THE HALL OF THE GOBLIN PALACE
A SOUND of many soft feet followed, but soon ceased. Then Curdie
flew at
the hole like a tiger, and tore and pulled. The sides gave way, and it
was soon large enough for him to crawl through. He would not betray
himself by rekindling his lamp, but the torches of the retreating
company, departing in a straight line up a long avenue from the door
of
their cave, threw back light enough to afford him a glance round the
deserted home of the goblins. To his surprise, he could discover
nothing
to distinguish it from an ordinary cave in the rock, upon many of
which
he had come with the rest of the miners in the progress of their
excavations. The goblins had talked of coming back for the rest of their
household gear: he saw nothing that would have made him suspect a
family
had taken shelter there for a single night. The floor was rough and
stony; the walls full of projecting corners; the roof in one place
twenty feet high, in another endangering his forehead; while on one
side
a stream, no thicker than a needle, it is true, but still sufficient to
Madhuri Noah
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