The Night Land

  VIII

  DOWN THE MIGHTY SLOPE

  Now I went downward very quiet and slow into that Darkness; and did makebut a cautious way; for now you shall know me truly wrapped about withsuch a night as did seem to press upon my very soul, and such as youshall never have seen nor felt; so that I did seem lost even from myself, and did appear as that I went presently in unreal fashion, and didpass onward for ever and for ever through everlasting night; so that oddwhiles I did make to walk with random, as that I stept no more upon thisearth; but did go offwards into the Void. Yet was this foolishness ofthe mind set straight and proper each time that it did come about; forlo! I did kick against an upjutting rock here, and fall upon a great andunseen boulder there, and so was shaken very quickly to a soundknowledge that I trode the hard and actual earth; and had no truedealings with unreal matters.

  And ever I did go downward; and by this only did I have a guide to myway. Yet, as you shall think, through reason of the utter dark I madescarce a mile in an hour or even two full hours; and so grew bitter byreason of mine unableness to go forward with a proper and free stride.

  But I did think me presently upon a thing that I should do to light mypath; and to this end, I did make the Diskos to spin, odd whiles, anddid look down the mighty slope, the little way that the strangeglistening of the Diskos did show, and so fixed my path into mine inwardremembering, and would go forward afresh, until that I was shaken oncemore by the darkness, and would fain to look once again upon theblessedness of light, and make me some knowledge of my way.

  And, truly, the light from the Diskos did seem astonishing great, andthis to be because there was so monstrous a darkness all about me thereforever. And thereafter would I go onward again, until the pain of mystumblings did bid me surely to have that sweet shining once more untomy path.

  And so shall you perceive my going; and sore and miserable was it untothe heart; and like to shake the courage of the spirit; yet, in verity,I had come through much, and did have intent to give way to nofoolishness of thought.

  And you shall well believe that I did make the light not more oft than Idid surely need; for it was no properness of wisdom to use the power ofthe Diskos, save for mine extremity.

  Now, presently, when I had done thiswise through six long and bitterhours, and it being now beyond the twentieth hour since I did lastslumber, I sat me down there upon the Mighty Slope, in the everlastingDark, and did eat two of the tablets, and made the water, and could butfeel and hearken whether I did this thing right and that.

  And when I had eat and drunk, I unfolded my cloak, and wrapt it aroundme, and placed the scrip and the pouch under my head; and the Diskos Itook to company me; and so fell swiftly upon sleep; yet did thinkearnestly but vaguely upon Naani, as I came unto slumber.

  And I slept all but six hours, and did waken very sudden there in theutter dark; and I got me to mine elbow, and did listen very keen; for Ihad waked immediately, as that something had touched me or come nighunto me; and I gript the Diskos, and listened; but there did not even alittle sound come to me out of all that night.

  And presently I had more assuredness that naught did make harm about me;and I sat me up in the dark, and reached for my scrip, and did eat anddrink, there in that utter night; and fumbled somewhat, as you shallthink. Yet I was done in a while, and got my gear upon me, and theDiskos into my hand, and so to my feet and forward.

  Now all that day, I did have a strange unease of the spirit, so that Istopt oft to listen, as that my soul told of something nigh unto me thatdid follow very quiet. Yet did mine ears perceive nothing; and so Ialway to go downward again into the night that held the slope.

  And here should I tell how that in the early part of the seventh hour,after I had eat and drunk, and went forward as ever, upon my journeydown the Mighty Slope, I did have a very sore tumble against a sharprock; for I put my foot sudden into a small hole, and this did make meto pitch. And I was utter shaked by the fall and lay very quiet for atime; for the rock had surely ript my body, but for the armour.

  And after that I was something renewed of strength and spirit, I madethat I should go no more upon my feet, but upon my hands and knees; andthus should I feel the way that I went, and have a less need of theDiskos, which had not overmuch use to light my way, in that I shone itnot often, and did guess more than I did perceive, as you may think.

  And so I crept all that day, which was a bitter way of travel; yet had Idone many a sore mile thus through the Night Land. And when that I hadgone downward for eighteen hours, and eat and drunk thrice, I ceasedfrom my labour, and did feel about in the darkness, that I come to alevel place for my rest; and so did find presently, a place not so bad,and did push and cast away such small boulders as had been like to irkme.

