He arrived at the foot of the cliff and began to mount the steep path that led to the Cave’s mouth. Up and up he went, still on his guard, but still seeing no foe and hearing no sound. Now on this side, now on that, deep and dark crevices yawned, but his feet went surely and safely on. In one of these same crevices, Curling Smoke lay hidden, peering out with watchful eyes across the grey expanse, to catch the first glimpse of the ruddy stranger of whom Black Shadow had told him, yet under his very eyes the Prince was traveling and he saw him not. At length Prince Ember reached the entrance to the Wizard’s Cave. Standing there, he looked first across the Plain and then into the gloom of the cavern, but no enemy was in sight. Quickly he removed the Cloak of Ash and then, as fairy raiment always may when fairy fingers press it, it became as small as a kerchief in his hand. He thrust it to a place of safety in his belt. If Curling Smoke had but leaned a little farther out at that moment from the dark hollow in the cliff-side where he lay, he must surely have seen him, but crouching low, so that he might not be seen by the one for whom he watched, he saw nothing and did not guess that the Prince was actually within reach of his giant arms. So, guarded from all his enemies, Prince Ember passed into the Cave of Darkness, not knowing how well the Elf’s good gift had already served him. [Illustration] CHAPTER IX Close to the mouth of the Cave of Darkness, but cleverly hidden from the view of any passerby, sat a company of Imps. They had been commanded to keep ceaseless watch at that point for the stranger Prince who was expected soon to appear, and they were instructed to seize him as soon as he attempted to enter the Cave and to bring him bound to their master. The time had been long, and they were now yawning for very weariness, yet they dared not relax their vigilance, knowing, as they did, that they would be severely punished by the Wizard if they allowed the Prince to slip by them unobserved. At last one of the Imps arose and stretched himself, for his limbs were cramped and stiff. “I go to spy out over the Plain,” he said. “I shall be absent but a moment.” His companions nodded indifferently, and he strolled slowly toward the entrance of the cavern. All at once, he stopped, transfixed with surprise, for at the Cave Mouth he saw for a single instant a richly glowing figure standing, one who could be no other than the stranger Prince, he for whom they waited. Scarcely had he seen it, however, than it disappeared. He rushed back to his fellows. “The Prince is here!” he whispered hoarsely. “I saw him at the Cave Mouth. To be sure he has vanished, but I know he is close by.”