Then, in a time, the fight ceased; for of those seven and twenty Giant
Brutes there remained none; only that there cumbered the ground seven
and twenty lumbering hillocks, dreadful and grim. For the lesser dead we
could not see proper.
And we that were within the Pyramid saw the Youths sorted together by
their leaders, all in the dim twilight of that place; and with the Great
Spy-Glass I made a rough count, and found that there lived of them,
three hundred; and by this shall you know the power of those few
monstrous things, which had slain full two hundred, though each youth
was armed with so wondrous a weapon. And I set the word through the
Pyramid, that all might have some knowledge of the number that had
died; for it was better to know, than to be in doubt. And no spy-glass
had the power of The Great Spy-Glass.
After this fight, the youths spent a time having a care to their bodies
and wounds; and some were made separate from the others, and of these I
counted upon fifty; and whilst the others made to continue their march
towards the Road Where The Silent Ones Walk, these were constrained by
one who was the Leader, to return to the Pyramid. And in a little, I saw
that they came towards us, wearily and with many a halt, as that they
suffered great wounds and harm of the fight.
But those others (maybe two hundred and fifty Youths) went onwards into
the Night Land; and though we sorrowed at this thing; yet was there come
a huge pride into our hearts that those raw ones, who yesterday were but
children, had so held themselves in the battle, and done a great deed
that day. And I wot that whilst their mothers wept, easeless, their
fathers' hearts swelled within them, and held somewhat of their Pain
away from them for a time.
And all this while, those wounded Youths came slowly, and rested, and
came on again, the better helping the worse; and a great excitement and
trouble there was in all the Mighty Pyramid, to learn which were they
that came, and they that went, and who lay out there quietly among the
slain. But none might say anything with surety; for, even with that
great spy-glass in the Tower of Observation, they were not overplain;
save when some light from the fires of the Land flared high, and lit
them. For they stood not up into the glare of the fires, as had the
Giants. And though I saw them with clearness, yet I knew them not; for
there was so mighty a multitude in that Vast Redoubt, that none might
ever know the half even of their rulers.