226 PRINCE RICARDO.

 

Then King Prigio advanced, the mighty
weight in his hand, to the verge of the dreadful
gulf of the Earthquaker. The dim walls grew
radiant; a long slant arm of yellow light
touched the black body of the Earthquaker, and
a thrill went through him, and shook the world,
so that, far away, the bells rang in Pantouflia.
A moment more, and he would waken in his
strength; and once awake, he would shatter
the city walls, and ruin Manoa. Even now a
great mass of rock fell from the roof deep
down in the secret caves, and broke into
flying fragments, and all the echoes roared
and rang.

King Prigio stood with the mighty mass.
poised in his hands.

Die!” he cried; and he uttered the words
of power, the magic spell that the dark Moon
Lady had taught him.

Then all its invincible natural weight came
into the mass which the king held, and down it
shot full on the body of the Earthquaker; and
where that had been was nothing but a vast
abyss, silent, empty, and blank, and bottom-
less.

Far, far below, thousands of miles below, in
the very centre of the earth, lay the dead
Earthquaker, crushed flat as a sheet of paper,.
and the sun of midsummer-day shone straight
down on the dreadful chasm, and could not
waken him any more for ever.