e and a colony of carefully chosen men, they returned to the
island.

"After the men and their families had settled in the great roomy mouth
of the cavern my ancestor supplied himself with several strong men and
food and lights, and sought to explore the entire cavern.

"To their astonishment they found that it was practically endless. When
they had gone down about sixty or seventy miles below the sea level they
found themselves on a vast, undulating plain, the soil of which was dark
and rich, with the black roof of the cavern arching overhead like the
bottom of a great inverted bowl. And when they had travelled about ten
days and reached the other side my ancestor calculated that the cave
must be over one hundred miles in diameter and almost circular in shape.
But what elated and surprised them most was the remarkable salubrity
of the atmosphere. In all parts of the cave it was exactly the same
temperature, and they found that they scarcely felt any fatigue from
their journey, and that they had little desire to eat the provisions
with which they were supplied. Indeed, the very air seemed permeated
with a subtle quality that gave them strength and energy of mind and
body.

"Finally, when, after a month had passed, and they returned to their
anxious friends, these people overwhelmed them with exclamations of
surprise over their appearance. And in the light of day the explorers
looked at one another in astonishment, for, in the dim light of the
lanterns they had carried, they had not noticed the great change that
had come over them. They had all become the finest specimens of physical
health that could be imagined. Their bodies had filled out; they were
remarkably strong; their skins shone with healthful color and their eyes
sparkled with intellectual energy, and their minds, even to the humblest
burden-carrier, were astonishingly acute and active.

"My ancestor was a remarkable man, and he had hitherto shown much
inventive ability; but in that month in the cave he had developed
into an intellectual giant. After mature deliberation, he proposed a
prodigious scheme to his followers. He explained that, while they might,
by using the utmost discretion, hold the financial world in their power
by means of their inexhaustible wealth, that the laws and restrictions
of different countries prevented men of vast wealth from really enjoying
more privileges than men of moderate means. He grew eloquent in speaking
of the undergrou