“Oh—h—h!”
That was all our boys could say for a moment or two.
No stalactite cave probably ever rivalled the beauty of this.
And here were stalactites, too, in the form of depending icicles, dozens, scores, hundreds of them, and, seen by the electric light, they emitted all the colours of the rainbow.
They walked cautiously on and on a long way into the bowels of this mighty cavern, watching the floor for pussy-holes.
No one could even guess where the seal had gone.
“Well,” said Charlie, as they came at last to the end of the ocean-hollowed cave, “I should really have expected to find mermaids here.”
“Now,” said Ingomar, “one more transformation scene, or perhaps two, and then the pantomime is over.”
As he spoke he touched a spring, and, wonderful to say, the cave was illuminated with brightest crimson, then with orange and red again. So on to the pure white light, and in this they found their way to the mouth of the cave, and made their exit and presently their way to the boats.
“We’ve seen a sight,” said Ingomar, “that is surely worth coming to the Antarctic to look upon.”