For my part, I believe it is only people come to collect the salt in the rock." "People!" said I; "you don't know what you are saying, Jack; I could excuse Francis and his _gnomes_,--it would be at least a poetic fancy, but yours is quite absurd.

Where are the people to come from ?" "But what else can it be ?" said he.

"Hark! you may hear them strike the rock." "Be certain, however," said I, "there are no people." At that moment, I distinctly heard human voices, speaking, laughing, and apparently clapping their hands.

I could not distinguish any words; I was struck with a mortal terror; but Jack, whom nothing could alarm, clapped his hands also, with joy, that he had guessed right.

"What did I say, papa?
Was I not right?
Are there not people within the rock ?--friends, I hope." He was approaching the rock, when it appeared to me to be shaking; a stone soon fell down, then another.