  Then did I eat and drink, and afterward composed me to my sleep, and hadmany a thought of Naani, as I did drift unto slumber; yet also had Imemories of the strange half-fear that had been with me all that day, asthough something went constantly near me in the Dark. And because ofthis, twice did I rise unto mine elbow, and listen; but heard no soundto trouble me, and afterward did trust that I did but fancy; and so cameat last unto slumber, that yet was not over-restful, for truly I didlisten even as I slept.

  And when I had been asleep scarce six hours, I waked again very sudden,as I had done before, and had belief that something did be anigh untome; and I gript the Diskos, and did hearken; yet was there no sound thatmine ears did wot of; neither aught that had power to be surely known ofthe spirit.

  And all that day was as the day before; save that about the eighth hourI came near to fall into some monstrous pit in the Great Slope; but didonly fall with my breast upon the edge, and so drew back, and presentlydid crawl all around it in the dark, and come safe unto the lower side;yet shaken and put more in trouble of spirit than before, and fearfulhow I should go; for I knew not whether I had come among such things, orwhether I had but few to sorrow me.

  And so you shall perceive that I went over-cautious for a great while inall that utter dark; but did think at last upon a plan to go with moresurety and speed. But to this I did need a cord, and surely I had nocord upon me; and if a boy be no boy that hath none such about him,shall not the same be said of any man! And this I did think, as Isearched me; for the sayings of that day had many that were like tothis.

  Yet in the end I did compass my plan; for I did buckle the scrip and thepouch together, and took one of the straps from the pouch; and thisstrap was long and thin, and well suited unto my purpose. Then I fixt astone into the end of the strap, and buckled it there, and after that, Icast the stone before me, as I went upon my hands and knees; and I didhold to the hither end of the strap, and so was abled to have somethingof knowledge whether there lay any great deepness immediately before me,and thiswise to strive that I fall not down some monstrous cliff in thenight.

  And so did I go, casting the stone continually to my front, down theslope; and this you shall think to be a cumbersome fashion of travel;yet was I in better case than in all the time since I had begun to godownward of the Mighty Slope in the everlasting darkness.

  And at the eighteenth hour I did sleep; and was waked strangely beforethe sixth hour, even as I had waked before. And this did put alwaysupon me a new wonder and unease. Yet did no harm seem to come unto me,and I did strive that I have no needful trouble of mind. But thatsomething was always nigh unto me in the dark, I do truly believe; yethave I no knowing that it was evil; for it harmed not me.

  And three days more I journeyed thus, and did never cease to creepdownward weariful upon my hands and knees; and the Diskos I had to myhip, and so shall you know how I carried it. And by this, as you doknow, I had been on the Great Slope six days of utter Dark; and did haveno wotting but that I went unto some dire and dreadful place; for,surely, I had gone for ever downward a monstrous way.

  And here, before I tell further, I must set down how that the cold wasmuch gone from out of the air upon the slope; and the air was grown, asit did seem, very heavy unto my ch
est. And concerning this matter Ishould say something. For, if I do mind me, I have said not overmuchconcerning the air of the Night Land and the Mighty Pyramid; for truly Ihave been so set to tell my story of all that I did truly see andadventure upon. Yet, though I have said but little, you will surely haveperceived that the air of that far and chill time was not as the air ofthis; but was thin and keen within the Night Land, and lay not, as I dothink, to a great height above the land, but only nigh to the earth.

  And as you do know through my tellings, there was a wondrous differencebetween the air within the Mighty Pyramid, and that which lay withoutaround the base; for upward beyond that, I did understand that there wasno outward air that any should breathe; and so was all the Pyramidsealed in certain wise in all the upper Cities for ever; and whether itwas sealed _utterly_ from the outward air at the base, I do not surelyremember, if, in truth that I did ever bother my head to such matters.

  Yet, if I be set proper in memory and understanding, we did draw airfrom the Underground Fields; but whether they gat any change or newnessof air from the Night Land, I have no knowledge; and do lament that Ihave no sure knowing. Yet, as you shall believe, I could surely write anhundred books upon that Wonder of the Future, and be still lacking inthe half of all that there is to be told; and so do I try to havecourage to this my task, and to have no over-trouble, because that I dotell but a little of a Great Tale.

