It was so swift that its surface shone like polished blue steel, and from it came the blessed, _our worldly_, familiar ocean breath that strengthened my soul amazingly and made me realize how earth-sick I was.
Whence came the stream, I marvelled, forgetting for the moment, as we passed on again, all else.

Were we closer to the surface of earth than I had thought, or was this some mighty flood falling through an opening in sea floor, Heaven alone knew how many miles above us, losing itself in deeper abysses beyond these?
How near and how far this was from the truth I was to learn--and never did truth come to man in more dreadful guise! The roaring fell away, the blue haze lessened.

In front of us stretched a wide flight of steps, huge as those which had led us into the courtyard of Nan-Tauach through the ruined sea-gate.

We scaled it; it narrowed; from above light poured through a still narrower opening.
Side by side Larry and I passed out of it.
We had emerged upon an enormous platform of what seemed to be glistening ivory.

It stretched before us for a hundred yards or more and then shelved gently into the white waters.