Now I went downward very quiet and slow into that Darkness; and did make
but a cautious way; for now you shall know me truly wrapped about with
such a night as did seem to press upon my very soul, and such as you
shall never have seen nor felt; so that I did seem lost even from my
self, and did appear as that I went presently in unreal fashion, and did
pass onward for ever and for ever through everlasting night; so that odd
whiles I did make to walk with random, as that I stept no more upon this
earth; but did go offwards into the Void.
Yet was this foolishness of
the mind set straight and proper each time that it did come about; for
lo! I did kick against an upjutting rock here, and fall upon a great and
unseen boulder there, and so was shaken very quickly to a sound
knowledge that I trode the hard and actual earth; and had no true
dealings with unreal matters.
And ever I did go downward; and by this only did I have a guide to my
way. Yet, as you shall think, through reason of the utter dark I made
scarce a mile in an hour or even two full hours; and so grew bitter by
reason 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 my
path; and to this end, I did make the Diskos to spin, odd whiles, and
did look down the mighty slope, the little way that the strange
glistening of the Diskos did show, and so fixed my path into mine inward
remembering, and would go forward afresh, until that I was shaken once
more by the darkness, and would fain to look once again upon the
blessedness of light, and make me some knowledge of my way.
And, truly, the light from the Diskos did seem astonishing great, and
this to be because there was so monstrous a darkness all about me there
forever. And thereafter would I go onward again, until the pain of my
stumblings did bid me surely to have that sweet shining once more unto
my path.
And so shall you perceive my going; and sore and miserable was it unto
the 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 no
foolishness of thought.
And you shall well believe that I did make the light not more oft than I
did surely need; for it was no properness of wisdom to use the power of
the Diskos, save for mine extremity.
Now, presently, when I had done thiswise through six long and bitter
hours, and it being now beyond the twentieth hour since I did last
slumber, I sat me down there upon the Mighty Slope, in the everlasting
Dark, and did eat two of the tablets, and made the water, and could but
feel and hearken whether I did this thing right and that.
And when I had eat and drunk, I unfolded my cloak, and wrapt it around
me, and placed the scrip and the pouch under my head; and the Diskos I
took to company me; and so fell swiftly upon sleep; yet did think
earnestly but vaguely upon Naani, as I came unto slumber.
And I slept all but six hours, and did waken very sudden there in the
utter dark; and I got me to mine elbow, and did listen very keen; for I
had waked immediately, as that something had touched me or come nigh
unto me; and I gript the Diskos, and listened; but there did not even a
little 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 and
drink, there in that utter night; and fumbled somewhat, as you shall
think. Yet I was done in a while, and got my gear upon me, and the
Diskos 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 I
stopt oft to listen, as that my soul told of something nigh unto me that
did follow very quiet. Yet did mine ears perceive nothing; and so I
alway 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 journey
down the Mighty Slope, I did have a very sore tumble against a sharp
rock; for I put my foot sudden into a small hole, and this did make me
to pitch. And I was utter shaked by the fall and lay very quiet for a
time; for the rock had surely ript my body, but for the armour.
And after that I was something renewed of strength and spirit, I made
that I should go no more upon my feet, but upon my hands and knees; and
thus should I feel the way that I went, and have a less need of the
Diskos, which had not overmuch use to light my way, in that I shone it
not 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 I
done many a sore mile thus through the Night Land. And when that I had
gone downward for eighteen hours, and eat and drunk thrice, I ceased
from my labour, and did feel about in the darkness, that I come to a
level 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 irk
me.
Then did I eat and drink, and afterward composed me to my sleep, and had
many a thought of Naani, as I did drift unto slumber; yet also had I
memories of the strange half-fear that had been with me all that day, as
though something went constantly near me in the Dark. And because of
this, twice did I rise unto mine elbow, and listen; but heard no sound
to trouble me, and afterward did trust that I did but fancy; and so came
at last unto slumber, that yet was not over-restful, for truly I did
listen 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 unto
me; and I gript the Diskos, and did hearken; yet was there no sound that
mine ears did wot of; neither aught that had power to be surely known of
the spirit.
And all that day was as the day before; save that about the eighth hour
I came near to fall into some monstrous pit in the Great Slope; but did
only fall with my breast upon the edge, and so drew back, and presently
did 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 fearful
how I should go; for I knew not whether I had come among such things, or
whether I had but few to sorrow me.