  And here in this place will I set down how that the Peoples of thePyramid were greater to the chest, methinks, than we of this age; butyet do I have no oversurety in the matter; for well it may be that theReason of _this_ age doth blind within me somewhat the Knowledge that Ihave concerning _that_; for, in verity, is it not but a natural thing tobelieve those Peoples to be great of the chest, so that they should makea proper dealing with the thin air of that place and that time? And yet,as I do strive to make plain unto you, because that this thing shouldbe, by the making of my Reason, I do the more distrust that Reasonshall make foolish my Knowledge; for even a fool should suppose thatwhich I have told; and the truth may be even otherwise.

  Yet that the Peoples of the _Upper_ Cities had great chests, I do wellknow; for this was a common knowledge; even as we of this age doacknowledge the Peoples of Africa to be of blackness, or those ofPatagonia to be of great stature. And by this one thing should any knowa man of the Upper Cities, from a man of the Lower Cities. And becausethat there grew this difference among the Peoples, there had been once,as any could learn from the Histories, a plan whereby the Peoples shouldbe moved upward and downward through the great height of the MightyPyramid, from this city unto that. Yet had it met with great disfavour;and was put out of force; and this is easy to be seen as the natural wayof the human heart.

  And here it doth occur unto me that it was like enough to be a plan forhealth, beside of training of the mind, that each youth and maid was putto travel through all the cities of the Mighty Pyramid; the which didtake three years and two hundred and twenty-five days, as I have toldbefore this. For by this plan, were they made to breathe the air ofevery height, and this, mayhaps, unto the good of their developing. Andthey also to discover that air which was best to their need.

  And concerning the air of the Night Land, you shall know that there wasin all that Land no flying thing, because that the air was grown verythin; yet, as the Records did show, there had once been monstrousflying-brutes, that went over the Land in mighty bounds; but this was ina long gone age; and we could but suppose that the Records gave truth.

  And here you shall know that, when the Monstruwacans did learn that Iwould journey through the Night Land, in search of Naani, there had beensome foolish and well-intended talk among them that I take a smallflying-ship, that was in the Great Museum beside the models of the GreatShips. For, truly, this machine was yet sound to go; for it was made ofthe grey metal of the Mighty Pyramid, that did seem to have no power tocease. Yet, in verity, I had no skill to manage this, neither had itflown, through an hundred thousand years; so that none did know themastership of that art, which did be learned but by a constant practice,and oft made uneasy by fallings that did wreck the machine, as I didknow from the Book of Flying. And, moreover, as I have told, the air ofthe Night Land was grown over-weak to uphold such a thing; which, Idoubt not, had made the Peoples of the Pyramid to cease from flyings,quite so much as that they did fear the Forces of Evil in the night.

  And if that there had been air and skill sufficient unto this purpose offlying, yet had I been wicked with foolishness that I should work to behung upward in the night, for all the Evil of the Night Land to behold.And though I had gone up some great way, yet the machine had surely madea great noise in the quietness of the eternal night, as you shallsuppose.

  Now indeed am I gone weary that I should need to tell so much concerningthe air of that Time and Place; for surely I do seem to make this mystory as that I did make a lecturing upon matters of chemistry; and sodo I cast about, that I may not bother to tell more upon this matter.Yet, in truth, a little more of my thinkings and observings had I betterset down here, and so be done with it. But you shall have patience withme, and know that had this, my story, been no more than an idle tale, Ihad been free to make no labour with such matters.

  Now there doth a wonder come to me why that the Road Makers, who were ofthat far-off Age which was before the Age of the Mighty Pyramid, did not_fly_ downward from the upper world into the deep of the monstrousvalley; but did instead build a road.

  Yet it may be that the air of the upper world had grown thin a greatage, so that they had truly forgot that once man did have power to fly.But even if that they did have proper machines to this purpose, surelyit were a wondrous and fearful thing to fly downward an hundred greatmiles; for they surely to have a dread that they never to rise againthrough so huge a deep.

  And, moreover, the downward world that was the bottom of the GreatValley, was full of monsters, as was told in the little metal book. Andthe monsters were very strange and unknown; and foreign to the wholeworld, that had never come unto the deep of the Valley. And the Valleyhad come, as you shall mind, when the earth did split; and this thingwas, in truth, like to be thought that same Ending of the World, whichall Nations have been taught to believe shall come. For in verity, whenthe world did split and burst, and the oceans rushed downward into theearth, and there was fire, and storms, and a mighty chaos, surely it wasproper to think that the End had come. Yet was it, in truth, but thebeginning of hope of a new Eternity of Life; so that out of the End camethe Beginning, and Life out of Death, and Good out of that which didseem a dire matter. And so is it always.

