h a long, low opening in
the cliff behind the fall. Greater still was his surprise to see a
strange many-colored light burning within the cave.

The Prince made his way toward the light, along a narrow beach of white
sand lying between the wall of the cavern and the racing waters of the
mysterious river, and found that the glow came from a magnificent
lantern studded with emeralds, topazes, amethysts, and rubies, which
hung by a chain from the roof of the grotto. Directly under this
lantern, drawn up on the sand, lay a little boat with a lantern fastened
to the bow. The Prince pushed the boat into the river, and got into it,
and the swift current seized him and hurried him away.

At first the cavern grew higher and wider; then it shrank again, and the
boat, borne along with incredible speed, shot down a rocky passageway
into the very heart of the earth. The passageway broadened once more,
and the boat rode gently through monstrous caves whose roofs were upheld
by twisted columns taller than the tallest tree. There were times when
all was so still that the Prince could easily have imagined himself back
in the solitude of the mountains; there were times when the foaming and
roaring of the underground river grew so deafening that the Prince
feared lest he might be approaching the brink of a subterranean
cataract.

Many hours passed. The Prince did not know whether it was night or day.
At length, while the boat was gliding through a vast hall, he fell
asleep. When he awoke, he found that the boat was floating on the black,
glassy surface of an immense underground ocean. All signs of the cavern
had disappeared. Far away, over the edge of this ocean, a strange,
beautiful glow mounted into the starless sky of the underworld. And
while the Prince was gazing at the glow, the boat swung into a new
current, and was borne swiftly toward the light. In a short time the
light grew so wide and bright that one would have believed that a
strange, golden sun had risen. The boat passed between two giant marble
pillars supporting enormous crystal globes filled with a golden fire,
and the Prince found himself in the harbor of Lantern Land.

A city lay before him, a strange golden city edging the shore of a vast,
semi-circular bay. Because in the centre of the earth there is neither
sun nor moon, the people have to be continually burning lights; and so
many and so great were the lanterns of Lantern Land that the town was as
bright as day.