“One of the wonders of the world,” replied Panton. “Look at the crystals here.”
“Yes, but we saw them before.”
“Then look at the incrustations of sulphur here. These must have been here for countless ages. Look, too, how it is heaped against this wall.”
“Yes, wonderful, but we saw plenty of sulphur when you came up out of that hole where you first went down, if you remember, and brought plenty up.”
“Yes,” said Oliver. “Can’t you show us something more like what must have been in Aladdin’s cave, gold, silver, and precious stones?”
Panton held up his light as they turned round a bend of the rocky side on their left, and pointed to the coloration of the rocks and the half loose fragments, which still clung in their place, while other bits had fallen down.
“There,” he said, “those are as bright as anything in Aladdin’s cave.”
“And as valuable?”
“That depends on the value people put upon them. From a geological point of view, and the study of the formation of crystals by volcanic heat they are priceless.”
“But how much farther are you going?” said Drew.