“Delicious. Drink.”
“Then you have been coming to find that?” cried Nic, after taking a long, deep draught. “It is good. But I thought you were going to show me the way down into the gorge.”
“Yes: there it is.”
“What? Why, where?” cried Nic, staring.
“Down there, where the water goes. Follow that, and you will reach the great valley.”
“But,” cried Nic, gazing in wonder at what seemed to be a mere split in the rock, down which the light penetrated but a short distance, “that goes underground.”
“Yes, nearly all the way.”
“A cavern.”
“A series of caverns. You do not care to go now?”
“Well, it looks—It is so—One can’t hardly—Yes, one can,” cried the boy, ceasing his stammering and drawing himself up. “I am quite ready. Will you go first?”