The Joking Horners It was not long before they left the passage and came to a great cave, so high that it must have reached nearly to the top of the mountain within which it lay.

It was a magnificent cave, illumined by the soft, invisible light, so that everything in it could be plainly seen.

The walls were of polished marble, white with veins of delicate colors running through it, and the roof was arched and fantastic and beautiful.
Built beneath this vast dome was a pretty village--not very large, for there seemed not more than fifty houses altogether--and the dwellings were of marble and artistically designed.

No grass nor flowers nor trees grew in this cave, so the yards surrounding the houses carved in designs both were smooth and bare and had low walls around them to mark their boundaries.
In the streets and the yards of the houses were many people all having one leg growing below their bodies and all hopping here and there whenever they moved.

Even the children stood firmly upon their single legs and never lost their balance.
"All hail, Champion!" cried a man in the first group of Hoppers they met; "whom have you captured ?" "No one," replied the Champion in a gloomy voice; "these strangers have captured me." "Then," said another, "we will rescue you, and capture them, for we are greater in number." "No," answered the Champion, "I can't allow it.