218 NIMMOD OF THE SEA; OB, 



of touch. We were now thoroughly frightened, and turned 

 to retrace our steps ; but which way ? We stood in a sea 

 of nothingness — locked in the foundations of the mountain. 

 The walls were lost to the sight, and were nothing to the 

 touch. We stooped to the deep dust of the floor, and held 

 the flame to read our foot-prints ; but this soil of carbon ab- 

 sorbed the light, as the sand of the desert does the rain- 

 drops. We reached forward, and the hand failed to meet 

 the wall ; we reached downward, and there, too, was but 

 empty space. The light failed to show the defining edge 

 between the solid rock and the void. We swung the lamp 

 over the brink on which we lay ; it revealed nothing. We 

 dropped a heavy stone into the chasm, and listened for the 

 rebound. No sound was returned as it sank into the pro- 

 found. We cast another stone across to test the width, but 

 this, too, was lost to the senses. Silently they passed away, 

 as the mist-wreath on the hill-side. And then we knew we 

 had been preserved from death. A careless step, and. we 

 had found a grave in the depths of the world's foundations. 

 We realized that we were lying in trembling safety on the 

 threshold of the extinct volcano, and lifting our useless eyes 

 from the impenetrable blackness, the awful whisper ' Lost !' 

 passed between us. We were afraid to move, but the wast- 

 ing oil of our lamp warned us that time must not be lost. 

 Presently our ears caught the beat of the surf on the rocks 

 as the tide came in, and, following this direction, we final- 

 ly reached the entrance, almost fainting from joy when we 

 stood beyond this chamber of gloom. Once more we stood 

 under the wondrous tracery and reflections of the outer gates 

 'of the inter-world of mysteries. 



' ' ' There is a dungeon, in whose dim, drear light — 

 What do I gaze upon f Nothing. Look again I 

 Two forms are dimly shadowed on my sight, 

 Two insulated shadows of the brain.' " 



