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14 - Baron Trump's Marvellous Underground Journey · Classic Adventure Books Library

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  Chapter fourteen, Bulgar and I turn our backs on the fair domain of Queen
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  Cristallina, Nature's wonderful speaking tube. Cristallina's attempt to turn us back, How
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  I kept Bulgar from yielding. Some incidents of our journey along the Marble Highway,
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  and how we came to the glorious gateway of solid silver. Me the
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  sorrowing Sebastian, loaded with as heavy a heart as ever in mortal of my
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  size, had borne away with him. Did the wise Bulgar lead along the
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  broad and silent highway, farther and yet farther from the city of the Micamenks,
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  until at last the music of the fountains pattering in their crystal basins died
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  away in the distance, and the darkness far behind me. I felt that
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  my wise little brother was right, and so I followed on after, with
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  not a sigh or a syllable to stay him. But he halted at last,
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  And as I felt about me, I discovered that I was standing beside
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  one of the richly carved seats that one so often and meets with along the
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  Marble Highway. I was quite as foot weary as I was, heart heavy,
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  and reaching out I touched the spring, which I knew would transform the
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  seat into a bed, and clambering upon it with my wise bulgar nestled beside
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  me, I soon fell into a deep and refreshing sleep. When I awoke,
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  and, sitting up, looked back toward Queen Cristallina's capital, I could
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  see the river of light pouring down its flood of white rays far away in
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  the distance, But only a faint reflection came out to where we had passed
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  the night. And then I knew that my faithful companion had led me to
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  the very uttermost limits of the Micamenki domain before he had halted. Yes,
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  sure enough, for as I raised my eyes, there, towering above the
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  bed stood the slender crystal column which marked the end of goggle Land, and
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  upon its face I read the extract from a royal decree forbidding a Mcamenky to
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  overstep this limit under pain of incurring the Queen's most serious displeasure. Before army
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  was darkness and uncertainty. Behind me lay the fair kingdom of the transparent folk.
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  Yet in sight lighted up like a long line of happy homes in which
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  the fires were blazing bright and warm on the hearthstones. Did I turn back?
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  Did I hesitate? No? I could see a pair of speaking eyes
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  fixed upon me, and I could hear a low whine of impatience, coaxing
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  me along. Stooping down, I fastened a bit of silken cord taken from
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  the bed to Bulger's collar and bade him lead the way. It was a
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  long while before the light of Queen Cristallina's city faded away entirely, and even
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  when it ceased to be of any service in making known to me the grandeur
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  and beauty of the vast underground passage, I could still see it glitter like
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  a silver star, away away behind me. But it disappeared at last,
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  and then I felt that I had parted forever with the dear little princess with
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  the speck in her heart. Bulger didn't seem to have the slightest difficulty in
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  keeping in the center of the marble highway, and never allowed the leading string
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  to slap up for a moment. However, it was by no means a
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  tramp through utter darkness, for the lizards of which I have already spoken,
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  aroused by the sound of my footfalls, snapped their tails and lighted up their
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  tiny flashed torches in eager attempts to discover whence the noise proceeded, and what
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  sort of a being it was that had invaded their silent domains. We had
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  covered possibly two leagues when suddenly a low and mysterious voice, as soft and
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  gentle as if it had dropped from the clear, starry heavens of my own
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  beautiful world, reached my ear, Sebastion, Sebastian, it murmured. Before
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  I could stop to think, I uttered a cry of wonder, and the
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  noise of my voice seemed to awake ten thousand of the tiny living flashlights inhabiting
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  the cracks and crevices of a vast arched corridor, flooding it for a moment
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  or so with a soft and rosy at radiance. Sebastion Sebastion again murmured the
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  mellow, an echo like voice coming from the very walls of rock beside me,
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  hastily drawing near to the spot whence the words seemed to come. I
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  laid my ear against the smooth face of the rock. Again, the same
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  soft, sighing voice pronounced my name so clearly and so close beside me,
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  that I reached out to grasp Crystalline's hand, for hers was the voice,
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  the same low sweet voice that had told me of her sorrow in the spectral
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  garden, but there was no one there. In reaching out, however,
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  I had passed my left hand along the face of the wall, and it
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  had marked the presence of a round, smooth opening in its rock face,
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  and opening about the size of a rain water pipe in the upper world.
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  Instantly it flashed upon my mind that, through some whim of nature, this
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  opening extended for leagues back towards the city of the mcaminkeys, through the miles
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  of solid rock, and opened in the very throne room of the Princess Cristallina.
