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. The cavern was a wide oval, an erosion
chamber where ancient seeps had collected, and at the top
of it was a hole that opened to the sky ... a sky that suddenly
was as bright as day.
"What goin' on here?" Gorge demanded. "What light
through yonder . . . yon . . . why hole all lit up?"
"Dunno," several of his subjects explained. Then one of
them pointed aside. "See, Highbulp? Pretty rocks."
He looked, and his eyes widened. One entire wall of
the cavern glistened like brilliant gold, layer upon layer of
bright embedment shining in the dark stone. "Wow," the
Highbulp breathed . . . and belched. As though echoing him,
the whole cavern shuddered and rumbled.
"Way too much turnips," Gorge decided, as those
around him looked at him in admiration. He turned his
attention again to the wall of pyrites. He moistened a finger,
rubbed it against a glittering lode, then licked it. "Real
nice," he said. "Good pyr . . . pyr . . . pretty rocks."
Spying an exceptionally bright nodule, he reached for it.
The cavern belched again - a deep, rumbling roll of sound -
and the node fell loose in his hand. Gorge belched in
surprise, and the cavern echoed him. The light in This Place
had dimmed slightly, and suddenly became murky with
dust. Gravel fell and rattled around them as the whole cave
shook in a spasm. "Hiccups?" someone asked.
"Not me," the Highbulp declared. "What goin' on
here?" As though the mountain had given a stone belch, the
cavern vibrated and began to shake. Gully dwarves danced
around in confusion, stumbling and falling over one
another
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