before her. He for a few hours regretted his regret, and from that
time bent his whole mind upon the means of escaping from the Valley
of Happiness.



CHAPTER V--THE PRINCE MEDITATES HIS ESCAPE.



He now found that it would be very difficult to effect that which
it was very easy to suppose effected. When he looked round about
him, he saw himself confined by the bars of nature, which had never
yet been broken, and by the gate through which none that had once
passed it were ever able to return. He was now impatient as an
eagle in a grate. He passed week after week in clambering the
mountains to see if there was any aperture which the bushes might
conceal, but found all the summits inaccessible by their
prominence. The iron gate he despaired to open for it was not only
secured with all the power of art, but was always watched by
successive sentinels, and was, by its position, exposed to the
perpetual observation of all the inhabitants.

He then examined the cavern through which the waters of the lake
were discharged; and, looking down at a time when the sun shone
strongly upon its mouth, he discovered it to be full of broken
rocks, which, though they permitted the stream to flow through many
narrow passages, would stop any body of solid bulk. He returned
discouraged and dejected; but having now known the blessing of
hope, resolved never to despair.