  Yet doth this go past my first wonder, which did concern the whereforethat they made not to descend in Things of Flight. Yet, maybe, shall myreasons stand to show why this was not.

  And again, mayhap it did chance that some were wild adventurers, and didleap over the edge of the upper world, having to ease their flightcertain contrivings, like to parachutes. And these you shall picture, asthat you watched them to leap; and so shall you see them go downwardinto the gloom; and you shall see them for maybe ten miles, and maybefor twenty miles; and afterward shall they be lost utterly in that GreatDeep, and seen no more of any man for ever.

  But when the Nations became Road-Makers, and came downward slowly to themonstrous Deep of the Mighty Valley that did split the World, then werethey come there by millions, and with power sufficient to fight againstthe Beasts; and afterward to grow back again to an ancient Civilizing;and so to the building of the great airships that were yet shown in theGreat Museum of the Pyramid. And here shall I cease from these mythinkings on this matter; for indeed, who shall say what did be truly aReason for those peoples and what was their Need? And so do I come to nosurety by my wonderings.

  Yet, as you do know, all things do seem verily to go in a circle; for,behold, in time, they of the Mighty Pyramid, were likewise held off fromthe glory of the airships; and so were gone backward a great way,according as we do look upon this matter. And so hath this been
the wayalways, as you shall know who have studied and thought, and seen thetrue ways and goings of Life.

  And now will I go forward in my telling; and here will set down a surething that I did perceive, both by mine ears and by my fingers; for, asI did make clear to you but a while gone, there had come a change intothe air as I did go downward of the Mighty Slope; and truly I was cometo a great and new Deepness, even beyond that of the wondrous depthwhere did stand the Last Redoubt. So that I was afar down and in amonstrous night. And the air here was of a great thickness andabundancy, even as it might be the air of this our Age; or maybe more ormaybe less; for who may compare two matters with a sure guessing, thatdo have an eternity to keep them asunder. And because that the air wasgrown very strong and apparent, it shall be, mayhaps, that it was byreason of this thing that the water, when I did make it, did fizz upwardin a moment very loud and plentiful, and did boil overward to the earthfrom out of the cup, and wet upon my hand. And surely this thought didcome very keen to my Reason, as I did fumble, each time of mine eating,there in the everlasting night and lonesomeness of the Great Slope.

  And so shall you have knowledge now of this and that thing which didcome upon my thought, and of the little and the big wonders, and allshall help something to give unto you the ache of newness andbewilderment that was constant companion unto me.

  Now by this time, as I have said, I was gone downward ever for six greatdays; and I did seem as that I should presently come to the middle ofthe world; for of going downward there was no end.

  And then, when it did be that I was near ready to believe this, Iperceived far off in the deep of the night a little shining that was yetweak and unsure. And I do not know whether I can truly give unto you thegreat astonishment and pain of hope that did come upon me; so that Igrew sick in all my being but to behold once again the blessedness oflight, and to have help unto my belief that I went not downward to anutter desolation.

  And I stood upward from my knees, and did look very earnest, and surelyit did seem that a light was there afar downward in the night; and againit did seem that I must be plagued by my hopes and by my fancy, and thatthere was nowhere any light. And then again I did see it very clear, andnot to be mistaken, and I had a shaking to come upon me, and I gat me toa run, and made a great and mad speed down the dark slope. And lo! I wasnot gone any way, but I went headlong, and near brake myself; and couldbut hold my teeth together very fierce and quiet until that the pain wassomething gone from me.

  And afterward, I gat me again to mine hands and knees, and went slowly,as before; and so for a great hour or more, and did look oft; and alwaythe light became more plain to my sight; but ever to come and go,oddly-wise. Yet did I go six hours, before that I was come anywise nearto it. And by this shall you know how great a space off it had been. Andlo! when that I did seem surely anigh unto it, truly was it still faraway in the night; and I came not indeed near to it until that I wasgone onward again for three hours more. And all that time did I yet godownward into the night; but the Slope now did not be so utter dark.

