He soon found that it was only buried about three feet in the sand, and in a few minutes he had succeeded in making a hole under it wide enough to crawl through on his hands and knees, the doves immediately following him.
Once inside, the shore looked very much the same as it did elsewhere, and the only wind was the natural breeze, fresh and briny, which blew in from the sea.
They crept along, keeping close to the ground, under the shade of the trees, and after a while came up close to the hill, which at this side seemed to be of solid rock, and ran very close to the water.
Built against the hill was a long, low house of white stone, with a flight of marble steps leading up to the door, while directly in front of it running out a short distance was a wide landing, seemingly composed of one immense slab of white stone.
They crept close to the house, but Daimur was afraid to mount the stair for fear of being seen from one of the windows which faced the sea on each side of the door. He was very anxious to know who was in the house, but to his surprise his cap could not tell him anything about it.
The Princess eagerly volunteered to go.
"I am white like the gulls that are flying about," she said, "and will not likely be noticed."
Up she flew and alighted on the window sill, which was open, and after looking carefully in, she disappeared inside.
The King and Queen and Daimur waited in the greatest suspense for more than half an hour. At the end of that time she reappeared, looking very frightened.
"There is a witch in there," she whispered. "Let us go back at once."