little baron," replied  Master Cold Soul, " there are many vast  recesses  not reached  by the River  of  Light,  and in  these dark  chambers  flit about  huge night moths, like restless  spirits forever on the wing, but  of course  they are not, for we find their eggs glued  against  the	• rocky sides of  these caverns and collect them carefully.	The "orms that are hatched from them spin huge cocoons so large that one may not be hidden in my hand, and these unwound give unto our looms all the thread they need."
' And the beautiful wood'' I continued, "which I see about me carved and fashioned into so many articles whence comes it?"
A  JlriARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND     JOURNEY 	53

"From the quarries," answered Ma ter Cold Soul. "Quarries?" I repeated  wonderingly.
"Why, ye , little baron," said he, "for we have quarries of wood as no doubt thou hast quarries of stone.	Our wise men tell us that thousands and thou and	of years ago va t forests grown in your world were in the upheavals and failings-in of the earth's crust thrust  down into our , the gigantic trunk wedged closely together, and standing bolt upright ju t as they grew.	At least, so we find them when we have dug away the hardened clay that has shut them in these many ages.	But see, little baron, we are now entering  the city.	Yonder	is the royal palace- wilt walk with me thither?"
Ah, dear friends, would that I could make you see this beau tiful city of  the under world ju t as it showed it elf to me then, spread out so gloriously beneath the glittering domes and vaulted corridors, from which poured down upon the exqui itely carved and poli heel entrances to the living chambers of this happy folk, a flood of white light apparently more dazzling than our noonday sun l
It was a sight so strangely beautiful that many time I pau ed to gaze upon it. Young and old, all clad in the same gracefully flowing garbs of silk, now purple, now royal blue, and now rich vermilion, were hurrying hither and thither, each arm ed with the inevitable black fan, and the baby face of each aglow with life and sweet content, while a hundred fountains spring ing from crystal basins glistened in the dazzling white light, and ten times a hundred flags and gonfalons hung listless but rich in splendor from invisible wires. Strange music came floating along from the gracefully shaped barges with silken awnings, which were gliding noiseles ly over the surface of the winding river, the oars stirring the waters until the wake seemed a path through molten silver.
As Bulger and I followed Master Cold Soul along the streets
of  polished  marble, it was  not long before  a crowd of  Mikka
menkies  was  at  our  heels,  whi pering  all  sorts  of	uncompli-
54        A  .ivfARVELLOUS   UNDERGROU1\D  JOURNBY

mentary thing about u , mingled with not a few fits of suppressed   laughter.
The Court Depre sor reproved them sternly.
"Cea e your ill-timed mirth,' said he "and go about your business. Must I pause and tell you a grew orne tale to check your foolish gayety? Know ye  not  that  all  this  silly  mirth doth quicken your hearts and make them run down  just  so much  sooner ? "
At these words of  Master Cold  Soul  they fell  back, and  put
an end to their giggling, but it wa only for a moment, and by the time we reached the portal of the royal palace, a still louder and noisier crowd was clo e behind u .
Master Cold Soul suddenly halted, and drawing forth a huge pocket-handkerchief, began to weep furiously. It was not with out its effect, and from that moment I could see that the Mik kamenkies were inclined to take a more serious view of my arrival in their cit;, although it was only Cold Soul's presence that kept them from bursting out into fits of violent laughter.
Above the portals of the queen's palace there were large openings hewn in the rock for the purpo  e  of  admitting light into the royal apartments· but the e window., if they may be called such, were hung with silken curtain of delicate colors, so that the light which entered the throne room was tempered and softened. The room itself  was likewi e hung with silken stuffs, which gave it a look of Oriental plendor;  but  never in  my travels among , ·trange peoples of far-away lands had my eyes ever rested upon any work of art  that  equalled  the  crystal throne upon which sat Galaxa, Queen of  the Mikkamenkies.
In the upper world mo t diligent earch had never been able to unearth a piece of rock crystal more than about three feet in diameter; but here in Queen Galaxa's throne four glorious column  at lea t fifteen feet in height, and at their  base  three
.feet in diameter, shot up in matchle  s  splendor.  Their  lower parts	hut in spangles of gold that glittered with ever-varying hues as a different light fell upon them.    The  cross  piece    and
A  J.l!ARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND     JOURNEY 	55

pieces making up the back and arms had been chosen on account of the exquisitely beautiful hair and needle-shaped crystals of other metal which they enclo ed. A silken baldachin of rare beauty covered in the throne, and from its  edges  dropped heavy cords and tassels of rich color and the  perfection  of human handicraft as to fineness and fini h.
At the foot of the throne sat the young princess Crystallina; and standing behind her, and engaged in combing  her  long ilken tresses was her favorite waiting-maid, Damozel  Glow Stone, while around and about, in files and group-wise,  stood lords and ladies, courtiers and counsellors, by the dozen.
As Master Cold Soul advanced to salute the queen, a throng of the idlers who had followed at our heels crowded into the anteroom with loud  outbursts  of  laughter.  The  Court  De pre or was greatly incen ed, and turning upon the throng he began weeping again with wonderful energy; but I noticed that it was nothing but sound: not a tear fell to ob cure the crystal clearness of his eyes. Then he began chanting a sort of song which was intended to have a depre ing influence on the wild mirth of the Mikkamenkie . I can only recollect one verse of this solemn chant of the Court Depressor.  It ran as follows : -

"Weep :Mikkamenkies, weep, 0 weep,
For the eyeless man in the City of  Light, For the mouthless man in Plenty's bowers, For the earless man in Music's realm,
For the noseless man in the Kingdom of  flowers,
Weep, :Mikkamenkie , weep, 0 weep ."


But they only laughed the louder  crying out,-
Nay, Master Cold Soul we will  not weep  for  them;  weep for them iliy. elf." At la t Queen Galaxa rai ed the slender golden wand, tipped with a diamond point, that lay within her hand, and in tantly a hu h came upon the whole place, while every eye wa   riveted upon Bulger and me.
56         A  MARVELLOUS   UNDERGROUND  JOURNEY









CHAPTER	IX


BULGER		AND I ARE PRESENTED · TO  QUEEN  GAL.A.XA,  THE LADY  OF  THE  CRYSTAL  THRONE.- HOW  SHE  RECEIVED US.- HER  DELIGHT  OVER  BULGER,  WHO  GIVES   PROOF   OF HIS WONDERFUL INTELLIGEN CE IN 1.\IIANY  W.A.YS. -HOW THE	QUEEN CREATES  HIM  LORD  BULGER.  -ALL  ABOUT THE  THREE  WISE  MEN  IN  WHOSE  CARE  WE   ARE   PLACED BY  QUEEN  GALAXA.

OwiNG to the  soft  air, the  never-varying  temperature,  and the absence of all noise and dust, the Mikkamenkies, although they die in the end like other folk, yet do they never seem to grow  old.  Their  skin  remains  soft  and  free  from  wrinkles, and their eyes as clear and bright as the crystal of  Queen Galaxa's  throne.
At the time of  our arrival in the  Land of  the Transparent
Folk, Queen Galaxa's heart  had  almost  run  down.  In  about two weeks more it would come quietly and gently to a stop; for, as I have already told you, dear friends, the heart of a Mikka menky being perfectly visible when the dazzling white light in its full strength was allowed to shine through his body, why, it was a very easy matter for a physician to take a look at  the organ of life, and tell almost to the hour when it would exhaust itself -in other words, run down. Galaxa looked every inch a real queen as she half-reclined upon her glorious crystal throne. She was clad in long, flowing silk garments of a right royal purple, and the gems which encircled her neck and wri ts would have put to shame the crown jewels of any monarch  of  the upper world. Her  garb  had  very much  the  cut  and  style  of the ancient Greek costume, and the gold sandals worn by her added to the  re  emblance;  but  the  one  thing  that  excited  my
A   MARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND    .JOURNEY 	57

wonder more than all the others put together was her hair.. so long, so fine and silken was it, such a mass of it was there, and so dazzling white was it- not the blue or yellow white that comes of age in our world, but a milk white, a cotton white. And as we drew near, to  Bulger's  but not  to  my amazement, her hair began to quiver and rustle and rise, until it buried her whole throne completely out of sight. Of course I knew that, seated as she was upon a throne of  glass, it was  only necessary to send a gentle current of electricity through her to make her wonderful head of hair stand up in this manner, like the white and filmy tentacles of some gigantic  creature of the sea, half plant, half-animal.
"Rise, little baron," said Queen Galaxa, as I dropped upon my right knee on the lowest step of the throne," and be welcome to our kingdom .  Whil t thou may be pleased to tarry here, my people shall be tir themselves to show thee all that may seem wonderful in thine eyes; for although our wise men have often discussed to us of the upper world, yet art thou its first inhabit ant to visit us, and thy wonderful companion is right welcome too.    Can he talk, little baron?"
"Not exactly, Queen Galaxa," said I with low obeisance, "yet he can understand me and I him."
"He is quite harmless, is he not?" asked the queen.
You may try to imagine how I felt, dear friends, when as I was about to say, "Perfectly so, royal lady," to my amazement I saw Bulger advance and sniff at the Princess Crysta.llina and then draw back and show his teeth as she stretched out  her hand to caress him.
Bending over him I reproved him in a whisper, and bade him
kneel before the queen. This he proceeded to do, saluting her with three very stately bows, at which everybody laughed heartily.
"I would have him come nearer," said the queen, "so that I
may lay my hand upon him."
At a sign from me  Bulger  began  to  lick  his  fore-paws  very
58        A  J."lfARVELLOUS    UNDERGROUND  JOURNEY

carefully, and then having wiped them on  the  rug, sprang  up the steps of the throne and placed his front feet upon Queen Galaxa's  lap.
The fair ruler of  the  Mikkamenkies  was  delighted with  this
sample of Bulger's fine manners, and in order to amuse her still further I proceeded to put Bulger through many of his quaint tricks and curious feats, bidding him "say his prayers," "feign death," "weep for his sweetheart," "count ten,' "walk upright, ' "go lame and cry to tell how it hurts. '
Scarcely had he gone half around the circle, feigning lame ness, when the damozel Glow Stone began to weep herself, and tooping down commenced to caress Bulger and to kiss his lame foot, caresses which, to my more than surprise, Bulger was not low in returning, and later too when I bade him choose the maiden he loved best and kiss her hand, he bounded straight toward Glow Stone and bestowed not one but twenty kisses upon her outstretched hands, while the princess Crystallina hrank away in fear and disgust from the "ugly beast," as she termed him.
' Bid him bring my handkerchief to me, little baron," cried Galaxa, throwing it on the floor. I did a the queen commanded, but Bulger refused to obey.
"Thou  seest,  Queen  Galaxa'	said I with  a  low  bow, "he
refuses to lift the handkerchief without a command from thy royal self," which delicate compliment pleased the lady mightily. "How comes it, little baron," she asked, "that thou  shouldst
be of noble lineage and thy brother, as thou callest him, plain Bulger?"
"It comes, royal lady," said I right humbly," as it often come
in the world which I inhabit, that honor  go to them  that lea. t
deserve them."
"Well, then, little baron," cried Galaxa gayly, "though I be but a petty sovereign compared with thine, yet may small rulers do acts of great justice . Bid thy four-footed brother kneel before u ."


PRINCESS  CRYS'l'ALLINA  UNCOVER     IIER  HEART.

A  MARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND   JOURNEY 	61

At a word from me, Bulger prostrated himself on the steps of Galaxa's crystal throne, and laid his head at her very feet.
Leaning forward she touched him lightly with her golden wand, and exclaimed, "Rise, Lord Bulger, rise! Queen Galaxa seated on her crystal throne bids  Lord Bulger rise!"
In an instant Bulger raised himself on his hind feet and laid his head in the queen's lap, while the whole room rang with loud huzzas, and every lady gently clapped her frail and glass like hands, save the princess Crystallina who feigned to be asleep.
Queen Galaxa now undid a string of pearls from her neck and tied them with her own hands  around  Lord  Bulger's -and so it was that my four-footed brothe1: ceased to be plain Bulger. Then turning to her counsellors of state, Queen  Galaxa  bade them a sign a royal apartment to Lord Bulger and me, and gave strict orders that the severest punishment  be  at  once  visited upon any Mikkamenky who should dare to laugh at us  or  to make di respectful remarks concerning our dark eyes and skins and weather-beaten appearance, for, as the royal lady said to her people, "Ye might look worse than they were ye compelled to live on the outside instead of  the  inside  of  the world, exposed to biting blasts, piercing cold  and clouds of suffocating dust."
By the queens orders three  of  the wisest  of  the  Mikkamen
kies were selected to attend Bulger and me, look after our wants, explain everything to us -in a word, do all in their power to make our stay in Goggle Land as pleasant as possible.
Their names, as nearly as I can translate them, were Doctor
Nebulosus, Sir Amber O'Pake, and Lord Cornucore. I should explain to you, dear friends, the  meaning  of  these  names,  for you might be inclined to think that Doctor Somewhat  Cloudy, Sir Clear-as-Amber; and Lord Heart-of-Horn might indicate that they were more or less muddled in their intellects.   Far from it: I have already stated to you they were three of the very wi est men in the Land of the Transparent Folk, and the lack of clear ness indicated by their names had reference solely to their eyes.
62         A  MARVELLOUS   UNDERGROUND  JOURNEY

Now, as you know, the learned men of our upper world  have a different look from ordinary folk. They are stoop-shouldered, shaggy-eyebrowed, long-haired, pursed-lipped, near-sighted, shambling-gaited. Well, the only  effect  that  long  years  of deep study bad upon the Mikkamenkies was to rob their beauti ful crystal-like eyes of more or less of their clearness.
Now I think you'll understand why these three learned Mik
kamenkies were named as they were.
At any rate, they were, in spite of their strange names, three most charming gentlemen; and no matter how many times I might ask the same question over again, they were always ready with an answer quite as polite as the one first given me. They did everything that I had a right possibly to expect them to do. Indeed, there was but one single thing which I would have fain had them do, and that was to let me look through them.
Thi	they most  carefully avoided  doing;  and  no matter how
warmed up they might become in their descriptions, and no matter how on the alert I was to catch the coveted peep, the inevitable black fan was always in the way.
Naturally, not only they, but all the Tran parent Folk, felt a repugnance to have a perfect stranger look through them, and I couldn't blame them for it either.    I  despaired  of  ever  getting a chance of seeing a human heart beating away for dear life, for all the world ju t like the  wing of a pendulum or the vibration of a balance wheel.
A	lfAR VELLOU	UNDERGROUND   JOURNEY 	63









CHAPTER	X


A		BRIEF  ACCOUNT  OF  MY  CONVERSATIONS    WITH   DOCTOR NEBULOSUS,	SIR AMBER O'PAKE, AND LORD    CORNUCORE, WHO TELL ME l\lANY THING THAT I NEVER   KNEW BEFORE, FOR  WHICH  I \Y AS  \ ERY  GRATEFUL.


LoR D BuLGER and Iwere more than plea ed with our new friends, Doctor Nebulosus, Sir Amber O'Pake, and Lord Cornu core, although so eager were they to make u thoroughly comfortable, that they overdid the matter at times, and left me scarcely a moment to myself in which to make an entry in my notebook. They were extremely solicitous lest in my ignoran ce Ihould set down   omething wrong about them.
' For,"  aid Sir Amber  O'Pake, ' now that  thou  hast found the way to thi	under world of  ours, little baron, Ifeel assured that we shall have a number of visitors from thy people every year or so, and Ihave already issued orders to have extra bed m ade as soon as the wood can be quarried."
Doctor Nebulosu gave me a very interesting account of the various ailments which the Mikkamenkies suffer from. "All ickness among our people, little baron," aid  he, ' is  purely mental or emotional;  that is, of  the mind or feelings.  There is no such thing as bodily infirmity among us. Wine and strong drink are unknown in our world, and the food we  eat  is  light and ea ily digested. We are never exposed to the danger of breathing a dust-laden atmosphere, and while we are an  active and industrious people, yet we sleep a great  deal;  for, as  our laws forbid the use of lamps or torches, except for the use  of those toiling in the dark chambers, it is not possible  for u  to ruin our health by turning  night  into  day.    We go  to bed  the
64       A  MARVELLOUS   UNDERGROUND JOURNEY

very moment the River of Light ceases to flow.  The  only ailment that ever gives me the least trouble is iburyufrosnia."
"Pray, what is the nature o£  that ailment?" I asked.
"It is an inclination to be too happy," replied Doctor Neb ulosus gravely, "and I regret to say that several of our people attacked with this ailment have shortened their lives by refus ing to take my remedies. It usually develops very slowly, beginning with an inclination to giggle, which, after a while, is succeeded by violent fits of laughter.
'For	instance,  little baron,  when  thou  earnest  among  us,
many of our people were attacked with a violent form of iburyufrosnia; and although Master Cold Soul, the Court De pressor, made great efforts to check it, yet he was quite power less to do so. It spread over the city with remarkable rapidity. Without knowing why, our workmen at their work, our children at their play, our people in doors and out, began to laugh and to be dangerously happy. I made examinations of several of the worst cases, and discovered that at  the  rate  they were beating the hearts of most  of  them would  run  down  in a single week. It was terrible. A council was hastily held, and it was deter mined to conceal thee and Lord Bulger  from  the  public view, but happily  my skill got the upper hand of  the attack."
"Didst increase the number of  pills to be taken?" I asked.
" No little baron," said Doctor N ebulos us ; " I increased their ize and covered them with a dry powder, which made them extremely difficult to swallow, and in this way compelled those taking them to cease their laughing. But there were a number of cases so violent that they could not be cured in this way. These I ordered to be strapped in at the waist with broad belt , and to have their mouths held pried open with wooden wedges. As thou mayst understand, this made laughing so difficult that they speedily gave it up altogether.
"Ah, little baron," continued the wise doctor with a sigh, "that was a sorry day for the human race when it learned how to laugh.  It is my opinion that we owe this useless agitation
A   1lfAR VELLOUS   U    DERGROUND   JOURNEY 	65

of our bodies to you people of the upper world. Expo ed as ye were to piercing winds and biting frosts, ye contracted the habit of shivering to keep warm, and, little by little, this  shivering habit so grew upon you, that  ye kept up the shivering whether ye were cold or not; only ye called  it by another name.  Now, my knowledge of the human body teaches me that this quivering of the flesh is a very wi ·e provision of  nature to keep the blood in motion, and in thi way to save the human body from perish ing from the cold; but why hould we  quiver  when  we  are happy, little baron? All pleasure is the thought, and yet at the very moment when we should keep our bodies in  as perfect repose as possible, we begin this ridiculous shivering. Do we shiver when we look upon the beautie of the River of Light, or listen to sweet music, or gaze upon the loving  countenance  of our gracious Queen Galaxa? But worse than  all, little  baron, this senseless quivering and shivering which we call laughter, unlike good, deep, long-drawn, wholesome sighs, empty the lungs of air without filling  them  again,  and  thus  do  we  often  see the e gigglers and laugher fall over in fainting fits, absolutely choked by their o" n wild and  unreasoning  action.  I have always contended, little baron, that we alone of all animals had the laughing habit, and I am now delighted to have my opinion confirmed by my acquaintance with the wi e and dignified Lord Bulger.   Observe him.   He knows quite  as well  as we what  it iB to be plea ed, to be amused, to be delighted, but he doesn't think it necessary to have recourse to fits of shivering and shud dering. Through the brightened eye- true  window  of  the soul- I can see how happy he is.  I can measure his  joy ; I can take note of  his contentment."
I was  delighted  with  this  learned discourse  of	the gentle Doctor Nebulosus, and made notes of it lest the points of hi argument might escape my memory, the more pleased was I in that he proved my faithful Bulger to be so wisely constructed and regulated by nature.
I made particular  inquiry of  my friend	Sir Amber  O'Pake
66         A  MARVELLOUS   UNDERGROUIVD  JOURNEY

and Lord Cornucore, a ' to whether Queen Galaxa ever had any trouble in governing her people.
"None whatever" wa	the answer.	"In many a long year
has it only been nece ::;ary on one or two occa ·ions to summon a Mikkamenky before the magi trate and examine his  heart under a strong light.  The  only  punishment  allowed  by  our laws is confinement for a shorter or longer time in one  of  the dark chambers.  The  severest  sentence  ever  known  to  have been pas ed by one of  our magistrates was twelve hours  in length.		But in all  hone  ty, we  mu  t  admit, little  baron,  that fal ehood and deception are unknown among t us for the simple reason that, being tran parent, it is impossible for a Mikkamenky to deceive a brother without being caught  in  the  act.  There fore why make the attempt?  The  very  moment  one  of  us begins to say one thing while he is thinking another his eyes cloud up and betray him, ju t us the crystal-clear weather glass cloud	up at the approach of  a  torm in the  upper world.   But thi , of course, little baron, is only true of  our thoughts.  Our laws  allow  u  to  hide  our  feeling  b   the  use  of   the  black fan.	No one may look upon another heart  unles  its  owner wills it. It i a very grave offence for one l\tlikkamenky to look through another without  that  ones  permi  sion.  But  as  thou wilt readily understand, inasmuch as we are by nature tran - parent, it is utterly impossible for a marriage to prove  an unhappy one for the reason  that  when  a  youth  declares  his love for a maiden, they both have the  right  by  law  to  look upon each other's hearts, and in this way they can tell  exactly the strength of the  love they have  for each other.'  Thi  and many other strange and intere ting things did my new friend., Doctor	Nebulosus, Sir Amber O'Pake, and Lord Cornu core impart unto me and right grateful was I to good Queen Galaxa for having chosen them for me. Good  friend  are  better  than gold, although we may not think it at the time.
A  J.l!ARVELLOU	DERGROUt\D     JOURNEY	67









CHAPTER	XI


PLEASANT	DAYS PASSED AMONG THE l\fiKKAMENKIES AND WONDERFUL THINGS EEN BY US. -THE PECTRAL GARDEN, AND A DESCRIPTION OF IT.- OUR MEETING WITH DA IOZEL GLOW  STONE, AND W-HAT CAME OF IT.

FROM now on Lord Bulger and I made ourselve perfectly at home among the Mikkamenkie . One of the royal barges was placed at our disposal, and when we grew tired of walking about and gazing at the wonders of thi beautiful rity of the under world, we tepped aboard our barge and were rowed hither and thither on the glassy river; and if I had not seen it my elf I never would have believed  that any kind of shellfi h could ever be taught to be so obliging a to wim to the surface and offer one of their huge claws for our dinner politely dropping it in our hand the moment we had laid hold of it. On one of the river banks I noticed a long row of wooden compartments looking very much like a grocer's bin ; but you may think how amused Bulger and I were upon coming closer to this long row of little hou es to find that the; "ere turtle nests  and that quite a number of the turtles were sitting comfortably in their nests bu y laying their egg'-" hich let me a ure you ' ere the mo t dainty tidbits I ever tasted.
I think I informed you that the river  flowing through  Gog
gle Land was fairly swarming with delicious fi h, the carp and  ole being particularly delicate in flavor; and knowing, as I did, what a tender-hearted  folk the :Mikkamenkie		are, I  had  been  not  a little puzzled in my mind a	to how they had ever been  able to ummon up courage enough to drive a  spear  into  one  of  these fi h, which were as tame and playful a	a lot of  kittens or  pup-
68         A  MARVELLOUS   UNDERGROUND  JOURNEY

pies, and followed our barge hither and thither, snapping up the food we tossed to them, and leaping into the air, where they glistened like burnished silver as the white light sparkled  on their scales.
But the mystery wa solved one day when I saw one of the fishermen ecoying a score ·or more of fish into a  sort  of  pen shut off from the river by a wire  netting.  Scarcely  had  he closed the gates when, to my amazement, I sa.w the fish one after the  other  come  to  the  surface  an float  about  on  their  sides,
tone dead.
"This, little baron," explained the man in  charge,  "is  the death chamber. Hidden at the bottom of this  dark  pool  lie several electric eels of great size and power, and when our peo ple want a fresh supper of fi h we simply open these ·gates and decoy a shoal of them inside by tossing their favorite food into the water. The executioners are awaiting them, and in a few instants the fish, while enjoying their repast and su pecting no harm, are painlessly  put to death, as thou hast seen."
One part of the city of the Transparent Folk which attracted Bulger and me very much was the royal gardens. It was a weird and uncanny place, and upon my first vi it I walked through its paths and beneath it arbors upon. my toes and with bated breath, as you might steal into some bit of fairy-land, look ing anxiously from side to side as if at every step you expected some sprite or goblin to trip you up with a tough spider-web, or brush your cheeks with their cold and satiny wings.
Now, dear friends, you must first be told that with the loss of
sunshine and the open air, the flowers and shrubs and vines of this underground world gradually parted with their perfumes and colors, their leaves and petals and stems and tendrils grow ing paler and paler in hue, like lovelorn maids whose sweet hearts had never come back from the war. Month by month the dark greens, the blush pinks, the go1den yellows, and the deep blues pined away longing for the lost sunshine and the wooing breeze they loved so dearly, until at last the transforma-
A  J.lfARVELLOU ..	UNDERGROUND       JOURNEY 	69


tion was complete, and there they all stood· or hung bleached to utter whiteness, like those fantastic clumps of  flower  an l wreaths of vines which the feathery now of April builds in the leafless shrubs and trees.
I cannot tell you,  dear  friend	what a  strange  feeling  came over me as I stepped within  thi	pectral  garden  where  gho t like vines clung in fanta tic form	and figure	to  the  dark  trel li es, and where tall lilie	whiter than the down  of  eider,		toad bolt upright like spirits doomed to eternal  silence,  denied  even the speech of perfume, and where huge clu ter	of snowy cbry -_ anthemums,  fluffy feathery  forni.s, seemed  pressing	their   soft bodies together  like  group		of  bani bed  cele tial		in  a	ort of ilent  despair  as  they  felt  the  warmth  and  glow  of		unlight lowly and gradually quitting  their  soul  · where  lower  down, great ro es with  snowy petals whiter  than  the		ea- hells  hung motionle s, bur ting  open  with eager  effort, as if  listening  for orne signal that would dissolve  the  spell  put  upon  them,  and give them back the sunshine, and with it  their  color  and  their perfume;  where  lower  still  beds  of  violets  bleached  white  a fleecy clouds seemed wrapt in silent sorrow at lo s of  the  heav enly perfume which had been their	on earth;  where  above the lilies heads shot long,  lender, spectral stalks of sunflowers almo t invisible,  loaded  at their  ends  with  clusters  of		nowy flowers thu		suspended like white faces looking down through the		ilent air, and waiting, waiting for the sun hine  that never came;  and higher still all over and above  these  spectral  flower , intwining and inwrapping and falling festoon  and  garland-wise, crept  and ran  like  unto  long  lines  of  e caping  phantoms,  ghostly  vines with gho tly blos om , bent and twi ted a!1d wrapped and coiled into a thou and strange and  fa.nta. tic  form.	and  figures which th	whit	light with its inky  hadow. made alive and half human,
that movement and voice  alone  wer		needful  to  make  thi garden seem  peopled with		orrowing	prite		banished  to  the e ubterranea .n	hamber	for	trange mi deed	done  on  earth and c ndemned  to  wait  ten  thou and  year	ere  . unlight  and their color and their perfume	h uld be O'iven back to them again.
70	A   MARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUWD JOURr-.TEY


While strolling through the royal gardens one day, Bulger suddenly gave a low cry and bounded on ahead, as if  his  eyes had fallen upon the familiar form of  some dear friend.
When I came up with him he was crouching beside the damozel Glow Stone who, 'eated on one of the garden benches, was caressing Bulger's head and ears with one of her  soft  hands with its filmy-like kin, while the other held its black fan pressed tightly against her bosom.
She looked up at me with her crystal eye , and smiled faintly
a	I drew near.
"Thou see t, little baron,"   he murmured, "Lord Bulger and I have  not forgotten each other." Since our presentation at court I had been going through and through my mind in search of some reason for Bulger's sudden ·affection for damozel Glow Stone but had found none.
I was the more perplexed a	he was but  the  maid  of  honor,
while the fair princess  Cry tallina	at  on  the very  ·teps  of  the throne.
But I said nothing ave to reply that I was greatly plea eel to see it and to add that where Bulger's love went, mine was sure to follow.
' Oh, little baron, if I could but believe that. " sighed the fair damozel.
"Thou may t,'  said I,	indeed thou mayst."
"Then, if I may, little baron" he replied, 'I will, and pritl1ee come and sit be ide me here, onl , till I bid thee, look not through me.   Do t promi e ? '
"I do, fair damozel,	wa	mv answer.
"And thou, Lord Bulger,
" there at my feet,· she continued,
' and keep thy wi e eye	fixed upon me and thy keen  ears wide open.'
' Little baron, if both thine and our worlds were filled with sorrowing heart , mine would be  the  heavie  t  of  them  all. List! oh, list to the sad, sad tale of the sorrowing maid with the speck in her heart and, when thou knowest all, give me of thy wisdom.

























































CRYST.ALLIN A' S HEART ON A SCREEN:

A  .i.liARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND    JOURWEY 	73









CHAPTER	XII

THE	AD, AD TALE 01"  THE  ORRO\VlXG  PRINCESS  WITH  A PECK  IX  HER  HEART  AND  \VHAT  ALL  HAPPENED  WHEN HE HAD ENDED  IT, WHICH THE READER :MUST READ FOR HIM  ELF  IF HE  \VOULD  KNO\V.


