bringing down from it a sudden shower of fiery tears that
lighted up the obscurity. In other words, nearer, perhaps,
to the literal truth, a strong, curly-headed, grimy fellow
came out from one of the coal chambers under the cone, and
gave the fire a poke through the grate,-- using an
extraordinarily long and strong poker, and fetching down,
well, I think we may say, without being too fanciful, a
meteoric rain of live embers, like the sparks from an
exploded rocket.
The being retreated into the darkness;
and now Lawrence beheld a wonderful piece of magic, or optical
illusion. He noticed that the opening between the piers,
beneath the furnace, extended a long way beyond, forming a
sort of subterranean gallery, awfully gloomy, to be sure,
except that now the very counterpart of his black genie, who
had just thrust up a similar iron into a similar eye, and brought
down a similar shower of flaming tears at the end of the vista.
The whole thing looked so much like a reflection, in a wizard's
glass, of the scene he had just witnessed,-- occurring a few
moments behind the usual time when reflections in earthly mirrors
take place,-- that he would hardly have been surprised to see
phantom images of himself, his uncle, and the gaffer suddenly
make their appearance at the second genie's elbow.
I am sorry to add that the worthy gaffer
immediately dispelled the pleasing illusion by saying, "The
cave extends under both cones; there is another opening
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