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But the sun as yet retained his sovereignty,
and there was no wind. By the pilot's advice, Errington and his friends
had provided themselves each with a pine torch, in order to light up the
cavern as soon as they found themselves within it. The smoky crimson
flare illuminated what seemed at a first glance to be a miniature fairy
palace studded thickly with clusters of diamonds. Long pointed
stalactites hung from the roof at almost mathematically even distances
from one another,--the walls glistened with varying shades of pink and
green and violet,--and in the very midst of the cave was a still pool of
water in which all the fantastic forms and hues of the place mirrored
themselves in miniature. In one corner the stalactites had clustered
into the shape of a large chair overhung by a canopy, and Duprez
perceiving it, exclaimed--he listened, and seemed satisfied; then,
turning away, he linked his arm through Philip's, and said,
"_Voila!_ A queen's throne! Come Mademoiselle Gueldmar, you must sit in
it!"
"But I am not a queen," laughed Thelma.


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