"LITTLE baron  and  dear  Lord  Bulger,·	began		the  cry tal eyed damozel, after she had eased  her	oul  of  it	load of woe by three long and deep  deep sighs  ' know  then  that  I am  not the clamozel Glow Stone  but none other than the royal prince Cry ·tallina her  elf·  that  she who  e  hair  Icomb		hould comb mine;  that she whom Ihave  served  for  ten  long  years  should ha.ve	erved me . "
"And to think, 0 prince	, ' I bur t out joyfully,	'that  my
beloved Bulger hould have been the fir t to discover that she who wa seated on the step ' of the cry tal throne wa not entitled to the eat· to think that  hi  ubtle  intellect  should have been the fir t to cent out the wrong that had been done thee; hi keen eye the first to go to the bottom of truth· well· but, fair prince ,Iam bursting with impatience to know how thou thyself did t ever discover the wrong that has been done thee."
"That  thou	halt  speedily know,	little	baron,	answered
Cry tallina, "and that thou mayst know all  that  Iknow  rll begin at the very beginning : The day Iwa  born  there  wa ' great rejoicing in the land of the Mikkamenkie , and the people gathered in front of the royal palace and laughed and cri  d by turn o happy were they to think they were to be governed by another prince  after Queen Galaxa' · heart  hould  run  down: for, many years ago  a ba 1 king had  made  them very unhappy
74         A  MARVELLOUS   UN'DERGROUND  JOURIVEY

and they had hoped and prayed that no more such would  come to reign over them. And pretty soon one of them began to tell the others what he thought the little princess would be like.
"' She will be the fairest that ever sat upon the crystal throne. Her hands and feet will be like pearls tipped with coral; her hair whiter than the river's foam; and from her beautiful eyes will burst the radiance of her pure soul, and her heart, Oh, her heart will be like a little lump of frozen water so clear an l o tran parent will it be, so like a bit of purest cry tal, bright and fiawle ·s as a diamond of the fir t water and therefore let her be called the princess Crystallina, or the Maid with the Cry tal Heart.'
' Forthwith the cry went up: Ay, let her be called Cry tal lina, or the Maid with the Cry tal Heart,' and Queen Galaxa heard the cry of her people and ent them word that it hould be a  they wished- that Ishould be the Princess Crystallina.
"But, ah me, that I·hould have lived to tell it! after a few day the nurse came to my royal mother wringing her hands and pouring down a flood of tear .
' Thro-n-ing her elf on her knees she whispered to the queen,
Royal mistress,	bid	me	die	rather	than	tell  thee	what	I
know.
Being ordered to peak, the nur e informed Queen  Galaxa that he had that day for the fir t time held me up to the  light and had discovered that there wa   a speck in my heart.
"The queen  uttered  a  cry  of  horror and  swooned.  \Vhen she came to herself she directed that I should be brought to her and held up to the light o that she might see for herself. Ala  , too true!  there wa  the  peck in  my heart sure enough.   I  was not worthy  of  the  weet  name  which  her  loving  people  had be towed upon me. They would  turn  from  me  with  horror; they would never con ent to have me for their queen when the truth should become known. They would not be moved by a mother prayer : they would turn a deaf ear to every one who hould be bold enough to advise them to accept a prince     with
A  Jl,fARVELLOU	UNDERGROUND     JOURNEY 	75


a speck in her heart, when  they  had  thought  they  were getting one well de erving of the title they had bei)towed upon her.
" Queen Galaxa kne'v that something mu ·t be  done  at  once; that it would be time and labor  lo 't to  attempt  to  rea on  with the di appointed people, so  she  set  to work  thinking  up  som way out of  her trouble.	Now, it	o happened, little baron, that the very day I had  come  into  the world  a babe  had been born to one of  Queen Galaxa' ·	erving women;  and so ha ·tily  um moning the woman  ·he ordered her  to brinO' her babe  into the ro 'al bed-chamber and leave  it there, 1romi ·ing that  it	hould be brought up as my fo ter-si ter.		But no  ·ooner had  the		erv ing woman gone her way rejoicing  than  the  nurse  wa ordered to  change  the  children  in  the  cradle, and  in  a  few  moment· Glow Stone wa · wrar tin my richly embroidered  blanket  and  I wathed up in her plain coverlet .
'How thingH went for several years I know not, but one day, ah how well I recollect it! my little mind wa · puzzled by hear ing Crystallina cry out : 'Nay, nay clear mamma, 'ti ·not fair· I like it not. Each lay  when  thou  come ·t  to  us  thou  give ·t Glow Stone ten'ki · · and me but a ingle  one.'  Then would Queen Galaxa  mile a  ·ad smile and be tow   ome bauble  upon
ry tallina to coax h  r back to contentment again.
' And so we went on, Crystallina and I from one year to another until we were little maid  well grown, and  ·he sat  on the throne aud wore royal purple titched with gold, and I plain white; but till mo t of the ki • e fell to my hare.  And  I marvelled not a little at it, but dared not a k why it wa .  How ev r, once when I wa  alone with Queen  Galaxa, seated  on my u hion in the corn r pl ring my needle and thinking of  the  ail we were to hav  on the river  that  day,   ud lenly I wa   startled to   ee the queen throw herself  on her knee  in front of  me, and t feel her cla p me in her arm and  cov r  my face  and  head· with tear   and ki se , a    he sobbed and moa11ecl,-
' '0 my bab , my  lo ·t babe, my ble	ing and my joy,  wilt
76        A  ilfAR.YELLOU     UNDERGROUND  JOURNEY


never, never, never come back to me?  Art  gone  forever? Must I give thee up, oh, must I?'
"'Nay, Royal Lady,' I stammered in my more than wonder
at her words and actions.  ' Thou art in a dream.  Awake,.and ee clearly; I am not Cry tallina. I am Glow tone, thy foster child. I'll hie me  straight  and  bring  my  royal  sister  to thee.'
' But she would not let me loose, and for all an wer showered
more ki ses on me till I was well-nigh smothered, so tight she held me pressed against her bosom, while  around  and  over  me h  r long thick tresses fell like a woven mantle.
"And then she told me all- all that I  have told thee, little baron, and charged me never to impart it unto any soul in Goggle Land; and I made a solemn promise unto her that I never would.''
" A11d thou ha t kept thy word like a true princess  as  thou art' said I cheerily "for I am not of thy  world,  fair  Crystal lina.'
"Now that I have told thee the sad tale of the sorrowing princess with the speck in her heart, little baron," murmured Crystallina, fixing her large and radiant eye upon me, "there is but one thing more for me to do, and it i to let thee look through me, so that thou may t kno\v exactly what counsel to give." And so saying the fair prince rose from her eat, and having placed her elf in front of me with a flood of white light falling full upon her back he lowered her black fan and bade me gaze upon the heavy heart which she had carried about with her all these years, and tell her exactly how large the peck was and where it la , and what color it wa .
I wa	overjoyed to get an opportunity at la t to  look  through one of the Mikkamenkies  and my own heart bounded with sati - faction a  I looked and looked upon that m '. teriou	little  thing nay  rather  a  tiny being	living	breathing	palpitating   within her  breast· now  slow  and  mea  ured  a	he  dwelt  in  thought upon  her  sad  fate,  now  beating  faster and  fa ter  as  the  hope
A  lrfARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND   JOURNEY	77


bubbled up in her mind that possibly I might be able to coun el her  o wi ely that an end woulcl come to all her  orrow.
'Yell, wise little baron," she murmured anxiously, "what see 't thou?  Is it very large?   In what part is it'?   I  it black a  night or some color le s fatal?"                                       ·
' Take courage, fair princes ,	said I, " it i	very 'mall and lie	ju t beneath the bow on the left side.	Nor i	it black, but reddish rather, as if a single drop of blood from the veins of thy far di tant ance tor had outlived them the e thousand	of years and hardened th ere to tell whence	thy peopl e came.'	The princess wept tear ' of joy upon hearing the e comforting words. 'If it had been black," he whi pered	' I would ha e lain me down in this bed of vi lets and never risen more till my peopl e had come to bear me to my grave in the silent burial chamber
unvi  ited by the River of  Light."
At this ad outbreak Bulger whined piteou ly and licked the prince s's hands a he looked up at her with hi , dark eyes radi ant with sympathy.
he was greatly cheered by thi me age of comfort  and it moved me, too, by it  heartine   .
"List, fair princes ," said I gravely.    'I own the ta k  is not a light one, but hope for the best.   I would that we had mor
time, but as thou knowe 't Queen Galaxa' heart will oon run down, therefore mu t we act with de patch a' well as wi dom. But first of all mu 't I speak with the queen and gain her con sent to act for thee in this matter.'
"That, I fear me,	he will never grant," moaned Crystallina.
•' However, thou art o much wiser than I - do c be t eem to thee."
''The next thing to be done, fair prince	I added 'olemnly,
"is to	how thy heart bolclly and fearle. ly to thy peopl e." "Nay, little  baron,''	he  exclaimed,  ri "ing to her  feet, ''that
ma} not be, that rna· not be, for know that our law doth make it
trea ·on it elf  for one of  our people to look through a per on  of
royal blood .   Oh, no, oh, no, little baron, that may nev r be '
78	A   :MARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND      JOURNEY


tay, sweet princess," I urged in gentlest tones, "not so fa t. Thou dost not know what I mean by showing thy heart boldly to thy people. Never fear. I will not break the law of the land, and yet they shall look upon the peck within thy heart, and see how small it i and hear what I have to say about it, and thou shalt not even be vi ible to them."
0 little baron," murmured Crystallina, "if this may only be. I feel they will forgive me. Thou art so wise and thy words carry such strong hope to my poor heavy heart that I almost"-
"Nay, fair princess," I interrupted, "hope for the best, no more.   I am not wise enough to read the future, and from what I know of thy people they seem but little different from mine own. Perchance I may be able to sway them toward my vi ws, and make them cry, 'Long live  princess  Cry tallina!'  but  I can only promise thee to do my best. Betake thee now to the pa1ace, and scorn not for yet a day or so to take up the golden comb and play the damozel Glow Stone in all humility."
A  . .v!ARVELLOUS	Ul\DERGROUND     JOURNEY 	79








CHAPTER  XIII


HOW I SET TO "WORK TO UNDO A WRONG THAT HAD BEEN DONE IN THE KINGDOM OF THE MIKKAMENKIES, AND HOW BULGER HELPED.- QUEEN GALAXA'S CONFESSION. -I AM CREATED PRIME MINISTER AS LONG AS SHE LIVES. -WHAT TOOK PLACE IN THE THRONE ROO L- IT SPEECH TO THE MEN OF GOGGLE LAND AFTER ·wHICH I SHOW THEM SOMETHING WORTH SEEL. G.- HO'V I 'VAS PULLED IN TWO DIFFERENT DIREC TIONS A D ·wHAT CA IE OF IT.

THE fir t thing I did after the genuine  princess  Crystallina had left me was to eek out Doctor Nebulosus and learn  from him the exact number of hours before the queen's heart would run down.
As he had jnst been making an examination, he was able to tell the very minute: it was seventeen hours and thirteen minute , rather a short time you mu t confe s, dear friends, in which to accomplish such an important piece of business as I had in mind. I then made my way directly to the royal palace and demanded a private audience with the Lady of the Crystal Throne.
vVith the advice of Sir Amber 0 Pake and Lord Cornucore
she firmly but graciously refused to receive me, giving as an excuse that the excitement that would be sure to follow an interview with the "Man of Coal "-so the Mikkamenkies had named me- would shorten her life at lea t thirteen minutes.
But I was not to be put off in so unceremoniou	a manner.
Sitting down, I seized a uen and wrote the following words upon a piece of glazed silk:-
•· To  Galaxa    Queen  of  the  Mikkamenkies, Lady  of  the  Crystal
Throne.
I, Lor l Bulger, a l\Iikkamenkian Noble, Bearer of  this, who was the fir t to discover that the real prince ·s was not sitting on
0	.	A  J.l1ARVELLOU	U  DERGROUND      JOURNEY


the steps of the Cry ·tal Throne demand an audience for my Master Baron Seba tian von Troomp, commonly known as 'Little Baron Trump,' and prompted by him I a k, What are thirteen minutes of thy  life,  0  Queen  Galaxa,  to  the  long years of sorrow and disappointment in ::)tore for thy royal child?"
Taking this letter in hi::) mouth, Bulger sprang away with long
and rapid bounds. In a few minute he was in the presence  of the queen, for the guards had fallen back affrighted as they saw him draw near with hi dark eye flashing indignation. Rai ing himself upon hi hind feet, he laid the letter in Galaxa' hands. The moment she had read it she fell into a swoon, and all was tir and commotion in and round about the palace. I wa  ha - tily summoned and the audience chamber cleared of every attendant save Doctor Nebulo us, Sir Amber 01Pake, Lord Cornucore Lord Bulger, and me.
' Send for the damozel Glow Stone," commanded the queen, and when she had appeared, to the amazement of all aving Bulger and me, Galaxa bade her mount the step· of the Cry tal Throne, then, having embraced her mo t tenderly, the queen spoke these word  :-
' 0 faithful Councillors and wi e friend from the upper world,
thi is the real prince Crystallina, whom I have for all the e years wickedly and wrongfully kept from her high tate and royal privileges. She was born with a speck in her heart, and I feared that it would be u eless to ask my people to accept her as my successor."
' Ay, Lady of the Cry tal Throne," exclaimed Lord Cornucore,
"thou ha t wisely done. Thy people would never have received her as Princess Crystallina, for, being by the laws of our land denied the privilege to look for them elve , they never would have believed that this pot in the prince '·'  heart wa  but a tiny sr eck like a single hair crystal in the arm of thy magnificent throne. Therefore 0 queen we  coun el thee  not  to  imbitter thy la t hours by differences with thy loving   ubject ·. '
A  AfARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND   JOURNEY 	81

"My Lord Cornucore," said I with a low bow," I make bold to raise my voice against thine, and I crave permission from Queen Galaxa  to parley with her people."
"Forbid it, royal lady! ' cried Sir Amber O'Pake savagely, at which Bulger gave a low growl and showed his teeth.
"Queen Galaxa," I added gravely," a wrong confessed is half redressed. This fair princess, 'tis true, hath a speck in her heart which ill accords with the name bestowed upon her by thy people. Bid me be master until thy heart runs down, and by the Knight hood of all the Trumps I promise thee that thou shalt have three hours of happiness ere thy royal heart has ceased to beat ! '
"Be it so, little baron," exclaimed Galaxa joyfully. "I pro claim thee prime minister for the rest of my  life."  At  these words Bulger broke out into a series of glad barks, and, raising upon his hind legs, licked the queen · hand in token of his grati tude, while the fair prince s looked a love at me that was too deep to put into words.
' I had now but a few hours to act. The excitement, so Doc tor Nebulosus assured me, would shorten the queen's life a full hour."
It had always been my custom to carry about with me a mall but excellent magnifying-gla 'S, a double convex lens, for the purpose of making examinations of minute objects, and al o for reading inscription  too  fine  to  be  seen  with  the  naked  eye. Ha tily summoning a kilful metal worker, I instructed  him  to set the lens in a hort tube and to enclose that tube  within another, so that I could lengthen it at my pleasure. Then  hav ing called together as many of the head men  of  the  nation  as the throne room would hold, I requested Lord Cornucore to in form them of the onfe ion which Queen Galaxa  had made; namely, that in reality damozel Glow tone was princess Crys tallina and prince    Cry tallina. wa   damozel Glow Stone.
They were stricken Ieechless  by this  piece  of  information, but when Lord Cornucore went on to tell  the whole  story and to explain to t em why the queen had practised  this  deception
82	A  MARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND   JOURWBY


upon them, they broke out into the wildest lamentation, repeat ing over and over again in piteous tone , -
"A speck in her heart !	A speck iu her heart!	0 dire mis
fortune!	0 woful day!	She never can be our princess if she hath  a speck  in  her  heart! "	By thi " time my arrangement were complete.	I had placed the princess Crystallina just  out side the door of the throne room where she stood concealed be hind the thick hangings, and near her  I had stationed  Doctor Nebulosus with a large circular mirror of burni hed silver in his hand.	Calling out in a loud voice for silence, I thus addressed the weeping subjects of  Queen Galaxa:-
"0 Mikkamenkies   1VIen of  Goggle  Land, Transparent  Folk, I count myself most happy to be among you at this hour and to be permitted, by your gracious queen, to raise my voice in de fence of the unfortunate princess with the speck in her heart. Being of noble birth and an inhabitant of another world, it w·as lawful for me to look tlll'ough the ·orrowing princess, and I have done it. Yes, Mikkamenkie , I have gazed upon her  heart;  I have seen the speck within it Give ear, l\1en of Goggle Land, and you hall know how that peck came there;  for it is not, as you doubtless think, a coal-black spot within that fair enclosure, clearer than the columns of Galaxa's throne. Oh, no, Mikkamen kies, a thousand times no: it is a tiny blemish of reddish hue a drop of princely blood from the upper world, which I inhabit, and this drop in all these countless centuries has coursed through the veins of a thousand king , and still kept its  roseate  glow, still remembered the glorious sun hine which called it into being; and now, Men of Goggle Land, lest you think  that  for  some dark purpose of mine own I speak other than the pure and sober truth, behold, I show you the fair Crystallina's heart, in its very life and being as it is, beating and throbbing with hope and fear comingled. Look and judge for yourselves! And with this I signalled to those on the outside of the palace to carry out my instructions .
In an instant the thick  curtains were  drawn and the  throne


BULGER  PARTS  HIS  MASTER  FROM  PRINCESS  CRYSTALLINA.


room wa wrapped in darkness, and at the ame moment Doctor Nebulo u , with his mirror, caught the strong, white ray ' of light and threw them upon Cry tallina's body, while I through an opening in the hanging made ha te to apply the tube to which the len had been fitted, and catching the reflected image of her heart, threw it up in plain and startling view upon the oppo ite wall of the throne room. Upon seeing how mall the peck was and how truthfully I had described it, the Mikkamenkies fell a-weeping for purest joy and then, as if with one voice, they burt out -
"Long live the fair princes	Cry tallina with  the  ruby	peck
in her heart! and ten thou and ble ·ing on the head of  little Baron Trump and Lord Bulger for wing  our  land  from  cruel di · en ·ion ! '  The people on the out.:i le took up  the  cry, and in a few moment the whole city wa thronged with bands  of Queen Galaxa's subjects, inging and dancing and telling of their love for the fair princes with  the  ruby  peck  in  her  heart.  I had kept my word- Queen Galaxa would have at lea ·t three hours of  complete happine s ere her heart ran down.
But suddenly the River of Light began to flicker and dim its flood of  brilliant white rays.
Night was coming. Noisele ly a if by magic, the lVlikka meukies faded from my sight, stealing away in  earch  of  beds, an l a the gloom crept into the great throne room some one plucked me gently by the hand and a   oft voice whi ·pered,-
"I love.	I love thee!	Oh, who other than I can tell how I
love thee!" and then a grip tronger than that  gentle  hand seized me by the kirt of my coat and dragged me away lowly, but ·urely, away, through the clarkne ·, through the gloom, out into the ilent treet , eYer away until at la t that oft voice, choking with a ob  cea · d  it  pleading and ga ped,  Fare well, oh, farewell! I dare go no farther "  And  o Bulger, in hi. wi dom, led me on and e er on out of the City of the Mik kamenkies, out upon the :Marble Highway!
86          A   ;'1ARVELLOUS    UNDERGROUND  JOURNEY








CHAPTER	XIV


BULGER A D I TURN OUR BACKS ON THE FAIR DOMAIN OF QUEEN CRYSTALLIN A. -NATURE'S WONDERFUL SPEAKING TUBE.- CRYSTALLI A'S ATTEMPT TO  TURN  US  BACK. HOW I KEPT BULGER FROM  YIELDING. -S0)1E  IN  !DENTS OF OUR JOURNEY ALONG THE MARBLE HIGHWAY, AND HOW WE CAME TO THE GLORIOUS GATEWAY OF SOLID SILVER.

ME, the  sorrowing  eba tian, loaded  with  a   heavy  a heart as ever a mortal of my size had borne away with him did the wise Bulger lead along the  broad  and  ilent  highway, farther and yet farther from the  city  of  the  Mikkamenkies,  until  at last the music of the fountains pattering in their crystal basins died away in the distance and the  darkness  far  behind  me.  I felt that my wise little brother wa right, and so I followed on after, with not a sigh or a  yllable to stay him.
But he halted  at  last, and, as I  felt  about me, I discovered
that I wa" standing beside one of  the  richl  carved  seats  that one o often meets  with  along  the  ·Marble  Highway.  I was quite  a    foot-weary  a   I  wa    heart-heavy,  and  reaching   out I touched the spring which I knew would  transform  the  seat into a bed, and clambering upon  it  with  my  wise  Bulger nestled be ide me, I   oon fell into a deep and refreshing sleep.
When I awoke and, sitting up, looked back toward Queen Cry tallina's capital, I could see the River of Light pouring down its flood of white rays far away in the di tance · but only a faint reflection came out to where we had passed the night, and then I knew that my faithful companion had led me to the very uttermo t limit of the Mikkamenky domain before he had halted. Ye sure enough for, as I rai. eel my eyes there tower ing above  the  bed  stood  the  slender  crystal  column  which

marked the end of  Goggle  Land, and upon its  face  I read  the extract from a royal decree forbidding a :Wiikkamenky to over tep this limit under pain of  incurring the queen's  mo t seriou
di pleasure.
Before me was darkne s and uncertainty; behind me lay the fair Kingdom of the Tran parent Folk yet in sight, lighted  up like a long line of happy homes in which the fires were blazing bright and warm on the hearthstone  .
Did I turn back ?   Did I hesitate?   No.    I could  see  a  pair of speaking eyes fixed upon me, and could hear a low whine of impatience coaxing me along.
Stooping down, I fastened a bit of silken cord taken from the bed to Bulger's collar and bade him lead the way.
It was a long while before the light of  Queen  Crystallina's city faded away entirely, and even when it cea eel to be of any service in making known to me the grandeur and beauty of the va t underground pa sage, I could still  ee  it  glitter  like  a silver star away, away behind me.
But it disappeared at la t and then I felt that I had parted forever with the dear little princess with the speck in her heart.
Bulger didn't seem to have the slightest  difficulty in keeping
in the centre of the Marble Highway, and never allowed the leading string  to  slack  up for a moment.  However, it was  by no means a tramp through utter darkne s for the  lizards  of which I have alread poken, arou eel by the sound of my foot falls, snapped their tails and lighted  up  their tiny flash torches in eager attempt. to discover whence the noise proceeded, and what sort of a being it wa that  had invaded  their  silent domains.    We had covered pos ibly two league   when suddenly a low and my terious voice, as soft and gentle as if it had dropped from the clear tarry heavens of my  own  beautiful world, reached my ear.
"Sebastian. Seba tian! ' it murmured.	Before I could stop
to think, I uttered a cry of wonder, and the noise of my voice
88         A  MARVELLOUS   UNDERGROUND  JOUR't'IEY


seemed to awaken ten thousand of the tiny living flash lights inhabiting the crack and crevice of the vast arched corridor, flooding it for a moment or  o with a soft and ro eate radiance.
"Sebastian.  Seba tian   '	again  murmured  the mellow and
echo-like voice, coming from the very walls of  rock beside me.
Hastily drawing near to the	pot whence the words seemed to come, I laid my ear again t the  ·mooth fa-ce of the rock.	Again the	arne soft-sighing voice pronounced my name	o  clearly and o  close  be ide  me  that  I  reached  out  to  gra p	Cry  tallina' hand  for hei	wa	the  voice   -the	ame low,	weet  voice  that had told me of  her	orrow in  the   Spectral  Garden;  but  there wa	no one there.	In reaching  out  however, I had  pa sed  my left  hand  along  the  face  of  the  wall	and  it  had  marked  the pre ence of  a round  ·mooth op ning  in  it	rocky face  an open ing about the size of  a rain-water pipe in the upper world.
In tantly it flashed upon my mind  that  through  some whim of nature this opening extended for leagues  back  towards  the city of the 1\1ikkamenkies thTough the miles of ·olid rock, and opened in the very Throne Room of  the Prince    Cry ·tall ina.
Yes, I  was right  for after  a moment  or	o  again  the	arne
low	weet  voice  came  through  the	peaking-tube   of  nature own making and fell upon my eager ear.
I waited until it had  cea eel  and  etting  m ·mouth  in  front of  the opening I murmured  in   trong but gentle tones  -
' Farewell dear Princess Cry tallina. Bulger and the little baron both bid thee a long farewell." and then rai ing Bulger in my arms, I bade him weep for his royal friend whom he would never see again.
He gave a long, low piteou cry, half-whine, half-howl and then I listened for Iy tallina' voice. It  "a  not  long  in com1ng.
Farewell dear Bulger · farewell dear eba tian .  Crystal lina will never forget ou until her poor  heart w·ith  the speck in it run  down and  the  Cry tal Throne know   her no  more.'
Poor Bulger.   It now became mr turn to tear him from thi"'

spot, for Cry tallina' voice, sounding thus unexpectedly in  his ears, had aroused all the deep affection which he had so ruth les ly smothered in order to bring hi little master to his  enses and free him from the charm of Crystallina's grace and beauty. But in vain.   All my strength, all my entreaties, were powerless to move him from the place.
Evidently Crystallina bad heard me pleading with Bulger and had imagined that now I would waver and stand irresolute.
Heed dear Bulger's prayer, 0 beloved,'  she pleaded,  'and
turn back, turn back to thy disconsolate Crystallina, \\·hom thou madest so happy for a brief moment!  Turn  back!  Oh, turn back!"    Bulger  now began  to  whine  and  cry most  piteou  ly. I felt that something must be done at once, or the mo t direful consequences might ensue- that Bulger, crazed by the  w eet tones of Crystallina's voice, might break away from me and dart away in mad race back to  the  city of  the Mikkamenkies, back to the fair young queen of the Cry tal Throne.
It became nece sary for me to resort to trick and artifice to save my dear little brother from his own loving heart. Drawing his head up against my body and covering hi ' eyes with my left arm, I quickly unloosened . my neckerchief, and thru ting it into this wonderful speaking-tube closed it effectively.
And thus I	aved my faithful Bulger from himself, thu , I
clo ed his ears to the music of  Crystallina' , voice; but  it was not until after a good hour's waiting that he could bring him ·elf to believe that hi  beloved friend would speak no more.
After  several  hours  more  of	journeying  along  the  :Marble
Highway a speck of light caught my eye, far  on ahead, and I redoubled my pace  to  reach  it quickly.  I was soon  rewarded for my trouble by entering a wonderful chamber,  circular  in form, with a domed roof. In  the centre of  this  fair  temple of the underground world sprang a glorious fountain with a mighty rush of waters which brought with them uch a phosphorescence that this vast round chamber was lighted up with a pale yellow light in which the countless crystals of the roof and  sides parkled  magnificently .

Here we passed the night, or what I called the night, refresh ing ourselves with food which I had brought from the Kingdom of the Mikkamenkie , and drinking and bathing in the wonder ful fouutain which leaped into the air with a rush and a whir, and filled it with a strange and fitful radiance. Upon awaking both Bulger and I felt greatly refreshed both in body and mind, and we made haste to seek out the lofty portal opening upon the Marble Highway, and were soon trudging along it again. Hour after hour we kept on our feet, for something told me that we could not be far away from the confines of some other domain of this World within a World; and this in ward prompt ing of mine proved to be correct, for Bulger suddenly gave a joyful bark and began to caper about as much as to say,-
" 0 little  master, if	thou only hadst my keen	scent, thou
wouldst know that we are drawing near to human habitations of some kind ! "
Sure·enough, in a few moments a faint light came creeping in
beneath  the mighty arches  of  the  broad  corridor, and  every instant it gathered  in  strength until now  I could see  clearly about me, and then all of  a sudden I caught sight of the source of this shy and unsteady light.	There in front of  me towered two gigantic candelabra of carved and chased and polished sil ver, both crowned with a hundred lights, one on each side of the Marble Highway- not the dull, soft flames of  oil or wax but the white tongues of fire produced by ignited gas escaping from the chemist'	retort.
It wa marvellous, it was magnificent,  and I stood looking up at these great clusters of tongues of flames, spellbound by the glorious illumination thus set in silent majesty at this gate way to some city of the under World.
Bulger's warning growl brought me to myself, but I must end this chapter here, dear friends, and halt to collect my thoughts before I proceed to tell you what I saw after passing this glo rious gateway illumined by these two gigantic candelabra of solid silver.
A  :MARVELLOUS   UNDERGROUND  JOURNEY 	91









CHAPTER  XV


THE GUARDS AT THE SILVER GATEWAY.- WHAT THEY WERE LIKE.- OUR RECEPTION BY THEM. -I MAKE A WONDERFUL DISCOVERY.- THE WORLD'S FIRST TELEPHONE.- BULGER AND I SUCCEED IN MAKING FRIENDS WITH THESE STRANGERS.
-A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SOODOPSIES, THAT IS, MAKE BELIEVE EYES, OR THE FORMIFOLK, THAT IS, ANT PEOPLE. HOW A BLIND MAN MAY READ YOUR WRITING.

0 GREAT Don Fum, Mater of all Master , what do I not owe thee for having  made known unto me  the  existence  of  thi wonderful  World within a World!		Would that I had been a worker in metal !	I would not have passed the glorious portal at which I had halted without having		et in deep intaglio upon its silver columns the full name of the most glorious scholar whom the world has ever known.	Bulger had warned me that this gateway was guarded, and therefore I entered it cautiously, taking care to peer into the dark corner	lest I might be a tar get for some invi ible enemy to hurl a weapon at.
No ooner had I passed the gateway than three curious little beings of about my own height threw themselves swiftly and ilently across the pathway. They wore hort jackets, knee breeches, and leggings reaching to their ankles, but no hats or shoe , and their clothes were profusely decorated with beautiful ilver  buttons.
Their hands and feet  and  heads	eemed  much  too large for
their little bodie and pipe-stemmy legs, and gave them an un canny and brownie look, which was greatly increased by the staring and glassy expres ion of their large, round eyes.    When I first caught ight of them  they had  hold  of  hands, but  now they stood each with his pair   tretched  out  toward  Bulger  and

me, waving them strangely in the air and agitating their long
fingers as if they were endeavoring to set a spell upon us.
I imagined that Icould feel a sensation of drowsiness creep ing over me and made haste to call out:-
"Nay, good people, do not strive to set a pell upon me.  I am the illustrious explorer from the upper world,- Sebastian von Troomp,- and come to you with most peaceful intent."
But they paid no heed to my words, merely advancing a few inches and with outstretched hands continued to beat and claw· the air, pausing only to signal to each other by touching each other's hands or different parts of each other's bodies. I was deeply perplexed by their actions, and took a step or two for ward when instantly they fell back the  arne distance.
"All men  are  brothers,'	I exclaimed  in  a  loud  tone, "and
carry the same shaped hearts in their breasts. Why do you fear me?   You are thrice my number and in your own home. I pray you stand fast and speak to me!"
As I was pronouncing these words, they kept jerking  their heads back as if the sound of  my voice  were  smiting  them in the face.  It was  very strange.  Suddenly  one  of  them  drew from his pocket a  ball  of  silken  cord, and, deftly unrolling  it, to sed one end toward me. It flew directly towards  me, for  its end was weighed with a thin disk of polished silver, as was the end retained in the  hand  of  the  thrower.   His  next  move was to open his jacket and apparently  press  his  disk  against  his bare body right over his heart. I made  haste  to  do  the  same with mine, holding it  firmly in  place.    This  done, he  retreated a step or two until the ilken cord had been drawn quite taut. Then he paused and stood for  several  instants  without  moving a muscle, after which he pa sed the disk to one of his compan ions, who, having pres eel it against hi ·· heart in turn, passed  it to the third of  the group.
With the quickne s of thought the  truth  now  burst  upon  me: The three brownie-like creatures in front of m-e were not only blind, but they were  deaf  and dum b.    The one sense upon which
A  MARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND   JOURNEY 	93


they relied, and which in them was of rno t marvellous keennes , wa the sense of  feeling.  The  trange  motions  of  their  hands and fingers, so much like the beating and waYing of an in ect's feeler' were simply to intercept and mea ure the  vibrations  of the  air  et in  motion  b  the movement  of  m   body.   Their large round eyes, too, had but the sense of f eling, but so won drou ly acute wa it that it was almo t like the power of sight, enabling them b the vibration of the air upon the balls to tell exactly how near a moving object is to them. Their purpose in throwing the ilken cord and ilver  disk to me  was by mea ur ing the beating of my heart and comparing it with their own to determine whether I was human like them.
Judge of my astonishment dear friend upon  seeing one of their number point to the ilver eli k and by means of ign-lan guage, give me to understand that they wanted to feel the heart of the living creature in my compan  .
tooping down  I hastened to gratify their curiosity by apply ing it over my dear Bulger's heart.
At once there wa an expre sion of mo 't comical amazement depicted on their face as they pa eel the di. k from one to the other and pre eel it again 't different parts of their bodies -now again t their brea t now again 't th  ir cheek  and even again t their closed eyelid . Of cour e I knew that their amazement proceeded from the  rapid  beating  of  Bul  er'  heart,  and  I enjo  eel their childlike  urpri  e very much.  All  expre  ion of fear now vani heel  from their face , and  I was  delighted  with the look of weet temper and  good  humor  that  played  about their feature , now wreathed in   mile  .
lowly and on tip-toe they drew near  to  Bulger  and me  and
for  several  minut  amn  e<l  them 'el  e ,  mightily  by   running their long, flexible  finger    hither  and  thither  over  our bodies.
It did not take them long to eli cover that I wa	to all intents
and purpo'e a creature of their own kind, but not  o  with BulO'er. Their round faces became seamed and lined with wonder as they made them  el  es acquainted  with  his, to  them,
94	A  MARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUiVD  JOURNEY


strange build, and ever and anon a they felt him over would they pau e and in lightning-like motions of their fingers on each other's hands and arms and faces exchange thought a to the wonderful being which had entered the portal of their city.
No doubt you are dying of impatience, dear friends, to be told
something more definite concerning these strange people among whom I had fallen.	Well, know, then, that their existence had been darkly hinted at in the manuscript  of  the Great Ma ter, Don Fum.	I say darkly hinted at, for you mu. t bear in mind that Don Fum never vi. ited thi  World within a \Vorld; that hi wonderful wisdom enabled him to reason it all out without see ing it, just as the great naturali t	of our day, upon finding a single tooth belonging to some gigantic creature which	lived thou ands of years ago, are able to draw complete picture	of him.
Well, these curious beings whose city Bulger and I  had entered are called by two different names in Don Fum' won derful book.  In some place   he  peaks of  them a   the  Soodop- ie , or  Make-belie' e  Eye  and  in  others  a  the  Formifolk  or Ant People. Either name wa mo t  appropriate,  their  large, round, clear eyes being really make-believe ones, for, as I have told you, they had absolutely 110 sense of sight; while on the other hand, the fact that they were deaf, dumb, and blind, and lived in underground home , made them well entitled  to  the name of Ant People. In a  few moments  the  three  Soodop ies had ucceeded in teaching me the main principles of their pres sure-language, so that I was, to their great delight, enabled to answer a number of their question  .
But think not, dear friend , that the e very wise and  active little folk, skilled in so many arts, have no other language than one consisting of pre sure of different degree, made by their finger-tips upon each other bodie . They had a most beautiful language, so rich that they were able to express the mo t diffi cult thoughts, to  give  utterance  to  the  most  varied  emotion  · in short, a language quite the equal of  ours in all  respects  save






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THE FO R)llFQ[,l{ TRY  THE BEAT	F THE BARON' ' HEAl<T BY T ELEPHONE.

A   MARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND   JOURNEY 	97
one- it contained absolutely no word that could give them the faintest notion what color was. This is not to  be wondered  at, for they themselves neither had nor could have even the  faint est conception of what I meant by color, so that when I at tempted to make them understand that our stars  were  bright points in the sky, they asked me if  they would  prick  my finger if I should press upon one of them. But you doubtless are anxious to know how the Formifolk can possibly make use of any other language than  that  of  pressures.  Well,  I  will  tell you.    Every Soodopsy carried at his  girdle  a little blank-book, if I may so term it, the covers being of thin silver plates vari ously carved and chased as the owner's ta te may prompt. The leave, of this book also consi t of thin sheets of silver not much thicker than our tin-foil; also fastened to his girdle by a silken cord hangs a silver pen or, rather, a stylus. Now, when a Soo dopsy wishes to say something to one of his people, something too difficult to expre s by pre sures of the finger-tips, he simply turns over a leaf of the ilver against the inside of either cover, both of which are slightly padded, and taking up his stylus proceed to write out what he wishes to say; and this done he deftly tears the leaf out and hands it to his companion, who taking  it  and  turning  it  over,  run  the  wonderfully  ensitive tips of his fingers over the raised writing and reads it with the greatest ease;  only of  course he read  from right to left instead of from left to right, a it was written. So, hereafter, when  I repeat my conversations with the Formifolk  you  will  under stand how they were conducted.
98	A   MARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND     JOURNEY










CHAPTER XVI

JDEAS OF THE FORMIFOLK CONCERNING OUR UPPER WORLD. THE DANCING SPECTRE.- THEIR EFFORTS TO LAY HOLD OF HIM. -MY SOLEMN PROMISE THAT HE SHOULD BEHAVE HIM SELF.- WE ET OUT FOR THE CITY OF THE MAKE-BELIEVE EYES.- MY AMAZEMENT AT THE MAGNIFICENCE OF THE APPROACHES TO IT.-'' E REACH THE GREAT BRIDGE OF SILVER, AND I GET MY FIRST GLANCE OF THE CITY OF CAN DELABRA. -BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE WONDERS SPREAD OUT BEFORE	MY EYES. -EXCITEMENT OCCASIONED BY OUR ARRIVAL.- OUR SILVER BED-GHAMBER.

