Everybody agreed to this, and they now pressed forward along the gallery.
For perhaps a hundred yards this followed a winding way, and suddenly a startling view burst upon the rescuers.
Daylight was visible just ahead, and now they emerged into a narrow and deep valley right among the peaks.
What was the most striking was that this valley was as green as an emerald, which, indeed, it seemed like in a rough setting of mighty jagged heights.
Vegetation flourished in this peculiar valley. There were larches, cedars and spruces, and a peculiar sort of grass interspersed with moss turfed the valley.
This was the home of the Antarctic people. Truly it was a remarkable spectacle.
For many weeks none in the party had gazed upon aught but the white waste of snow and ice.
The green valley now seemed to partly blind them, and, indeed, it was some while before any could take in its appointments in full.
Then they saw that a small settlement of stone houses was near at hand.
Beyond was another, larger, and in the midst of it was one large building covering fully an acre.