Close to the mouth of the Cave of Darkness, but cleverly hidden from the view of any passerby, sat a company of Imps. They had been commanded to keep ceaseless watch at that point for the stranger Prince who was expected soon to appear, and they were instructed to seize him as soon as he attempted to enter the Cave and to bring him bound to their master.
The time had been long, and they were now yawning for very weariness, yet they dared not relax their vigilance, knowing, as they did, that they would be severely punished by the Wizard if they allowed the Prince to slip by them unobserved.
At last one of the Imps arose and stretched himself, for his limbs were cramped and stiff. “I go to spy out over the Plain,” he said. “I shall be absent but a moment.”
His companions nodded indifferently, and he strolled slowly toward the entrance of the cavern. All at once, he stopped, transfixed with surprise, for at the Cave Mouth he saw for a single instant a richly glowing figure standing, one who could be no other than the stranger Prince, he for whom they waited. Scarcely had he seen it, however, than it disappeared.
He rushed back to his fellows. “The Prince is here!” he whispered hoarsely. “I saw him at the Cave Mouth. To be sure he has vanished, but I know he is close by.”
The Imps started to their feet, and stood ready, the ropes of darkness with which they were to bind the Prince clutched firmly in their hands. But no one appeared, and when they searched the Cave Mouth, they did so in vain.
Presently they began to scoff at their companion. “Your eyes are wearied with long watching,” they told him. “They have played you false. Come not to us with such idle tales.”
“Nay, but I saw him,” the Imp insisted. “Without doubt this Prince has the power to make himself invisible. Even now he may have slipped past us unseen. If this be so, and I fail to tell the Wizard what I saw, I shall surely be punished. I go to warn him.”
The others shrugged their shoulders. “Go if you choose,” they said. “For our own part, we think it not impossible that he lurks in some near-by hiding-place, from whence he steals forth at times, watching his opportunity to slip in unobserved. He saw you, and has retreated to it. We will keep close watch as before. He will return, and then we will secure him. If, on the other hand, he has power to make himself invisible, and passes us unseen, we are not to blame.”