"A great light is commencing to break on me," continued Perry,taking out his watch. "I believe that I occasionally have partially solved theriddle. It is now two o'clock. When we emerged from the prospectorthe sun was directly above us. Where is it now?"

I glanced up to find the great orb still motionless in the centerof the heaven. And such a sun! I had scarcely noticed it before.Fully thrice the size of the sun I had known throughout my life,and apparently so near that the sight of it carried the convictionthat one might almost reach up and touch it.

"My God, Perry, where are we?" I exclaimed. "This thing is beginningto get on my nerves."

"I think that I may state very positively, Carter," he commenced,"that we are--" but he got no further. From close behind us in the vicinityof the prospector there came the most thunderous, awe-inspiringroar that ever had fallen upon my ears. With one accord we turnedto discover the author of that fearsome noise.