LTHOUGH thousands and thousands of  ears  had  gone  by since the Formifolk had, by  constant  exposure  to  the  flicker and glare of the burning gas which their ance tors had dis covered and made u e of to illumine their underground world, gradually lost their sense of sight, and then in  consequence  of the deep and awful silence that forever reigned about them had al o lo t their sense of hearing and naturally thereafter  their po\ver of peech, yet, marvellous to relate, they still kept within their mind dim and  hadowy traditions of the upper world, and the "mighty lamp,' a they called the  un, which  burned  for twelve hours and then went out, leaving the world in darkness until the spirits of the air could trim it again. And, strange to say, many of the unreal thing of  the upper world had been  by the workings of their minds tran formed into realitie , while the realitie had become the merest cobwebs of the brain.  For instance, the hadows ca t by our bodie in the  sunlight  and forever following at our heel they had  come  to  think  were actual creature , our doubles, o  to  speak  and  that  on  account of these "dancing spectres," as they called them, which  dogged

our footsteps for our life long, sitting like marjoy  at our feasts, it was utterly impossible for the people of the upper world to be entirely happy as they were, and it  occurred  to  them  at  once that I must have such a double following at my heels, so several times they uddenly joined hands,  and, forming  a  circle  about me, gradually closed up with intent to lay hold of the dancing 'pectre. This they did, too, after I had assured them that what they had in mind was the mere shadow ca t by a per on walking in the light.  But as they had absolutely no idea  of  the  nature of light, I only had my trouble for my pains.
Nor did they give over making every now and then the mo t frantic and laughable efforts to catch the little dancing gentle man who, as they were bound to think, was quietly trudging along at my heels, but  who, so they informed me, was far quicker in his motions than any escaping water or falling object.
)finally, they held one of their silent but very excited powwow , during which the thousand lightning-like pressures and tappings which they made upon each other's bodies gave the spectator the idea that they were three deaf and dumb schoolboys engaged in a scrimmage over a bag of marbles, and then they informed me that they had resolved to permit Bulger and me to enter their city provided I would give them the word of a nobleman that I would restrain my nimble-footed double from doing them any harm.
I made them  a most  solemn  promise  that  he  should  behave
himself. Whereupon they greeted both Bulger and m as brothers, stroking our hair, patting our heads, and kissing me on the cheeks, and, what was more, they told us their name , which were Long Thumb , Square Nose, and Shaggy Brow .
All this time I had been every now and then  ca ting  anxiou
glances on ahead of me, for I was dying of impatience to enter the marvellous .city of the Ant People.
I say marvellous,  dear friends, for though many had been  the
wonderful things I had seen in my lifetime in the far-away corners  of  the  upper  world, yet  here  was  a sight  which, a   it

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gradually unfolded itself  before my eye , shackled my very heart and  caused  me  to  ga p  for breath.	It was with  no  little  sur prise  at  the  very  outset  that  I  discovered  that  the  walls  and floor  of  the  beautiful  pa sage  through  which  the  Soodopsies were leading Bulger and me were of pure silver, the former being composed  of  polished  panels  ornamented with  finely  executed chasings and carving , and the latter, a   had in fact all the floors and streets and passages of  the city having upon  their  poli hed surfaces  slightly  raised  characters  which  I  will  explain  later. But as one passage opened into another, and then  four  or  more all centred in a vast  circular  chamber which we  traversed with our three silent guides only to enter chambers  and  corridors  of greater  size  and  beauty, all  brilliantly  lighted  by  rows  of  the same glorious candelabra upholding clusters of tongues of flame
-Icould compare the scene to nothing save a series of magnifi
cent ball-rooms and banquet-halls, out of which the  happy guests had been suddenly driven by the deep and awful rumble of an earthquake   hock, the lights having been left burning.
Now the cene began to change. Long Thumbs, who was leading the way, and in whose large palm my little hand lay completely lost, suddenly turned to the right and led me up an arched way. I aw that we  were  crossing  a  bridge  over  a stream as black and sluggish as Lethe itself.
But such a bridge. Never had my eye re ted upon so light and airy a pan, springing from bank  to bank ; not the plain and olid work of the tone-rna on, but the fair and cunning re sult of the metal worker's skill, like the labor of lov8 delicate, yet strong, and almost too beautiful for use.
Two rows of  silver lamps of  exqui ite workmanship crowned
its gracefully arching sides, and when we stood upon its highest bend Long Thumb halted and wrote upon his  tablet : "Now, little baron, we are about to enter the dwelling-place of our people. Thy head is large, and there is, no doubt much  of wisdom stored away in thy brain.  Make  such  use  of  it as  not to  disturb  the  perfect   happine      of  our  nation,  for  no  doubt


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many of our people will be uspiciou of thee, and for the first time in thou and of year a Soodopsy will lay him down  to sleep, and in his dream  feel the  touch  of  the  dancing spectre of the upper world.' I promised Long Thumbs that he  hould have no rea on to be dissatisfied with me, and then making an excuse that I wa a-weary, I feasted my eyes for several moments upon  the  glorious scene spread out before me.
It was the city of the Formifolk in all its splendor- a splen dor, alas, unseen by, unknown to, the very people dwelling in it for to them its silver wall and arche , its endless rows of gloriou candelabra uplifting their countless clusters of never dying jet of flame, its exqui itely carved and chiselled portals and gateways, its graceful chair and settee and beds and couche and tables and lamp and ba in and ewers and thou sand of articles of furniture all in pure t silver, hammered or wrought by the cunning hands of their ancestors while they still were possessed of the power of ight, could only be known to these, their descendant , by the  ole  en e of feeling.
From the lofty ceilings of corridor and archways, from the jutting ornaments of the house-front , from cornice and coping, from the four sides of columns, and from the corners of cupolas and minaret  here and there and everywhere hung  silver lamps of more than Oriental beauty of form and fini h, all with their never-dying   tongue   of   flame   ending  forth  a    oft  though un teady light to fall upon sightless eye   .
But  yet  these  countle	flames, by  the aid of  which  I was
enabled to gaze upon the splendor of this city of silver palaces, were life if not light to the Soodop ies, for they warmed these vast ubterranean depth  and filled  them with a deliciously soft and strangely balmy air.
And yet to think that Bulger and I were the only two living creature to be able to look upon this cene of almost celestial beauty and radiance!
It  made  me	ad,  and  plunged  me  into  such  a  fit  of  deep
ab traction that it required a second gentle tug of Long Thumbs' hand to bring me to my elf.

As we crossed the bridge and entered the city proper, I was delighted to note that the streets and open squares were orna mented with hundred of  statue  all  in  solid  silver,  and  that they represented specimens of a race of great beauty of person· and then it occurred to me how fortunate it was that the Soo dopsie could not  gaze  upon  these  images  of  their  ancestors and thus become living witnesses of their own woful  falling away from the former physical grace of their race.
Now, like human ants that they were, the Formifolk began ·to swarm forth from their dwellings on every side of the city, and my keen ear caught the low shuffling sound of their bare feet over the silver streets as they closed in about us, their arms flashing in the light and their faces lined with strange emotions as they learned of the arrival among them of two creatures from the upper world.  They were all  clad, men and women alike, in ilk garments of a chestnut brown, and I at once concluded that they drew this material from the same sources as the Mikkamen kies, for, dear friends, you must not get an idea that the Formi folk were not well deserving of the name which Don Fum had bestowed upon them. They were genuine human ants and, ex cept when sleeping, always at work.
It was true that since their blindness had come upon them they had not been able to add a single column or archway to the Silver City, but in all the ordinary concerns of life they were quite as industrious as ever, chasing, carving, chiselling, planting, weaving, knitting, and doing a thousand and one things that you and I with our two good eye  would find it hard to accomplish.
I had made known to Long Thurn bs the fact that Bulger and
I were both very tired and weary from our long tramp, and that we craved to have some refreshment set before us, and then to be permitted to go to rest at once, promi ·ing that after we had had several hours' good sleep we would take the greatest pleasure in being presented to the worthy inhabitants  of the Silver City.
It  was  astonishing with  what  rapidity  this  request  of  mine
spread from man to man.   Long Thumbs made it known to two at
A  :MARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND   JOURNEY 	103
the same time, and these two to four and these four to eight, and these eight to sixteen, and so on. You see it wouldn 't take long at that rate to tell a million.
Like magic the Formifolk di appeared from the streets, and in a sort of orderly confu ion faded from my  ight.   Bulger and I were right glad to be conducted to a silver bed-chamber, where the traveller's every want seemed to be anticipated. The only thing that bothered us was, we had not been accustomed to keep the light burning upon going to bed, and this made us both a little wakeful at first ; but we were too tired to let it keep us from dropping off after a few moments, for the mattress was soft and springy enough to satisfy any one, and I'm  ure that no one could have complained that the house wa n t quiet enough.
104	A  MARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND JOURN"EY









CHAPTER	XVII


IN  WHICH  YOU   READ,   DEAR   FRIEND	SOMETHING   ABOUT	A LIVE ALARM CLOCK AND A SOODOPSY BATHER   AND  RUBBER.
-OUR FIRST BREAKFAST IN THE CITY OF SILVER.- A NEW WAY TO CATCH FISH ·wiTHOUT HURTING THEIR FEELINGS. HOW THE  STREETS  AND  HOUSES  WERE  NUMBERED,  AND
·wHERE THE SIGNBOARD  WERE.-A  VERY  ORIGINAL  LI BRARY IN WHICH BO K NEVER  GET  DOG-EARED.- HOW VELVET SOLES ENJOYED HER FAVORITE POETS.-I AM PRESENTED TO THE LEARNED BARREL BROW,  WHO  PRO CEEDS TO GIVE ME HIS  VIEW  OF  THE  U PPER  WORLD. THEY ENTERTAINED ME AMAZL.'I{GLY AND MAY INTEREST YOU.

I CAN'T tell you, dear friend -- , exactly how long Bulger and I slept, but it must have been a good while, for when I was awakened I felt thoroughly refre hed. I say awakened, for  I was awakened by a gentle tapping on the back of my hand-six taps.
At first I thought I wa  dreaming, but, upon rubbing my eye ,
I saw standing by the side of  my bed one of  the	oodopsies who feeling me	tir, took up his tablet and wrote as follows:- ' My name is Tap Hard.	I am a clock.	There is a score of us.	We keep the time for our people by counting the swing of the pendulum in the Time House.		It swings  about  as fast as we breathe.	There are one hundred  breath	to a minute  and one hundred minutes to an hour.	Our day is  divided  into six hours' worktime and six hours' sleeptime.		It is now  the rising hour.		If thou wilt be pleased to rise, one of our people from
the Health House will rub all the tired out of  thy limbs.
I touched Tap Hard's heart to thank him, and made haste to scramble out of bed.   Now, for the first time, I looked about the
A  MARVELLOUS	UN.VERGROUND  JOURNEY 	105

silver chamber in which I had slept. On silver shelves lay ilver combs and silver  hears and silver knive  ; on a   ilver stand stood a silver ewer within a silver basin; on silver pegs hung silken. towels while pread upon the silver floor  lay  oft,  ilken  rugs, and above and around on ceiling and walls the tongues of flame were a thousand times repeated in the panels  of  burni hed silver.
I had made trial of all sort of Oriental rubber and bath at tendants in my day, but the ilent little Soodop y who laved and rubbed and tapped and troked me exceeded them all in dexterity, added to which was a new charm, for I was not obliged to listen to long and senseles tale of  adventure and intrigue, but wa left quite alone to my own thoughts. Bulger was al o treated to a sponging and a rubbing- a luxury which he had not enjoyed since we had left C stle Trump.
My toilet wa no sooner completed than Long Thumbs made his appearance to inquire  after  my  health  and  to  uperintend the serving of my breakfast, which consisted of a piece of most delicate boiled fi h flanked with oysters of deliciou flavor and trimmed with slices of those monstrous mushrooms which I had eaten among the Mikkamenkies, the whole served in a beautiful silver di h on a silver tray with silver eating utensils.
Remembering the strange way in which the fish were caught and killed in the Land of the lVIikkamenkies I was curious to know how the oodopsie managed it, for I knew enough of them to know that the ensation of anything struggling for  its  life  in their hands would suffice to throw them into fits of great suffer ing, to fill their gentle hearts with nameless terror.
' At the end of one of the many corridors leading out of our
city," explained LonO' Thumb , "there i a rocky chamber which was called by our ancestors Uphaslok, or the Death  Hole, be cau e any being which breathes its air for a few moments is sure to die. So they clo ed it up forever, leaving only a small pipe projecting through the door; but, trange to say, those who breathe this air   uffer no  pain whatever, but  presently drop  off

into a pleasant dream, and, unless they be rescued, would, of course, never wake again. Now, as our laws forbid us to cause any pain to the most insignificant creature, it occurred to our ancestors that by means of a long pipe they could turn this poisoned air into the river whenever they wanted  a  supply of fish for food. This they did, and, strange to say, the moment the fish felt the gas  bubbling into the river, they at  once swam up to  the  mouth  of   the  pipe, and  struggled  with  each other for a chance to catch the deadly bubbles as they left its mouth, so pleasant a sensation do  they cause  as  they  gradually plunge, the creature breathing them into  his  last  sleep.  And  in  this way it is we are enabled to feed upon the fish in our river, with out breaking the law of the land."
I began to understand that I had fallen in with a very original and interesting folk, but Bulger was not altogether pleased with them,  for several reasons,  as I soon observed.	In  the  first place he couldn't accustom ·himself to the cold and glassy look of their eyes, and in the next he was a bit jealous of their won derfully  keen  scent- a  sense which with them was	so strong that they invariably gave signs of being conscious of Bulger approach even before I could see him, and always turned  their faces in the direction in which he was coming.
You will remember, dear  friends, that I mentioned  the fact
that the Formifolk  went barefoot,  and  that their feet as well as their hands  seemed  altogether too large  for  their  bodies, and I wi 'h  to add, tha  while Bulger and I  were  being  led  through the long  corridors  and  winding passages  on  our way into  the City of Silver  the three  Soodopsies  frequently half	halted  and seemed to be feeling on the floor for something with the balls of their   feet.	I thought  no  more  about  it,  until  Bulger  and  I tarted  out for our  first  stroll  through  their   wonderful  town, when,	to  my  great  delight,  I  made  the	discovery	that	the numbers of the houses, the names of the occupants, the names of the  streets,  as  well   as  all  signboards,  so  to  speak,  and  all guide-posts  were  in  slightly  raised  letters  on  the  floors  and



BAHREL  BROW  ENGAGED  IN  READING  FOUR  BOOKS  AT  ONCE.

A  AfARVELLOU	UNDERGROUND  JOURNEY 	109

pavements, and then the truth dawned upon me, that Long Thumb and his companions were  simply halting now and then to read the names of the streets with the ball of their feet, in order to know if they were taking the right road.
Ay, more than  this, dear friends, the fir t time Bulger and I
passed through one of the open squares of the City of Silver, you may imagine my satisfaction upon the discovery that the silver pavements were  literally  covered  with  the  writings  of the Soodopsy authors in raised characters.
Now, in Don Fum s wonderful book he had,  in his ma terly manner given me the key to the language of the Formifolk, o that with very light effort I wa able to make the additional discovery that some of the streets  were given up to the writers of history and some to  tory writers,  while  other  were filled with the learned works of philosopher , and others till contained many thou ands of lines from the best  poets which the  nation had  produced.
And Ihad very little difficulty in discovering which were the
favorite poem of the Soodopsies, for, as you may readily suppose, the e were polished like a ilver mirror by the huffling of the many thankful  feet over their  sweet and   oulfullines.
I noticed that the writings of the philosophers in  this, as  in my own world, found few reader , for the rai ed letter were, in many ca e , tarnished and black from lack  of  sole  trampling over them in search of wisdom.
Somewhat later  when I  had  become  acquainted with Velvet oles,  the - daughter  of  Long  Thumb , a  gracious  little  being
a   full  of  inward  light  a   she  was  blind  to  the  outer  world,
and he  invited  me  to  "come  for  a  read,"  I had  a hard  task of it in persuading her that I could not remove what she called my  ridiculous  " foot  boxe    and  join  her  in  enjoying    orne of her favorite poem . It was to me a delicious pastime to accompany thi  happy  little  maiden  when  she  "went  for  a read, to walk be ide her and watch the ever-varying  expres ion of  her  beautiful  face  as  the   ole   of  her  tiny feet pressed  the

words of love and hope and joy, and her heart expanded, and she clasped her hands in attitudes  of  blissful  enjoyment, seemingly just as deep and fervent as if  the blessed sunlight rested on her brow,  and  her  eyes  were  drinking  in  the  glory  of  a  summer sunset.	0	dwellers	in	the	upper	world	with	the	light streaming into the windows of your souls, with  your  ears  open to  the  music  of  pipe  and  flute  and violin, and  to  the  sweeter music of the voice of  love, how much  more  have  ye  than  she, and yet  how  rarely  are  ye  as  happy, how  rarely  do  ye  know that sweet contentment which, as in this case, came from within? "Go to the ant; con ider her ways, and be wise, which, having
no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer and gathereth her food in the harvest."
In a short time the Formifolk seemed to become  quite  accus
tomed to having Bulger and me among them, and they appar ently "touched hands" with me  in  quite  as  friendly a  fashion as if I had been one of them.
One day Long Thumbs conducted  me  to  the  house  of  the most aged and learned  of  the  Soodopsies,  Barrel  Brow  by  name.
He received me very cordially, although I interrupted him at his studies, for, as I entered his apartment, he was in the act of reading four different books at the same  time:  two were  lying on the floor, and he was perusing  their  raised  characters with the soles of his feet, and two others were set up on a frame in front of him and he was deciphering them with the tips of his fingers.                                                                             •
But when informed who I was he stopped work at once and taking up his tablets, asked me a number of questions con cerning the upper world, of which he had, however, no very exalted opinion.
"You people," said he, "if I understand correctly the ancient
writings of those of our nation who still preserved certain tradi tions of the upper world, are endowed with several senses which are utterly lacking in us, I am happy to say, for if I understand correctly ye have in the first place a sense which ye call hearing,
A  Jt.fARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND    JOURWEY 	111

a most trouble orne en e for by mean of it ye are being con- tautly di turbed and annoyed by vibrations of the air  coming from afar. Now, they can be of no po ible good to you. Ye might as well have a ense that would inform you what  w, · o-oing on in the  moon.  Therefore  my conclusion  i , that  the en e of hearing only serve  to di tract and weaken the brain.
Another ense that e are  po ' e  ed  of," continued  Barrel Brow ye call the en e of sight- a power even  more  u ele s and eli tracting than hearing, for the reason that it  enable  you to know thing which  it  is  utterly bootle  to  know, such  a· what your next door  neighbor  may be  doing, how the  moun tain   are acting on the other  ide of  your river    how your   ky, a e call it, might feel if you could touch it with your finger , which ye cant do  however;  how  oon rain will fall, which i  a u. ele   piece of knowledge if  ye have roof   to cover you, a   I
·uppo eye have; but the mo t ridiculou	use which ye make
of this sen e of sight is the manuf acture of what ye call pic- ture , by mean	of which ye seem to take the greate t plea ure in deceiving thi		yery	en e of which ye are so very proud.		If I under "tand  correctly  the e picture , if	felt of, are  quite  a mooth as that panel  there  but		o cunningly do ye draw the line  ttnd lay in the color , whatever they may be that ye really 'ucceed in deceiving your elve	and	tand for hour	in fron	of one of the 'e bit		of trickery when ye might, if ye cho e, fea t
·our eyes, a	ye call it, upon the very thing which the  trick  ter
ha	imitated.		Now, as life is much	horter in the upper world than in ours, it		eern	very strange to me that ye	hould wi h to wa te it in thi		fooli h manner.		Then, there i ' another  thing, li tle baron	continued the learned Barrel Brow, "which I wi h o mention.	It i	tlli	: The people of the upper world  pride them elves very much upon what they term the power of	peech, which, if I under tand correctly, i		a faculty they have of expre	- ing their thoughts to each other by violently expelling the air from their lung		and that tills air, rushing  into the ventilator    of the brain	which	e call ear	produce	a sensation of sound

a  ye term it, and in this way one of thy people standing at one end of the town might make his wishes known to another stand ing at th other  end.	Now, thou wilt pardon my thinking so little baron, but this seems to me to be not a whit above the brute creature, which, opening its vast jaws, thus sets the air in motion in calling its young or breathing defiance at an enemy. And if  I understand  correctly, little baron, so proud are thy people of this power of speech that they insist upon making u e of  it at all times and upon  all occasions, and, strange to say these 'talkers' can always find plenty of people to open their ears to these  vibrations  of  the  air, although  the effect is so wearying  to  the  brain  that	in  the	end  they  invariably  fall asleep.	But  if  I  understand		correctly, the women  are  even fonder of displaying their skill in thus puffing out the air from their lungs than the men  are; but, that  not  satisfied with  this superior power of puffing out the words, they actually have re course to a potent herb which they steep in boiling water and drink as hot as possible on account of its effect in loosening the tongue and allowing  the talker to do more  puffing  than  she could otherwise.
"But  all  this,  little baron,"  continued  the  learned	Barrel
Brow, "might be overlooked and regarded in the light of mere amusement were it not for the fact, if I understand correctly, that brain ventilators being of different sizes in different persons, the consequence is that these puffs of air which ye use to make known your thoughts to each other produce different effects upon different persons, and the result is, that the people of the upper world spend half their time repeating the puffs which they have already sent out, and that even then thou canst rarely find two people who will agree exactly a ' to the number , kind, strength, and meaning of the puffs blown into each others brain ventilators, and that therefore has it become necessary to provide what ye call judges to settle these disputes which often last for lifetimes the two pal'ties spending their entire fortunes hiring witnesses to come before these judges  and imitate the
A  l.1ARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND   JOURNEY 	113

.sound which the air made when it was set in motion years ago by the angry puffs of the two parties. I sincerely trust, little baron," wrote the learned Barrel Brow on hi tablet of  silver, 'that when thou returnest to thy people thou wilt make known to them what I have written for thee to-day, for it is never too late to correct a fault, and the longer that fault has lasted the greater  the  credit  for correcting  it."
I promised  the  learned	oodopsy to do as he requested, and
then we  touched  each  other  on the back of  the head  which i the way they say good-by in the land of  the Formifolk, a touch on the forehead meaning,  "How d'ye do ? "
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CHAPTER	XVIII

EARLY HISTORY OF THE SOODOPSIES AS RELATED BY BARREL BROW. -HOW  THEY  \  ERE  DRIVEN  TO  TAKE  REFUGE  IN THE	UNDER WORLD, AND HOW THEY CAME UPON THE MARBLE HIGHWAY. -THEIR DISCOVERY OF NATURAL GAS WHICH YIELDS THEM LIGHT AND WARMTH, AND OF NA TURE'S MAGNIFICENT TREASURE HOUSE. -HOW THEY RE PLACED THEIR TATTERED GARMENTS AND BEGAN TO BUILD THE CITY OF SILVER.- THE STRANGE MISFORTUNES THAT CAME		UPON THEM AND HOW THEY  ROSE  SUPERIOR  TO THEM,  TERRIBLE  AS  THEY  WERE.

AND, no doubt, dear friends, you would be glad to hear some thing about the early hi tory of the Soodopsies: who they were, where they came from, and bow they happened  to  find  their way down into the World within a World.
At least, this was the way I felt after I had been presented to the learned Barrel Brow and so the next time I called upon him I waited patiently for him to finish reading the four books in front of him, and then I said,-
"Be pleased, dear Master to tell me something concerning the early history of thy people, and to explain to me how they came to make their way down into this underground world."
"Ages and ages ago," wrote the learned Barrel Brow, "my people lived upon the shores of a beautiful land  with  a  vast ocean to the north of it, and in tho e days they bad the  same enses as the  other people  of  the  upper world.  It was  a  very fair land, indeed, so fair that, in the words of the ancient chronicles, the sun looked in vain for a fairer. Its rivers were deep and broad, its plains were rich and fertile, and its moun tains  stored full of  silver and gold  and  copper and  tin, and  so
A  J.lfARVELLOUS	UNDERGROU"'D     JOURNEY 	115

easily mined were these metals that our people  became  famou as metal workers;  so deft in  their workmanship  that  the  other nations from far and near came to us for swords and shields and spear heads and  uits of  armor and table service and armlets and bracelets  and, above all, for l::tmp	most  gloriously  cha ed and carved to hang in their palace	and  temple  .	And  so we  were very happy, until one terrible day the great round world gave a twist  and we were turned  away from  the  sun, so  that  its  ray went slantingly over our head		and gave u	no warmth.
"Ah me, I could weep now," exclaimed the learned Barrel Brow, "after all the e centuries, when I think of the cruel fate that overtook my people. In a few month the whole face of our fair land was covered with ice and snow and our cattle died, and many of our people, too, before they could weave thick cloth to keep their delicate bodies from  the  pinching  cold. But this was not all; the great blue ocean which had until then da hed its warm waves and white foam up against our shores now breathed its icy breath full upon u , driving us into our cellars to escape it fury; and in a few brief months, to our horror there came drifting down upon us fields and mountains of ice, which the tempestuous waters cast up against our shores with deafening era h. To remain there meant death, swift and terrible so the command was given to abandon homes and fire sides and escape to the outhward, and this most of them did. But it so happened that everal hundred families belonging to the metal-working guilds, who knew the underground passages to the mine a fore ters know the pathle ·s wood, had taken refuge in the va. t underground caverns with all the goods they could carry. Poor d luded creature ! they thought that this sudden coming of the winter bla t, of the blinding snow and vast floating field  of ice, wa  but a freak of nature, and that in a few months the old warmth and the old unshine would come back again.                _
"Ala , month went by and their supply of  food was almost exhausted  and  the  entranc :s   to  the  mine   were  clo ed  by
116	A  JvlARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND   JOURNEY

gigantic blocks of  ice cemented into  one great mass by  the now which the gray cloud ' had 'ifted down upon them.
' There was now no e cape that way.	Their only hope was to make their way underground to	orne portal to the upper world. "So, with  lighted  torches  but	with  heart	plunged  in the darkne s of  de pair	they  kept on their way, when	one	day, or one night, the	knew not which, their leaders suddenly came upon a broad	treet of  marble opened by natures own hand . It was	kirted by a	oftly flowing river that swarmed with fi h in scales and shells and	kin, and here our people halted to eat and drink and rest  and while one of their number wa		triking his flint on one occasion to make a fire to cook a meal, to his urpri e and delight a tongue of flame darted up from the rocky
floor and continued to burn, giving light and warmth to them.
' As they had brought their tools- their drills and chisels and files and graver and blow-pipe -with them in their carts and wagon , they made ha te to fit a pipe to thi opening in the rock and set up a clu 'ter of lights. With food and water and warmth and light their heart grew lighter e pecially as they oon discovered that in many of the va t caverns gigantic mu b rooms grew in the wilde t profu ion.
The wi e t of  them   continued  the  learned  Barrel  Brow, "at once made up their minds that there must be  reservoirs  of thi  ga  farther along on thi   beautiful Marble Highway   o  day by day they pu hed farther into thi World within a  World, halting every now and then to et  up  a  lighthou  e  as  they called it.
"After  advancing	everal leagues the exploring party, upon lighting a clu ter of  gas jet , were	tricken  almost	peechless with wonder at finding them elves upon the very	ill of a tow ering portal opening into a		uccession of vast chambers, some with flat ceiling, some arched some domed upon the floors and walls of  which lay and hung inexhaustible quantities  of pure ilver.	Those magnificent cavern	were in reality nature's vast storehouses of  the gloriou	white metal, and our people made


(
A  .J;fARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND   JOURNEY	117

ha te to set up clusters of  gas jet	here and  there, so  that  they might view the wondrous trea ure-hou 'e.
' Here they determined to remain, for here was food  and water in never-failing supplie , and here they would have light and warmth, and here they could forget their miserie by work ing at their calling  using  the  preciou   metal with  lavish  hand to build them living-chambers,  and to fa hion the thou and and one thing nece . ary for every-day life.  So  great  wa  their delight as metal-workers to come  upon  this  exhaustle   supply of pure silver that they could hardly leep until they had set up clusters of gas jets throughout these va t caverns, for, no doubt, little baron, thou hast alr ady gues ed that this is the spot I am telling thee of· that ri ht here it was where  our  people  halted to build the City of    ilver.
"But one thought troubled them and that wa	where to find needful clothing, for the old wa	fa t falling into shreds and tatter , when, to their delight, they carne upon a bed of mineral wool and with this they managed to weave some cloth.	Al though it was rather stiff and har h, yet it wa	better than none. 'While exploring  a new  cavern  one day	one of my wise ancestors saw a large night moth alight near him, and, gently loo ening some of  its eggs, he carried them home  more a		a.
curiosity than aught else.
''Imagine how rejoiced he wa , however, to ee one of the worms which hatched out set to work spinning a cocoon of silk half a big as hi fi t.  There was great fea 'ting and merry-mak ing among our people upon hearing of  thi  glad  new , and  it was not very long before  many a  ilver   huttle was  rattling  in a ilver loom, and the soft bodie  of  our  people  were  warmly and comfortably clad. Now, long periods of time went  by, which, cut up into  your month , would have made many, many year . Our people had  everything  but  sunlight, and  this, of cour e, those who were born in the under world knew nothing about and therefore did not mi   .
"But, as was to be expected, great change   gradually took place
118        A  MARVELLOUS   UNDERGROUND  JOURNEY

in our people. To their inexpressible grief, they noticed that as they bu ied them elves beautifying their new homes by erecting arches and bridges and terrace , and lining them with glorious candelabra and ·tatues all in cast  and wrought  or  hammered ilver,		their   ight   wa   gradually  failing  them,   and  that  in not	a  very  great  length  of  time  they  hould   be  totally blind.
"This result, little baron, " continued the learned Barrel Brow,
' wa very natural, for the en e of sight wa in reality created for sunlight; for a thou no doubt knowe t, all the fish that swim in our rivers have no eye , having no need of them. It hap pened just as they had expected- in a few generation more our people discovered that their e e could no longer see things as thou do t, but yet they could feel them if they were not too far away, just a I can feel thy presence now and tell where thou sittest, and how tall thou art, and how broad thou art, and whether thou movest to right or left, forward or backward, but I cannot tell exactly how thou art made until I reach out and touch thee · then I know all · yes, far better than thou canst know, for our ense of feeling i keener than thy so-called sight.  One of my people can feel a grain or roughness upon a silver mirror which to thy eyes seems moother than gla s. Well, strange to relate, and yet not strange, our ancestors with the going-out of their sense of sight al o felt their sense of hearing on the wane. Our ears, as thou callest them, having nothing more to li ten to, for eternal silence, as thou knowe 't, reigns in thi under world, became as usele s to us as the tail of the polywog would be to the full-grown frog; and of course with the loss of our sense of heariag our children were soon unable to learn to talk and in a certain lap 'e of time we came to merit full well our new nam e of Formifolk, or Ant People, for we were now blind and deaf and dum b.
'It i long, very, very long, little baron,"  continued  the learned Soodop y  'since all  recollection  of   unlight  of  color, of  sound, died out of  our minds.   To-day my people don t even
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A  MARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND   JOURNEY 	121

know the names of  these things, and  thou wouldst	have	as much chance of		ucce s wert thou to attempt to tell them what light or sound is as thou wouldst have if  thou shouldst try to explain to a savage that  there  is nothing  under  the  world  t hold it up, and yet  it  doesn't  fall.		But  if  thou shouldst lay several pieces of metal in a row and ask one of my people to tell thee what they were, he would try the weight of each and feel	its  grain	carefully, possibly	smell them	or	touch	his tongue  to them,  and  then  he would  make  answer:  'That is gold;  that is silver;  that  is  copper;  that  is  lead;  that  is  tin; that is iron.'
"But thou  wouldst  say,  'They  all  are  differently  colored;
canst not perceive that?'
"'I know not what thou meanest by color,' he would reply. 'But mark me: now I hide them all beneath this silken kerchief, and till by touching them with my finger tips I can tell what metal each one is. If thou canst do it, then art thou as good a man as I.'
"What sayest  now, little baron?"  asked  the learned  Barrel
Brow while his face·was wreathed in a smile of triumph; "do t
think thou would t be as good a man as thi. Soodopsy? "
"Nay, indeed I do not, wi e Master," wrote I upon my silver tablet; "and I thank thee for all thou has told me and taught me and I a k leave, 0 Barrel Brow, to come again and converse with thee."
That thou maye  t, little baron," traced the learned Soodopsy
upon his silver tablet; and then as I turned to leave his cham ber he reached quickly after me and touched me with a bent forefinger, which  meant return.
'Thy pardon, little baron," he wrote, "but thou art leaving
my study without thy faithful Bulger; am I not right?"
I was astounded, for indeed he was right, and though with out the ense of ight he had seen more than I with two good eyes wide open. There lay Bulger fast asleep on a silken covered hassock.
122	A  MARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND JOURNEY

Our	silent  conversation	had  so  wearied  him  that  he  had sailed off  into the Land of  Nod on the wings of  a dream.
He hung his head and looked very shame-faced when  my call
aroused him and he discovered that I had actually reached the doorway without his knowing it.
A   JlfARVELLOUS   UNDERGROUND  JOURNEY	123









CHAPTER	XIX


BEGINS	WITH	SOMETHING	ABOUT	THE	LITTLE	SOODOPSIES, B  T  BRANCHES  OFF  ON  ANOTHER		UBJECT;  TO  WIT; -THE ILENT		NG  OF	INGING FINGERS, THE FAIR  MAID  OF  THE
CITY	OF	SILVER.-  BARREL	BROW	IS	KIND	ENOUGH	T
ENLIGHTEN	ME	ON	A	ERTAIN	POINT,   AND	HE	TAKE
0  CASION	TO	PAY	BULGER	A	VERY	HIGH	COMPLIMENT, WHICH,  OF COURSE,  HE DESERVED.

