The grotto
Harry returns to consciousness with his head in bandages and laying on a soft blanket. The Professor and Hans are watching him.
"He lives! He lives!" says the Professor, overjoyed.
"God-dag," says Hans in his taciturn way.
The Professor will not let Harry get up and insists that he rests and sleeps.
The next day, Harry is much refreshed. He notices that the party is camping in a beautiful little grotto. Furthermore, he can hear waves on a beach, feel wind in his hair and the air is full of light not coming from the lanterns alone. Did the fall affect his senses or have they returned to the surface of Mother Earth?
The Professor explains that Harry fell down a shaft on top of a dislocated rock amidst a shower of stones. The stones cushioned his fall and the rock prevented him from being crushed. By a miracle, the shaft opened out on the same level as the Professor and their guide - Harry almost fell into their arms!
But what of the sea, the wind and the light? Unable to understand his uncle's expanation, Harry rushes out of the grotto.