less to speak, else he
would have had warning of their arrest. He started back, however,
before anyone saw him, and retreating a good way, stood watching till
the father should come out to go to the palace.

Before very long, both he and his son Helfer appeared and kept on in
the same direction as before, while Curdie followed them again with
renewed precaution. For a long time he heard no sound except something
like the rush of a river inside the rock; but at length what seemed the
far-off noise of a great shouting reached his ears, which, however,
presently ceased. After advancing a good way farther, he thought he
heard a single voice. It sounded clearer and clearer as he went on,
until at last he could almost distinguish the words. In a moment or
two, keeping after the goblins round another corner, he once more
started back--this time in amazement.

He was at the entrance of a magnificent cavern, of an oval shape, once
probably a huge natural reservoir of water, now the great palace hall
of the goblins. It rose to a tremendous height, but the roof was
composed of such shining materials, and the multitude of torches
carried by the goblins who crowded the floor lighted up the place so
brilliantly, that Curdie could see to the top quite well. But he had
no idea how immense the place was until his eyes had got accustomed to
it, which was not for a good many minutes. The rough projections on the
walls, and the shadows thrown upwards from them by the torches, made
the sides of the chamber look as if they were crowded with statues upon
brackets and pedestals, reaching in irregular tiers from floor to roof.
The walls themselves were, in many parts, of gloriously shining
substances, some of them gorgeously coloured besides, which powerfully
contrasted with the shadows. Curdie could not help wondering whether
his rhymes would be of any use against such a multitude of goblins as
filled the floor of the hall, and indeed felt considerably tempted to
begin his shout of 'One, two, three!', but as there was no reason for
routing them and much for endeavouring to discover their designs, he
kept himself perfectly quiet, and peering round the edge of the
doorway, listened with both his sharp ears.

At the other end of the hall, high above the heads of the multitude,
was a terrace-like ledge of considerable height, caused by the receding
of the upper part of the cavern-wall. Upon this sat the king and his
court: the king on