After being in this passage about half an hour making an inspection of
the premises, I discovered a small opening which led into another
apartment. It appeared that a great door had separated the two rooms,
but had apparently become broken with the fall of the building and left
a space barely wide enough for my body to pass through. So in I went. Or
out I went, I was not quite sure which, for after squeezing through the
doorway a scene presented itself to my astonished gaze that I must
confess my inability to properly describe.
The view before me was a mammoth park with its variety of trees, flowers
and shrubbery of every possible description.
Straight ahead in the distance and plainly discernible was a running
brook which flowed along in a devious course and emptied into a lake far
beyond. And there, in all its majesty was the sun just sinking behind
the horizon, its brilliant radiance forming the most beautiful effects
of colorization upon the distant clouds it has ever been my good fortune
to behold.
I stood in motionless reverence for several minutes as my mind expanded
with wonder at the magnificent panorama, while my nostrils inhaled a
most delicious fragrance from the innumerable plants which seemed to put
new life into my enervated body.
What strange phenomena is this, I soliloquized? On the outside of the
earth the sun had gone down and darkness prevailed, while down here, in
under its crust I found it blazing away in all its splendor. In fact it
seemed that an entirely new world had suddenly been thrown in front of
me. Was I really alive or had I passed into some other world, was the
next question to enter my mind. I remembered that I had fallen a
considerable distance into this strange place and was somewhat stunned
in the tumble. Perhaps, thought I, my body is still lying somewhere
among the rocks above while this is only my spirit wandering about in a
fanciful manner. But no, looking downward I plainly saw my massive frame
dressed in sailor's clothes just as I had left the ship and I was
positive of being alive, awake, and in my right senses. And the wonders
multiplied. Looking to the right of the entrance, a short distance away,
I observed a marble platform elevated about two feet from the ground, in
the midst of huge flower-beds and shaded by large trees, upon which sat
a number of men, silent and motionless, with various musical instruments
in their hands as if they had just finished playing and were taking a
short rest. These instruments were of an entirely different pattern from
any I had ever seen. And the men! Oh, if I only had the power to show
them to my fellow beings as I saw them. What an imposing, noble looking
lot they were. They were all about the same size and not one of them
could have been less than eight feet in height. In looking at them
closely, I noticed that they possessed most magnificent physiques. They
were neither fat nor lean and their well-groomed bodies showed plainly
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