wn through the water at round boulders and flat
shelves of rock, seen magnified and strangely blue in the depths. At
first she was half fearful and would not allow the boat to be taken
near the mouths of the caves she passed. At the mouth of one cave
Kalliope shouted suddenly. Echoes answered her from within, repeating
her shout and repeating it till the cries seemed to come from far off,
from the very centre of the island. Opposite another cave Kalliope
shouted again and banged her oars against the gunwhale of the boat. A
flock of grey birds, some kind of rock pigeons, flew out, making a
sound of rushing with their wings. The Queen became, little by little,
less fearful and more curious.

They came at last to a cavern with a wide entrance. The daylight shone
far inside. The water was blue far into the depths, not purple or
black as it seemed to be just inside the narrower caves. The Queen
signed to Kalliope. The boat turned, slipped into the wide entrance,
rose and fell upon the swelling water under the high roof. Kalliope
rowed on. For awhile she rowed with her oars full stretch on their
rowlocks. Then the walls narrowed more and more till she must ship her
oars. The boat glided on slowly from the impulse of her last stroke.
The walls narrowed still. Kalliope stood up. Pushing against one wall
and then the other with an oar grasped midway in her hands she drove
the boat forward. Suddenly the space widened. The roof was higher,
almost out of sight. The boat passed into a huge cavern very dimly
lit. The Queen gasped, sat open-mouthed in breathless silence for a
moment; then looking round she saw that the cavern was lit by several
thin shafts of pale-blue light. More than one of the caves whose
entrance the boat had passed led into this great cavern. Kalliope,
laughing, plunged an oar into the waters. It shone silver like some
long fish. The Queen gazed at it. She plunged her own arm in and saw
it turn silver too.

The water was still deep and seemed scarcely to shallow at all as the
boat moved forward into the depths of the cavern. Suddenly the Queen
saw before her a steep beach covered with large, round stones. The
boat grounded. Kalliope leaped on shore. She held her hand out to the
Queen. The two girls stood together on the beach. Kalliope, still
holding her Queen's hand, led the way upwards, away from the boat and
the water. Her bare feet moved lightly over the stones which shifted
and rolled under the Queen's sho