CHAPTER: LV:
THE CAVE AND THE BLACK DOOR.

Tis tiring to walk for many hours under the

rays of a hot sun, and the children were much
pleased when at last it went down in the
west, and the air grew cooler, and even a little
breeze sprang up to fan their hot cheeks.
They were now really on high ground, and
there was a feeling about the air which re-
freshed them and took away their fatigue.
Cowslip, too, looking back at her dirty white
dress, perceived that the stains had altogether
disappeared.

“ And I never washed it,” she said. “‘“How
did they go? Oh, how glad Iam. I cannot bear to feel that I have
on a dirty dress. Clover, too, you don’t seem at all sad at the loss of
your glass and map.”

“T do feel sad, though,” replied Clover. “I know I did wrong, or
I should never have lost them. But I am quite certain that the King
is not angry with me now, and perhaps he will be kind enough to let
me have another glass and map by-and-by.”

“T am beginning to be very tired and hungry, though,” said
Cowslip. “I wonder when we shall come to another inn.”

The path upon which the children were walking was quite straight,
going almost like an arrow in front of them, until now it suddenly
took an abrupt turn. The two children stood still and uttered an
astonished exclamation. Right in front of them was a steep and high

mountain, up which the path led.
D