And so you shall perceive that I went over-cautious for a great while in
all that utter dark; but did think at last upon a plan to go with more
surety and speed. But to this I did need a cord, and surely I had no
cord 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 I
searched me; for the sayings of that day had many that were like to
this.
Yet in the end I did compass my plan; for I did buckle the scrip and the
pouch together, and took one of the straps from the pouch; and this
strap was long and thin, and well suited unto my purpose. Then I fixt a
stone into the end of the strap, and buckled it there, and after that, I
cast the stone before me, as I went upon my hands and knees; and I did
hold to the hither end of the strap, and so was abled to have something
of knowledge whether there lay any great deepness immediately before me,
and thiswise to strive that I fall not down some monstrous cliff in the
night.
And so did I go, casting the stone continually to my front, down the
slope; 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 go
downward of the Mighty Slope in the everlasting darkness.
And at the eighteenth hour I did sleep; and was waked strangely before
the sixth hour, even as I had waked before. And this did put always
upon 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 that
something was always nigh unto me in the dark, I do truly believe; yet
have I no knowing that it was evil; for it harmed not me.
And three days more I journeyed thus, and did never cease to creep
downward weariful upon my hands and knees; and the Diskos I had to my
hip, and so shall you know how I carried it. And by this, as you do
know, I had been on the Great Slope six days of utter Dark; and did have
no 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 was
much gone from out of the air upon the slope; and the air was grown, as
it did seem, very heavy unto my chest. And concerning this matter I
should say something. For, if I do mind me, I have said not overmuch
concerning the air of the Night Land and the Mighty Pyramid; for truly I
have been so set to tell my story of all that I did truly see and
adventure upon. Yet, though I have said but little, you will surely have
perceived that the air of that far and chill time was not as the air of
this; but was thin and keen within the Night Land, and lay not, as I do
think, 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 difference
between the air within the Mighty Pyramid, and that which lay without
around the base; for upward beyond that, I did understand that there was
no outward air that any should breathe; and so was all the Pyramid
sealed in certain wise in all the upper Cities for ever; and whether it
was sealed utterly from the outward air at the base, I do not surely
remember, 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 air
from the Underground Fields; but whether they gat any change or newness
of air from the Night Land, I have no knowledge; and do lament that I
have no sure knowing. Yet, as you shall believe, I could surely write an
hundred books upon that Wonder of the Future, and be still lacking in
the half of all that there is to be told; and so do I try to have
courage to this my task, and to have no over-trouble, because that I do
tell but a little of a Great Tale.
And here in this place will I set down how that the Peoples of the
Pyramid were greater to the chest, methinks, than we of this age; but
yet do I have no oversurety in the matter; for well it may be that the
Reason of this age doth blind within me somewhat the Knowledge that I
have concerning that; for, in verity, is it not but a natural thing to
believe those Peoples to be great of the chest, so that they should make
a 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 should
be, by the making of my Reason, I do the more distrust that Reason
shall make foolish my Knowledge; for even a fool should suppose that
which I have told; and the truth may be even otherwise.
Yet that the Peoples of the Upper Cities had great chests, I do well
know; for this was a common knowledge; even as we of this age do
acknowledge the Peoples of Africa to be of blackness, or those of
Patagonia to be of great stature. And by this one thing should any know
a man of the Upper Cities, from a man of the Lower Cities. And because
that there grew this difference among the Peoples, there had been once,
as any could learn from the Histories, a plan whereby the Peoples should
be moved upward and downward through the great height of the Mighty
Pyramid, 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 way
of the human heart.
And here it doth occur unto me that it was like enough to be a plan for
health, beside of training of the mind, that each youth and maid was put
to travel through all the cities of the Mighty Pyramid; the which did
take three years and two hundred and twenty-five days, as I have told
before this. For by this plan, were they made to breathe the air of
every height, and this, mayhaps, unto the good of their developing. And
they also to discover that air which was best to their need.
