she
cried, 'I am in the water. It is running strong--but it is not deep,
and there is just room to walk. Make haste, Curdie.'

He tried, but the hole was too small for him to get in.

'Go on a little bit he said, shouldering his pickaxe. In a few moments
he had cleared a larger opening and followed her. They went on, down
and down with the running water, Curdie getting more and more afraid it
was leading them to some terrible gulf in the heart of the mountain.
In one or two places he had to break away the rock to make room before
even Irene could get through--at least without hurting herself. But at
length they spied a glimmer of light, and in a minute more they were
almost blinded by the full sunlight, into which they emerged. It was
some little time before the princess could see well enough to discover
that they stood in her own garden, close by the seat on which she and
her king-papa had sat that afternoon. They had come out by the channel
of the little stream. She danced and clapped her hands with delight.

'Now, Curdie!' she cried, 'won't you believe what I told you about my
grandmother and her thread?'

For she had felt all the time that Curdie was not believing what she
told him.

'There!--don't you see it shining on before us?' she added.

'I don't see anything,' persisted Curdie.

'Then you must believe without seeing,' said the princess; 'for you
can't deny it has brought us out of the mountain.'

'I can't deny we are out of the mountain, and I should be very
ungrateful indeed to deny that you had brought me out of it.'

'I couldn't have done it but for the thread,' persisted Irene.

'That's the part I don't understand.'

'Well, come along, and Lootie will get you something to eat. I am sure
you must want it very much.'

'Indeed I do. But my father and mother will be so anxious about me, I
must make haste--first up the mountain to tell my mother, and then down
into the mine again to let my father know.'

'Very well, Curdie; but you can't get out without coming this way, and
I will take you through the house, for that is nearest.'

They met no one by the way, for, indeed, as before, the people were
here and there and everywhere searching for the princess. When they
got in Irene found that the thread, as she had half expected, went up
the old staircase, and a new thought struck her. She turned to Curdie
and said:

'My grandmother wants me. Do come up with me and see her. Then you