In a few moments they were at
the entrance again. The great world lay beyond them once more with rocks
and valleys suffused by the rosy light of the setting sun. The past
seemed like a dream.
But were they really awake now? They could not tell. They accepted
everything with the confidence and credulity of all children who have
no experience to compare with their first impressions and to whom the
future contains nothing impossible. It was without surprise, therefore,
that they felt themselves lifted on the shoulders of the men who were
making quite a procession along the steep trail towards the settlement
again. Polly noticed that at the mouth of the other tunnels they were
greeted by men as if they were carrying tidings of great joy; that they
stopped to rejoice together, and that in some mysterious manner their
conductors had got their faces washed, and had become more like beings
of the outer world. When they neared the settlement the excitement
seemed to have become greater; people rushed out to shake hands with
the men who were carrying them, and overpowered even the children with
questions they could not understand.
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