I felt a moistness in the air and Cesar stopped.

The darkness had lifted.

A sort of bluey light surrounded us.

We were on the edge of a lake, whose leaden waters stretched into the distance, into the darkness; but the blue light lit up the bank and I saw a little boat fastened to an iron ring on the wharf!" "A boat!" "Yes, but I knew that all that existed and that there was nothing supernatural about that underground lake and boat.

But think of the exceptional conditions in which I arrived upon that shore! I don't know whether the effects of the cordial had worn off when the man's shape lifted me into the boat, but my terror began all over again.