The winds at length were lulled, the sun shot his brilliant rays through the clouds, the rain ceased to fall - spring had come. No prisoners set free could have felt more joy than we did as we stepped out from our winter home.
Our tree house was our first care: filled with leaves and broken and torn by the wind, it looked indeed dilapidated. We worked hard, and in a few days it was again habitable. I was anxious to visit the tent, for I feared that much of our precious stores might have suffered. The damage done to Falconhurst was nothing compared to the scene that awaited us. The tent was blown to the ground, the canvas torn to rags, and the provisions soaked.
The irreparable damage we had suffered made me resolve to find some safer and more stable winter-quarters. Fritz proposed that we should hollow out a cave in the rock. The difficulties such a task would present appeared almost insurmountable, yet I was determined to make the attempt.
Some days afterwards we left Falconhurst and began the work. On the tenth day, as our persevering blows were falling heavily, Jack shouted: 'Gone, father! Fritz, my bar has gone through the mountain!'
A thin wall, then, was all that stood between us and a great cavern. With a shout of joy, we battered vigorously at the rock; piece by piece fell, and soon the hole was large enough for us to enter. We were in a cave of diamonds - a vast chamber of glittering crystal. The candles reflected on the walls a golden light, bright as the stars, while great crystal pillars rose from the floor like mighty trees.
The floor of this magnificent palace was formed of hard, dry sand, so dry that I saw at once that we might safely make our home inside it.