THE longer I stayed among the oodop ies the more did I become convinced that they were the happie t the lighte t hearted, the most contented human beings that I had met in all my travel .  If it were  possible  for  the  links  of  a long  chain su pended over a chasm to be living, thinking beings for a hort while, it seems to me they would hang together in the mo t perfect  accord  for  each  link  would  di cover  that  he wa   no b tter than his neighbor, and that  the welfare of all the  other link  depended upon him and his  upon  their ·.   o it was with the Formifolk having no sen e of sight  they knew  no  such thing a envy and all hand were alike when reached out for a greeting.
I wa	amazed  at  time	to	ee how  they  could  feel my ap
proach when I would  be  ten  or fifteen  feet  away  from  them, and I often amu ed my elf  by trying to	teal by one of  them in the	treet.	But no, it wa	impo	ible;  a hand would invariably he held out for a greeting.	Little by little, they got  over  their di ·trust of  me  and made up their minds  that  I  had  told  theru the truth  when  I	aid  that  no  dancing  spectre was  forever  fol lowing at my heels.	One of  the most intere ting	·ights wa	to ee a group of	oodopsy children at  play, building  hou e	with ilver block , or  playing a game	ery much  like  our  dominoes.
124         A  MARVELLOUS   UNDERGROUND  JOURNEY

I noticed that they kept no tally, such wonderful memories had they that it was quite unnecessary.
At  first the  children were so frightened  upon  feeling  of  me
that  they  fled  with  terror  pictured  upon  their  little  faces. Their parents explained to me that I made very much the same impression upon them as if I should feel of a person whose skin was as rough as a  ea urchin's.
When at last I	ucceeded in  coaxing  several  of  them  to my
side, I was astounded to see one little fellow who had by chance pressed his tiny hand against my watch  pocket  spring  away from me terror-stricken. He had felt it tick and didn't stop running until he had reached hi , mother's side.
His wonderful tale that the little baron carried some strange animal around in his pocket soon cau ed a crowd  to  collect about me and  it was some  time  before I could  persuade  even the parents that the watch was not alive and that it was not the little animal's heart which  they felt beating.
On one occasion, when a little Soodopsy was sitting on  my lap with its tiny arm twined affectionately around my neck, I happened to make some remark to Bulger, when, to my amaze ment, the child sprang out of my arms and darted away with a look of  terror upon his little face.
What had I done to him ?
Why, it seem that by the mere t chance  his  tiny hand  had been pressed again t my throat, and that he  had  been terrified by feeling the strange vibration caused by my voice. Immedi ately the report wa spread about that the little baron carried another little baron around in hi throat, that any one could feel him, if I would only con ent. It took me a long while to con vince them that what they felt was not another little baron, but merely the vibration caused by my expelling my  breath  in  a way peculiar to the people of the  upper  world.  But  all  the ame, I was obliged to say many hundreds of useless things to Bulger in order to give their little hands a chance to feel some thing so wonderful.
A  Jl,fARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND   JOURNEY 	125


From the little I have told you about the name of the For mifolk, dear friends, you have no doubt under tood that their name took their rise from some phy ical quality, defect, or peculiarity.    Beside   the  name   I  have  already  mentioned, I remember Sharp Chin, Long Nose, Silk Ear , Smooth Palm , Big Knuckle, Nail Off, Hammer Fi t, Soft Touch, Hole-in Cheek, or Hole-in-chin (Dimple), Crooked Hair  (Cowlick), and so on, and  o on.
But, to my amazement, one day, when asking the name of a young girl who e long and delicate fingers had attracted my attention, 1wa informed that her name was Singing Fingers, or, pos ibly, I might translate it Music Fingers.
I had noticed that the	oodopsies had		orne idea of music, for the  children  often  amu ed  themselves  dancing, and, while	o engaged, beat. time with their finger tip	on each  others  cheek or foreheads.
But I was completely in the dark a to what they meant by Singing Fingers, or why the young girl should have been so named; hence was I greatly pleased to  hear  the  maiden 's mother a k me whether I would like to feel one of her daugh ter'"  ongs,  a  he  termed  it.  Upon  my   acquiescing,  the mother apvroached me and proceeded to roll  up the  leeve  of my coat until she had laid my arms bare to the elbow, then he took my arms and clasped them across my breast one above the other.
Bulger watched the proceeding  with  omewhat  of  di pleas ure in his eyes; he had half an idea that these silent people might play orne hurtful trick upon  his  little  master.  But  my smile oon di armed his  uspicion.
inging  Finger	now drew near, and  as her  sweet  face  with
it	ightle	eyes turned full upon me I could hardly keep back the tears.
And yet, why $rieve  for  any  one who	eemed to  be  so  per
fectly happy?	A smile played around her dainty little mouth,
di clo 'ing her tiny silvery white teeth like so many real pearls,
126       A  MARVELLOUS   UNDERGROUND JOURNEY.

and her bosom rose and fell quickly, ending forth a faint breath ing sound. She looked o like a radiant child of some other world that before I thought, I cried out -
peak, Oh, speak, beautiful child.'
In an instant he drew back affrighted, for the  udden vibra tion of the air had tartled her;  but I reached out  and  touched her hand to give her to understand that she need fear nothing, and then she drew near to me again. Suddenly  her  beautiful hands with their long, frail, delicate finger were lifted into the air, and he began to sway her body and  to  wave  her hand  in gen le and graceful motion as if  keeping  time  with  ·orne music. Gradually  she  drew  nearer to  me  and ever and  anon her silken finger tips touched my hands or arm  a  if  they were a keyboard and she was about to begin to execute a oft and dainty bit of music; and I noticed that her fingers had orne delightful perfume upon them. Now fa t and fa ter the  gentle  tap  rain upon me with rhythmic regularity. They  oothe me, they thrill me, the reach my heart a  if  they were  the  weet  notes  of  a flute or the soft tone of a inger's voice. The maiden i really singing to me.    It seems to me that I can under  tand what   he i saying, or, rather, thinking, a her dainty finger tips fairly fly hither and thither, and I can hear her low breathing grow louder and louder.  Suddenly she leave  my hand   and arms and I feel her gentle tapping on my cheeks and brow.  o gently  Oh,  o gently and soothingly her fingers touch me that at last they feel like rose leaves dragged across my face. The ensation i  o delightful o like the soft touch of  leep to weary  eye , that  I drop off in good earnest, and when, after a moment or o, I opened my eyes there  at the smiling Formifolk waiting for  me to awake, and  there   tood  the  radiant-vi  aged   inging  Finger ' in front of  me, child-like, waiting to be commended.
And so you ee, dear friends that it  is  not  o  hard  to  be happy after all if you only set about it in the right way. The Formifolk eemed to have set about it in the right way  judging by results, and they are  the  only things  we  have  to  judge  by.
A   MARVELLOUS   UNDERGROUI\fD   JOURNEY 	127

Some men will fish all day and not have a bite, and some people will try their whole lives to catch happiness and not get  any more than a  nibble.  They  don't  use  the  right  kind  of  bait. Let 'em try a kind act, a live one.
There was omething I wanted to ask of the learned Barrel Brow, so the next call I made on him I put this question to him:-
Is it pos ible, learned Master, that thy people have ab o lutely no guide, no overseer, no rulers? '
The great scholar of the Formifolk ceased reading the four books which lay opened before him- one under each hand and one under each foot- as I handed him my silver tablet.
'Little baron," was his reply, "if there were only a bramble bush big enough for all you people of the upper world to jump into and if you could only get rid of your ears too, you would soon be rid of your rulers who oppress you, who prey upon you; for no one would have any desire to be a ruler if there was no one left to look at him and if he couldn't hear what the flatterer aid about him. Vanity is the oil that  rulers spring from as the mu hrooms spring from the rich loam of our dark caverns. They pretend that it is the exercise of power that they are  o fond of.  Believe  them  not.  It is the gratifica tion of  their vanity and nothing else.
' If it were only in thy power to say to every man who itched to be a ruler,-
'vVell  and  good, brother,  a  ruler  thou  shalt  be;  but  bear
in mind, weak man, that when thou ha t donned thy gaudy uniform and mounted thy gayly caparisoned steed, when  thou ride t at the head of troop and cavalcade with  ten  thousand armed men following thee on  foot, as slaves  their  master, and the plaudits of the foolish multitude rend the air, no eye shall witness the splendor of  thy triumph, no  ear  catch  a sound  of the deafening cheers,' take my word for it, little baron no one would want to be a ruler any more.
"Where  there	are  no  rulers,	little  baron," continued	the
128       A  }.fARVELLOUS   UNDERGROUND  JOURNEY


learned Barrel Brow, ' there can be no followers; where there are no followers, there will be no quarrelling. When it becomes necessary in our nation we form the Great Circle for delibera tion. Each man writes out what he thinks on his tablet.  Then the opinions are read and counted and the majority rules. But we form the Great Circle only in times of urgent need. Gen erally speaking, the smaller circles answer all the purpo es; in fact, the family circle is in most cases quite sufficient."
I touched fir t Barrel Brow's heart in token of my  gratitude for the many things which he had taught me, and then the back of his head to bid him good-night.  You  may imagine  his  and my delight, dear friends, when the wise Bulger raised himself upon his hind legs, and with his right paw also thanked the learned Barrel Brow, and then  bade  him good-night by a light tap on the back of his head.
" Fortunate the traveller," wrote the learned Soodopsy, "at tended by so wise and watchful a companion !	True, like a child, he goes on all fours, but by so doing he brings his heart and hi	brains on the same level-the only way for a man to wear them if he would do his fellow-creatures any good.	The trouble with thy people in the upper world, little baron, is that they think too much.	They clasp minds instead of	clasping hands; they send messengers with gifts instead of giving them selves.		They hire people to dance for them, to sing for them to be merry for them.		They will not be sati fied until they have hired people to help them be sorry, to whom they may say 'My friend is dead; I loved him.	Weep three whole days for him.'"
A  !lfARVELLOUS   U!JDERGROUND  JOURNEY 	129










CHAPTER	XX


THIS  IS  A  LONG  AND  A  SAD  CHAPTER. -IT  TELL  HOW DEAR, GENTLE, POUTING-LIP WAS LOST, AND HOW THE SOO DOPSIE	GRIEVED  FOR  HIM  AND  WHOM  THEY    U PECTED.
-BULGER GIVES A TRIIUNG PROOF OF HIS WONDERFUL INTELLIGENCE WHICH ENABLE ME TO CONVINCE THE SOO DOPSIES THAT MY "DANCIN SPECTRE ' DID NOT CAU E POUTING-LIP'S DEATH. -THE TRUE TALE OF HI TERRIBLE FATE.- WHAT FOLLOWS  MY DISCOVERY.- HOW A BEAUTI FUL BOAT IS BUILT FOR ME BY THE GRATEFUL SOODOPSIES, AND HOW BULGER AND  I BID  AD!EU  TO  THE  LAND  OF THE
}!lAKE-BELIEVE  EYES.


'TwAS the cu  tom in the City of Silver to "touch all around," a it was called, before going to re t. The "touch all around" began in a certain quarter of the city and  pa  ed with  wonder ful rapidity from man to man.  Exactly  how  it  wa"  done  I never could under tand, but the purpo  e of the my8terious ig nalling wa to make an actual count of all the Formifolk. If a single one were mi ing, it would be most  surely discovered  by the time the ' touch all around ' had been completed. It pro ceeded with  lightning-like  rapidity  throughout  the  city  and then if no return ignal wa  made, the people knew that  every one was in his proper place · that no  oodop ·y had lo t hi  way or fallen ill in some unfrequented pas 'aO' .
I don't think that I had more than dropped off  to   leep when
I was arou ed by Bulger gentle tugging at my leeve. Rub bing my eye , I at up in bed and li tened. In tantly my ear caught that faint, shuffling ound which wa always perceptible when any number of the Formifolk were burr; ing hither and thither over the polished  ilver pavement.
130       A  MARVELLOU'   UNDERGROUND  JOURNEY


I prang  out  of  bed  and  ru hed  to the  door,  Bulger  clo e at my heels. What a 'trange ight confronted  me.  I  could compare it to nothing ave to the appearance of a large ant hill when some mi chievou boy suddenly drops a stone among the crowd of petty, patient, plodding people peacefully pur uing their work.
In an instant all is cha,nged: line ' are broken, workm n
jo tle  workmen  order become · di order, regularity  i  changed to confusion . Hither and thither the  affrighted  creature  rush with waving feelers,  eeking for the cause  of  the  mad  outburst
<>f  terror.
o it was  with  the  Formifolk  a ,  I  looked  out  upon  them. With  outstretched  hand	and  tremulou  ly moving  fingers  they rushed  from  side  to	ide, jostling  and	bumping  one  another, while a namele  ' dread was depicted upon their upturned  faces. Anon  a  group  would  halt,  join  hand , and  begin  to  exchange thoughts	by	lightning-like	pre sure ,  tappings	and	stroke when  others  would  da h  again t  them,  break  them  apart, and confusion would reign greater than ever.
But gradually  I noted	hat	ome	ort of  order	eemed to be
coming out of the movements of thi  mad  throng.  Here  and there groups of three and four would  form  and  cla p  hand , then the e smaller  circle  would  break  and  form  into  larger one , and I noted too that this e er-increa ing circle wa  formed on the outside of the panic- tricken crowd  and  as  it  grew it shut them in  o that when a fleeing  oodop y hurtled up against thi  steady line  his terror left him at once and he took hi  place in  it.  In  a  few  moment  the  madl   pushing, jostling  throng had di appeared entirely and the whole city was  girt  round about by the e long    teady line .
The Great Circle had been formed.
After half an hour the deliberation wa completed, and to my surprise, the Great Circle broke up into  squads  and companies of fours and sixes and tens, and then each  disappeared  slowly and  steadily with  lock  step, pa'  ing  out  of  the  City  into  the








TilE   -1, ' \ .·rI. fllltTOI i::    II.\	()J::\"  l" Ri::Ll  p  l:'TI.'G L[P.

A   MARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND   JOURNEY	133
dark or only partially lighted chambers and pa ages that sur rounded it. The search for the missing Soodop y had been begun.
It wa	hours before the la t squad had returned to the square and the Great Circle had been formed again.		Alas! the news wa		sad indeed.		There came no tidings of the missing man. He was lost forever; and with clasped hands and slow and heavy step  the  grieving	Formifolk	made	their  way back		to  their home , where the sighing women and children were awaiting their  coming.	As  Bulger  and  I went back  to bed again, it almost seemed to me as if I could hear at times the deep and long-drawn		igh		that escaped from the gentle breasts  of the sorrowing		oodopsie .	I noticed a very touching thing on the following  day.		It was that every man, woman, and child in the City of Silver grieved for the lost Soodopsy as if he were actually brother to each of them.		Love was not as with us, in the upper world, a thing be towed upon those in whom we see our own face	repeated and in whose voices we heard our own ring out again, sweet and clear as in our childhood; in other words, a love almo t of our very	elve .	Oh, no! while it was true that a mother's touch wa		mo t tender to her own child yet no little hand stretched out to her  went  without  its  cares .		She was mother to them all ; to her they were all beautiful, and a	their little frocks were all woven in the		arne loom, there never could come into her mind a temptation to feel whether a rich neigh bor's child was playing with hers, and that therefore it ought to receive a more loving care		.	In that portion of the city where the children  had  their  playgrounds  the silver pavement  was in	orne places marked off with rai ed line	and letters, some thing after the manner of our hop scotch, for the purpo e of a game which wa		very popular  with the little Soodopsies.		Its name is hard to tran late, but i't meant	omething  like "Little Bogyman," and many an  hour  had  Bulger  and  I	tood there watching  the e		ilent little gnome		at play, fa cinated  by  the wonderful	kill which they would display in.feigning the draw-
134      A  MARVELLOU      UNDERGROUND  JOURNEY


ing near of the Little Bogyman, their hiding from him, his stealthy approach, the increasing danger, the attack, the escape, the new dangers, wild flight, and mad  pursuit.  Fancy, there fore, my astonishment one morning to note that Bulger was coaxing me thither, although the place was quite deserted, the children being all at their lessons.
But, as it wa a rule of mine alway to humor Bulger s whims, I went patiently along.
In a moment, as we carne  to the pot where the pavement was marked off and in cribed as I have explained he halted and with an anxious whine began to play the game of "The Little Bogyman," turning every now and then to see what effect his actions had upon me.
He made no mistakes. As he entered each compartment, he rested his paw upon the raised letters as he  had  so  often  seen the children do with their little bare feet, and  then  mimicked with wonderful fidelity their action , beginning with  the  first cent of  danger and ending with mad terror at the close pursuit of  the bogyman.
I was more than surprised; I was bewildered by this piece of mimicry on Bulger's part. To my mind it boded some terrible accident to him for I have a uper titiou notion that great danger to an animals life give him for the moment an almo t human intelligence.   It is nature caring for her own.
But all of  a	udden the  real  truth  in  thi.	ca e  bur t  upon me:  it was not my dear little brother  giving  me  to  understand that some peril was threatening  him, but that	ome  danger wa hanging over my head, the mor	r al in  that  it was  un een  and un "U pected by me.
I called him to me and reward d him with a care s. He wa ' overjoyed  to  note  that  I  had  apparentl  under  tood  him.  I now made ha te to eek out Barrel Brow. He was  urpri eel to feel my salutation. In a moment  or  . o  I  had  told  him  all. Nor was he low  in  detecting  my  excitement.  He  no doubt, felt that in the changed character of  my handwriting.
A  MARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND   JOURNEY 	135

"Calm thyself, little baron," he wrote. "The wise Bulger ha  told thee the truth.  Thy life is in danger.   I bad resolved to send for thee tbis very day to warn thee of it: to bid thee quit the land of the Formifolk in all haste, for the notion bas spread among our people that it was the dancing ·pectre at thy heels wbich caused the death of the gentle Pouting Lip, who dis appeared so mysteriously the  other day. I therefore counsel thee that thou make ready at once and quit our city to-morrow before the clocks rou e the people from their sleep. '
I thanked Barrel Brow, and promised that I would heed his advice, although I confessed to him that I would fain have bided a few weeks longer, there were so many things in and about the wonderful  City of  Silver that I bad not seen.   But I owed it to the dear hearts of my own world to take the best care of my life, insignificant though it might appear to me.
Then, again, I felt that it would  be  madness  to  attempt  to
reason with  the  Soodopsies.  To them the  dancing spectre at my heels was a real being of flesh and blood, although they had not been able to seize him, and it was really natural for them to suspect that we had made away with Pouting Lip.
Calling out to Bulger to follow me, I left Barrel Brows home, resolved to make one more round of the  wonderful  city, and then pack up some food and clothing and be  all  ready  for  a start before the clocks began their tapping.
I should explain, dear friend , that, as happens in all citie , the people of this one imagined at times that they hadn't quite elbow room enough and hence they surveyed other chambers, and et up new candelabra within them in order to chase the cold and dampness away and make them fit for human habitations.
In the la ·t one whi ch they had in tbi way annexed to their fair city, fitting it with a ilver doorway and tiling the floor with polished plates of the same beautiful metal, they had di - covered a hard mound apparently of rock in one corner, and had resolved that they would come orne day with their drill and picks and begin the ta k of remo ing thi  mound.
136       A   MARVELLOUS   UNDERGROUND  JOURNEY


A strange inclination came upon me to visit this new cham ber in order to inspect the work of these eyeless workmen, and see how far they had  proceeded w th their task of  transforming a cold and rocky vault into a bright, warm, healthy habitation.
Imagine  my surprise to hear  Bulger utter a low growl  as we
reached the entrance, and I put out my hand to swing the door open, for the Soodopsies were not at work there that day, and the place was as silent as a tomb.
Glancing through the grating, a sight met my gaze which caused my flesh to creep and  my hair to stiffen.  What think ye was it? Why, the mound in the corner was rocking and swaying, and from underneath one end issued a loud and angry hissing.   I'm no coward, if I do say it myself, but this was just a little too much for ordinary or even extraordinary flesh to bear without flinching. I staggered back with a suppressed cry of horror, and was upon the point of breaking into a mad flight, when the thought flashed through my mind that the door was securely fastened, and that there would be no  danger in my taking another look at the terrible monster thus caged in this chamber.
A  great  snake-like  head  wa	now  lifted  from  beneath  one
edge of the mound, on the  end  of  a  long, swaying  neck.  Its great round eyes, big  as an ox's, stared with a dull, cold, glassy look from wall to wall and then, with  an  awful  outburst  of hissing, the whole mound was suddenly rai ·e<l upon  four great legs, thick as posts, and ending in terrible  claws,  and  borne rocking  and swaying  into the  centre  of  the  chamber.
What was thi	terrible monster, and where bad it come from?
Why, I saw through it all now at a glance. It wa a gigantic tortoise, eight feet long by five wide, at least, and once an in habitant of the upper world. Thousands and thousands of years ago, by the coming of the awful field of i ce, it had been forced to fly from certain death by crawling down into these under ground caverns. Here, chilled and numbed by the dampness and cold, it had  fallen asleep, and would  have  continued  to
A  }rfARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND   JOURNEY 	137


sleep  on for other ages to come, had  not the industrious  Formi folk lighted the clu ters of  burning jets of gas  in the monster ' bedroom.	Gradually the warmth had penetrated the roof  of shell made  thicker  by earth  and  layers  of  broken  rock, which  the tooth of time had dropped  upon it, and reached his great heart, and  set  it  beating  again	lowly,  very	lowly,  but  faster  and faster, until he really felt that he had  awakened from  his  long sleep.
By a terrible misfortune, Pouting Lip, the gentle Soodop y, had happened to be left behind when his brother laborers quit work, and the new silver doors of the chamber had been closed upon him.
Ob, it was terrible  to think   of, but true it must have been the poor little Soodopsy, shut in by his own  eyeless folk  in this chamber, which he was helping  to beautify by his patient  skill, had served to satisfy the hunger of  this awful monster, after hi long ages of fasting.
But why, you  a k, dear friends, was all this not di covered when the  Great  Circle bad been formed, and the search wa made for him?	Simply because the monster, after devouring the lo t	oodop y, retreated  to his ne t and drew the  dirt and crumbled rock up around him  with his gigantic flippers, and went to sleep again  as all gorged reptile	do, so that when the searcher	entered  the new chamber all wa	a ' they bad  left it, the mound of rock, a	they bad suppo edit to be, in the corner undisturbed.
With  Bulger at  my heel	I now  turned  and  ran with such
mad haste to Barrel Brow's, that the whole city was thrown into the w1ldest di 'Ol'der, for, of cour e, they had felt me fly past them.
With all the quickne s I could command, I wrote an account
of what I had witne sed, and when Barrel  Brow communicated it to the assembled .Soodop ie , a thousand hands flew into the air, in token of mingled fright and wonder, and a wild rush was made for Bulger and me, and we w re well-nigh smothered with ki   es and care se .
13        A  MARVELLOU      UNDERGROUND  JOURNEY

The moment the excitement had quieted down a little,  a Great  Circle was  immediately formed, and I was  honored with a place in it, and when my tablet was passed about, a thousand hands made signs of assent.
My plan was a simple one:  it was to make a pipe connection
between U phaslok and the new chamber, and to turn the deadly apor into the sleeping apartment of  the gigantic monster.  In thi manner his de patch would be a happy one, merely a be gjnning of another one of his long naps, so far as he would know any thing about it.
This was done at once, care first being taken to make the doors of the new chamber perfectly air tight. I was the first to enter the cavern after the execution of the monster, and found, to my delight, that my estimate of his length and width was correct almost to an inch.
I always had a wonderful eye for dimension and distances.
Seeing Bulger rai ing himself upon his hind  legs, and  make an effort to dislodge something from the wall, I drew near to assist him.
Alas! it was dear, gentle, Pouting Lip's tablet.	He had been
writing upon it, and as the terrible monster advanced upon him, he had reached up and hung it upon a silver pin on the wall. When the Soodopsie read what their poor brother had written, there they all sat down and wrung their hands in silent  but awful  grief:  it  ran  as  follows:-
" 0 my  people!	why have ye abandoned	me?	The  air
trembles; thy whole place is filled with suffocating odor.  Mu t I die? Alas, I fear it. and yet I would so love to feel my dear ones' touches once more. The ground trembles; a stifling breath i' puffed into my face· I am wearied, almost fainting, by trying to escape it. I can write no more. Don't grieve too long over me. It was my fault. I stayed behind, when I should have followed. Oh, horrible, horrible! Farewell !  I'm going now. A loving touch to all -farewell ! "
After  waiting a few  days for  the  grief  of  the Formifolk  to
A  MARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND   JOURNEY 	139

lighten a little, I asked them to send a number of their most kilful workmen to a ist me in removing the magnificent shell from the dead monster whose body was fed to the fishe .
They not only did this, but they also offered to transform the shell into a beautiful  boat for me, so'that when  I resolved  to bid them adieu, I might ail  away from the City of Silver and not be obliged to trudge along the Marble  Highway.  The work went on apace. At first the polishers began their task, and in a few days the mighty carapace glowed like a lady's comb. Then the dainty and cunning craftsmen in silver began their part of the work, and ere many day the shell was fitted with a silver prow curiously wrought, like a wan's neck and head  while quaintly carved trimmings  ran here and there, and a dainty pair of silver sculls with a silver rudder, beautifully chased, from which ran two little silken ropes, were added to the outfit. I never had  seen anything half  so rich  and  rare, and I was as pro d of it a a young king of  his  throne  before he finds it is so much like my ship of shell.
At last the day came when I was to bid the gentle Soodop sies a long farewell.
They lined the  shore as Bulger  and I proceeded to take our
place in the bark of shell which sat upon the water like a thing of life.
It was  with a  great  show  of	dignity  that  Bulger  took  his
po ition in the tern with the tiller-ropes in his mouth, ready to pull on either side a  I might direct; and  etting the silver oars in place  I threw my weight upon  them,  and  away  we  glided,
·wiftly and noiselessly, over the surface of the dark and sluggi h
tream.
In a few moments nothing but a faint glimmer was left to remind u of the wonderful City of ilver where the silent Formifolk live and love and labor without ever a thought that human beings could be any  happier  than they.  Dear  happy folk, they have olved a mighty problem which we of the upper world are   till   truggling over.
140	A   J  fARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND     JOURNEY








CHAPTER	XXI


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 BULGER 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 TO THE END OF ITS VOYAGE.- SUNLIGHT IN THE WORLD WITHIN A WORLD, AND ALL ABOUT THE WONDERFUL WIN DOW 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 Formifolk without running our boat con tinually ashore.  Ah, you forget that 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 tail , yet the tiny flashes of light served 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 per ceptible, Bulger and I were borne along in the beautiful bark of tortoise shell with its prow of carved and burnished silver.
During my sojourn in the Land of the Soodopsies I had one day, while calling upon the learned Barrel Brow, noticed a beauti fully carved ilver hand-lamp of  ihe Pompeian  pattern  among his curio 'itie . I asked him if he knew what  it  was.  He re plied that he did adding that it  had  doubtless  been  brought from the upper world by hi people, and he begged me to accept
A    MARVELLOUS	U:VDERGROU:VD   JOURNEY	141

it as a keepsake.   I did so, and upon leaving the   ity of Silver, I filled it with fish-oil and fitted a silken wick to it. It was well that I had done o for after a while the fire lizards di - appeared entirely, and Bulger and I would have been left in total darkne s, had I not drawn forth my beautiful ilver lamp, lighted it, and suspended it from the beak of  the ilver swan which curved its graceful neck above the bow of our boat.
After lying on my oars long enough to set ome food before Bulger and partake of some myself, I  again  tarted  on  my voyage down the silent river, no longer shrouded in impene trable gloom.
I had not taken over half a dozen stroke , when	uddenly one of my oar· wa	almost twi ted out of my hand by a viciou	tug, from	orne inhabitant of these  dark and	luggi h  water  .	I re- ol ved  to quicken  my stroke in  order to  e cape another	uch  a wrench, for  the  ·ilver  oars  fa hioned  by the		oodopsies for me were	of	ver	delicate	make	intended		only  for  very  gentle u age.		uddenly  another  viciou		snap wa	made  at my other oar;  and thi ·time the animal succeeded 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 crustacean of the crab family, and i	milk-white		hell  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  imilar creature had fastened firmly upon my other oar, and there I sat utterly  helples .		But worse than   thi		the  dark	water	were  now	fairly  alive  with  these white armored guards of this underworld  tream, each apparently bent  upon		etting  an  immediate  end  to  my  progress  through their domain.	They now began a	eries of furious efforts to lay hold  of  the side		of my boat with their huge	law		but happily it  polished surface made this impos ible for them to accomplish.
Up to thi   moment Bulger had not   tirred a mu  cle or uttered a ound, but now a harp growl from  him told  me that  some thing   eriou   had  happened  at hi     nd  of   the  boat.     It wa
riou	inde d  for several of the large t of the fierce crustaceans
142       A  MARVELLOUS   UNDERGROU'VD  JOl RNEY


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 Bulger'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.
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 links by each laying hold of his neighbor's claw, the chain thus formed being then rendered almost as strong as steel by the interweaving of thei'r  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 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 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 his claws over the edge of the boat; but now, to my horror, I felt that our little craft was being slowly but surely drawn stern first toward the river bank. In order to accompli h 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 river bank, the fierce creatures would swarm around us by the tens of thousands, drag us down, pinch us to death, and tear u   piecemeal !









r
I









































SAILING AWAY FROM  THE LAND OF THE SOODOPSIES .