  Now, presently, I made a pause, and stood upward to my feet, so that Ishould the better perceive the light. And lo! as I did look toward it, Iheard a faraway sound in the dark, as that something did set up astrange and monstrous piping in the night. And immediately, I went tomine hands and knees among the stones of the Slope, and kept myself lowin the darkness, so that I should be the less plain to be seen, did anyMonster approach.

  But there came nothing to trouble me, and I went downward of the Slopefor yet another hour; and all the time that I did go, the sound of thepiping grew more in the great eternity of the night upon the Slope.

  And by this time was I come truly near unto the light; but yet did notbehold it plainly; for it did burn beyond certain monstrous rocks thatstood between. And I went to the left for, maybe, the half of a bigmile; and all the while that I did go, the piping made a mightierwhistling in the Night; and it did seem presently as that the earth sentforth the sound and revelry of wild roarings. And I went the moresilent; and later did kneel among three rocks, and peered forth for awhile upon the place before me.

  And now, being come nigh unto the light--though yet it was not unhidfrom behind the great barriers of the uprising rocks, I perceived that Icrouched within the mouth of a mighty gorge; and the left side was agreat way off, and I saw it plain at whiles when the light did rise; butthe light was to the right, and it was so wondrous great that it didmake clear to me that a mountain was to that side of the gorge, andwent upward into the everlasting night, as it did seem for ever.

  And afar down the gorge, I did see the shinings of strange fires, faintand a great way off. And so was I come at last to the bottom of theMighty Slope. Yet the gorge also to go downward, but not so great.

  And presently I did go forward again; and so did open the point of therocks, as the sailors do say. And I saw now that there gushed forth agreat blue flame from the earth; and the mighty rocks stood about it, asthat they were olden giants groupt there to some strange service.

  And concerning this flame I was not overmuch astonished in my Reason;for it had seemed to me as I drew anigh, that the fire and the soundshould be made by the roaring and whistling of a burning gas that didissue forth among the rocks. Yet, truly, though it did be a naturalmatter, it was yet a wondrous sight, and set amazement on my senses; forthe flame did dance, and sway whitherward monstrously, and sometimes didseem that it dropt so low as an hundred feet, and afterward went upwardwith a vast roaring unto the utter height, and did stand mighty andblazing, maybe a full thousand feet, so that the far side of the gorgewas lit, and surely it was seven great miles off or more; but yet didshow plain and wondrous. And the light did show me the flank of themountain, that made the right hand side of the Gorge, to go upmeasureless into the night.

  And so shall you perceive that I stayed awhile among the rocks that werein the mouth of the gorge, that I should gaze upon this thing; butafterward I lookt this way and that way, so that I should have a knowingof the place where I was come.

  And it was a wild and stark and empty place, as you must perceive. Andthe far side did be great miles off, as I did say; and everywhere therewas abundance of rock and lonesomeness. And before me there went thegreat and dim length of the gorge, and there were lights here and lightsthere, in a great distance, and oft--as it did seem--the quiet dancingof lights in diverse places; but yet were these gone on the instant. Andever there was a strong and vacant silence upon that place.

  And presently, after that I had looked once more unto the mighty dancingflame, and perceived nowhere any life around it, I went onward down thequiet gorge. And for a great way as I journeyed was my path lit by thedancing of the blue flame; and oft should I seem to be going but dimlyamong the rocks, and my shadow faint and long; and lo! the flame wouldleap, and all the gorge come to a wondrous brightness, and my figure toshorten, and the shadows to be black and strong. And so shall youperceive how I went.

  And oft did I turn me about to behold the dancing of the Great Light;for it was solemn to my spirit, even amid so much of Greatness andEternity, to think upon that Flame, and to conceive that it had an utterage danced there at the foot of the Mighty Slope, unseen, throughlonesome Eternities. And this I do tell unto you; that thereby may youhave some knowledge of the strangeness and the bitter loneliness of thatplace; which, in verity, did seem the expressing of all the lonesomenessof my wanderings.

  And all the time as I did go downward of the great Gorge, there soundedthe blast of the roaring, that was presently afar to my back; and themountain sides did catch it here and in that place, and sent it offwardswith strange and improper echoings, as of a chill piping, or oddwise ashushed whisperings of monstrous creatures; so that I did oft stoop tohide a little among the boulders; for truly I knew not but that someunnatural thing called from the darkness of the mountain side.

