ustiness, and decay. And, as
he blinked about him, the glowing crystal faded, and went out.

Such were the first general impressions of Mr. Cave. The story is
curiously direct and circumstantial. From the outset, when the valley
first flashed momentarily on his senses, his imagination was strangely
affected, and, as he began to appreciate the details of the scene he
saw, his wonder rose to the point of a passion. He went about his
business listless and distraught, thinking only of the time when he
should be able to return to his watching. And then a few weeks after his
first sight of the valley came the two customers, the stress and
excitement of their offer, and the narrow escape of the crystal from
sale, as I have already told.

Now, while the thing was Mr. Cave's secret, it remained a mere wonder, a
thing to creep to covertly and peep at, as a child might peep upon a
forbidden garden. But Mr. Wace has, for a young scientific investigator,
a particularly lucid and consecutive habit of mind. Directly the crystal
and its story came to him, and he had satisfied himself, by seeing the
phosphorescence with his own eyes, that there really was a certain
evidence for Mr. Cave's statements, he proceeded to develop the matter
systematically. Mr. Cave was only too eager to come and feast his eyes
on this wonderland he saw, and he came every night from half-past eight
until half-past ten, and sometimes, in Mr. Wace's absence, during the
day. On Sunday afternoons, also, he came. From the outset Mr. Wace made
copious notes, and it was due to his scientific method that the relation
between the direction from which the initiating ray entered the crystal
and the orientation of the picture were proved. And, by covering the
crystal in a box perforated only with a small aperture to admit the
exciting ray, and by substituting black holland for his buff blinds, he
greatly improved the conditions of the observations; so that in a little
while they were able to survey the valley in any direction they desired.

So having cleared the way, we may give a brief account of this visionary
world within the crystal. The things were in all cases seen by Mr. Cave,
and the method of working was invariably for him to watch the crystal
and report what he saw, while Mr. Wace (who as a science student had
learnt the trick of writing in the dark) wrote a brief note of his
report. When the crystal faded, it was put into its box in the proper
position and th