A  MARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND  .JOURNEY 	145

An  idea fla hed  upon me- it wa  thi  : it i  folly to attempt to resist these countless swarms of crustaceans by the use of one
pair  of  weak hands, even though they be aided qy 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 leaped upon him from every side at once, or as the tray 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 my escape!
Quickly drawing my brace of pistols, I held their  muzzles close to the water, and discharged  them  at  the  same  instant. The effect wa  terrific.  Like a crash  of  a  terrible thunderbolt, the report burst forth and echoed through these va t and silent chamber , until it seemed as if the great vaulted roof of rock had by some awful convulsion of nature been cast roaring and rat tling down upon the face of these black and sluggish waters! When the smoke had cleared away, a strange but welcome sight met my gaze. Ten of thousand of the huge crabs floated life less upon the surface of the river, with their shells plit by the concus ion the full length of their bodies.
It proved to have been a masterly stroke on my part, and, dear friends, you will believe me when I tell you that I drew a deep breath a I et my silver oars again t the thole-pins, and, having worked my boat clear of the swarm of  stunned  crustaceans, rowed away for dear life!
Dear  life !	Ah, ye	dear  life,  for who e life  is not  dear  to
him, even though it be dark and gloomy at times? Is there not always something, or some one, to live for?    Is there not always a glimmer of hope that the morrow's sun  will  go up brighter than it did this morning? Well, anyway, I repeat that I rowed away for dear life, while Bulger held  the  tiller-rope  and  kept our frail bark of polished shell in the middle of the   tream.
Whether the air wa	actually colder, or whether it was mer ly
146       A  MARVELLOUS   UNDERGROUND  JOURNEY

the natural chill that so often trikes the human heart after it has been beating and throbbing with alternate hope and fear, I couldn't say at the time ; but I knew this much, that I uddenly 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 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.
vVe were most surely entering a region where it was cold enough to make ice. I was not sorry for this· for, to tell  the truth, Bulger and I were both beginning to feel the effects of our long ojourn in the rocky chambers of this under world, whose atmo phere, 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 tingling through our veins just as if we were out a-sleighing in the upper world on a winter's night, when the  star  twinkle  over  our  heads  and  the  snow cry tals 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 tanding there like silent sentries, watching our boat as it threaded its way through the ever-narrow ing channel. And now, too, 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 roof and walls of ice fretted and carved into fantastic depths and niches and shelves and cornice , with here and there shapes so fanciful 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  helves and niches in glorious array.
A  lv!ARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND   JOURNEY 	147

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  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 Bulger and I had no difficulty in picking our way along  the shore.  In fact, we  crossed  and recro  ed the  river itself when the whim seized us, for it now went winding on ahead of us  like a broad ribbon of ice through   avern  and corridors.
Suddenly I came to a halt and stood as motionless as  the fanta tic forms of ice surrounding me. What could  it  mean? Were my eyes weakened by my long sojourn in the World with in a World, playing me cruel tricks? urely there can be no mistake!  I  whispered  to  myself.  That  light  yonder  which pours its glorious effulgence upon tho e spires and pinnacles, those towers and turrets of ice, is the sunshine of the upper world! Can it be that my marvellous underground journey is ended, that I stand upon the threshold of the upper world once more?
Bulger, too, recognizes this flood of sunshine, and breaking out into a fit of joyous barking, da hes on ahead, to be the first one to feel it gentle warmth after our long journey  through the  dark and silent pas ·ages of the World within a World.
But I dare not trust my eyes, and fearing le t he should fall into some ambush or meet with some dread  accident, 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 stretche "' away as far as the eye can reach, and so high is the roof that span this vast under world that I cannot see whether it be of ice or not.   All that I

can s e i		that through one of  its  sloping sides there streams a mighty torrent of sunlight, which pours its splendor with un stinting hand upon the wide highways, the broad terrace , the heer parapets, and the sloping banks 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 thi vast subterranean region, i a gigantic window of ice itself through which the sunlight of the outer world streams in this grand way like a silent cataract of  light, like 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 hundred-fold increased, re bounded  in  a thousand	directions, flooding the whole region with its effulgence 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, gathering in its mysterious bosom the sunlight of the outer world, threw it- intensely radiant and dazzling white- into the gloomy depths of thi ' World within a World, so that when the sun went up out there it went up in here a well, but became cold as it was beautiful, bringing no warmth, no other cheer save light, to this subterranean region which for thousands of centuries had lain locked in the crystal embrace of frozen lakes and brooks and rivers and torrents and waterfall , once bubbling and flowing and rushing headlong through fair lands of the upper world, but suddenly checked jn their course  by some bursting forth of mighty pent-up forces, and turned downward into these icy depth condemned to everlasting re t and silence, their crystals locked in a sleep that never would know an awaking, mocked in their dreams by this my terious sunlight that came with the smile and the fair, winsome look of

the real, and yet was so powerless to et them free as once it did when the springtime came in the upper world. All these thoughts and many others besides flitted through my mind as I stood looking up at that mighty len in its setting of mightier rock.
And so deeply impres ed wa · I by the sight of such a great flood of sunlight pouring through tbi gigantic hull's eye which nature had set in the  rocky  ide of  the hollow mountain  peak and illumining this under world, that the longer I gazed  upon the wonderful spectacle the more firmly inthralled my senses became by it.
The  deep  silence,  the  deliciously pure  air, the  ever-varying
tint	of  the light as the  mighty ice  columns acting  the  part  of prisms, literally filled  those  vast  chambers  with  the  rainbow glorious  glow,  imparted  unto  the  spell  resting  upon  me  such unearthly  power  that  it  might  have  held  me  there  until  my limbs  hardened  into  icy crystal	and  my eyes  looked out with a frozen stare, had not the ever-watchful  Bulger given  a  gentle tug at the skirt of my coat and aroused me from my inthralling meditation.








CHAPTER  XXII


THE PALACE OF ICE IN THE GOLDEN SUNLlGHT, AND WHAT I IMAGINED IT MIGHT CONTAIN.- HOW WE WERE HALTED BY A COUPLE OF QUAINTLY CLAD SENTINELS.- THE KOLTY KWERPS.- HIS FRIGID MAJESTY KING GELIDUS.- MORE ABOUT THE ICE PALACE, TOGETHER WITH A DESCRIPTION OF THE THONE-ROOM.- OUR RECEPTION BY THE KING AND HIS DAUGHTER SCHNEEBOULE.- BRIEF MENTION OF BULLIBRAIN, OR LORD HOT HEAD.

ScARCELY had I advanced a hundred yards beyond the portal where I had halted when happening to turn my  eyes  to  the other side, a sight met them which sent a thrill of wonder and delight through my form.    There upon the highest terrace stood a palace of ice, its slender minarets, its high-lifted towers, its rounded turrets, its spacious platform, and its broad flights of steps all glittering in the sunlight as if gem-studded and jewel set.
It was a spectacle to stir the most indifferent heart, let alone one so full of ardor and buoyancy as mine. But ah, dear friends, even admitting that I can succeed in awakening in your minds even a faint conception of the beauty of this ice palace, as the sunlight fell full upon it at that moment, how can ·I ever hope to give you an idea of the unearthly beauty of this palace of ice and its glorious surroundings when the moon went up ·in the outer world at a later hour and its pale, mysterious light wa , poured through the mighty lens in the mountain side, and fell with celestial shimmer upon these walls of ice?
But the one thought that oppressed me now was : Can this beautiful abode be without a tenant, without a living soul within its  wonderful  halls  and  chambers?    Or, may not  its  dwellers,

overtaken by the pitiless cold, sit with wide-opened  eyes  and icy glare, stark as marble in chairs of ice, white frosted hair pressed against icy cushions, and hands stiffened around cry tal cups filled with frozen wine of topaz hue, while the harpers fingers cling cramped to the wires stiff as the wires themselves, and the last tones of the singer s voice  lie in feathery crystals of frozen breath white at his feet?
Come what may, I resolved to lift the crystal knocker that might hang on the outer door of thi ' palace of ice and awaken the castellan, if his slumber were not that of death. In  a  few moment I had eros ed the level space between me and the first terrace, which it would be necessary for me to scale in order to reach the second and then the third upon which stood the palace of ice.
Imagine  my more  than surprise  upon finding  myself  now at
the foot of a magnificent flight of steps, hewn into the ice with a master hand, and leading to the terrace above.
Springing lightly up this flight with Bulger close at my heels, I suddenly set eyes upon two of the quaintest-looking human being that I ever remembered seeing in all my travels. They looked for all the world like two big animated snowballs, being clad from top to toe in garment· made of snow-white fleece, their skull-caps likewise of white fur, leaving only their faces visible. In his right hand each of them carried  a very prettily shaped flint axe, mounted  upon a helve of polished bone.
Striding up to me and swinging their axe over my head in altogether too close proximity to my poll to be particularly pleasant, one of them erie  out,-
"Halt sir. Unless hi frigid Maje ty Gelidu', King of the Koltykwerp awaits thy coming, his guards will, at a signal from us, roll a few thousand ton' of ice down upon thee if thou darest proceed another tep. Therefore, stand fast and tell us who thou art and whether thou art expected."
"Gentlemen" said I," kindly lower those axes of yours and I
will convince you that his frigid Majesty hath nothing to  dread

in me, for I am none other than the very small but very noble and very famous ebastian von Troomp, commonly known as 'Little Baron Trump.' J '
"Never heard of thee in all my life," said both of the  guards as with one voice.
' But I have of you, gentlemen,' I continued,- for now I rec
ollected what the learned Don Fum had said about the frozen land of the Koltykwerps, or Cold Bodies,-" and as proof of my peaceful intent, like a true knight I now offer you my hand, and beg that you will conduct me into the presence of his frigid Majesty."
No sooner had the guard standing next me drawn off his glove and grasped my hand, than he let it loose again with a cry of fright.
" Zounds ! Man, art thou on fire '? Why, thy hand burned me like the flame of a lamp! "
" Why, no  my friend' said I quietly ; 'that' my ordinary temperature."
"And thy companion ? "
"Hath even a warmer heart than I have,	was my reply.
"Well our word for it, little baron,., exclaimed one of the guards with a chuckle, " there will be no place for  thee except in the meat quarry.   Po   ibly after thou hast been cooled off for a week or so, hi frigid Majesty will be  able  to  have  thee about."
This was not a very cheerful pro pect, for I had no particular
desire to b  laid away in the royal ice-box for a week or so. Anyway, the only thing to be done was to insi t upon being con ducted at once into the pre ence of the King of the Koltykwerps, and abide by his de i ion.
One of the guards having aluted me by pre enting his battle axe in real military style, faced about and began to ascend the grand stairca e with intent to announce my arrival to his frigid Majesty, while the other informed me that he would conduct me as far as the perron of the palace.
A  MARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUIYD  JOURNEY 	153

I was wonderstruck with the beauty of the three taircases leading up to the ice palace. Massive balu 'trades with curiously carved balusters springing from towering  pedestals, crowned with beautiful lamp , all, all, I say, all and everything, to the crystal-clear  ides  of  the  lamps  themselves  was  fashioned from blocks  of  ice.  It  proved  to  be  a  good  climb to  the top of the third terrace, and I was  not  put  out  when  the guard  solemnly lowered  his  battle-axe  of  flint  to  bring me to a  standstill.
The sun in the upper world was no doubt, nearing the horizon, for a deep and beautiful twilight suddenly sank upon the icy dominions of King Gelidus, and, to my surpri e and delight, through the great slabs of crystal-clear ice which served for windows to the palace, streamed a soft radiance a if a thou and wax tapers were burning in the chambers and galleries in-doors. It was a sight to gladden the eyes of any mortal; but if I had been pellbound by the beauty of its  exterior, how shall I tell you, dear friend , of the curious splendor of the interior of Geli du palace of ice, as it burst upon me when I had  crossed  its thre  hold?
Hall way led  into  hall way, chamber	opened	into chamber, through	portals	gracefully	arched,  and	winding		taircase climbed to upper rooms, while hanging from lofty ceilings  or resting on graceful pede tals, were a thou and alaba ter lamp ', shedding  light  and  perfume  upon  thi		glorious home of hi frigid Majesty Gelidus, King of the Kolt kwerps.	Long rows of retainer , all in		now-white fur, lined the wide hall way, a the guards conducted Bulger and me into the palace and bowed in silence a	we passed.
To my more than wonder, I saw that the inner rooms were
most sumptuou ly furnished, chair and divans being scattered here and there, all covered with superb skins of white fur, while the floor too, was carpeted with them, and a the soft radiance of the alaba ter lamps fell upon these magnificent pelts and et ten thou and jewels in the  walls and  ceilings of ice, I was ready to
154	A	VARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND   JOURNEY

admit that I bad never seen an  thing half so beautiful.	And yet I was still outside the throne-room of hi	frigid Majesty !
At length we came to one end of a broad hallway which seemed shut off ·from the rest of the palace by a wall thickly incrusted with strings of great diamond , each a big a  a goo e egg, extending from the ceiling to the floor,  and  turning back the shimmer of the lamps with such a flood of crystalline radiance that my eyes involuntarily closed before it.
Think of my amazement when the two guards, laying hold of thi wall of jewels, as I deemed it, drew it to the  right and left till there was room for me to pass.  What I had taken for a wall of jewels was but a curtain made up of round bits of ice strung upon strings and hanging like a shower of diamonds there before me, as they glittered in the light of the lamps each side of them.
I  now stood  in	the  throne-room  of  his  frigid  Majesty, the King of the Koltykwerps.	Now I realized that what I had	een elsewhere in hi	palace  of  ice was in reality but a sample of its magnificence,  for  here  the  splendor	of  King  Gelidus'	castle burst  upon  me  in its fullest  strength.		Imagine a great  round chamber  lighted with the soft flames of perfumed oil, streaming from  a  hundred  alaba ·ter  lamps,  the  walls  lined  with  broad divans covered with snow-white pelts, the floors thickly carpeted with the	arne gloriou		rugs  while on one side, glittering in the shimmer of the hundred massive lamps, stands the icy throne of the King of the Koltykwerps, decked with snow-white skins and. he  upon it,  with	chneeboule  hi	fair   daughter,	itting at  hi · feet, and all around and about him, group-wise, a hundred  Kolt  - kwerp	the king, the princess, and the courtiers  all clad in skin whiter  than the  driven snow, and  you, dear  friends, will  have some faint idea of  the  splendor of  the scene which burst  up  n me as the two guard	drew aside the strands of ice jewels at the end of the hallway in the palace of ice !
Like all his subjects, King Gelidus looked out through the round window of his fur hood, ju t as a bjg good-natured boy does through his skating-cap.



TBE BATTLE  rOI{ T.JFg Wl'l'll  TilE WlllTE	R.\B  .

A  J.l1ARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND      JOURNEY 	157

The Koltykwerps were not much taller than I,  but were very stocky built, so that when broadened out by their thick fur suits they really took on at times  the appearance  f  animated snow balls . It would be hard for the fingers of  the defte  t hand  to draw faces fuller of  kindliness  and  good  nature  than  those of the Koltykwerps.      Their  small, hone  t gray  eyes   sparkled  with a boniforrn glint, and so broad were their  smiles that they  were only about half visible  through  the  round  hole  of  their  fur hoods. I was delighted with  them  from  the  very  start, and the more  so when  I heard  King  Gelidus  cry out in  a cheery voic   : ' A right crisp and  cold welcome  to our icy  court, little baron ; but from  what  our people  tell  us  thou   carrie  t a pair of  hands so hot that we beg thee to  take a few  days to cool  off  before thou  touchest palm  with  any of  the  Koltykwerp  , and we also beg thee to be careful and not to lean against any of our richly carved panel , or to lide down any of our highly  polished  rail ings, or to handle the  strands  of  our  jewel ', or  sit  down  for any length of time on the  front  teps of  our palace.  And  we make the same requ   t of  thy four-footed  companion, who i   said to be of  even a warmer  di position  than  thou.'
I bowed and ki se<lmy hand to hi frigid Majesty, and assured him  that I  hould  make  every effort  to lower  my temperature as speedily as possible, and, in the mean time, that I hould be extremely careful not to come  into  contact  with  any of  the arti ti   carving of hi  palace of ice .
A , I  pronounced	the e word	the  whole	ompany began  to
clap th ir hand ; and as they did 'O, a cold hiver ran down my back, for there was a sound, methought very much like the rattling of dry bones to that applause  but I took good care not to l t Kiner    elidu   notice my fright .
His frigid Maje ty now pre ented me to his daughter Schnee
bouie, a pretty little maid of about ixte n crystal winter with cheeks round as apples, and a  deeply dimvled as the furrow  of a cross-bun. Her eye twinkled a  she looked upon Bulger and me, and turning to h  r frigid papa, she a ked for leave to touch
158       A  MARVELLOUS   UNDERGROUND  JOURNEY


the tip end of my thumb, ·which being done, she gave a queaky little scream and began to blow on her tiny finger a if I had blistered  it.
King Gelidu · al o present d me to ·everal of hi court favorites, all men of the coldest blood in  the nation.  Their names were  Jellikin,  Phrostyphiz,  Icikul  and  Glacierbhoy. They were all dreadfully slow thinkers when you questioned them very closely upon  any subject:
It didn't take me very long to discover this. In fact, they requested me to be less warm in my manner, and not to ask them. any posers, as they invariably found that deep thought caused a rise in their temperature.
This was, to be honest about it, very annoying to me; for you know, dear friends, what a loadstone my mind is, never asleep, always in a quiver like a mariner's cornpa s, pointing this way and that, in search of the polar star of wi dom.
Upon making known my trouble to hi frigid lVIaje ·ty, King Gelidus, he most gracefully ordered one of his trusty attendants to conduct me to the triple walled ice- ell of a certain Kolty kwerp by the name of Bullibrain, that is, literally "Boiling Brain," a man who had been born with a hot head, and conse quently with a very active brain. For fifty years King Gelidus had .been doing hi very be t to refrigerate thi  ubject of hi , but without succes ·. As I was just bur ting with impatience to ask a whole string of questions concerning the Koltykwerp ,you may imagine how delighted I was to make the acquaintance of Bullibrain, or Lord Hot Head a he was called among the Koltykwerps; but dear friends you rnu t excuse me if I make thi::; the end of a chapter and  top here for a brief rest.
A  Jl.fARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND   JOURNEY 	159








CHAPTER	XXIII


LURD  HOT  HEAD     L\IN, AND  THI    TI IE     F   LLER  ACCOPNT OF HIM.- HI WO... DHOU TALE 0 r ERNING THE KOLTY KWERPS : 'VHERE THEY CilfE FROM, WHO THEY WERE A.1:TD HOW	THEY  fANAGED  TO  LIVE  IN  THI  WORLD   OF   ETER NAL FRO T. -THE IANY QUESTIONS   I PUT TO  HI  I, AND  HIS AN  WER    I T    F   LL.

LOLD  B  LLIBRAJN   wa		never allowed to set foot in ide the palace  of	ice.		King  Gelidu ,  backed	by the opinion  of		hi · favorites, ·till indulge l the belief that he would  b		able in the end to refrigerate him.		True, he had been many year	at the t<  ·k, so that  it had now become a sort of  hobby of  his	and almo t daily did hi		frigid Majesty pay a vi ·it to hi		hot-headed subject and te t hi .  temperature by pre  ·ing a ·mall ball of ice again t hi	temple ·.		To King Gelidus' mind, a. man of	o high a temperature  wa		a continual menace to the peace and quiet of hi	kingdom.		What if  Lord Hot Head in a dream should wander  forth	orne night and fall a leep with hi	back again ·t one of  the walls of  the ice palace?	:.Might he not melt  a' ay enough of  it to throw  the whole glorious  fabric into a  lump and	lu h  of  debri ·?	It wa	terrible to think of, when he did think of it and he thought of it quite often.
But Bullibrain had no terrors forme, nor for Bulger either; in
fact  Bulger wa	delighted ·to be stroked by a warm hand  and he and Bullibrain  and I soon became the very be t of  friends· but hi	frigid Majesty wa	so alarmed when  he hec rd of  thi	friend- hip		that	he  wa		eized  ' ith  quite a	pa m of  ' armth	for, thought he, the united heat of three hot heads might work  ome terrible  harm  to the  welfare  of  his people.	So he  i sued the colde ·t kind of a de r e carved on a tablet of ice that Bullibrain

and I hould on no one day pa s more than a  half-hour  to gether; that we should never touch palm to palm, sleep in the same room, eat from the  arne dish, or  it on the same divan.
The e regulations were annoying, but I followed them to the
letter;  and when  King Gelidus  saw how careful I was to yield the  strictest  obedience  to  his  decree, he  conceived  a  genuine affection  for me and.	ent		everal  magnificent  pelts  to the  ice hou e, which had been a		igned to Bulger and me, for, of course it would not  have been	afe for  us to lodge in the palace itself, but his frigid  Maje  ty held out the flattering prospect  that  the very moment Bulger <tnd I	hould become properly refrigerated, apartments  in  the  palace would be assigned to us, and, in fact, that I should be permitted  to eat at the royal table.
Who are the  Koltykwerps?		Where  did these strange folk come from?	How did they ever find  their way down into  this World of  Eternal  Fro t?	And, above all, where do they  get their food and clothi11g from?	These were a few of the que tion which  I was so impatient to have an wered  that my tempera ture was rai ed a whole degree, and I was obliged to sleep with only one single pelt between me and my div<tn of crystal ice.
For a man  bred  and born  in so cold a  country as the land of the Koltykwerp  •  Bullibrain  had an extremely quick and active mind.	On account  of  hi	rapid heart-beat	and the consequent high temperature of  his body  he wa	not  able  to  do  his writ ing on slabs of ice as other learned Koltykwerps had done  for it would  not  have  been a  pleasant  thing  for him  to 'ee  a  poem which  he had  ju  t  fini 'hed  liter<tlly  melt  away in  hi	hands without		o much a ' leaving an ink-stain behind, so he had  been obliged	with  King  Gelidus' permi::; it>n, to do  his writing  on thin  tablets  of  alaba 'ter.
Before he began to talk to me about the progenitors  of the Koltykwerps, he showed me a map of the country in the upper world once inhabited by them, and traced for me the course they had sailed upon abandoning that country, and described the beautiful  shores  they had landed upon in their search for a new
A  MARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND  JOURNEY 	161

home. I saw at a glance that it was  Greenland  which Bulli brain was thus unconsciously describing· and knowing as I did that in past ages Greenland had been a land  of  blue skies, warm winds, green meadows, and fertile valleys, before moving mountains of ice came down from the North  and  crushed  all life out of it, I listened with breathle interest to his wonderful tales of  its beautiful lakes, nestled  at the foot of vine-clad mountains, all of which Bullibrain now looked upon in fair visions inherited from  his ancestors. And I also knew that it must have been the Arctic Ocean which had been traversed by the ship  of  the  Koltykwerp  who had  then  landed upon  the, in those days, sunny shores of Northern Russia.
But the mountains of ice could sail too, and they followed the fleeing Koltykwerps like mighty monsters, dashing themselves with terrible roar and crash upon the peaceful  shores,  which they soon transformed into a wilderne s of berg, of glacier, and of floe.
Only a  handful  of  the Koltykwerps  survived;  and  these, in
their dumb de pair taking refuge in the clefts and caverns of the North Urals, could  from  their  hiding-places  look upon  one  of the   strangest		ights  that  had  ever  greeted  human  eye .		So rapid  had  been  the  advance  of  the e  mighty  rna ses  of	ice, era bing again t the mountain  sides and rending the very  rocks in their fury, that the  air gave up its  warmth, and the sun was powerles	to give it back again.	The animals of  the wild wood and the bea. ts of  the field, overtaken in their flight, peri hed a they  ran and  stood there  stark  and  stiff, with  heads  upto		ed and  mu cle	knotted.	Them by the  thousan	and  ten  times thou  ands  the  cru bed  crystal	of  the  pursuing  floods caught up like  moss  and  leaves  in a mountain  torrent  and packed in every  cave  and  cavern on  the way  tearing broader  and loftier portals  into these	ubterranean	hamber  , so that they might  do their  work  the  better!
And the e then, 0 Bullibrain, are your meat quarrie ,	I
exclaimed	'whence ye draw your daily food?"

' Even so, little baron," replied the hot-headed Koltykwerp, "and not only our food, but the skins which erve us so admir ably for clothing in this cold under ground world, and the oil, too, which burns in our beautiful alabaster lamp , besides a hun dred other thing , such as bone for helves and handles, horn for needles and buttons and eating  utensil  , wool  for  the weaving of  our under-garments, and magnificent  pelt·  of  bear  and  seal
:and walrus,  which, laid upon  our benches  and divans of   cryl:ltal
ice, transform	them	into  beds	and	couches	which	even  an inhabitant of  thy world might envy. '
"But, 0 Bullibrain," I cried out, ''have ye not almo t ex hau ted these supplies? Will not death from starvation soon stare ye all in the face in these deep and icy caverns of the under world, visited by the sun's light yet unwarmed by it?"
"Nay, little  baron,"  answered  Bullibrain  with  a  smile  almo  t as warm as one of my own;" let not that thought give thee a moment's alarm, for we have  as yet barely rai ed the lid of this ice-box of nature's packing. We are not large eaters any way," continued Lord Hot Head, "for while it i ' true that we are  not indolent people, for hi frigid Majesty s palace and our dwellings need constant repair, and new hatchets and axes must be chipped out in the flint quarries and new lamps carved and new garments woven, yet it i  al o  true  that  we  take  life  rather  easy.  We have no enemies to lay, no quarrels to settle, no  gold  to  fight over, no land to drive our  fellow-creatures  from  and  fence  in; nor can we be ill, if we were willing to be, for in this pure, cold, cri p air disease would try in vain to sow her poison  germs ; hence, needing no doctors, we have none, a we have no lawyers either,  or   merchants   to   ell  u   what  belong   to  us  already. His frigid Maje ty is an excellent king.  I never read  of  a better one.  I doubt that hi   like exi  ts in  the  upper  world.   Always cool headed, no thought of conque t, no dream of power, no longings  for empty  pomp  and  how  ever enter his mind,   Since the  day his  father  died and we   et the great   Koltykwerp  crown of   crystal  ice  upon  his   cool  brow, his  temperature   has  never
A   MARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND     JOURNEY 	163

risen but a half a degree, and that was only for a brief hour or so, and was occasioned by a mad proposal of one of his council lors, who claimed that he had di::;covered an explo ive compound, something like the gunpowder of thy world, I  fancy, by which he could shatter the glorious window of rock crystal set in the mountain dome of our under world and let in the warm sun shine."
"Did his frigid Maje ty Gelidus put this daring Koltykwerp to death?" I asked.
"Oh, dear, no," replied Bullibrain; "he merely ordered him  to be refrigerated for so many hours a day until all his feveri h projects had been chilled to death; for no doubt, little baron  a man of thy deep learning knows full well that all the ills which thy world suffers from are the children of fevered brains, of minds made restless and visionary by the high temperature of the blood which gallops through the approaches to the dome of thought, stirring up wild dreams and visions as thy sun lifts the poi onous vapor from the stagnant pool."
The more I li tened to Bullibrain the more I liked him.	The fact of the matter is, I preferred  to sit in his narrow cell with its plain walls of ice lighted up by a single alabaster lamp and con verse with him to loitering  in  the  splendid  throne-room  of  his frigid Maje  ty King Gelidus;  but  Bulger  had  discovered  that the  pelts  of  Princess  Schneeboule ·s divan  were  much  thicker softer, and warmer than the single one allowed Lord Hot Head, and therefore he preferred spending his time with her;  but fear ing lest he  might get into mischief, I didn't dare  to leave  him alone with the princess  too long at a time.










CHAPTER	XXIV


SOME FEW THINGS CONCERNING THE DEAR LITTLE PRINCESS SCHNEEBOULE.-HOW SHE AND  I  BECAME  FAST  FRIENDS, AND HOW ONE DAY SHE CONDUCTED BULGER AND ME INTO HER FAVORITE GROTTO TO SEE THE LITTLE MAN WITH THE FROZEN  SMILE.-SOMETHING  ABOUT  HIM.-WHAT  AME  OF MY HAVING LOOKED UPON HIM QUITE FULLY DESCH.IBED.

AT the time of Bulger' and my arrival in the land of the Koltykwerps the Prince  Schneeboule was  about  fifteen  years of age, and I must say that rarely had it been my good  fortune to make the acquaintance of uch a sweet-tempered, lovable little creature. She flitted about the ice palace like a beam of  sun light, and there was nothing of the spoiled child about her, although a bit mischievous at times.
Her voice was as full of  music as a skylark's, and  it was  not
many days before she and I had become the best friends in the world.
Now, you must know, dear friends, that according to the  law
of the Koltykwerp , a prince  i  left  absolutely free  to  choose her own husband, and hi   frigid Maje ty was very anxiou   that
chneeboule should pick hers out a  oon as possible.  Moreover, the law of the land gave her perfer.t freedom to choo e a hus band of high or low degree, provided he  was  young  enough. The way in which a Koltykwerp princess was required to make known her preference was to press a kiss upon the cheek of the young man whom she might settle upon. This ennobled him at once, and he became the heir apparent to the throne of ice, and entitled to sit on its step   until he  'hould be crowned king.
Now, his frigid Majesty was delighted to see this friendship
A   MARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND  JOURNEY	165


spring up between Schneeboule and me, for he hoped to make use of my influence to bring her to set the neces ary kiss on some youth's cheek before I took my departure from the cold Kingdom of the Koltykwerps. I gave him the word of a noble man that I would do my best to carry out his wishes.
With Schneeboule for a guide, Bulger  and  I  often went  for
walks through the splendid ice grotto	of  her  father's kingdom, electing  days  when  the  sunlight  of  the  outer  world  poured stronge t through the mighty lens set in the side  of  the  moun tain.	Then  these  grottos  took  on  a  splendor  that	my poor tongue i  powerless to describe.	Their crystal  mazes  glittered as if  their walls were set with rna		ive jewels most wonderfully cut and polished, and as if their ceilings were fretted with gems so peerless that all the gold  of  the  upper world would  fall  far
·hort of paying for them.  Here, there, and everywhere the skill ef the Koltykwerp had carved and chiselled graceful flights of steps, broad landing with majestic column , and winding corri dors lined with long rows of tatue ·, single and groupwi 'e; and ever and anon the vi itor came upon a terrace where  seated upon a fur-covered divan, he might look out upon the bewildering beauty of King Gelidus' icy domains, arch touching arch and dome springing from dome, while over and above all, through the gigantic len in it  granite setting, a mile above our  heads, treamed a flood of glorious sunlight, lighting up thi  World within a World with a radiance so grand and so complete as to seem to be a un of a far greater plendor than the one that warmed the upper world and bathed it in so many gorgeous hues at morn and eve.    Hardly a day went by now that the  prince
of  the Koltykwerp   did not surpri e  either  Bulger  or  me with
'orne gift or other.
To tell  the  truth,  dear friend	although my Ru.:;sian coat was fur-trimmed, yet I began to feel the need of warmer garments after a week's sojourn in the icy domain of King Gelidus, and I think chneeboule mu t have heard my teeth chattering, for one morn inO', upon entering the Palace of  Ice  I wa	delighted to be  pre-

sented with a full suit of fur precisely similar to the  one worn by King Gelidus himself.
Nor was Bulger  forgotten  by the  loving little  Princess, for
with her own hands she had knitted him a blanket of the  soft est wool, which she  belted  so  snugly  around  his  body  and tied so tightly around his neck  that  henceforth  he  felt  per fectly comfortable in the chill air of the home of the Kolty kwerps.
One day the Princess Schneeboule said to me -
Oh, come, little baron, come to my favorite grotto, now that the sun's rays are bright within it; there shalt thou see a wonder."
"A wonder, Princess Schneeboule? "
"Yes, little baron, a wonder," she repeated:  "the Little Man
with the Frozen Smile."
"Little Man with the Frozen Smile?" I echoed.
Come  and see, come  and  see, little  baron l " cried  Schnee houle, hurrying on ahead.
In a few moments we  had reached the grotto and bounded into it with the Princess leading the way.
Suddenly she halted in front of a magnificent block of cry tal
ice, clear as polished glass, and cried out,-                         ·
"There,  look!  There  is  the	Little	Man  with	the  Frozen Smile!"
Even now, as the thought  of  that  moment  comes  over me, I
feel something of the thrill of half fear, half joy, as my eyes fell upon the little creature shut in that superb block  of ice, himself a part of  it, himself   its heart, its contents, its mystery.   There, in its centre, in easy posture, with wide opened eyes, and with what might be called a smile upon its face- that is a glint of kindliness and affection in its strange eyes with their overhang ing brows, sat a small animal of the chimpanzee race. He had possibly been asleep when the icy flood struck him, dreaming of beautiful trees bending beneath purple fruit, of cloudless skies above and a coral beach below, and death  had  come  to  him  so


























































TilE LITTLE  MAN  WITH  TilE FROZE!'!	IILE.
























•
A  MARVELLOU"'	UNDERGROUND    JOURNEr 	169

quickly that he had become a brother to thi	block of ice while the happy dream was	till in his thought  .
It wa wonderful, it was more than wonderful . Spellbound by the strange spectacle, I stood there, I know not how long, with my eyes looking into his. At la t Schneeboule's voice aroused me:
' Ha! ha. " he laughed; look, little baron, Bulger is try ing to ki s his poor dead brother."
In truth, Bulger did have hi no ·e pressed firmly again ·t the block of ice in hi  effort to  cent the  trange animal imprisoned in that crystal cell- o near, and yet  o far beyond the reach of hi   keen scent.
"Well, little baron," cried Schneeboule, "did I not peak truly? Have I not hown thee the Little Man with the Frozen Smile?"
"Indeed thou ha t, fair prince ·," wa my reply;'· and I cannot tell thee how grateful I am to thee for having done so."
Then, a ' he plucked me by the leeve, I pleaded, '4  Nay, gentle Schneeboule, not yet, not yet, let me bide a bit  longer. The Little Man with the Frozen mile  seem  to  beg me  not  to go. I can almo t imagine that  I hear  him whisper:  0 little baron, break open the cry tal cell of my prison and take me with thee back to the world of ·un hine, back to the land of the orange-tree where the oft warm wind  u ed to rock me to  leep in the cradle of the waying bough , while the wi e and watchful patriarch of our flock stood guard over us all.' "
Schneeboule's big, round, gray e e filled with tears at these word.
"Would that he'" re aliYe little baron," she murmured, 'and
that I could give him	orne of m	happines	to pay him back for all the long years he has been spending in his icy pri on."
In a few moment  chneeboule took me  by the hand and led me away from the great block  of  ice with  its  silent  prisoner. My heart was very heavy, and both Schneeboule and Bulger did their utmo t to divert m    but all to no purpo  e.
170     A  AJARVELLOUS   UNDERGROUND  JOURNEY

Leaving th prin ·es at the portal of the palace, I went  to my dwelling which was ablaze with the soft glow of its alabas ter lamp , and there I found a beautiful new pelt spread over my di an, a new gift from King Gelidu ,. But I could take no pleasure in it. .My thought were all with the Little Man with the Frozen Smile locked in the icy embrace of that  crystal mould which in it cold irony let him eem to be so free and unfettered and  et held him in  uch  i e-like grip.   After a while I di mis ed m 'erving people and laid me down for the night with my dear Bulger ne 'tled again t my breast. But I could not sleep. All ni ht  long those· trange eyes with their  un canny glint followed me about, pleading strong but ilent for me to come again, for me to soften my heart like a child of the unshine that I wa to shatter hi  crystal dungeon  and  et him loo 'e to bear him away from the icy domain of the Kolt kwerps out into the warm air of the upper world. vVhat was I dream ing about? Wa he not dead? Hadnot his spirit left his body thou and and thou and ' of years ago? 'Vhy hould I let such w·ild thoughts yex my mind? What good would come of it? None, none whatever. I wa a rea ouable creature, I mu t not give lodgment within my brain to  uch silly ideas.
The Little Man with the Frozen	mile had been  through al
mo t  playful  fate, laid  away in  a  beautiful tomb.  I mu  t  not di turb  it.   No  doubt  in  his  lifetime  he had  been the  pet  of a noble manor, brought to -the Northland from  orne  sunny clime by master of  powerful argo y.  Let him re t in peace.  I mu t not dare to mar the beauty of hi cry tal tomb, so glori ously  transparent.
I wa even  orry that Schneeboule had led me into her beauti ful grotto  and re 'olved to go thither no more.
vVhat poor wea.k creature are we, o fertile in good resolu tion and yet so unfruitful of re ult , planting whole acres with fair prorni e , but when the tender shoot pierce the ground turning our back upon the  rop as if it didn t belong to u  .
A  MARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND  JOURNEY 	171








CHAPTER	XXV


.A		LEEPLESS NIGHT FOR BULGER AND ME AND WHAT FOL LOWED IT.-INTERVIEW WITH KING GELIDUS.-MY  REQUEST AND HIS REPLY.-WHAT ALL TOOK PLACE WHEN I LEARNED THAT THE KING AND HIS COUNCILLORS HAD DECIDED NOT TO GRANT MY REQUEST.-STR.ANGE TillfULT AMONG THE KOLTY KWERP , AND HOW HIS FRIGID MAJE TY TILLED  IT,  AND SOME OTHER THINGS.

