erns,
but as his eyes grew accustomed to the glass he was amazed to find the
hills and dales of his home here reproduced in the most familiar manner.

It was truly an exquisite scene. Field upon field dotted with daisies,
woodland as dense and wild as untrained nature leaves it, and hill upon
hill clambering over one another, all so minute and yet so real, and
dashing down from the tiny mountains was a stream of foaming water,
winding about and gathering in from all sides other tributary brooks,
so small that they would hardly have floated a good-sized leaf.

And now Leo understood the meaning of it all, as he looked underneath
the shelf where tiny pumps and rams were forcing up the water for this
stream.

Knops touched a spring and set a new series of wheels in motion, when,
instantly, a gushing fountain flowed up in a small stone basin beneath a
rustic cross; then a little lake appeared, on which were sailing small
swans; and finally a rushing, roaring flood started some mill-wheels and
almost threatened destruction to the tiny buildings upon its banks.

"This," said Knops, "shows you how we use the power of our reservoirs,
but it can give you no idea of the immense trouble we have in laying
pipes for great distances. Some of our elves find it so difficult that
they beg for other work, and many run off altogether and live
above-ground, inhabiting the regions of springs and brooks, and so
muddying them and filling them up with weeds that men let them alone,
which is just what they desire."

"Do fish ever clog your pipes?" asked Leo.

"Never. We have none in our lakes; the water is too pure and free from
vegetable matter for fish. It is doubly distilled. Taste it."

Leo took the glass which Knops offered, and confessed he had never
tasted anything more delicious.

"We sometimes force carbonic gas into mineral springs, but that, as well
as the salts considered so beneficial, is left to our chemists to
regulate. Paz, do you know anything about this?"

"Not much, Master Knops. I have seen iron in various forms introduced,
but think that is usually controlled by the earth's formation."

Leo sighed at his own ignorance, and vowed to study up these matters;
but Knops, seeing his look of dejection, asked, "How would you like a
bath?"

"Delightful. Where? Surely not in the lake; it looks so cold and glassy
I should not dare."

"Oh, no, no," laughed Knops. "Do you think I'd let you bathe in a
reservoir? Never! We