And concerning the air of the Night Land, you shall know that there was
in all that Land no flying thing, because that the air was grown very
thin; yet, as the Records did show, there had once been monstrous
flying-brutes, that went over the Land in mighty bounds; but this was in
a 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 I
would journey through the Night Land, in search of Naani, there had been
some foolish and well-intended talk among them that I take a small
flying-ship, that was in the Great Museum beside the models of the Great
Ships. For, truly, this machine was yet sound to go; for it was made of
the grey metal of the Mighty Pyramid, that did seem to have no power to
cease. Yet, in verity, I had no skill to manage this, neither had it
flown, through an hundred thousand years; so that none did know the
mastership 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 did
know from the Book of Flying. And, moreover, as I have told, the air of
the Night Land was grown over-weak to uphold such a thing; which, I
doubt 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 of
flying, yet had I been wicked with foolishness that I should work to be
hung 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 made
a great noise in the quietness of the eternal night, as you shall
suppose.
Now indeed am I gone weary that I should need to tell so much concerning
the air of that Time and Place; for surely I do seem to make this my
story as that I did make a lecturing upon matters of chemistry; and so
do 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 better
set down here, and so be done with it. But you shall have patience with
me, and know that had this, my story, been no more than an idle tale, I
had been free to make no labour with such matters.
Now there doth a wonder come to me why that the Road Makers, who were of
that 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 monstrous
valley; but did instead build a road.
Yet it may be that the air of the upper world had grown thin a great
age, 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, surely
it were a wondrous and fearful thing to fly downward an hundred great
miles; for they surely to have a dread that they never to rise again
through so huge a deep.
And, moreover, the downward world that was the bottom of the Great
Valley, was full of monsters, as was told in the little metal book. And
the monsters were very strange and unknown; and foreign to the whole
world, that had never come unto the deep of the Valley. And the Valley
had come, as you shall mind, when the earth did split; and this thing
was, in truth, like to be thought that same Ending of the World, which
all Nations have been taught to believe shall come. For in verity, when
the world did split and burst, and the oceans rushed downward into the
earth, and there was fire, and storms, and a mighty chaos, surely it was
proper to think that the End had come. Yet was it, in truth, but the
beginning of hope of a new Eternity of Life; so that out of the End came
the Beginning, and Life out of Death, and Good out of that which did
seem a dire matter. And so is it always.
Yet doth this go past my first wonder, which did concern the wherefore
that they made not to descend in Things of Flight. Yet, maybe, shall my
reasons stand to show why this was not.
And again, mayhap it did chance that some were wild adventurers, and did
leap over the edge of the upper world, having to ease their flight
certain contrivings, like to parachutes. And these you shall picture, as
that you watched them to leap; and so shall you see them go downward
into the gloom; and you shall see them for maybe ten miles, and maybe
for twenty miles; and afterward shall they be lost utterly in that Great
Deep, and seen no more of any man for ever.
But when the Nations became Road-Makers, and came downward slowly to the
monstrous Deep of the Mighty Valley that did split the World, then were
they come there by millions, and with power sufficient to fight against
the 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 the
Great Museum of the Pyramid. And here shall I cease from these my
thinkings on this matter; for indeed, who shall say what did be truly a
Reason for those peoples and what was their Need? And so do I come to no
surety 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 from
the 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 way
always, as you shall know who have studied and thought, and seen the
true ways and goings of Life.
And now will I go forward in my telling; and here will set down a sure
thing that I did perceive, both by mine ears and by my fingers; for, as
I did make clear to you but a while gone, there had come a change into
the air as I did go downward of the Mighty Slope; and truly I was come
to a great and new Deepness, even beyond that of the wondrous depth
where did stand the Last Redoubt. So that I was afar down and in a
monstrous night. And the air here was of a great thickness and
abundancy, even as it might be the air of this our Age; or maybe more or
maybe less; for who may compare two matters with a sure guessing, that
do have an eternity to keep them asunder. And because that the air was
grown very strong and apparent, it shall be, mayhaps, that it was by
reason of this thing that the water, when I did make it, did fizz upward
in a moment very loud and plentiful, and did boil overward to the earth
from out of the cup, and wet upon my hand. And surely this thought did
come 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 did
come upon my thought, and of the little and the big wonders, and all
shall help something to give unto you the ache of newness and
bewilderment that was constant companion unto me.
Now by this time, as I have said, I was gone downward ever for six great
days; and I did seem as that I should presently come to the middle of
the world; for of going downward there was no end.
