"Get him to sweep out the crater of Etna; he will find some very steady men working out their time there, who will teach him his business: but mind, if that crater gets choked again, and there is an earthquake in consequence, bring them all to me, and I shall investigate the case very severely." So the truncheon marched off Mr. Grimes, looking as meek as a drowned worm. And for aught I know, or do not know, he is sweeping the crater of Etna to this very day. "And now," said the fairy to Tom, "your work here is done. You may as well go back again." "I should he glad enough to go," said Tom, "but how am I to get up that great hole again, now the steam has stopped blowing?" "I will take you up the back stairs, but I must bandage your eyes first; for I never allow anybody to see those back stairs of mine." "I am sure I shall not tell anybody about them, ma'am, if you bid me not." "Aha! So you think, my little man. But you would soon forget your promise if you got back into the land world. I never put things into little folks' heads which are but too likely to come there of themselves. So come--now I must bandage your eyes." So she tied the bandage on his eyes with one hand, and with the other she took it off. "Now," she said, "you are safe up the stairs." Tom opened his eyes very wide, and his mouth, too; for he had not, as he thought, moved a single step. But, when he looked round him, there could be no doubt that he was safe up the back stairs, whatsoever they may be, which no man is going to tell you, for the plain reason that no man knows. The first thing which Tom saw was the black cedars, high and sharp against the rosy dawn; and Saint Brandan's Isle reflected double in the still, broad, silver sea. The wind sang softly in the cedars, and the water sang among the caves: the sea birds sang as they streamed out into the ocean, and the land birds as they built among the boughs; and the air was so full of song that it stirred Saint Brandan and her hermits, as they slumbered in the shade; and they moved their good old lips, and sang their morning hymn amid their dreams. But among all the songs one came across the water more sweet and clear than all; for it was the song of a young girl's voice. And what was the song which she sang? Ah, my little man, I am too old to sing that song, and you too young to understand it. But have patience, and keep your eye single, and your hands clean, and you will learn some day to sing it yourself, without needing any man to teach you. And as Tom neared the island, there sat upon a rock the most graceful creature that ever was seen, looking down, with her chin upon her hand, and paddling with her feet in the water. And when they came to her she looked up, and behold, it was Ellie. "Oh, Miss Ellie," said he, "how you are grown!" "Oh, Tom," said she, "how you are grown, too!" And no wonder; they were both quite grown up--he into a tall man, and she into a beautiful woman.