NoT only had I been unable to leep,  but  by  my  to ' ing about I had kept poor dear Bulger awake so that when morning came we both looked haggard enough. I felt a if I had been through a fit of sickness, and no doubt he did too.    At any rate I had no appetite for the heavy meat diet of the Koltykwerp  , and seeing me refu e my breakfast, Bulger did likewise.
I had promi eel Schneeboule to come early to the  pala e, for she had a number of que tions which he wi 'heel to a k me con cerning the upper world.
"Good-morning, little baron,'  she cried  in her sweetest tone
as I entered the throne-room.	'Didst		leep well la t night on the new pelt which  papa sent thee?'		I wa ' about to make a reply when	chneeboule s hand coming in contact with mine - for we had both removed our glove	in order to	hake hand , - he  uttered  a piercing  scream, and drawing back	toocl ther blowing her breath on her right palm  as she exclaimed, again and   again-
' Firebrand.	Fir brand. '
In an instant King Gelidus and a  group  of  hi  councillors drew near, and pulling over their gl ves,  one  after  the  other laid his hand in min  .
"Glowing coal  !'' cried hi	frigid l\tiaje ty.
172       A  MARVELLOUS   UNDERGROUND  JOURNEY


" Tongue of flame !" roared Phrostyphiz. "Boiling water!" groaned Glacierbhoy. "Red hot!'  hi sed Icikul.
'Thou must leave the palace at once" half pleaded King Gelidus.    "It would simply be  madne s for me to  permit  such
-a firebrand  to  remain within  the walls  of  the  royal  residence. The intense heat of thy body would be sure to melt a hole in its walls  ere the sun goe · down.'
The  royal  councillors  again  drew  off	their  gloves and  laid
hands upon poor Bulger, when a second alarm, even wilder than the first, was sent up and we were hastily escorted back to our lodging-house.
No doubt, dear friends, you will be somewhat  my tified upon
reading these words, but the explanation is easy: Owing to worriment and lack of sleep, Bulger and I had awaked in a highly feverish condition, and to the Koltykwerps we had really
.·eemed to be almost on fire, but our fever left us toward night; hearing which, King Gelidus sent for us and did all in his power to entertain us with song and dance, in both of which, Schnee houle  was  very   killed.   Finding that  his  frigid  Majesty  wa:-> in such a rosy  humor, if I may be allowed to speak that way of a person whose face was almost as white as the alabaster lamps over his head, I determined to ask him for permission to cleave asunder the icy cell of the Little Man with  the  Frozen  Smile, and ascertain if po ible from the collar, which, made up appar ently of gold and silver coin wa clasped around his neck, to whom he had belonged and where his home had been.
No sooner had I proferred my request, than I noticed that the white face of the royal Gelidus parted with its smile  and  took on a terribly icy look.
Methought I could look through the tip of his nose as though an icicle, and methought, too, that his ear shone in the light of the alabaster lamps like sheet of crystal ice, and that his voice as he spoke puffed into my face like the first flakes of a commg snowstorm.
A  MARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND   JOURNEY 	173

I quickly repented me of my rash action. But it was too late and I determined to stand by it.
"Little   baron,"	poke  royal  Gelidus  in  i	tones,   "never  a heart  beat  in  a kingly breast  that  was  pur  r  and  colder  than mine,  freer from  the  warmth  of  sel:fishnes , with  not a	ingle hot corner for ire or anger to ne tle  in, or for weakness  or folly to  make		their	hiding-places.	For	thou ands		of	years		my people  have  inhabited  thi	icy domain  and  breathed  this  pure cold air, and never yet hath one desired to strike an axe of flint into  the  walls  of  that  crystal  prison.	However,  little  baron there may be some warm  corner  in my heart wherein  cold and limpid  wisdom  may not  be  at home.		Therefore  come  to me to-morrow for my answer, meanwhile  I'll  take  council with the coolest  brains  and  coldest  hearts  about  me.	If they  see  no harm  in  thy request, thou  mayst  crack  open  the  crystal  gate that have for so many centuries shut the manlike creature in hi silent cell, and take him forth in order to study the my tic word graven on hi	collar;  but upon the strict condition that in cleav ing  open  his  house  of  crystal  my  quarry  men  so apply  their wedges  of	flint as  to  break  the  block  into  two  equal  piece , that when  thou  ha t read what  may be  there, the two part	be losed upon the little  man  again, edg fitting  edge, like  a  per fect mould, so exactly that to the eye no sign of  line or joint be visible.	Dost promi  e, little baron, that  this shall  be as  to our royal will, it	eem	meet that it should be? "
I promi ed mo 't olemnly. that the crystal cell of the  Little Man with the Frozen mile should be  opened  and  closed exactly  as  hi   frigid  Maje  ty  had  directed.
It would be hard for me to tell you, dear friend , how happy I went to re t that night upon my icy divan, and how as the tiny flame of my alaba ter lamp shed its soft glow upon the walls of ice, I lay there turning over in my mind the strange a.nd mysteriou plea ure which was soon to fall to my lot when the quarry men of King Gelidus should set their wedges of flint in this gloriou  block of ice and cleave it a under.
174	A	IARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND   JOURNEY


Even Don Fum, lVIa ter of Ma ter , had never dreamed of receiving a mes ·age from the people who lived in the very childhood of the  world,  and  in  anticipation  already  I  enjoyed the splendid triumph which would be mine when   I  came  to lecture  before  learned   societies   upon   the   mysterious   lettering on the curious  c llar cla ping the neck  of  the  Little  Man with the   Frozen   Smile.
Imagine my angui h then dear friends, upon receiving a me - sage from King Gelidns  the  next day that  hi  councillor  had with one voice decreed against the opening of the cry tal prison which stood in S hneeboule's  grotto!
I was as if		mitten with some	udden  and  awful  ailment.		I had  never felt  until  that  moment how keen the tooth of di ·ap pointment could be.	I shivered first with a chill  that made me brother to the  Koltykwerps, and then  I  burned  with a fever so raging  that  a  wild  rumor  spread  through  Gelidus' icy domain that  I wa	etting  fire  to  the very walls  and roof.	With  wild outcries, and  faces  drawn  with  nameless  dread, the  subject	of hi	frigid Majesty rushed pell  mell  up the wide flights of  .tair leading to the palace  of  ice, and pleaded for the king  to  show himself.
In cold and frigid maje ty, Gelidu	walked out upon the plat
form and listened to the prayers of his people.
"We shall burn " they cried· "our beautiful home · will fall about our ears. The e cry ·tal steps  will  melt  away,  and  all these fair column::; and arches and  statues  and  pedestals will turn to water and empty themselves into the  lower caverns  of the earth.  The  great  window  of  our  sky will fall with awful era h upon our heads, putting an end forever to this fair domain of  crystal  plendor.   0 Gelidus,  haste  thee,  ha te  thee, ere  it be too late, let the little baron have hi way before bitter disap pointment tran form  his body and  limbs into  tongues  of flame to lick up this magnificent palace in a ingle night, and da h it, thousand alabaster lamps to the ground, a heap of beards, no fragment matching its brother  fragment,  but  all  a  wretched rna     of worthles   matter! "
A   }.IARVELLOU.,   UNDERGROU. .  D   JOURNEY 	175


King Gelidu · anl hi · fr 'ty coun ·illor · 'aw that it would be u ele to attempt to r a ·on with the people and therefore turn ing toward them he coldl r waved hi chilly right hand and with an icy  mile  poke fro tily a  follow·,-
"Go		Koltykwerp	to  your  home·		and  b	happy.	'Vhat think you, have I a heated brain, doth my heart  ·team with fool i ·hne s, that you  ·hould  think  me  capable  of  wi hing  harm t the tiniest  Koltykwerp  tha	pjn ' hi · top of  ice in my fair king dom?		Go to your home , I  ay; the little baron i · already cool ing off  for he hath my full con ent to  ·leave a under the cr	tal pri on of the Little Man with the Frozen		'mile.	There i		noth to be frightened abont, my children.	o eat hearty  ·upper		and "'leep	oundl r  to-night,  for my ro ·al  word for it	b · to-morrow morning the little baron will cea e  to be the lea ·t bit dangerous to the peace and welfare of our icy kingdom.	A cold good-ni ht to you all."
In a short half hour the  panic- tricken  Koltykwerps were  all
back in their home again and when a me  enger  came from King Gelidu to mea ure my temperature  he  found  uch  a great improvement that he  opened hi    hilly heart  and   ent me a beautiful pre ent from hi, trea ure house  to  wit:  A  mall block of ice clearer than any gem I had ever ' en in  the  heart of which lay a gloriou · red ro ·e in fulle t bloom, each velvet petal open d  out  eagerly.  Upon  con ·ulting  my diar  I  found that it was ju t ix month to  a day  since  I had  left  Ca:tle Trump and the loved ones heltered by it time-worn tile , and cold as wa the covering  of thi thrice beautiful child  of the upper world I cla ped it to my brea t and   hed tear .
And thi	wa	he way it came about	dear friend	that  King
Gelidu and his fro ty councillor·  were  brought  to  give  their con 'ent to my cl a\ ing asunder the icy pri on wherein lay the Little Man with the Frozen Smile.
176        A   MARVELLOUS    UNDERGROUND   JOURNEY










CHAPTER XXVI


HOW THE QUARRY MEN OF lUNG GELIDUS CLEFT ASUNDER THE CRYSTAL PRISON OF THE LlTTLE MAN WITH THE FROZEN SMILE. -MY BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT, AND  HOW  I  BORE IT. -WONDERFUL HAPPENINGS OF THE NIGHT THAT FOL LOWED.- BULGER AGAIN PROVES HIMSELF TO BE AN ANI MAL OF EXTRAORDINARY SAGACITY.


BuLGER and I had little appetite for the dainty breakfast of tewed sweetbreads which  the  Koltykwerps  et  before  us  the next morning, for I knew, and he half suspected, that something important was going to happen, being nothing less than the cleaving asunder of the crystal cell which had held the little chimpanzee a prisoner for so many centuries .
Walking  beside	the  merry  Princess  Schneeboule,  who  was
delighted to know that his  frigid  Majesty, her  father,  had  at last yielded to my wishes, Bulger and I set out for  the  beauti ful ice grotto; behind us walked Phrostyphiz and Glacierbhoy with instructions from the king to supervi e  the  cleaving asunder of the block of ice ; and after them came four of King Gelidus' quarry men, two bearing flint axes with helves of polished bone and two carrying the flint wedges to be  used in the work.
We soon entered  chneeboule's  grotto,  and  the  task was  at on ce entered upon.
It seemed to me I could almo t see the Little Man with the Frozen Smile wink his eyelids as the quarry men set  their wedges in place and began to mark the line of fracture; but, of cour e, dear friends, you know what an imagination I have, especially  when  I get worked up over  anything.    So you must
A   1"\;fARVELLOUS    UNDERGROUND   JOURNEY 	177


take what I say sometimes with a grain of salt, although as a rule, you  may accept my  'tatements with child-like confidence.
With such wonderful skill did the Koltykwerpian quarry men use their axes and wedges that in a  few moments, to my great delight, the huge block of ice fell asunder in perfect halves, in one of which the little manlike creature lay on hi . ide like a casting in a mould.
I made haste to lift him out and wrap him  a soft pelt,  which I had brought along for that purpose, and then I turned  to retrace my steps to my chamber, where I intended to begin at once - my study of whatever inscriptions should  be found upon his curious collar.
"Remember little baron'' aid Glacierbhoy, " by express command of his frigid Maje 'ty the Little Man with the Frozen Smile must be returned to his crystal cell to-morrow morning at this very hour."
I bowed assent, and then, having accompanied Princess Schneeboule as far as the bottom of the grand staircase leading to the ice palace, I turned away and was soon in the privacy of my own apartment.
Now came for me one of the bitterest di appointments of my life; but I submitted with a good grace, for it was  fit  punish ment visited upon me for my foolish vanity in striving to  un earth some older record of the h urn an race than had yet  been done by any of the great searchers and philosophers, not even excepting that Master of Ma ter , Don Strephalofidgeguanerius fum!
Know then, dear friends,  that  the  quaint  collar, made  up  of
gold and silver coins, or disk , cunningly linked together, which encircled the animal's neck, contained not  a  ingle  word  or letter of any language  the  undersides  being  quite  blank, and the upper merely having roughly carved outlines of an object which might possibly have been intended for the sun.
Wrapping the animal up in the soft pelt, I laid him away in
a corner of  my divan  and  betook  myself  to  the  palace  of  his
f


178      A  MARVELLOUS   UNDERGROUND  JOURNEY

frigid Majesty, where I frankly informed King Gelidus of my great disappointment in not finding some few words or even a single word of a language unknown to the wisest heads of the upper world.
Schneeboule was	o touched  by  my sadness that, had  I not
skilfully kept out of her way, I verily believe she would have thrown her arms around my neck and imprinted upon my cheek the kiss which would have made me the king of the Kolty kwerps; but I had no longing to pend the rest of  my  life in the icy domains of his frigid Majesty, even though my brow would be crowned with the cold crown of the Koltykwerps.   If I had been an old man, with slow and feeble pulse, it would have been very different; but my heart was too warm and my blood too hot to fill such a position with agreeablenes to myself or satisfaction to the people of thi . icy under world. So I kept the little princess busy enough, I can assure you, fir t with songs, then with dance, and then with story-telling.
That night King Gelidu	ordered a magnificent f te to be held
in my honor. Five hundred more alabaster lamps were lighted, and the royal divans were laid with the richest pelts in the pal ace, and after the dancing and inging had ended, frozen tidbits from the royal kitchen were pa sed around on alabaster salvers, and Bulger and I ate until our teeth ached.
It was late when we reached our own apartment, and so full were my thoughts of the beautiful sights which we had gazed upon in the throne-room, that I had quite forgotten about  the poor Little Man with the Frozen Smile whom I had covered up and tucked away on my divan; but Bulger had not been so hard-hearted.
Twenty times during the evening he had given me a sly tug at my sleeve as much a  to say,-
' Come, little master, let' hurry back; dost  not  remember that we left·my poor little frozen brother tucked away in that icy chamber all alone by himself?'' I was very weary and I fell off to sleep almost immediately  and yet I had an indi ·tinct rec-




BULGKR	HOW    THE  BARON    0:\IETHING  WO   OERFUL.

A	IARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND   JOURNEY 	181

ollection that Bulger was not in his place against my breast. I remembered feeling for him, but that's all. It never flashed upon me that he had gone and lain down beside the .poor little stranger, whom I had so unfeelingly lifted from hi la t resting place, and yet such must have been the case, for about midnight, it eemed to me, I was awakened by a gentle tugging at my sleeve.
It was my faithful Bulger, but, half awake and half  a leep  a
I was, I merely thought that he was only a king for a caress as was often his wont when he fell a-thinking about home, so I reached out and stroked his head several times and dro ped off agam.
But the tugging began anew, and thi	time 'twas more vigor ous and with it came an impatient whine which meant,-
" Come, come, little master, rouse thee; dost suppose I would break thy rest unles tb,ere were good reason for it?" I didn't need a third reminder, but with a ingle bound landed on my feet, and reaching out for one of the tiny tapers which the Koltykwerps make u e of as lighters, I carried the flames from the ingle lamp burning on the wall  to the three others hanging here and there.
The icy wall		of  my  chamber  were  now  ablaze  with  light. There  sat  Bulger  on  the  fur-covered  divan,  be ide  the  place where the Little Man with the  Frozen  Smile lay  hidden  under the  pelt.	His  tail  was  wagging  nervously, and  his  large, lu - trou	eyes were fixed first upon me and then upon  the  covering of hi		dead brother with an expre sion I never remembered hav ing  een in them before, and then  with  a sudden  movement  he laid hold of  the  pelt  and, drawing  it  aside,  showed  me, what think you, dear friend , what, I ask in a tone half	whisper, half ga p, for now	ear	after I  still  can  feel  that  wonderful   thrill which  I felt then?		Why  it wa	alive!	That ape-like  creature had come to life after hi	leep  of	thousand	of  years  in  that narrow, cry tal  cell			Bulger  had  lain  down  be ide  hi	frozen brother and warmed him back to life again .
Oh  it wa	wondrou  ly  wonderful  to	·ee  that  pair  of	little eye , beadlike in brightne	, look up and blink at me;  and  then
182      A  MARVELLO U ' UNDERGROUND  JOURNEY


to hear that low, moaning voice, so human-like, as if it whim pered, with a  hake and a shiver,-
" Oh, how cold it  is ! how very cold it  i  .	Where's	the
sun ? Where's the soft warm wind, and where are the cloudless skies o blue, oh so beautifully blue, that u ed to hang over my head?
Bidding Bulger lie down again be  ide him and snuggle up as
close as possible, I made haste to cover them both with the softest skins I could find.
In a few moments there came from underneath the pile a low, contented cry of " Coojah ! Coojah ! Coojah !" followed by a curiou addition sounding like "Fuff! Fuff! Fuff! " so I put them all together and named the strange new comer to the icy domain of King Gelidus- Fuffcoojah !
Sleep any more that night? Not a wink.  The  same  joy came over me that I used to feel on Christma morning long ago when Kris Kringle brought me some wonderful bit of mechanism moved by a ecret spring- for I always scorned to accept ordinary toys like ordinary children ; and oh, how I longed for the morning when it would be time for me to bundle up the Little Man- no longer him with the Frozen Smile, but Fuffcoojah, the Live Boy from Faraway, with his curious little face screwed up into such a funny look- and carry him to the palace.
How  delighted  Schneeboule  will  be!  thought  I, and King
Gelidus too, how he will unbend from his frigid majesty as he watches the antic of Fuffcoojah, and how pleased all the digni fied Koltykwerpian , including even Phrostyphiz and Glacier bhoy, will be when I tell them that the Little Man with the Frozen Smile has come to life again !
What crowds of  Koltykwerps, men, women and children, will
rush up the long flights of teps leading to the Ice Palace, beg ging and entreating King Gelidu to let them have just a little look at Fuffcoojah, the  little  man  'et free from his icy cell by the famous traveller , Baron    ebastian von l'roomp!
A  MARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND   JOURNEY 	183











CHAPTER	XXVII


EXCITEMENT OVER FUFFCOOJ AH. -I CARRY HIM TO THE COURT OF KING GELIDUS.- HIS INSTANT AFFECTION FOR PRINCESS SCHNEEBOULE. -I AM  ACCUSED OF EXERCISING THE BLACK ART.- MY DEFENCE AND MY REWARD. -ANXIETY OF THE KOLTYKWERPS LEST FUFFCOOJ.A.H PERISH OF HUNGER. THIS CALAMITY AVERTED, ANOTHER STARES US  IN  THE FACE: HOW TO KEEP HIM FROM FREEZING TO DEATH. -I SOLVE THE PROBLEM, BUT DR.A.W UPON ME A STRANGE MISFORTUNE.

IT all turned out just as I had thought it would! The mo ment it became known that the Little Man with the Frozen Smile had actually come to life, the wildest excitement prevailed in every part of the icy domain of his frigid Majesty. I was astounded at the change in the actions of the Koltykwerps. They moved more quickly, they talked faster, they made more gestures than I had ever seen them do before. In some cases, you will hardly believe it, dear friends, I actually noticed a faint glow in the cold cheeks of a few of them.
I had hoped to be able to bundle Fuffcoojah up warmly and make my escape to the ice palace before the people learned of his coming to life, but in vain. When I made my appearance at the door, there was a large crowd of Koltykwerps pushing and pulling in front of my quarter .
Most of them were good-natured, and cried out,-
" how him to us, little baron, show us the Little Man with the Frozen Smile whom thou hast brought to life. Let us look upon his face !"
"Nay, nay, Koltykwerps!" I  exclaimed, "it must  not be!
184       A  MARVELLOUS   UNDERGROUND  JOURNEY


His frigid Maje ty must be the first to look upon Fuffcoojah's face. Room, room for the noble guest of royal Gelidus! In the name of his frigid Majesty give way and let me pa s! ''
The  Koltykwerps  showed no inclination to obey.	To such a
pitch of excitement had they worked themselves up that only upon seeing Bulger advance. t1pon them with flashing eye and teeth laid bare, did they reach the conclusion that my brave ompanion was in no mood to be trifled with.
Thwarted in their wild desire to get a peep at Fuffcoojah, the Koltykwerps now began to rail  at me  a  I pas ed them. by on my way to the ice palace.
-    "Oho, Master magician!    Ha, ha, Prince of   the  Black  Art!
Boo, boo, little wizard!  Have a care, wily necromancer, see to it that thou dost not practise any of thy tricks of enchantment upon us!" I was glad when the axe-bearer aw my plight and hurried forward to extricate me from the crowd of angry people.
.   King  Gelidus  met  me  at the portal of  hi   ice palace, and at
hi	heels came Princes Schneeboule, who could hardly wait for her turn to take a look at the curious living creature which I unwrapped just  enough to let her see its nose.
The instant Fuffcoojah set eyes upon the sweet face of the Koltykwerpian princes , he ·tretched out  his  little  arm  a  a child might to  its  mother.  Thi  udden  show  of  affection caused Schneeboule the liveliest pleasure, and quickly drawing off one of her gloves she reached out and stroked the animal's head, but at the touch of those, to him, icy little fingers he uttered a low wail and drew back underneath the warm pelt in which he was snugly wrapped.
Poor Schneeboule! ·he  gave  a  igh a  she saw him  do  this, but it didn't prevent her from coming every minute or so and lifting one end of the pelt ju t enough to take another look at Fuffcoojah, who, while he never failed to cuddle up closer to me at sight of the princess, yet invariably thru  t  out  one  of  his black paw from under  the  pelt  for  Schneeboule  to  shake. While  seated on the  divan  nearest  the throne, I  ob erved  that
A  ltfARVELLOU	UNDERGROUND  JO URNEY 	185

Phrostyphiz and Glacierbhoy were holding a whi pered con ference with his frigid Majesty.  At once I gue   ed  the  subject of their conver ation.
Ri ing to my feet, I made a sign that I wi heel to address the king, and when he had nodded his head with stern and icy dignity, I began to speak. You know, dear friends, how elo quent I can be when the mood is upon me. Well, standing there almost upon the steps of King Gelidu ' throne of ice, I proceeded to defend my elf against the charge of being a rna ter of the black art.   I will not tell you all I aid, but thi  wa  my ending:
'May it plea e your frigid Maje ty!
"Here beside me stands the only magician in the ca ·e, and the only  art, the  only trick  or  charm which wa		exercised by him was that sweet power we call love.		When fir  the set eyes upon hi	four-footed brother locked in the cry tal cell of Schneeboule' Grotto, he pressed hi " nose again and again  again t its icy wall in vain attempt to  know hi	kinsman, and  turned  away with  a cry of	orrow to find that his keen	cent  could not penetrate  to him.	I cannot tell you how great was hi · joy when I laid Fuff coojah  stiff  and	tark upon  my divan, for I knew not  then  the cheme  ripening  in  Bulger'		mind.			But  later,  all  wa	plain enough.	The loving dog leaves hi		master'	breast  and  carries his  true  and  tender heart  over to where  Fuffcoojah  lies, raise· the pelt, crawls in  be ide him, and pre	e	hi		warm breast firm and hard again t  his brother' · ice-locked heart, and warm		him into life again, then wake	me and tells me what he hath done.
'		"This, Royal Gelidu · and most noble Koltykwerps, i the only art that hath been used to bring Fuffcoojah back to life again, and to call it black is to ·lander the ·un hine, rail at the lily, and call the sweet breath of heaven a vile and detestable thing!'
When I had ended my speech I ·aw that  Schneeboule  had been weeping, and that ·everal of her tear · topped in their course down her cheek hung there sparkling like tiny diamonds in the oft light of the alaba ter lamp ·, where th chill air of Gelidus' palace had turned th  m in to ic  .
1 6	A .MARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND JOURNEY

And therefore wh n hi frigid  l\IIaje ty said  that  my  words had touched hi  heart, and bade  me a k for a gift from hi  hand, 1 said,-
' 0 cold king of  tlli	fair icy domain  let tho e tear	that now
hang like tiny jewels on Schneeboule'	cheeks be brushed into an
alabaster box and given to me.	I covet no other guerdon !"
"Even if  I did not love thee, little baron," cried King Gelidus with  an  icy	mile,  "I would  be  persuaded;  but loving  makes easy believing.	Go  Phro typhiz, and bid  one of  the princess ' women  brush  tho e  tiny	jewels	that  hang  on	Schneeboule 's cheek  into  an  alabaster  cup  and  bestow  them  upon  the  little baron.'
carcely had this been  done when Fuffcoojah thrust  his head
out from under the pelt and fixing his eyes pleadingly upon me thru t out hi	tongue and opened and shut his mouth with a faint,	macking noi e.	Quick as a flash it dawned upon me that th	e sign	meant that Fuffcoojah was hungry .
And then, a I suddenly remembered that the Koltykwerp . were trictly a meat-eating people, that only meat was to be had in their chill domain, quarried almo t like marble itself from nature great refrigerator a ga p e caped my lips, and l whispered, -
" Oh, he must die !	He must die .	My words had ·not miss-
ed the keen ears of Princess Schneeboule.
"Speak little baron, ' he cried ' why, why, must little Fuff cojah die? What dot mean by  uch a saying?"  And when King Gelidus and Schneeboule had heard me voice my fear that he would die rather than feed on meat, they both became very heavy-hearted.
"Poor little Fuffcoojah ! " moaned the princess, "can it be possible that he must be carried back so soon to his crystal cell in my grotto ? '
"Bid the rna ter  of  my meat quarries  approach  the throne,"
cried King Gelidus suddenly, in a voice of icy dignity.
Thi	important functionary soon made hi	appearance.
A	.1lfARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND JOURNEY 	1 7

Turning to me, the king bade me explain the ca  e  to  him. This I did in a few words, when, to the great joy of all pre  ent the rna  ter of the meat quarrie   . poke a · follow   :-
' Little baron, if that s the only trouble give thyself no fur ther unea iness, for I hall at once end one of my men to thee with a supply of .mo 't deliciou  nu  . '
"Deliciou	nut  ?	I repeated in a tone of  amazement.
'Why, ·es, little baron I have a goodly supply on  hand. Know, then that hardly a day goe by that m men don't come upon some fine pecimen of the famil of gnawers  mo t gener ally quirrel , in whose cheek-pouche we  invariably find from one to half a dozen dainty nuts 'towed  away.  It  ha  always been my cu tom to lay the e aside and o I have to inform thee that if Fuffcoojah hould live to be a hundred years old I or my uccessor could guarantee to keep him supplied with food.'
The e ' ords lifted a terrible load off my heart, for now, at least, Fuffcoojah would not die of  tarvation.
For a few days everything went well. The Koltykwerps became quite satisfied in their own mind ' that I had not been practising the black art in the chilly kingdom of hi frigid Majesty, and each and every one of them became greatly at tached to the curious little creature with the droll little face and droller manner.
But it seemed as if we were no sooner  out  of  one trouble than we were plumped into another, for now Fuffcoojah  began to object to the attendant selected to look after him by King Gelidus.
The man wa	about ten degree	too cold-blooded for him, and.
ere long it was only nece ' ary for the Koltykwerp to approach Fuff, -a we called him for bort, -in order  to  throw him into convul ion of shivering and to cau e him to utter pitiable cries of discontent, which only cea ed upon my appearing and comforting him by my care  es.
I now set to work  to  devise	ome  way to make Fuff'	life
more  agreeable  to  him, for  everybody   eemed  to  hold  me  re-

spon ible for his well being. Ten times a day came messengers from King Gelidu or from Princess Schneeboule to ask how he was getting on, and whether we were keeping him warm enough, whether he had all he wanted to eat, whether he had pelts enough on hi bed.  Nor was  it an  unu ual  thing  to  have a score or more Koltykwerpian  mothers call at my quarters  dur ing a ·ingle day with advice enough to last a month, and there fore wa it that, with a view to providing him with a warmer room to sleep in, I ordered a divan fitted up for him in a smaller chamber opening into mine, upon the walls of which I directed half  a dozen of  the largest lamps to be hung.
The con equence was that the walls began to melt, hearing of which, consternation pread throughout the icy domain of his frigid Maje ty, for to the mind of a Kolty kwerp heat powerful enough to melt ice wa something terrible. It was like the dread of earthquake hock to us, or the fear of flood or flame. It was something that filled their hearts with uch terror that in their dreams they aw the olid wall of the ice palace melt asunder and fall with a era h. They could not bear it, and so King Gelidus put forth the decree that if there were no other way to keep Fuffcoojah alive then mu the die.
Hearing thi , an  awful  grief  came  upon  poor	chneeboule's
heart, for he had learned to love little Fuff very dearly, and it set a knife in her breast to think of  lo ing him.
"Never, never," he cried, ' shall I be able to set foot within my grotto if Fuffcoojah i put back into his crystal prison again, with his frozen mile on hi face a once used to be.'' And seeking out her royal father he threw her elf at his knees and  poke as follow : -
" 0 heart of  ice.  0 frigid  Maje ty, let not  thy  child  die of grief. There i an ea ·y way out of all our trouble with dear little Fuffcoojah. '
4 Speak, beloved chneeboule " an wered King Gelidus, "let me hear what it i .
4  Why, cold heart,"  'aid the  prince	,	the  little  baron  hath
A  MARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND  JO URNEY 	189
plenty of warmth stored away in his body, he hath enough for both  himself  and  Fuffcoojah  into  the  bargain.  Therefore, frigid father, command that a deep, warm hood be made to the little baron's coat, and  that  Fuffcoojah  be  placed therein and be borne about by the little baron wherever he goeth.  He will oon grow accu tamed to the slender burden and note it no more."
"It shall be a thou wishest," replied the king of the Kolty kwerps; and calling his trusty councillor, Glacierbhoy, he directed him to  ummon me at once to the throne-room.   When I heard this terrible order issue from the icy lips of King Gelidus my heart  ank within me, and yet I dared not disobey, I dared not murmur, for I it was who had cleft asunder the crystal prison of the Little Man with the Frozen Smile; I who had made it pos ible for Bulger to warm him back to life again. Oh, poor, vain , weak, foolish boy that I had been, what was to become of me now ?










CHAPTER	XXVIII


HOW  A  LITTLE  BURDEN  MAY  GROW  TO  BE  A  GRIEVOUS  ONE.
-STORY OF A MAN WITH A MONKEY IN HIS HOOD. -MY TERRIBLE SUFFERING. -CONCERNING THE AWFUL PANIC THAT SEIZED UPON THE KOLTYKWERPS.- MY VISIT  TO THE DESERTED ICE-PALACE, AND WHAT HAPPENED TO FUFF COOJAH.- END OF HIS BRIEF BUT STRANGE CAREER.- A FROZEN KISS ON A BLADE OF HORN, OR HOW SCHNEEBOULE CHOSE A HUSBAND.

AH, little princess, how easy was it for thee to say that I would soon grow accu tomed to the lender burden and note it no more? How prone are we to call light the burdens which we lay upon the shoulders of others for our own benefit? True, Fuffcoojah was not as long as a horse, nor as broad as an ox, and when in accordance with the king's decree the hood had been completed and the little animal was towed away therein, close against my back so as to get a goodly share of the warmth of my body, it seemed to me that Schneeboule was right, that I would soon become accustomed to the load and note it no more. And so it seemed the second and the third day, but not on the fourth; for on that day the little load appeared to have gained omewhat in weight, and although I wa quick to feign that it was not so when Princes Schneeboule quizzed me saying,
"There, little baron, did I not tell thee that thou  wouldst soon forget that Fuffcoojah slept upon thy shoulders?" yet in my heart I felt that he really had grown a mite heavier.
On the fifth day Bulger and I were bidden to a merry-making at the palace of ice, and as I rose from my divan to betake me thither,  methought  I was strangely heavy-hearted, and so did












































----




TilE  BAR  :S'    FLIGHT  TO THE  ICE  PAl,ACE.

