ide him directly to the Wizard.

The Imp did not stop to argue longer with his companions, but snatched
up a lantern, and sped off at once, and close behind him went the unseen
Prince. As they went onward, Prince Ember saw opening to either side of
them many hushed and gloomy passageways, down which, without his guide,
he might easily have strayed, but by his unexpected good fortune, and
far sooner than, at the beginning of his journey, he had dared to hope,
he came suddenly into the great Cave Hall. Its grim walls rose high on
all sides, close hung with their swaying curtains of soot. The
glistening fragments of charcoal that covered its floor, lay like a
thick carpet beneath the feet.

In the centre of the vast room stood the Wizard, quite alone. Forbidding
enough in himself, clad as he was in long black robes, over which his
dingy beard fell from his grim face almost to his feet, he seemed yet
more so because of the huge black urns that were ranged about him in a
circle. The sides of the urns were covered with curious inscriptions,
and only the Wizard knew by these signs what deadly mists and vapors
were confined under their ponderous lids.

On a table at his side his case of evil wands stood open, and as he
needed the one or the other for his enchantments, he lifted it out and
waved it over the urn which he chose, muttering strange words meanwhile
in an unknown tongue. His Book of Craft, also, lay open before him, so
that he might diligently consult it before the working of each new
spell. At this moment he was bending above it, wand in hand, reading
intently.

Even in his zeal to disclose to his master what had happened at the
entrance to the cavern, the Imp dared not tread within that circle of
enchantment. He cast himself upon his knees without it, bowed low his
head, and cried aloud, "Sir Wizard, oh, Sir Wizard! Harken!"

Interrupted in such unexpected fashion while he was in the midst of his
wicked task, the Wizard turned abruptly and bent upon his servant a
glance of dark displeasure. "How dare you disturb me in the working of
my spells?" he thundered. "Have I not strictly forbidden any to tread
within this Hall during the Hour of Enchantments?"

"Alas, that I should have ventured to disobey you, my master!"
stammered the Imp with trembling voice. He knew well the punishment that
waited on disobedience, yet he feared far more what might be meted out
to him if he should withhold that which he had come to