I was uncertain what to do; curiosity
prompted me to stay, but a sort of terror urged me to remove my child
and myself. However, Jack, always daring, was unwilling to go till he
had discovered the cause of the phenomenon. "If Francis were here," said
he, "he would fancy it was the wicked gnomes, working underground, and
he would be in a fine fright. For my part, I believe it is only people
come to collect the salt in the rock."
"People!" said I; "you don't know what you are saying, Jack; I could
excuse Francis and his _gnomes_,--it would be at least a poetic fancy,
but yours is quite absurd. Where are the people to come from?"
"But what else can it be?" said he. "Hark! you may hear them strike the
rock."
"Be certain, however," said I, "there are no people." At that moment, I
distinctly heard human voices, speaking, laughing, and apparently
clapping their hands. I could not distinguish any words; I was struck
with a mortal terror; but Jack, whom nothing could alarm, clapped his
hands also, with joy, that he had guessed right. "What did I say, papa?
Was I not right? Are there not people within the rock?--friends, I
hope." He was approaching the rock, when it appeared to me to be
shaking; a stone soon fell down, then another. I seized hold of Jack, to
drag him away, lest he should be crushed by the fragments of rock.
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