A  MARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND  JOURNEY 	193

Bulger, for he made several efforts to draw a smile, or a cheery tone  from me, but in vain.
Suddenly I realized that there was a weight pressing against my back, no, not a heavy weight, but a weight all the same, and then I whi pered to my elf, ' Why, if I am going to a merry making, I'll ca t it off. ' and then I wakened from my deep abstraction  and  murmured,-
"How strange that I hould have  forgotten  that  Fuffcoojah was in my hood? " And so I went to the merry-making with Fuffcoojah ne tled between my shoulder , and the Koltykwerps laughed at the little baron and hi child, a they called him, and drew near and raised the flap and peeped in at the curious crea ture within the hood, and when Fuffcoojah felt their icy breath , he buried his nose in the fur and sighed and whimpered. Then, for a moment, when the Princess Schneeboule came and sat beside me and prai ed me for my readine to ca.rry out her wishes, and thanked me o weetly for my goodnes  to her, I forgot all about the little load laid upon me, and I ate the frozen tidbits from the royal kitchen, and laughed and joked with Lords  Phrostyphiz and Glacierbhoy, just as had been my wont before Gelidus had decreed that Fuffcoojah should make hi   bed on my shoulders.
But when the f te wa over and I stepped from the broad por tal of the ice-palace and looked up at the mighty lens set in the mountain side, through which the moonlight of the outer world wa streaming in subdued but glorious splendor, I suddenly felt my leg bend under me, I staggered from right to left, I clutched at shadow , I was  it  eemed to me, about to be crushed beneath a terrible burden. I quickened my pace, I broke into a run, I threw my arms into the air as if I would ca t off the weight that wa smothering me. And o I came to my  lodging  puffing, panting,  ga  ping.
"Why, what a fool am I ! " was my first word when I had
got my breath; "it' only little Fuffcoojah on my back, stowed away in my fur hood. I mu t be be ide myself to have thought that a great mon ter was seated there and that he was gradually

pressing me down, crushing the life out of me by degrees, flat tening me to the very ground, and I not able to escape from hi terrible embrace or to	quirm out from  under  his awful limb wrapt around my neck and body."
All night long this mon  ter wa  clinging  to  me, and  urging me to a faster pace, up and down, across and around, I knew not where, on booties ' errand·, ending only to begin again, on searches after nothing hidden nowhere, trying a thousand lids and finding every one locked returning home only to go forth again up and away and out on interminable highways vani bing in a point far on ahead, with that grievous burden forever on my shoulders growing heavier and heavier till it seemed that I must go down with it into the dust. But  no, it knew  full  well  that  it must not ride me to the death so when I wa ready to drop, it threw off part of its weight to give me courage to begin again. When the morning came my pul e was galloping and  my cheek  were on fire. I ould feel the  blood  pounding  against  my temples, and it wa, natural that my face should be crimsoned over with the flush of fever. Half in a daze I walked forth toward  the grand staircase leading up to the ice  palace, when  'uddenly I was startled by a fearful cream. I halted and looked up, when another and another bur  t upon my ear .
The  terrified  Koltykwerp	were  fleeing  before  me  in  every
direction, shrieking a	they  fled,-
"Fly, fly, brothers, the little b['Jron is burning, the little baron is burning, fly  brothers, fly."
In	a  few  moments	terror	had	seized	upon	every   living
creature in the icy domain of King Gelidus. They fled from me in mad haste, taking refuge in the di tant caverns and cor ridors filling the air with their wild outcrie no one being brave enough to halt and take a econd look. My inflamed counte nance filled them with such awful terror that they could only tear along and cry -
"Fly, brothers, fly; the little baron i burning, the little baron i  burning . "
A   MARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND   JOURNEY	195

With Bulger at my heels, I turned and sprang up the stair case with the intention of seeking out King Gelidus, and ex plaining Lhe matter to him.
But he, too, had fled, and with him every sentinel and serv ing man, every courtier and councillor.	The palace wa	as still as death.	I hastened through its	ilent corridors calling out, " Schneeboule!		Princess Schneeboule!		Surely thou art not afraid of me?	Turn back, I will not harm thee, I'm not burn..
ing !	Turn back, oh, turn back . "
With this, I reached the throne-room; not a  living  creature was to be een; the va t chamber was a  till as  death.  I stag gered to a divan, and pillowing my poor aching head on a cushion,  I  fell  into  a   ound  and  refre bing  sleep.
When I awoke, I rubbed my eyes and looked about me, and
at  first  I  thought  that  I wa	still  alone  in  the great  round chamber with its wall	of  ice; but no, there on the divan sat chneeboule, and she smiled and said in mock displeasure, -
"Thou art  not a very watchful nurse, little baron, for in  thy
leep thou didst squeeze Fuffcoojah so tightly against a cushion, that he crawled out from thy hood and ne tled in my arms."
"In thy arms, Schneeboule?"    I  exclaimed  breathlessly, for I feared for the worst, and pringing up I drew aside the soft pelt which she had wrapped around Fuffcoojah, and there he lay, dead! Poor little beast, he had been o happy to  crawl into the arms of  one he loved so dearly, and had cuddled up closer and closer to her in search of greater warmth; but only to come nearer and nearer to a heart that could not warm him; and so the insidiou chill of death, which bringeth sweet and pleasant drowsines with it, had stole over him  and he  had died.
And Schneeboule's tear , freezing  as  they fell, now showered
like a  gentle  hail  of  tiny gem	upon the  little  dead  beast, no longer Fuffcoojah, but once again the Little :Man with the Frozen mile.	Pre  ently the Koltykwerps  recovered from  their sense less fear, and fir tone by one, and then group-wi  e  they returned
196       A   1l1ARVELLOU     UNDERGROUND  JOURNEY


to their homes, King Gelidus and  his  court  coming back  too, to the fair palace which they had abandoned  in  their  wild fright when the cry had gone up that the little baron was burning.
Everybody  wa	'orry to hear that  Fuffcoojah  had  died the
second time, and many were the frozen tears that dropped from the chilly cheeks of the Kolty kwerps as they looked upon the Little Man with the Frozen mile as he lay on the white pelt beside the Princes     chneeboule.
That day we bore him back to the ice grotto, and having laid him in the hollow moulded by hi body in the crystal block, it was closed again so kilfully by the  king  quarrymen  that  no eye was keen enough to note where  the  cleavage  had  been. And the arne uncanny glint was in his eyes, and when the Koltykwerps saw this their icy hearts felt a cold shiver of satisfaction, for not only was the Little Man with the Frozen Smile back in his crystal cell again, but all the fears and dread ful fancies which hi " coming to life again had given  rise  to were past and gone forever, and peace and quiet and weet contentment reigned throughout  the icy realm of his frigid Majesty Gelidus, King of  the Koltykwerps !
Now nothing remained to make his cold heart crack with joy but to ee his beloved child Schneeboule make choice of a husband. And he had not long to wait, for one day upon enter ing the palace she saw a youth lying at the foot  of  the  stair way overcome with sleep. In one hand he  held  an  alaba ter lamp, and in the other a new wick which he was  about  to  fit into it, for the youth was a lamp-trimmer in the ice palace  of King Gelidus ; and when the Princess Schneeboule saw  him lying there overcome with sleep, she stooped and kis ed him on the cheek, and passed on without another thought about the matter, one way or the other.
And the kiss froze on the cheek of the lamp-trimmer, where Schneeboule had pre   edit.
Presently King Gelidus came tramping into the hallway with






































-	- .,..	I
-	-	- ),7



















DKATH  OF FUFFCOOJ A II.

A  MARVELLOU	UNDERGROUND  JOURNEY 	199
his breath white upon his beard, and he saw the youth lying there and the frozen ki on  his  cheek  and  he  bade  Glacier bhoy crape the delicate fro t crystals  from  the  youths  face with a blade of  poli bed horn.
What  hast   there	father  of	mine? when  she saw him  bearing  the  blade  of fully.
asked  the  prince	, horn  along  so  care-
A kiss which omeone pre sed upon the cheek of one of my lamp-trimmers now lying on  the  staircase  overcome  with sleep     replied  King  Gelidu , in  ringing   icy  tone .
Why  father of mine, ' exclaimed Prince s Schneeboule ' now that thou peakst of it I really belie e the kis is mine for I recollect ki ing omeone as I entered the palace I was deep in thought but no doubt the youth plea ed me as he lay there a leep with lamp in one hand and wick in the other.'
And  that  lamp- rimmer  trimmed   no   more  lamp	in  the  ice palace of  his frigid 1Vlaje	y  Gelidu	King  of   the  Koltykwerps. o doubt be made	chneeboule a very good hu  band   and I'm   quite	ure  that	he  made him a good wife.	I would  have  been glad   to   tarry  for  the  nuptial  feast	but  that  was  out  of	the
question.	I had	tayed too long already.









CHAPTER	XXIX


OMETHING CONCERNING THE MANY PORTALS TO THE ICY DO MAIN OF KING GELIDUS AND THE DIFFICULT TASK OF CHOO  - ING   THE	RIGHT	ONE.-  HOW	BULGER	SOLVED  IT.- OUR FAREWELL		TO	THE	COLD-BLOODED	KOLTYKWERPS.  - SCHNEEBOULE'S	ORROW  AT  LO ING US.

As Bullibrain had once remarked, when there are many doors it's a wi ·e man who know which i , the right one to open;  and thi I found to be the ca e when I attempted to take my de parture from the icy domain of his frigid Majesty, Gelidu , King of the Koltykwerp , for there was a baker' dozen of galleries in each  of which, upon  exploring it, I came, after a tramp of  half a mile or so, up again t a lofty gate of solid ice, curiou ly carved and fitting the end of  the gallery a   a cork does a bottle.
No doubt you are wondering why I didn t make my way out of the Koltykwerpian kingdom by following the river: for the very good rea on that it went no farther than King Gelidus s domain,  emptying  into  a  vast  reservoir  which  apparently  had a ubterranean outlet, for its thick covering of ice always re mained at the same height.
The  king's	quarrymen were	ordered	to  hew  an  opening through whichever  door I should point  out a	the  one that  I wished to pass through, but I was informed by Phrostyphiz that accordjng to the law of the land but one door could be opened during any one year, so that if  I found my way blocked and turned back again it would  mean a delay of  twelve months. Bullibrain,  with  all  hi	wisdom  wa	powerless  to  a	i 't  me although I was half  inclined to think that he might have done so had  he  been  permitted  to inve tigat	the	ecret records of
A   MARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND   JOURNEY 	201


the kingdom, carved upon  huge tablet  of  ice, and  tored away in the vaults of the palace.
The fact of the matter is King Gelidu · wa o desirou of having me assi tat the marriage feast of Prince s chneeboule, that he threw every ob tacle in my way that he could, without openly showing his hand. And Schneeboule herself by the dancing of her clear gray eye gave me to under tand that ·he, too, was hoping that I would make a mistake when I came to point out the door which I wanted opened.
Bulger aw that I was in trouble, but couldn't comprehend clearly what that trouble wa . He kept hi· eye fa tened upon me, l!owever, watching my every movement, hoping,"no doubt, to solve the my tery.
While sitting one day lo t in thought over the very erious problem which I found myself called upon to solve, an idea struck me: I had  noticed that  in the meat-quarrie  the  work men often made u e of  ouncling-rod   which were  long  pieces of poli hed bone, ending in flint tips. A Koltykwerpian quarry man by dexterou ly twisting  thi  rod, wa   able  to  bore a hole ix feet deep or more into the olid bed of ice when de irou of ascertaining the po ition of a carca s in the meat quarry, an!l it occured to me that by piercing the portals of ice which closed their variou corridor I  have spoken of, po  ibly Bulger's keen cent might recognize that  current  of  air which would  have  in it the odor of earth and rock; in  other words, make  choice for me of the portal which opened on that corridor leading  away from the icy domain of King Gelidus and not merely into orne outlying chamber of his kingdom.
Hi	frigid  Maje ty could not  object  to such experiments, for
the law only forbade the  hewing  of  openi110'  large enough f  r the hewer to  pa     throuO'h.
King Gelidu	and half a dozen of  hi.  courtiers, looking stern
and frigid and conver ing in freezing t nes, were pre ent to ee the experiment tried. Methought th ir iry lips clacked to gether with   ati faction when, at my requ  ·t, one  portal  after

another was pierced, but Bulger, after sniffing at  the hole, turn d away with a bewildered look in his eyes as if he didn 't half understand why I was ordering him to thrust his warm nose into such cold places.
And	so we	tramped	from	corridor	to  corridor,	until	the
quarrymen began to show signs of fatigue, and the sounding rod turned  lower and slower in their hands.
Phrostyphiz  blinked  his  cold  gray eyes  a	much as  to  say,
"Little baron, thou must  bide with  us for another  year!"     But I merely turned to the quarrymen, and ordered them to  pierce one more portal of ice ere we abandoned the task for the day. They went at the work of piercing the eleventh door with the pace of pack-mules up a mountain-side. But at last the sound ing-rod bored a way through, and at a wave of my hand the quarrymen fell back. In an instant Bulger had his nose at the hole, and took three or four quick, nervous sniffs, ending with a long, deep-drawn one, and then breaking out into  a  string  of harp, jerky, joyful barks he began scratching furiously at the bottom of the portal.
"Your frigid Majesty," said I, with a low and stately bend of my body such al:l only those born to the manner can make, "by this portal, at the coming of to-morrow's sun, I shall pass from your Majesty's icy dominion!" And when Phrostyphiz and Glacierbhoy heard these words of mine uttered so loftily, their eyes gleamed cold as steel, and they followed the King in silence back to the palace of ice. Schneeboule met them in the grand hallway; and when she had looked upon their faces she began to weep, for she loved me and she loved Bulger too, and her cold little heart could not bear the thought of our going.
King Gelidus, however, soon recovered his spirits, and ordered a feast with song and dance in honor of Bulger, who during the festivities sat on the highest divan with the softest pelt beneath him; and so many were the frozen tidbits which the Koltykwerps presented to him during the progress of the feast, that I grew alarmed lest he might overload his stomach and not be in a fit


K   LTYKWERPIAN  Q   ARRY IE	IIEWI   G  A  l'A.   AGE  TIIRO   (  II  TilE  WALL  OF  lCE.

A   MARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND     JOURNEY 	205


condition to make the early start on our  journey,  of  which  I had given notice to the Koltykwerpian monarch. But his good sense saved him from doing so foolish a thing; in fact, I was greatly amused to see that, while he accepted every  tidbit handed to him, and solemnly went tlu·ough the motions of chewing it, yet watching his chance, he slyly dropped it out of his mouth  and  flirted it  aside with  his  paw.  Thus wa  spent our last night at the icy court of hi frigid Maje 'ty, and on the morrow the Koltykwerps collected in great crowd on the differ ent terraces to say good-by. I pressed a kiss on the cheek of Princess Schneeboule, and when it had turned to  ice crystals, one of her men brushed it into an alaba ter box.
Prince Chillychops, the former lamp-trimmer, wa on hand with the rest of the Koltykwerpian noble , but I flattered my self that Schneeboule loved me better than she did him. How ever, I wished him joy, and gripped his cold palm with such warmth that  he  stood  blowing  it for  a whole  minute.  When we reached the lofty portal we found that the quarrymen had already hewn a pa sage through it, and  near  by  I observed a pile of massiv  ·blocks of ice, cry tal clear.
These, when Bulger and I should pa · through the opening, were to be used in walling it up again; and when I saw this pile of blocks, and remembered the solid workman hip of the Kolty kwerpian quarrymen, the thought flitted through my mind: Sup pose Bulger hath not chosen wisely, what u e would there be in turning back, for my own weak hand ' would be powerless against a wall built of uch blocks, and knock I ever  so loud, how could the sound ever traverse this long and winding corri dor and reach the ear of a Koltykwerp?  4 ' No, "  aid  I to  my- elf, "if Bulger hath not cho en wi ely it will be  good-by  to both upper and under world ." And then, bearing an alabasteT lamp in one hand and in the other holding the cord which I had tied to Bulger's collar, I stepped through the narrow passage hewn by the quarrymen, and turned my back forever on the cold dominion  of  Gelidu , King of the KoltykweTps.    Once I halted

and looked back. I could see nothing, but I could hear the sharp click of the flint axes as the quarrymen closed up the door that shut me out from so many cold but loving hearts. And then I drew a long breath and went on my way again.
And that was the last I ever saw of the Koltykwerps save m
day dream or night vision .
















..







I




















/;'
I /,
I



























THE  W   NDERFUL  RIDE  ON  TOE  BLOCK  OF  ICE.


















•









CHAPTER  XXX


ALL ABOUT THE MOST TERRIBLE BUT MAGNIFICENT RIDE I EVER TOOK IN MY LIFE.-NINETY  MILES  ON  THE  BACK  OF A FLYING MASS OF ICE, AND HOW BULGER AND I WERE LANDED AT LAST ON THE BANKS OF A MOST WONDERFUL RIVER.- HOW  THE  DAY  BROKE  IN  THIS  UNDER  WORLD.

HAD my hand at that moment not grasped a cord tied to the neck of my wise and keen-eyed Bulger, I really believe I would have come to a halt, faced about, retraced my  steps, and begged the inhabitants of thi cry 'tal realm to admit me once more into the cold kingdom where Gelidus held his icy court; for a udden fit of depression came upon me as the chilly air struck again t my cheeks and I aw the deep darkness made visible by the tiny flame of my alabaster lamp.
Cold though it might be, I would have unshine in the icy land of the Koltykwerp , but now how could I tell what fate awaited me?
Luckily, I had asked the captain of the meat quarries to allow
me  to  retain  one  of  his  sounding-rods with  its flint point, for I feared lest in descending orne icy declivity I might fall  and brui e  or even break, a limb.
I wa	determined to advance cautiously along this icy pa sage,
shrouded as it was in impenetrable gloom, and so different from the broad and poli hed pavement of the Marble Highway; and hence, hanging the lamp about my neck  I  proceeded to make use of the sounding-rod a' an alpenstock, for which purposes it was admirably adapted. Suddenly Bulger halted, gave a low whine of warning, and turned back. In an in 'tant I knew that there wa   danger  ahead,  and  letting  myself  drop on my hands

and knees crawled carefully along to make an investigation of the dangerous spot in our route signalled by the watchful Bulger.
It was only too true : we stood apparently upon the very edge
of  a sheer parapet, how high I had  no  way of  ascertaining, but I was  unable  to  reach  any bottom  with  the sounding-rod.
What was to be done?	Turn back?
It was not yet too late, the Koltykwerpian quarrymen could not have completed their task in so short  a  time,  they  would hear my knock, they would tear down their wall of ice, and Gelidus and SchneeLoule would welcome us back to  their ice palace  with  a  cold,  but  honest  satisfaction.
As I sat there plunged in thought, I half unconsciously began
to twirl the sounding-rod around until I had unk it  half  its length into the floor of ice, and then reaching out I encircled Bulger with my arm and drew him up against me as was my wont when preparing for profound  meditation.
I had scarcely done so when the ice beneath me ga,;ve one of
those sharp, clear, cracking noises so unlike the sound made by the breaking of any other substance; and thereupon I felt the crystal mass on which Bulger and I were sitting tremble and vibrate for an instant; and then, with a sudden downward cant, break away from the mass behind it and begin to move!
Instinctively a sense of my awful peril  prompted  me to cling
to the sounding-rod which I had sunk drill-like  into the ice. Luckily it was between my legs, and quick as a flash I intwined them around it, assuming a Turkish sitting posture, while my left arm was wrapped tightly around Bulger's body.
I don't  know  how  it was  done,  done  as  it  was  all  in  an
in tant; but there I sat now firmly saddled, so to speak, upon that crystal monster's back, as with a creak and a crash it napped the  crystal links which bound it to the wall  of  ice and plunged headlong down the glassy slope.
In my fright I had dropped my lamp, and now the deep gloom of  this under world  inwrapped me.	But  no, it was  not  so, for

as the escaping block of ice creaked and craunched  its  way along, the two cold crystal  urfaces  gave forth a weird glimmer of phosphorescent light which made the flying mass seem like a monstrous living thing, out of whose thou and  eyes were dart ing tongues of flame as it rushed madly  along, now  gaining speed upon striking a steeper stretch of way, now fouling with orne ob truction and dashing against the rocky sides of the cor ridor, and   ending a  bower of  crystal   parkling and glittering in the black air !
Anon the escaping block come upon a gentle slope, and with the low music of crushing crystals slip  oftly along in its flight as if mounted upon runner of polished steel, and then with a sudden dip it glides upon a ·harper de cent and fairly leaps into the air a  it  bounds  along, hi· ing  over the  lippery roadway, and leaving a train of fire behind  it.  And  now  it  trikes  a stretch of way piled here and  there with clumps and blocks of ICe.
With a mad fury it spring · upon the lesser ones with a growl of rage, grinding them to powder, which, like showers of icy foam, it hurls upon Bulger and  me  eated  on  its  back.  But some of the block re ist its terrible  on laught and our mighty teed is hurled from ide to  side with  era h and  creak, as  it drive.. its crystal corners fiercely against the jutting rocks, leaving mark:; of it white flesh on the e black heads  of adamant.
It seem an hour since the  cry tal  monster broke away, and yet ever downward he threads his wild flight, butting, bumping, jostling, veering,  taggering  along,  bearing  Bulger  and  me  to the lowest level of the World within a World.
Will he never end hi	mad flight?
Is there no way for me to curb him?
Mu t he fly until he has ground his very body to such a thin ness that the next obstruction will shatter it into ten thousand pieces, and hurl Bulger and me to death?
As these thoughts are flitting through my mind, the flying

mass takes one last mad plunge which  lands  it  on  an  almost level stretch of roadway, and  by the different sound  given out by the sliding block, I know that we have left the regions of ice behind us, and that our crystal sledge is  gliding  gently along over a track of polished marble.
But,  mile  after  mile,  it  still  glides  along,  gently,  softly,
silently, and then I dare to think  that our lives are saved.
But so terrible had been the strain, so fearful the anxiety, o exhausting the effort necessary to hold my place on the block of ice, and keep my beloved Bulger from slipping out of my arms, that I fell backward into a dead faint as the gliding mass came, at last, to a standstill. Ithink Imust have lain there a good half hour or so; for when I came to myself Bulger's frantic joy told me that he had been terribly wrought up over me, and the moment Iopened my eyes he began to shower caresses on my hands and face in mo t lover-like style. Dear, grateful heart, he felt that he owed his life this time to his little master, and be wanted me to understand how thankful he was.
The moment  Bulger's  nerves  had  recovered from  the  ·shock
occasioned by my prolonged faint, I  reached  for  my  repeater and  touched  its  spring.
It registered one hour and a half since we bad  stepped through the icy portal of King Gelidus' domain. Allowing a half-hour for the time I lay  unconscious,  it  showed  that  our mad descent on the back of the crystal monster had lasted quite a full hour, and reckoning the average speed of the  escaping mass of ice to have been a mile and a half  a minute, that we were now in the neighborhood of  ninety mile  away from  the cold kingdom where Gelidus sat on his icy throne, and Princess
chneeboule at his feet with Chillychops beside her.
It wa	with  great  difficulty that  I  could  ri  e  to  my feet, so ti.ffened were my joint	and knotted  my muscles after that  ter rible  ride, every  instant  of  which  I  expected  to  be  dashed  to pieces against projecting rocks, or torn to shreds by being caught



























































THE TROPIC   OF THE  UNDER  WORLD.

A  MARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND  JOURNEY	215

between the fleeing monster of ice and the gigantic icicles hang ing from the ceiling like the shining teeth of some huge creature of this under world.
But could it be, dear friends, that Bulger and I had only escaped a quick and merciful ending to be brought face to face with a death ten times more terrible, in that it was  to  be slow and gradual, denied even the poor boon of looking upon each other, for darkne  impenetrable was folded about us and silence so deep that my ears ached in their longing for some sound to break it. And yet there was  something  in  the  sound  of  my own voice that startled me when I used it: it seemed as if the awful  tillness were angered at being disturbed by it, and smote it back into my teeth.
Where are we?	This was the question I put to myself, and
then in my mind I strove to recall every word which I had read in the musty pages of Don Fum's manuscript concerning the World within a World; but I could recollect nothing to enlight en me, not a word to give me hope or chee1:, and I was about to cry out in utter despair when, happening to raise my eyes and look off in the di tance, I saw what seemed to me to be a jack a-lantern  dancing along on the ground.
It was  a strange and  fantastic  sight in this  region of  inky
darkne s, and for a moment I stood watching it with  bated breath and wide-opened eyes;  but no, it could not be a will with-the-wisp, for now the faint and uncertain glimmer had increased to a mild but steady glow, reaching away off in the distance like a long line of dying camp-fires seen through an enveloping  mist.
But in a moment's time this wide encircling ring of light had
so increased in brightness that it looked for all the world like a break o' day in the land o' sunshine, and here and there where it mild effulgence overcame the darkne s of this subterranean region, I caught sight of walls and arches and columns of snow white marble. And then as I called to mind Don Fum's mys terious reference to "sunrise in the lower world," I swung my

hat and gave a loud cry of joy while Bulger waked the echoes of the e paciou caverns by his barking.  I  tell  you  dear friends not until you have been in ju t such a plight can you know ju t how  uch a re cue feel .
And now  no doubt, you are a bit  anxiou	to know what sort of  a	unri e could po · ibly take place in thi		under world mile
below our own.
Well  when you have travelled a	many mile	a	I have  and	•
een a		many wonders a		I have	ou ll be ready to admit that wonder		are	quite  a ·	ommonplace		a	commonplace		it elf. Know  then  that thi  va t  region of		he \Vorld within a \Vorld wa	girt round about b	a broad and placid	tream who e wate1 warmed with	a t number " of gigantic radiate animal		uch as polyp ,		ea-urchin	Portugue e men-of-war	ea.-anemones and the like· that the e tran parent creature	which had the power of  emitting light, after lying dormant for twelve  hour· gradu ally unfolded	their  bodie		and tentacle	and ro. e t ward the surface of the e calm and limpid water', increa ing by degrees their  my teriou " radiance, until  they had  cha ed the darkne s from the va t cavern	opening upon the bank	of the ri ,-er and lighted  up  thi	under  world with a	oft effulaence .omewhat brighter  than  the  ray	of  our full moon.		For twel Ye hours the e weird lantern	of  the	tream made i		da ' for  thi		nether world	and  then,  a	the ' gradually		hl·ank togeth r and	ank out  of		iaht	their  expiring  fire · alowed  ' ith  all  the  multi colored radiance of  our faire t t"·ili  ht  and the night  blacker than		tygian darkne	, came back ao·ain.		But  now 'twa	full daylight  and bidding Bulger follow me I walked in	ilent won der along the bank	of  thi	glowing		tream  which  like a band of my teriou	fire, a	far a	my eye could reach went circling around  the  white  marble  mouth		of the ·e va t underground chamber .
A  iWARVELLOUS   UNDERGROUND  JOURNEY 	211








CHAPTER	XXXI


IN WHICH YOU READ OF THE GLORIOUS CAVERNS OF WHITE MARBLE FRONTING  ON THE WONDERFUL  RIVER.- IN THE TROPICS OF THE UNDER WORLD.- HOW WE CAME UPON A SOLITARY WANDERER	ON  THE  BANKS  OF  THE	RIVER. - MY	CONVERSATION	WITH	HIM, AND	MY  JOY A FINDING MYSELF	IN	THE LAND OF THE RATTLEBRAINS, OR HAPPY FORGETTERS. -BRIEF DE CRIPTION OF THEM.

WITH every turn in the winding way that skirted the white
·hores  of  this  wonderful		tream, it		warm	of  light-emitting animals  lent  it a  new beauty;  for as the day advanced- if  I may so expre 'S it- they lifted their glowing  bodies nearer and nearer to the surface, until now the river shone like molten  sil ver; and as  the sheer walls  of  rock on the opposite bank held et in them vast	labs of  mica, the effect was  that  the e  gigan tic natural  mirror		reflected  the  glowing  stream with	tartling fidelity, and threw the flood  of		oft  light in  dazzling  shimmer again  t the  fanta ·tic portal	of  the  white  marble  cavern	on thi	ide  of  the		tream.	It wa		a	cene  never to forget, and again and again I pau ed in silent wonder to feast my eyes upon some newly discovered beauty.		Now, for the first, I noted that every white marble ba in of cove and inlet was filled with a dif ferent glow, accordinrr to the nature of  the tiny phosphorescent animals which happened to fill it		water	-one being a delicate pink, another a glorious red, the  third  a  deep  rich  purple  the fourth a soft blue  the fifth a golden yellow, and  o on, the charm of  each tint being		rec tly enhanced by the snowy whitenes	of these  marble ba in.	through  which  long  lines  of  curious  fi h scaled in hues of  p  li ·hed gold  and	ilver  swam  slowly along, turning up their gl  riou	side		to catch the full splendor of  the

light reflected from the mica mirror .  And  now  the  chilly breath of King Gelidus' domain no  longer  filled  the  air.  I stood in the tropics of the under world, so to speak ; and but one thing was lacking to make my enjoyment of this fairy region complete, and that was some one to share it with me.
True, Bulger  had  an  idea  of  its  beauty, for  he  testified his
happiness at being once more in a warm land by executing some mad capers for my amusement, and by scampering along  the shore of the glowing river and barking at the stately fish as they slowly fanned the water with their many colored  fins;  but I must admit that I longed for the Princess Schneeboule to keep me company. But it was a rash wi h; for the warm air would have thrown her into convulsions of fear, and she would have preferred to meet her death in the cool river rather than attempt to breathe such a fiery atmosphere. By this time I had ad vanced several miles along the white shores of the glowing stream, and, feeling somewhat fatigued, I was about to sit down on the jutting  edge of a natural bench of rock, which seemed almost placed on the river banks by human hands for human forms to rest upon and watch the wonderful play of tints and hues in this wide sweeping inlet, when, to my amazement, I saw that a human  creature  was already sitting there.
His eyes were fixed upon the water and methought that his face, whicn was gentle and placid, wore a tired look.  Certainly he was plunged into such  deep  meditation  that  he  either took or feigned to take no notice of my approach. Bulger  was  in clined to dash forward and attract his attention by a string of ear splitting barks, but I shook my head. This wanderer along the glowing stream of day wore rather a graceful cloak-like garment, woven of some substance that shimmered in the light, and so I concluded that it must be mineral wool.  His head was bare, and so were his legs to the knee , his feet being shod with white metal sandals tied on  with  what  looked  like leathern thongs. All in all, he had a friendly though somewhat peculiar  look about him, and his attitude struck me as being that of  a  person





THROUGH '!'HE REVOLVING  J>OOR.

A  MARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND   JOURNEY 	221

either plunged into deep thought, or pos ibly li tening for some anxiously  expected  signal.   At  any  rate, accustomed as I was to meet all sorts of people on my travels in the four corners of the globe, I determined to make bold enough to interrupt the gentleman's meditations and wish him good-morrow.
"Whom have I the pleasure of meeting in thi beautiful sec- tion of the World within a World .
The man looked at me in a dazed	ort of way and replied -
" I really don't know I m happy to ay. "But,  ir, thy name! '	I insisted.
"Forgot it year	ago," wa	hi	remarkable an wer.
"But surely, ir, ' I exclaimed rather testily, ' thou art not the sole inhabitant of thi beautiful under world -thou ha t kinsman, wife, family?'
'Ay,  gentle  stranger,'  he  replied  in  low  and  mea ured tone , "there are people farther along the bore  and they are good, dear souls, although I have forgotten their names, and I have, too, a very faint recollection that two of tho e people are son of mine. top ! no, their names  are  gone  from  me too, I forgot them the day my  own  name  lipped  from  my  mind!" and a he uttered th e words he threw hi head  back  with  a sudden jerk and I heard a strange click inside of it, as if some thing had lipped from its place and that in tant a mysterious expre sion used by that Master of Masters, Don Fum, fla hed through my mind.
Rattlebrains! Yes, that was it; and now I felt ure that I wa
tanding in the presence  of  one of  the curiou  folk inhabiting the World within a World, to whom Don Fum had given the trange name of  Rattlebrain  , or Happy Forgetters.
I wa	o delighted that I could barely keep my elf from ru b
ing up to thi gentle-visaged and mild-mannered per on whose head had ju t given f01th the sharp eli k and gra ping him by the hand. But I feared to hock him b uch .a friendly greet ing, and  o I contented my elf with crying out -
" ir, thou seest before thee none other than the famous trav-

eller, Baron Seba tian von Troomp !" but to my great amazement and greater chagrin he simply turned hi strange eyes, with the faraway look upon me for an instant and then re umed his con templation of the beautifully tinted sheet of "ater, a if I hadn t opened my mouth.   It was the most extraordinary treatment that I had experienced since my descent into the under world, and I was upon the point of re enting it, as became a true knight and e pecially a von Troomp, when Don Fum's brief description of the Rattlebrain , or Happy Forgetters, flitted through my mind.
Said he, "By the exercise  of  their  trong  wills they  have been busy for ages striving to unload their brains of the to them now usele  tock of knowledge accumulated by their ancestors, and the natural consequence has been that the brain of these curious folk, who call them elves the Happy Forgetters, relieved of all labor and strain of thought, have ab olutely shrunken rather than increased in size, so that with many of  the Happy Forgetters their brain are like the  shrivelled kernel of  a last year's nut and give forth a sharp click when they move their heads suddenly with a jerk as is often their wont, for they take great pride in proving to the listener that they deserve the name of Rattlebrain.
"Nor do I need remind thee, 0 reader," concluded Don Fum, in his celebrated work on the 'vVorld within a World,"" that the chiefest among the Happy Forgetters is the man whose head gives forth the loudest and harpest click; for he it is who has forgotten most."
You can have but a faint idea, dear friends, of my delight at the pro pect of spending some time among these curious people
-people who look with absolute dread upon knowledge as the one thing necessary to get rid of before happiness can enter the human  heart.
No joy can equal the Happy Forgetter's when, upon clasping a friend's hand, he finds that he ha forgotten hi very name;  and no day is well spent in this land at the close of which the inhabitant may not exclaim, -
A    !lfARVELLOU	UNDERGROUND     JOURNEY	223

"Thi	day I succeeded in forgetting something that I knew ye 'terday . '
At last the Happy Forgetter rose from his	·eat and calmly
walked away, without	o much as wi hing me good-day; but I was resolved not to be so easily gotten riel of	o I called  aft r him in a loud voice and Bulger following my example raised a racket at hi	heel , whereupon he faced about and remarke , - 'Beg pardon  I had quite forgotten thee  I'm happy to say, and thy name too, I've forgotten that; let me see Art thou a radiate?" (One of  the animals in the water.)	I was more than half in clined to lose my temper at thi  slur, classing me a back-boned animal, with a mere jelly-fish;  but under all the circumstances I thouO'ht it best to control my elf, for I could well imagine that from the	ize of my head and the utter ab. ence of all click in- ide of it, I wa		not de "tined to be a very welcome vi itor among the Happy Forgetter  ; and  therefore,	wallowing	my injured feelings, I made a very low bow, and begged this curiou	gentle man to be kind enough to conduct me to his people- among
whom I wished to abide for a few days.









