The walls were all of earth,—fresh, damp earth; and now and then a little would slip down, the way it does from a heap of mould when you’ve been digging in the garden. It fell upon the moist earth-floor at their feet, but it made no sound. There were no echoes in this underground room where the Gray Dwarf lived. Everything was still,—much too still to be pleasant, Meg thought. In the earth-walls were queer little fibrous threads here and there, and overhead some big, pale, thin things hung down, like frozen snakes, or dead, curving tree-branches. At first she could not guess what they all were, but suddenly she saw that they were roots! The roots of trees and plants and shrubs, and all sorts of growing things! She was indeed far down in the earth, since she could look up and see the roots of the Wonderful Wood. She stood, blinking at the faint green flame, and watched Grump go across to it. By blowing upon it he made it flare up more brightly, and the vivid emerald light made Meg’s heart go faster than ever. What was going to happen to her? Was she going to be burned up? Grump, having freshened his ghostly fire, proceeded to place on it a huge iron caldron,—the kind that you always think of witches bending over. This horrid-looking thing he brought from a shadowy corner. As soon as the flames touched it, a thick steam began to rise from the big black pot, filling the air with a queer, spicy smell, and curling clouds of purple smoke. Grump gave a long, low cry, and waved his arms over the pot. “Oh, what is it?” Meg exclaimed, in terror. Grump grinned and glared at her. “Magic!” he said. “Watch, and you will see something!” The steam came and came, until it hid both Grump and the pot. Then on it Meg saw, as though reflected or sketched very dimly, the figure of a man with glittering eyes, a crown, and a deep red robe. He was looking down at Grump, who, Meg now saw, was crouching at his feet. “You have done my bidding?” said the shadowy crimson man. “You have stopped the messenger sent from Mother Goose to the Fairy Queen?” “Yes, O Wicked King!” cried Grump. “You have brought her to your Earth-Home?” “Yes, O Wicked King!” “You have let her live so far?” “Yes, O Wicked King. What does his most august and nobly evil Majesty desire done with her?” “Destroy her!” said the Wicked King. “If she is allowed to go to the Court of the Fairies, she will be taught the spell that frees Humpty Dumpty, and I shall lose both my prisoner and the spell. Destroy her, I say! Put her into the big pot!” He vanished, and instantly the thick steam cleared away. Meg saw Grump huddled down beside the big pot. “What are you going to do with me?” she asked, trembling. “Put you into the big pot,” said the Gray Dwarf, with a grin of joy. “You heard the Wicked King’s orders.”