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  Yes, I was right, for after a moment or so again the
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  same low sweet voice came through the speaking tube of Nati making and fell upon
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  my ear. I waited until it had ceased, and setting my mouth in
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  front of the opening, I murmured, in strong but gentle tones, farewell,
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  dear Princess Cristelina. Bulgar and the little baron both bid thee a long
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  farewell, and then, raising Bulgar in my arms, I bade him weep
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  for his royal friend, whom he would never see again. He gave a
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  long, low, piteous cry, half whine, half howl, and then
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  I listened for Cristellina's voice. It was not long in coming. Farewell,
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  dear Bulgar, Farewell, dear Sebastian. Cristallina will never forget you until her
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  poor heart with the speck and it runs down, and the crystal throne knows
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  her no more. Poor Bulgar, it now became my turn to tear him
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  from this spot. For Cristelina's voice, sounding thus unexpectedly in his ears,
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  had aroused all the deep affection which he had so ruthlessly smothered in order to
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  bring his little master to his senses, and freed him from the charm of
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  Cristellina's grace and beauty. But in vain, all my strength, all my
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  entreaties, were powerless to move him from the place. Evidently Christellina had heard
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  me pleading with Bulgar, and had imagined that I now would waver and stand
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  irresolute heed dear Bulger's prayer, Oh beloved, she pleaded and turned back,
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  turned back to thy disconsolate Cristellina, whom thou madest so happy for a brief
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  moment turn back, Oh, turn back. Bulgar now began to whine and
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  cry most piteously. I felt that something must be done at once, or
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  the most direful consequences might ensue, that Bulgar, crazed by the sweet tones
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  of Crystallina's voice, might break away from me and dart away in mad race,
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  back to the city of the Micaminkey's, back to the fair young Queen
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  of the crystal throne. It became necessary for me to resort to trick and
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  artifice to save my dear little brother from his own loving heart, John Ryining
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  his head up against my body and covering his eyes with my left arm,
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  I quickly unloosened my neckerchief, and, thrusting it into this wonderful speaking tube,
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  closed it effectively. And thus I saved my faithful Bulger from himself.
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  Thus I closed his ears to the music of Crystallina's voice. But it was
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  not until after a good hour's waiting, that he could bring himself to believe
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  that his beloved friend would speak no more. After several hours more of journeying
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  along the Marble highway, a speck of light caught my eye far on ahead,
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  and I redoubled my pace to reach it quickly. I was soon rewarded
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  for my trouble by injuring a wonderful chamber, circular in form with a domed
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  roof. In the center of this fair temple of the underground world sprang a
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  glorious fountain with a mighty rush of waters, which brought with them such a
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  phosphorescence that this vast round chamber was lighted up with a pale yellow light,
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  in which the countless crystals of the roof and side sparkled magnificently. Here we
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  passed the night are what I called the night, refreshing ourselves with food which
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  I had brought from the Kingdom of the Macamenkes, and drinking and bathing in
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  the wonderful fountain, which leaped into the air with a rush and a whir,
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  and filled it with a strange and fitful radiance. Upon awaking, both
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  Bulgar and I felt greatly refreshed, both in body and mind, and we
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  made haste to seek out the lofty portal opening upon the Marble Highway, and
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  were soon trudging along it again. Hour after hour. We kept on our
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  feet, for something told me that we could not be far away from the
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  confines of some other domain of this world within a world. And this inward
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  prompting of mine proved to be correct, for Bulgar suddenly gave a joyful bark
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  and began to caper about as much as to say, O, little Master,
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  if thou only hadst ma consent, thou wouldst know that wert own near
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  to human habitations of some kind. Sure Enough, in a few moments,
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  a faint light came creeping in beneath the mid archers of the broad corridor,
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  and every incident gathered in strength, until now I could see clearly about me.
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  And then all of a sudden I caught sight of the source of this
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  shy and unsteady light. There in front of me towered two gigantic candelabra,
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  carved and chased and polished silver, both crowned with a hundred lights, one
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  on each side of the marble highway. Not the dull, soft flames of
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  oil or wax, but the white tongues of fire produced by ignited gas escaping
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  from the chemist's retort. It was marvelous, it was magnificent. And I
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  stood looking up at these great clusters of tongues of flames, spell bound by
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  the glorious illumination thus set in silent majesty at this gateway to some city of
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  the underworld. Bulgar's warning growl brought me to myself, But I must end
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  this chapter here, dear friends, and halt to collect my thoughts before I
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  proceed to tell you what I saw after passing this glorious gateway illumined by these
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  two gigantic candelabra of sullid silver. End of Chapter fourteen,