CHAPTER	XXXII


HOW WE ENTERED THE  LAND  OF  THE  HAPPY FORGETTER  .
-SOMETHING MORE ABOUT THE E CURIOUS FOLK.- THEIR DREAD  OF BULGER  AND  ME.-ONLY  A  STAY OF ONE  DAY
.ACCORDED US. -DESCRIPTION OF THE PLEASANT HOMES OF THE HAPPY FORGETTERS.-THE REVOLVING DOOR THROUGH WHICH BULGER AND I ARE lJNCEREMONIOUSLY SET OUT SIDE OF THE DOMAIN OF THE RATTLEBRAINS. -ALL ABOUT THE EXTRAORDINARY THINGS WHICH HAPPENED TO BUL GER AND ME THEREAFTER. -ONCE MORE IN  THE  OPEN AIR OF THE UPPER WORLD, AND THEN HOMEWARD BOUND.


THE  Happy   Forgetter  pursued  'his   way	calmly	along   the winding path that skirted the glowing river, apparently,  and no doubt really, unconscious  of  the  fact  that  Bulger  and  I were following close at hi8 heels.	After  half  an  hour  or	o of  this silent tramp, he suddenly came to a standstill, and with his placid countenance turned toward the light seemed  to  be  so  far  away in thought  that for	everal moments I hesitated to  address  him. But as there were  no  signs  of  his  showing  any  di, po ition  to come to himself, I made bold to ask him the cause of the delay. "I'm happy  to	ay,'' he remarked, without so much a		deign ing to turn  hi	h  ad, "that  I've  forgotten which  of  these  two
roads leads to the homes of  our people."
Well, this wa a pleasant outlook to be sure, and, I don t know what we hould have done had not Bulger solved the  difficulty for u by making choice of one of the  paths  and  da hing  on ahead with a bark of  encouragement for us to follow.
When I a ured the Happy Forgetter that  he  need  have  no fear as to the wi dom of  the  choice, he  gave  a start  of  almost










































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A   MARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUN"D   JOURNEY 	227

horror at the information ; for  7 0U mu  t know  dear friends, that the  Happy  Forgetter  has  more  dread  of	knowledge	than  we have of  ignorance.	To him it i the  mother  of  all  discontent, the	ource of  all unhappines	the cau e of  all the dreadful  ill that have come upon the world, and the people in it.
" The world ' aid one of the Happy Forgetters to me sadl , ''was perfectly happy once, and man had no name for his brother, and yet he loved him even a the turtle-love love hi mate, al though he has no 11ame to call her by. But, ala , one day thi, happines came to an end, for a 'trange malady broke ou among the people. They were eized with a wild de:-;ire to invent names for thing ' · even many name.' for the same thing and different ways of doing the ame  thing.  This  trange  pas ion  'O  grew upon them that they pent their live ' in making them  in  every po ible way harder to live.  They built  different  road  to  the arne place they made different clothes for different day ·, and different di ·hes for different f  a ts.  To each  child  they gave two, three, and even four different name ; and different hoes were fa 'hioned for different feet, and one  family was  no  longer
·ati 'fied with one drinking-gourd.	Did they stop here?
' Nay  they now bu ied them 'elve · learning how to make  dif ferent face	to different friend	covering a frown  with  a	mile and singing gay   ono" when  their   heart	were  sad.	In  a  few centuries a brother could  no  lonO'er  read  a  brothers  face, and one-half  the  world went about  wondering  what  the  other half was  thinking  about·  hence  aro 'e  mi 'under  tandings,  quarrel:, feuds, warfare.	l\tlan was no longer  content  to  dwell  with  hi fellow-man in the	paciou:5 cavern	which  kind  nature  had  hol lowed	out	for	him,  piercing	the   mountain	with		winding pa sage		be ide  which  hi	. narrow		treet ·  dwindled  to  merest pathway·.
In th	Land  of  the  Happy  Forg  tter · care  never  comes  to
trouble	leep, nor  anxiou'  thought  to  wear  the  dread  mask  of
To-morrow!
Happy the day on which thi	child of nature might exclaim :

"Since morn I ve forgotten something! I've unloaded  my mind!    It's one thought lighter than it was!"
He was the happiest of the Happy Forgetters who could honestly say, I know not thy name, nor when thou wast born, not where thou dwellest, nor who thy kinsmen are; I only know that thou art my brother, and that thou wilt not see  me  suffer if I should forget to eat, or perish of thirst if I forget to drink, and that thou wilt bid me close my eyes if I should forget that I had laid me down to sleep.
Bulger's and my arrival in the Land of the Happy Forgetters filled the hearts of these curious folk with  ecret  dread.  At ight of  my large head they all began  to tremble  like children in the dark stricken with fear of bogy or goblin, and with one voice they refu ed to permit me to ojourn a ingle brief half hour among them ; but gradually this   udden  terror pa sed off a bit, and after a council held by a few of the younger men, whose brain a yet completely filled their  head "', it wa  determined that I might bide for another day in their land, but that  then the revolving door should be opened, and Bul<Yer and I be thrust out ide of their domain.
From what Don  Fum had written about the Happy Forget
ter , I knew only too well that it would be u eless for me to attempt to reverse  this  decree;  so  I  held  my  peace,  except to thank them for this great favor  hown me.
The daylight, if I may call it so, now began to wane, or rather the thou ands of		light-giving  creatures swarming in the  river now began to draw in their long tentacles, close their flower like bodies  and		lowly sink to the bottom of the stream .	I wa quit	anxious to see whether the Happy Forgetters would make any attempt to light up their cavernous home , or whether they would	imply ·reep off to bed and sleep out the long hours of pitchy darkne	.		To my surpri e, I now heard  the  clicking of flint	on all	ide		and in a moment or	o a thousand  or more great candle· made of mineral wax with asbestos wicks were lighted, and the great chamber of white marble .were soon aglow with these soft and steady flames.
A  MARVELLOUS	UNDERGROUND  JOURNEY 	229


The Happy Forgetters were strictly vegetable eaters, feeding upon the various fungous plant growing in  these  caverns  in great profusion, together with a very nutritious and pleasant tasting jelly made from a hardened gum of vegetable origin which abounded in  the  crevices  of  certain  rocks.  There was till another source of food; namely, the nests of certain shell fish, which they built against the face of  the  rock, just  above the surface of the  river.  These  dissolved  in  boiling  water made an excellent broth, very much like the soup from edible birds  nests.
The clothes worn by the Happy Forgetters were entirely woven' from mineral wool, which in these caverns gave a long and strong fibre of a tonishing softness. The Rattlebrains were tolerably good metal-workers too, but contented themselve:::; with fa hioning only such articles as were actually necessary for daily use. Their bed were stuffed with dried seaweed and lichens, and Bulger and I passed a very comfortable night.
As  I wa	forbidden  to  speak  aloud, to  ask a question, or to
walk abroad unless in company with one of the selectmen, I was not orry when the moment came for the revolving door to be opened . The Happy Forgetters had been led to believe that Bulger and I were a thousand times more dangerous than scaly monsters or black-winged vampires, and hence they held them- elves aloof from us, the children hiding behind their mothers, and the mother   peering through crack and crevice at us.
The size of my head inspired them with a nameless dread, and even the half-a-dozen of the younger and more courageous drew aside instinctively to let me pass.
For  the  first time in my life I was an object of  horror to my
fellow-creatures, but I had no hard thoughts against  them! Timid children of nature that they were, to them I was as ter rible an object  as the torch-armed demon of  destruction would be to us were he let loose in one of our fair cities of the upper world.
And now the guard of  Happy Forgetter	had halted in front

of what seemed to me to be a huge ca k fa hioned of solid marble, and set one-half within the white wall of the cavern to which they had led me. But on second glance I aw that there was a row of square holes around its bulge, like those in the top of a capstan.
The Happy Forgetters  now di appeared for a moment  and
when they joined me again each  bore in hand a metal bar  the end of which he set in one of the e holes, and then at a signal from the leader the huge half-circle of marble began to turn noiselessly around, exactl_y like a cap 'tan. As each man's lever came to the wall, he hifted it to the front again.  Suddenly, to my amazement, Isaw that the grea.t marble cask was  hollow, like a sentry box; and you may judge of my feelings, dear friends, upon being politely  requested to step inside.
Did Irefuse to obey ?
Not I. It would have been useles , for was not the whole tribe of Rattlebrains there to lay hands upon me and thrust me in?
So taking off my hat and making a low bow to the little group of Happy Forgetters, I stepped within the hollow cask and Bulger did the arne; but not with so good a grace a his master, for, casting an angry glance at the inho pitable dwellers in the e chambers of white marble, he growled and laid bare his teeth to show his contempt for them.
Now the great marble cask began to revolve the  other way and in a moment it wa   back in place again.
I heard several sharp clicks as if a number of huge spring latches had snapped into place, and then all was ilent as the tomb, and I had almost said as dark too ; but no, I could not say that, for I looked out into a low tunnel which ran past the niche in which Bulger and I were tanding, and to my more than wonder it was dimly lighted.
I stepped out into it; it was a round as a cannon bore and just high enough for me to stand erect ; and now I discovered whence the light proceeded.   In the cracks and crevices of its









































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HURLED  OUT  IN  'J'HE     U N   HINE.





















































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A   MARVELLOU'	UNDERGROUND  JOURNEY	-.33


walls grew vast mas es of tho ·e delicat light-giving fungous rootlet ·, the glow of which wa' ·o strong  hat I had no difficulty in reading the writino- on my tablets · in fact I 'tood there for everal minute making entrie b·th light of the e bunche · of glowing rootlets.
Then the thought fia he l through my mind -
Which way	hall I turn, t<:>  the right or to the left '? "
Bulger comprehended  the  au e of  my vacillation  and made ha te to come to my re ·cue. After niffing the air fir t in one direction and then in the oth r he cho ·e the right hand, and I followed without a thought of que tioning hi · wi ·dom.   trange to  ay, he had not ad vane eel mor  than a few hundred rods before I n oti d that th re wa.· a · rong current of air bl  wing through th e tunnel in the dire · ion Bulg  r had taken.
Every moment it increa,· l in viol nee, fairly lifting u · from our feet and bearing u · along throuo·h thi · nanow bore made by 11ature's own hands and lighted too by lamp · of h r own fa hion iug. The motion of the air through thi: va t pipe  ·aused bur ·ts of mighty t ne as if p eled forth by · me gigantic organ played by  giant  hands.   It was    trange  but yet  I  felt  no  terror  a,  I li tened to thi unearthl - mu ic, although its depth of ton jarred painfully upon my ear-drum ·.
By the dim light of the luminou rootlets, I could see Bulger ju t ahead of me, and I wa::; content. No hiver of fear ran down my back, or robbed my limb ' of their full power to re i t the ever-increa  ing pre ' ure of the air.    But as it grew  tronger and
·tronger, half of my own ac ord and half becau e Bulger	et the example, I	roke  into a run.		Our pace  once  quickened  it wa · impo sible for me to	low u	again.	On, on, in a mad race, my feet scarcely touching  the b  ttom  of  th	tunnel  I	ped alon<Y, while  the  great  pipe  through  which  I wa	borne on  the	ry wings of the gale	nt forth it	deep and maj		tic peal.
There  wa	something	trangel - aud  my -teri  u  ly exeitiu<Y  in
thi	race  and all that kept  me from enjoying it  to my full b  at wa	the thought  that  a	·udden increase  in  the	iolence of  the
234        A   JIARVELLOUS    UNDERGROUND  JOURNEY


blast might toss me violently on my face a1 d pos ibly break an arm for me or injure me in  orne serious way.
All at once the deep pealing forth of the organ-like tone cea ed,
and in it . stead came the a.wful sound of ru bing water.    Before I had time to think, it wa. upon me, striking me like a terrific blow from some gigantic fi t wearing a boxing-glove. The next instant I was caught up like a cork on a  mountain  torrent, wayed from  ide to side, twisted, turned,  ucked down and ca t up again, whirled over and over, tossed and tumbled, rolled a.long like a wheel, my arms and legs the spokes!
Wonderful  to  relate,  I  did  not  lo, e  consciousnes	as  this
terrible current hot me like a stick of timber through a flume, whither I knew not, only that the speed and volume went ever on increa ing until at la t the tumultuous tonent filled the tunnel, and robbed me of light, of breath, of life of every thing,  including  my  faithful and loving  Bulger!
How long it lasted- thi fearful ride in the  arm · of  the  e mad waters, rushing as if for life or death through thi i1arrow bore- I  know  not;  I  only know that  my  ears  were   ucldenly a sailed with a mighty whizz and rush of water a through the nozzle of some gigantic hose, and that I wa shot out into the glorious sunshine out into the grand, free, open air of the upper world, and sent flying up toward the dear, blue  k - with  its flecks of fleecy cloudlets, and Bulger some twenty feet ahead of me  and that then, with a  gracefully curved  flight thr  ugh  the
·oft and balmy air of harvest time, we both were gently dropped into a quiet little lake nestled at the foot of a  hillside yellow with ripened corn. In a moment or so we had swum  ashore. Bulger wanted  to  halt  and  shake  the  water  from  hi  thick coat but  I  couldn't  wait  for that.  'lVet as  he was, I  cla 'ped him to my heart while he showered caresses on me. But not a word was aid, not a sound was  uttered.  vVe were  both  of  us too happy to speak, and if  you  have  ever been  in  that  state, dear friends, you know how it feels.
I can't describe it to you.
A  .J!AflT ELLOUS	UNDERGROUND     JOURJ\EY	235


At this moment ome men and  boy clad in  the garb of  the Ru ian pea ant came racing aero the field to ee what I wa · about, no doubt, forIhad tripped  off  my h a y out ide cloth ing, and wa    preading it out in the  'Ull  to dry.
Upon ight of these red-che ked children of the upper world Iwa o overcom with  joy that for a minute  or ·o Ic uldn't get a 7llable aero ' my lip , but making a great effort Icried out,-
"Father   !		Brother ' !	Where am I?		p ak	d ar	ouls!" "In north-ea tern		iberia, littl	'Oul," replied the elcle 't of the party.  ''no	far from the  banks of	the	bi · but whence orne t thou?	By	aint Nichola '', I belieYe thou wa t  pit out
of  the   pouting w  ll      \Vhat art thou cloinO' here alone'?"     ·
I paid no attention to the que ·tion. Iwas thinking of :ome thing else of mor importance to me, to wit: my plendicl achievement, the marvellou underground journey Ihad ju t completed, full ' fi \T e hundred mile in length, pa ' in()' com pletely under the UraJ  :Jlountain  After a  short  'tay at the neare t village, Iengaged the be ·t guide that wa: to be had, and cro ing the Ural by the pas  in the mo t direct line, re-entered Ru 'sia and made ha 'te to join the fir ·t goyernment train on it ' wa y  to   t. Peter -burg.
Having de patched an avant courier with letter · to my  be loved parent ·, informing them of my O'Ood hea.lth and wher - about , Ipa ' eel · veral week Yery plea antly in the Russian capital, and then  by ea y   tage'   et out for home.
1'he elder baron	ame a	far a	Riga to meet me  and brought
me the best of n w · from Castle  Trump, that  my dear mother wa in perfect health, and that  he and  very man, woman,  and child in and about the ca 'tle were anxiou  l y  waiting to give me a re&l German w lcome back  home  again.  And  here,  dear friends, mit herzliclten Grus e, Bulger and Itake our  leave  of you.

Littlo  Baron  Trnmn  and His wonaorful  Do[ Bnl[or

PRESS	NOTICES

BOSTON TniES.  "Mr. Ingersoll Lockwood is nothing if not original -and he is origina l. The mo t partia l critic would not dare to deny him that desirable gift after a glance at hi 'Little Baron Trump.'  Like the great l\Iunchau en, the little Ba ron has a pa sion for travel, a lust of adventure, a fever of imagina tion. He sees, ays, and does que r things; accidents ne er heard of outsiue the lunatic asylum and 1\Ir. Lockwood's pages test his resources at every hand; to 'grappl e with an emercrency' is beneath him- he simply walks ov r it. We owe 1\Ir. Lockwood thanks, too, for that he ha neglected to wrap a mora l around his tale , and has given us simply a delightful example of the art of sustained fooling."

UTICA HERA LD . "A book which might ea ily be rated on of the posthumous chapters of the 'Arabian Nicrhts,' so far as its style g •., and po es ·ing, a the little Baron ob. erves, 'an almo t Oriental exuberanc  of  fancy.'  The pictures by 1\lr. Edward· are v ry comical, anu as ingeuiou  a  they are quaint .  But they are hard l y as wond rful as tl1e doino-s of th young Barou aud his more wonderful confidant, Bulger.    Surely never was   uch another dog as he."

NATIO  AL  TRIBUNE.  "Thetravelsandadventure   ofBaronTrnmpaudthe bulldog are indeed extraordinary, ev n more so than those of 'Sinbad the Sailor.' The book i  full of quaint humor,  ide- plitting at time .  The Baron is an extremely precociou young ter, and llulg; r, thoug-h he cannot talk , is gifted with the worldly wi dom and acutenes of a Prime Mini ·ter."

WOlUAN'S  CYCI.JE.   "Poor   1unchau en won hi   reputation in the nick of time .
A few generations later and he would haYe had no chance atall. Hi inYeHtiY e geniu would ha\'e fallen below that of a reporter for a' gr at' daily. Imagi nation is accustomed nowaday to a. tounding flights. It 1 rforms a eries of them in thi book, which i · also illustrated o comically a. to make the small boy sit on the floor and \niggle with delight, while his elders guffaw boister  ously.   It L, in fact, a' funny' book."

NE"' YORI{ SUN . "A very whimsical and ingenious tale i  that entitled 'Little Baron Trump and Hi Wonderful Dog Bulger.' Young or old readers will appreciate the llUmor of the author. The illu trations by George Wharton Edwards admirably  upplement the text.

ALTA    CALIFOR  IA  .	"Heath  n mythology, 'The Arabian  Nights,'  and the modern fairy tale are brought to mind by the wonderful scenes, but th  re is no evidence of plagiari  m, startling- originality being far more in the  author's line than surreptitions imitation.   1\fany of  the marvels are ingeniously founded  on the  , cientific  theories  of  recent  year , and  satire   on  popular	hortcoming or delu. io11S are conveyed in the gni e of some perilous exper ience.  The author has eddently  given  full  but  harmless  rein  to an  original  and  prolific imagi Hatiou."

PORTLAND  TELEGRAlU .  "One of  the most interestina  stories for young p opl ever i sued by an merican publi her . It humor is conta ious, it fun rollicking, whil the Yari ty and astonishing 11ature of the expc>rience of the pair holds the reader captive until the nd . The illustrations by Wharton Ed wards lend an added charm to the ' ork ."


LEE AND  SHEPARD	Publishers	Boston
LittlB Baron TrnmD and His wonuorfnl Do[ Bnl[Br

PRESS	NOTICES

N.Y. TRIBUNE. " Ir. Lockwood's clever book, though modelled, no doubt, on Munch au en' narrative, has a whim ical originality of invention which the first ;Baron might have envied. It is a question whetiler the very youthful reader will fully appreciate all the fun which an older reader finds therein; but it is certain that the book will not be dl'Opped until the last prodigious adven ture is ab orbed. A a book of fauta tic impossibilities, gravely set forth, it is tile most attractive devised in many a season."
PUBLIC OPINION. "One  of  the jolliest  and  most  rollicking  stories  of  the year. It is an old-time children's story, full of marvel, my  tery, and adventure. The author, Ingersoll Lockwood, has ucceeded in writincr a capital boy's book that is at once fascinatino- and wholesome, as well as being good literattire. The abundant illustration , drawn by George 'Vharton Edwards, are admirably executed, and form a strong re-enforcement to the interest as  well  as the beauty of  the work."
SACRA"l\IENTO  BEE.   "A clean, well written, interesting children's book, but its adventures are so wonderful and o quaintly told that many a parent who would buy the book as a Christmas present for his children would be beguiled into reading it for his own amusement."
ST. PAUL  DISPATCH.	"It is a fanciful tale with a healthy tone throughout.
Moreover, it is put in an attractive form, the cover being an unique combination of gray, black and brown, while the print is clear and the illustration very at tractive. 'Bulger' was Little Baron Trump's companion from his birth; the relation of hi attachment for his master and their adventures among tra.nge peoples and in new countries i very entertaining . The book will be heartily welcomed by both boys and girl , and it is a safe book to pla.ce in their hands."
BROOKLYN EAGLE.  "A  delightfully  absurd  and  sarcastic  boy's  story  is 'Little Baron Trump and His Wonderful Dog Bulger,' with equally absurd and wonderful illustrations. It is as remarkable for its powers of absurdity as "Gulliver's Travel ' or 'Alice in Wonderland,' if  not  so sarcastic as the  fir t, and the illustrations are not merely absurd travesties, but works of art charac teristically and in drawing. Bulger is truly a wonderful dog, but no more ,..,.on derful than his phenomenally brainy young master and the great variety of preposterous people he falls in with."
CHRISTIAN STANDARD. "One of those strange,  whimsical,  julesvernish romance which, while they have neither mission  nor  moral, plot  or purpose, are strangely fa cinating to children . This quaint and cm·ious volume of never to-be-forgotten lore is rendered the more attractive by numerous grotesque, gigO'le -begetting illu tration., by Ge01·cre ·wharton Edwards."
HEALTH AND HO:.\IE. "Thi ·  work   will  delight  both  young  and  old.  It gives a series of ludicrous adventures of the Little Baron and  his famous dog that are not only amu ing, but, in many cases, point useful morals. It contains over 300 pages, all of which brim over with genuine humor, and is just the book for boys who are wearing their first pants, or even of  a larger growth."
MINNEAPOLIS   TRIBUNE.	"A romance of wonderland, for old and young.
It would be difficult to find a volume of adventures which would surpa Mr. Lockwood's presentations of the wonders of travel, and of the deed of the yaliant heroes who trumpet their bravery and daring after laughable and amusing  style."

LEE AND  SHEPARD   Publishers   Boston
Little  cantain nonnolkon  on tno Shores of Bnbblolana

PR ESS	NOTICES

CLEVELAN D PLAINDEALER .  '' Inge t· oll Lockwood, who delighted  and be wi ldered readers y!mng and old with tho e queer cxtl·avaganza , 'Little Baron Trump ' ancl 'Littl e GiantBoab,' has pet·petrated another joke of the arne kind in hi 'Extra ordinary Experiences of Little aptain Doppclkop on the Shore of Bubbleland.' The boy, who was tw i ns in him ·elf, a ort of juv ni l e Dr. Jekyll an ll\Ir. Ilyde, has a lot of mprising and comical adventure that are narrated by him elf- or perhaps we ouo-ht to ay more truthfully, though nngrammatically, 'them elf'-witb delightful simplicity ."

BOSTON  HOlliE  JOURNAL .  "For it  quaint conception  it ha  never been   ur pa eel, if equalled, by anything- of the kind . The idea of creating a character like that of Little Captain Doppelkop wa a great stroke of geniu . The adventures of the Little Captain in Bnbbleland are of the roo t marvellous character, and con tautly lead from one surpt·ise to another till more nrprising, and they arc related with a sparkle and natnralne s that keep the reader' high interc t continually on the top roo t round of expectancy. If Ir. Lockwood can beat his own record on this ex travaganza, then he will indeed  tancl the champion imaginator of the world."

NORTH,VESTERN lliAGAZINE . "Inger oll Lockwood ha  quite outdone him  self this time . The trouble i there are 287 l:.wge page of pure enjoyment and fun for yom· open-mouthed boy , and the small one won't let you .top till you've read them every one, not to speak of letting them take the book at evet·y page or two to look at the droll pictures which Clifton John on ha' so fitted to the text . 'Little Captain Doppelkop' wa two children rolled into one, and theit· adventure in Glaucus' Gluepot, Bubblelancl, the Castle of Indolence, and el cwhere- all kept even poor old me intere ted. The book i bound prettily in gray-green, touched up with darker and gold; just the book for your boy'  Xma  tree.''

THE      HOUSEKEEPER.	"'Little	aptain Doppclkop,' being- the extraordinary experience  of the odde t and mo ·t amu ing littl  fellow that ever made or found hi way froru womlerful babyhood and it  my terie, out into the big, crazy world . Inger oll Lockwood, the author of thi  book, make  it hi  busine s to  tow away a lot of  en c into a lmndrcd  mall packets of non en c,  o that the boy or girl who read  the three hundred page  that tell all about the impossible ab urditie  of the little Captain will be the happier and the wi er."

BOSTON COURIER. "Thi we confe to finding one of the mo t amu ing and in  genion book of it kind tllat ha been written in om time It i . pontaneou and parlding-, and there i  through ut an unfailing ·ucce sion of novel urpri ·e uch as only the mo -t fanta ticall.v fertile fancy could have devi ed . The central idea, that of the' boy who wa really two per.on , i a capital one, good enough to make the fortune of any' book, and it is capitally carried out."                                •

NE\V LON DON TELEGRAPH . "'Little Captain Doppelkop' i an extrava o-anza as cm·iou a. wa ·ever conceived and d picterl in pro e and picture. Ingersoll Lockwood howed in 'Little Baron Tmmp' how po ible it wa to be a delightful yet perfectly unobjectionable MunclHtnsen. 'Little Captain Doppelkop,' fr m beo-inning to end i ' filled with entrancing and ab orbing atlventm e , and the facile pencil fully supple ent the pen. No ·uch work ha ' he n attempted by American writer , and the crreat ucce which atlendccl Mr. Ing·er.oil in hi former achievement cannot fail to b repeated now. The yirit, enet:g-y, and imple way in :vhich the n rrative e ms to htw tbe po . ible render 1t o ffecttve that whoevertake tt up find h1m elf tummg page fter page until he unwillingly come  to the Ia t.''

BOSTON  Gl OBE.  "'Little Captain Doppelkop' -why 'Doppelkop' it i  nece   ary to read- i ·bound to be a tremcmlou ·ucce , and de 'el'VC a place as a child's classic with tho e which delighted our boyhood ."


LEE	AND	SHEPARD	Publishers	Boston
Littlo	Giant	Boao	ana	His	Talkin[	Ravon	Tanio

PRESS	NOTICES

NEW	YORK  TRIBUNE .  "'The  Wonderful  Deetl .  and   Doing   of   Little Giant :Boab :mel  his  Talking  Raven  Tabib'  take  higher  rank  than  any  other book   of the   ea on intended  for  young  people, .and is indeed even  cleverer  than it  a mu ing-  predece  or, which   recounted  the adventures  of  Baron Trnmp  and hi' delig-htful dog Bulger. In this story of a mighty young Spani.;;h giant, Tahib, the raven, plays the guiding, pt·otecting, and humorou part taken by Bulger in  Mr. lng-et· oil Lockwood's first story, and hi omewhat cynical hrewdnc" and hearty affection for h i master make the ' l ittle gentleman in black' a very wi nning fig-ure . vVith the hnmot ous tone of the book i blcnt a weet and kind ly pi t·it that much enhance  the charm:: of it  wild adventure ."
CRITIC, NEW YORK . " 'Boab' i· hortfor Boabdil de Clavigcro, and the appella
tive 'Little Giant' but fain tly mdicates the protligie' of  trcngth and valor performed
by  thi	mat·vcll ous child .  in an  elaborately  erudite  introduction,   hri tling   with
indisputable citations in black-lcttc•· f1·om . i:xtecnth -centur.\' traveller . our clever author seek to dispel any p iblc doubt a ' to the real exi tcnce of his hero. In g-enious Mr. Lockwood! llon't you know that the chy j.:;   pa. t  when we young .te 1· u ed to query' 1' it true?' Few will concern thern1;elve -, ag they follow with breathle -s eagerness the career of this precociou hor, to eli cover the dividin line betwe n fact and fane'· There seem  to  be  no limit to the  author's  ima iwttion, and Boab is brought bravely out of one combination of p ril-; only to be involved in another stillmore a Ianning. Nothing i impo ihle to hi.,  trong- at·m  and quick wit, and whether houldcring a ma ive ca tic-door, Ol' tripping np El Gran Capitan and J)inning him to the floor with a two-ton  tatue, o1· vanqui hiug the frightful  ma11-hat, or getting ahead of the waH ofliving- tones, or dt·h ing the cardinal through ni;dll and tempe:st, over the mountain - to the Malag-a, he is in aU the ame plucky, inviuc·ihle, good-natu1·ed little fellow-with whom every year will be loth to part. Fun, non·lty, r>atire, patl1o -the e are a few of the elements that make this a mo ·t attractive book for the young ."
BROOKLYN	TANDARD  UNION .  "It i a  pretty  hard  thing to  invent  a
really new fairy talc, , o completely has the grouml hcen !.('one over by the old vet  ran
story-tclle1·  ; but in • Little Giant hoab' :111'  Lockwood  has given the young fnlk a tale which i  in many re pcct  original, which contain   many uew :-ituation   and in genious invention '• which is whim ical to the Ia ·t deQ"r ee, full of suhtle humor  and rolli cking-  fun.   It is a delightful tale, that will he quite  a,;;   . ucce:>sful  a	' Little Baron Trump and hi - \Vonclcl'fnl Dog Bulger,' which made . neh n. hit la t sc;Hon. The funny and wonderful  doing  of Giant Boab and hi   taYcn, with the hnmorou account  of  I3oab'	a nee tor ,  hi	appeara nee  in  Queen  l,;;thel 's court,  hi   f at. of  trcngth, hi  exploits in the Spani h camp, together with all hi-<  snh eqnentjonrney mg , will be read and listened to and talked over in many a hon ·cholcl during til  com ing holiday . .  The illustrations, too, are in admirable keeping with the . pirit  of the
. tory, and fitly  npplemcut as well as adom the text.   Giant 13oab i.· de·tincd to he a formidable rival to Baron Munchauscn himself."
BOSTON  BEACON .  "Ingersoll Lockwood ha   :;eizcd an old Moorish le!!end and
made usc of it to furni .-h a fi1"t-mte  fairy tale which  will delight the C'hildren almost
as much a  older folk are dcli:rhted with 'Don Qni .·ote.'  Little Want Boa.b is a ·inter e tin!! a character a.s  IIopO'MyThumbofEng-li ·h birth, and incidental to hisa<lvent mes valuable  insight into the cu toms and way   of Spain i atfonled.   The book ha many wooll-ent. by Clifton ,John . on.  Mr. Lockwood di.;;play  a toni hing vcr atility, unlimited power  of invention, unfailing- humor, and a sati1·ical purpo·e which .cern' to be  o clo -ely intcnvoven with the whole natTative that its force cl<'pends altogether on the reader'  capacity of compt·chen"ion.   Like Swift':; ' Gullive1·' tale , the  tories of the exploits of the Little Giant will be a   ouree of uncndi ng-  entertainment  to the yonng, while their elder  will relish the clever mannc1· in which  all ,ort   of ltnmau wea.kne. ·cs are exhibited in the light of whole ome ricli  nlc .  .:\11'. Clifton .John on has adLled a larg-e number of illu ·tration.  admirably   uited to the text."
ZIOX'S  HERALD .  "Thi  i-> a fai1·y tale which will e ·pccially llclight the children .
Tabib wa· a  ly and cunning bit·d, but Boab was a goorl and bmve boy; a!Hl putting
the·e two together and setting them off, to take tog-ether whatc\'Cr allventm· s may befall them, i sut·e to create a fa ·cinating intcrc. tin them fo1· the young- .  •\. ud th n,
too, the pictures are . o man.\', tmd in many ca es  'O funny, that this will be another ource of plea. ure to the reader ."

LEE	AND	SHEPARD	Publishers . Boston



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