  And for six hours I walked onward thus, and sometimes did hide, having asudden fear, as I have told.

  And presently, in a gr
eat while, the roaring was sunk to a far andmonstrous piping; but in the end to no more than a far and uncertainwhistling, that yet did catch strange echoes in the night. And in theend there was only a quietness. And yet, as you do perceive, there hadbeen always a silence in that Gorge, as I have told, and this to thedespite of the whistling. And I do hope that you have understanding withme in this matter; for it was truly as I have told, and there is nocontrariness of telling in this matter.

  Now in all this time that I had walked in the great Gorge, I had pastfour of the far lights that I did see from the bottom of the Slope; andthe two first and the fourth were blue, but the third was green; and alldid dance and quake, and sent fitful shinings into the belly of theGorge. And there came also from them whistlings, and from the second onea low and strange moaning noise; and I doubted not the gas did comeoddly and with trouble. And I past these things with no great thought;for truly they were no matters for notice, after that which I hadbeheld.

  Now, as you shall mind, it was surely in the early Third of the seventhday of my journey down the Mighty Slope that I saw the first shining ofthe monstrous gas fountain; and from that time until now had there pastmaybe sixteen hours. And, as you do wot, I had eat not in all my travelsince that I had seen the light; so that I was gone to a proper lackinward; and moreover, it was full nineteen hours or more since that Ihad slept; and all that while had I laboured.

  And I ceased me from wandering, and lookt about that I should come to asafe and proper place for my slumber; and this I saw very quick; forthere was dry stone and rock everywhere, and no failing of holes anddiverse places to my purpose; so that I was soon in a little cavebetween two mighty boulders.

  And here I eat four of the tablets; for truly so many were my due, and Ihad not been violent had I eat more. And afterward, I made some of thewater, and it did fizz up in a moment; so that I perceived that but agood pinch made a great cup-full. And this I set to the count of thestrong and heavy air, as I have told, which I did think to have agreater power of chemistry.

  And presently I slept, having my gear about me as ever, and the Diskosto my breast. And as I went into slumber, I thought sweetly upon Naani,as I had done, indeed, an hundred times since I was come to thehopefulness of the lights of the Gorge.

  Now, whilst I slept, I dreamed that the Master-Word did presently beatall about me in the night. Yet, as I do mind, I waked not; and becausethat I continued to sleep, I have no sure knowing whether this was trulya dream, or an Happening. And I minded me upon it, when I waked; butthis was after that I had slept seven hours; and I could have nosureness anywise of the matter; but only that I was come safe through mysleep; though heavy within my head and limbs, as that the air did callme unto a further slumbering, as is like enough.

  And after that I had eat and drunk, I put my gear about me, and theDiskos to my hip, for I needed both my hands to the task of journeyingamid the great boulders. And I set forth again down the half-light ofthe mighty Gorge, and through eighteen hours I made a strong going, savewhen I did pause at the sixth and the twelfth hours to mine eating.

  And by the eighteenth hour was come, I was very ready to my food andslumber; and presently I was asleep in a place of the rocks. And thatday had I past three and twenty of the dancing gas fires; and five beenlike a white fire; but the others blue and green. And all did dance andmade a strange and uncertain light within the great Gorge; yet was it apeaceful thing unto my spirit that there was truly light, as you shallunderstand.

  And I slept six hours, and waked, and did want more sleep, as you shallthink. But I eat and drunk and put my gear upon me, and went on downwardof the Gorge.

  And at the sixth hour, after that I had eat and drunk, I came to a partwhere the big gas fires did cease to dance, and there was a certaindarkness upon that place. Yet was it not a proper dark; for there camethe glimmer of a flame here and the glimmer of a flame there, as thatlittle flames came upward between the stones, and did vanish, and comeupward in another part. And so did light and die out constant andforever amid the stones and the boulders of that lonesome Gorge; andmade a low-spread light, so that it did seem unto me that strangeshudders of light beat upward through the dark of that place.

