A ray of sunlight fell in a round spot, bright and warm, on the wall at
the left. It entered by a small aperture higher up--in the wall at the
right. For a moment I looked around. I stood in a vast, rock-bound
chamber--an immense hall--faintly illuminated by reflection from the
direct sun-ray which fell upon a vein of quartz, and sparkled, lively
with flitting rainbow-colors. I could see the openings in the inner
wall, many of them a hundred feet high, nearly all very narrow, and for
the most part vertical. On the right, the wall was unbroken, with the
exception of the little hole, through which the blessed sunlight
streamed, in the pit of a broad, deep, conical sort of depression. Far
behind me, I could just make out the mouth of the passage from which I
had emerged into this spacious chamber, and before me the opening into
another also adjacent to the wall on my right.
I felt now more assured than ever, for I was certainly above-ground.
For a moment, I forgot my forlorn condition, and paused to admire the
splendor of the scene. A few minutes only, and it was gone. I lingered.
Should I wait to see this lovely sight renewed? Twenty-four hours must
elapse before the sun's return to the same position.
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