Presently they were given food.flat， flabby cakes of some sort which had hardly any taste. And after that， they gradually fell asleep. But when they woke， everything was just the same； the gnomes still rowing， the ship still gliding on， still dead blackness ahead. How often they woke and slept and ate and slept again， none of them could ever remember. And the worst thing about it was that you began to feel as if you had always lived on that ship， in that darkness， and to wonder whether sun and blue skies and wind and birds had not been only a dream.
They had almost given up hoping or being afraid about anything when at last they saw lights ahead： dreary lights， like that of their own lantern. Then， quite suddenly， one of these lights came close and they saw that they were passing another ship. After that they met several ships. Then， staring till their eyes hurt， they saw that some of the lights ahead were shining on what looked like wharfs， walls， towers， and moving crowds. But still there was hardly any noise.
“By Jove，” said Scrubb. “A city！” and soon they all saw that he was right.