  And I went onward, and a heavy fume did seem to hang in the air, andhorrid gases to come upward from the earth in odd puffings; and anon alight would leap upward beyond the next stone, and afterward vanish, andthere would be an hundred thousand such upon every hand, running to andfore; and afterward for a moment an utter dark, and again the littleflames everywhere; so that it did seem I went one moment amid the heartof a strange country of fire, and immediately through a country of utternight. And this was to me strange and a peculiar matter. Yet, as I dothink, the gases did bother me the more; for they did seem as that theywere like to hurt mine health utterly; for, in verity, oft did I seem asthat I should choke and breathe no more, by reason of the poison thatcame upward from among the stones and the boulders.

  And all that time, as they came or went, did the little flames makesmall phlocks of sound in the Gorge as they did flash or die; and thesounds did seem, to my likening, as stones cast into an utter silentpool; for they but made apparent the everlasting quiet of the Gorge.

  And afterward, I came beyond this place, and you shall see me going verylonesome among the rocks of the Gorge, beyond. And by this, it was comenigh unto the eighteenth hour; and I did find a place proper to myslumber, and did eat and drink, and was quickly gone over unto sleep.

  And here, I should tell how that I had not an over-fear of Evil Powerswhilst I was in the great Gorge; for truly it did seem as that nothingthat ever did live came anigh to that wild and silent place of stone androck; but that I journeyed through it alone, and was surely the firstthat did go that way for maybe a million years. And this feeling thatwas upon me, I do hope you to perceive and take unto yourselves, andthus have an understanding of my heart at that time.

  And as you shall know, I went always unto slumber with sweet and withtroubled thoughts of the Maid. Yet, for a great while, I had been put somightily to the labour of my way that my heart did suffer less at thistime than should be thought; and truly it doth show me how I was drawnunto that One with all my being, that I did surely think so oft andsweetly upon her amid so many perils and matters of horror. And thisdoth seem something strange to say, when that you do consider that I wasadventured unto these same perils and horrors but only for the sake ofthe Maid.

  And in six hours did I wake, as I did strive alway to set myself to do;yet was I very heavy and slow for a little, until that I was moreproperly come to wakefulness. And surely, as I did think before, thiswas like to be put upon me by the weighty air of the place; but yet itmight be that the gas which did float in the Gorge was upon my lungs.And also, as you have perceived, if but you have attended my way, theair was grown warm, and oft were the rocks pleasant to the seat, and allof these matters did contrive to make me slumbrous.

  Now, presently, the gas fires did cease utterly in the Gorge, and Ilookt downward, along that great place, and saw only a greyness, butabove the greyness there was, as it did seem, something of a vague andruddy shining in the night. And this did wake me to wonder what newthing lay before; so that I grew more eager among the boulders.

  And, later, when I had eat at the sixth and the twelfth hours, and goneon awhile, I came to a place where the Gorge made a quick turning untomy left, and at the end of the turning was a red and glowing light thatwas very great and wonderful; so that I was utter keen to come to thatplace, that I should discover what made the shining. And the place whereI was come then, was very dark, because that I was nigh under the mightywall of the mountain of the right side of the Gorge. Yet above, as itdid seem to me, there was a far red upward glowing in the night.

  Then did I go forward very fast, and presently, in a good while, Idiscovered that I drew near to a second great turning, that went to theright. And about the seventeenth hour, I came nigh unto the second greatturning. And here did I put caution upon me, and crept for a
while amongthe dark rocks of that place, that I should come to a sight of thatwhich made the monstrous red shining.

  And presently, I was beyond the corner of the mountain, and did lookdownward into a mighty Country of Seas, and the burning of greatvolcanoes. And the volcanoes did seem as that they burned in the Seas.And the country was full of a great ruddy light from the volcanoes. Andso shall you perceive me there among the rocks that did all stand upwardstrange and bold and silent in the red and monstrous glare of the light.And I, as it did seem, the one thing of life in all that desolation andeternity of rock and stone, there in the end part of the great Gorge.

  And I peered forth into the wonder of the light, and was full ofthrillings and fancies that I was surely come to the place where theLesser Redoubt had been builded. And immediately I knew that this wasnot so, for surer had not Naani told how that they were in a land ofdarkness. And if this did be so, truly, how wondrous and dread a way hadI yet to go, if that this Country of Seas and mighty volcanoes stoodbetween.

  Surely, it did seem to me then as that I must wander searching unto theworld's end. And so shall you be company unto me there with my troubleand my thoughts, and the immediate wonder and strange glory of thatmighty Country.