get a faint reflection from the
stalactites hundreds of feet away.

At length Odin came to a vast room where his light could reach neither
walls nor ceiling. But in the center of it was a tiny pool, rimmed by white
sand and a shell-like lip of limestone. He got to his knees and tested the
water. It was clean--but old and old and old. Filling his canteen, he
opened his knapsack and prepared a hearty meal. He was dog-tired but
before he slept he walked around the little pool. He had heard of fish
being found in underground caverns--or even the fossils of things that had
once been there. But here Odin found no sign of life. Nothing except traces
of the vast underground river that must have once swept through here long
ago.

It was a desolate feeling to stand there with his beam of light pushing the
dark away. Alone in a place which apparently had never known the beat of
life before. And then Odin saw it--

A footprint. A small footprint which must have been made by someone who
wore moccasins or sandals. He recognized it at once. He had seen hundreds
of those footprints!

A Neebling had been there. How long before he did not know. But, certainly,
Odin's theory had been right. The cavern led the way to Opal. Jack Odin was
not sure how many times he ate and slept as he toiled his way downward. The
long dead river had carved cunningly and beautifully upon the walls of the
tunnel. And the dripping waters of centuries had fashioned pedestals,
carvings, and statues that were beautiful indeed. Ordinarily he would have
been interested in these, for Jack Odin was a man who loved beautiful
things, but now he had but one idea: To go on.

Occasionally he found more footprints. But always near the scattered
pools. The dwarfs must have kept against the walls and come out upon the
sand only to quench their thirst. He wondered about that. And a possible
answer came to him. They had been there without a light--feeling their way,
almost--although he knew that they could see in the dark to a certain
extent. He wondered at their courage. Here, with two lights, the staring
darkness and the silent empty spaces were making him shaky.

The descent became sharper. At times he slid down long grades of limestone.
Now and then he came to sharp drops where little waterfalls had once been.
But there was usually sand below and he was able to leap down without much
harm, other than a jolt or two.

But once he came to one of these drops that must h