And then, when it did be that I was near ready to believe this, I
perceived far off in the deep of the night a little shining that was yet
weak and unsure. And I do not know whether I can truly give unto you the
great astonishment and pain of hope that did come upon me; so that I
grew sick in all my being but to behold once again the blessedness of
light, and to have help unto my belief that I went not downward to an
utter desolation.
And I stood upward from my knees, and did look very earnest, and surely
it did seem that a light was there afar downward in the night; and again
it did seem that I must be plagued by my hopes and by my fancy, and that
there was nowhere any light. And then again I did see it very clear, and
not to be mistaken, and I had a shaking to come upon me, and I gat me to
a run, and made a great and mad speed down the dark slope. And lo! I was
not gone any way, but I went headlong, and near brake myself; and could
but hold my teeth together very fierce and quiet until that the pain was
something 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 alway
the 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 near
to it. And by this shall you know how great a space off it had been. And
lo! when that I did seem surely anigh unto it, truly was it still far
away in the night; and I came not indeed near to it until that I was
gone onward again for three hours more. And all that time did I yet go
downward 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 I
should the better perceive the light. And lo! as I did look toward it, I
heard a faraway sound in the dark, as that something did set up a
strange and monstrous piping in the night. And immediately, I went to
mine hands and knees among the stones of the Slope, and kept myself low
in the darkness, so that I should be the less plain to be seen, did any
Monster approach.
But there came nothing to trouble me, and I went downward of the Slope
for yet another hour; and all the time that I did go, the sound of the
piping 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 not
behold it plainly; for it did burn beyond certain monstrous rocks that
stood between. And I went to the left for, maybe, the half of a big
mile; and all the while that I did go, the piping made a mightier
whistling in the Night; and it did seem presently as that the earth sent
forth the sound and revelry of wild roarings. And I went the more
silent; and later did kneel among three rocks, and peered forth for a
while upon the place before me.
And now, being come nigh unto the light--though yet it was not unhid
from behind the great barriers of the uprising rocks, I perceived that I
crouched within the mouth of a mighty gorge; and the left side was a
great way off, and I saw it plain at whiles when the light did rise; but
the light was to the right, and it was so wondrous great that it did
make clear to me that a mountain was to that side of the gorge, and
went upward into the everlasting night, as it did seem for ever.
And afar down the gorge, I did see the shinings of strange fires, faint
and a great way off. And so was I come at last to the bottom of the
Mighty 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 the
rocks, as the sailors do say. And I saw now that there gushed forth a
great blue flame from the earth; and the mighty rocks stood about it, as
that 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 sound
should be made by the roaring and whistling of a burning gas that did
issue forth among the rocks. Yet, truly, though it did be a natural
matter, it was yet a wondrous sight, and set amazement on my senses; for
the flame did dance, and sway whitherward monstrously, and sometimes did
seem that it dropt so low as an hundred feet, and afterward went upward
with a vast roaring unto the utter height, and did stand mighty and
blazing, maybe a full thousand feet, so that the far side of the gorge
was lit, and surely it was seven great miles off or more; but yet did
show plain and wondrous. And the light did show me the flank of the
mountain, that made the right hand side of the Gorge, to go up
measureless into the night.
And so shall you perceive that I stayed awhile among the rocks that were
in the mouth of the gorge, that I should gaze upon this thing; but
afterward I lookt this way and that way, so that I should have a knowing
of the place where I was come.
And it was a wild and stark and empty place, as you must perceive. And
the far side did be great miles off, as I did say; and everywhere there
was abundance of rock and lonesomeness. And before me there went the
great and dim length of the gorge, and there were lights here and lights
there, in a great distance, and oft--as it did seem--the quiet dancing
of lights in diverse places; but yet were these gone on the instant. And
ever there was a strong and vacant silence upon that place.
And presently, after that I had looked once more unto the mighty dancing
flame, and perceived nowhere any life around it, I went onward down the
quiet gorge. And for a great way as I journeyed was my path lit by the
dancing of the blue flame; and oft should I seem to be going but dimly
among the rocks, and my shadow faint and long; and lo! the flame would
leap, and all the gorge come to a wondrous brightness, and my figure to
shorten, and the shadows to be black and strong. And so shall you
perceive 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 and
Eternity, to think upon that Flame, and to conceive that it had an utter
age danced there at the foot of the Mighty Slope, unseen, through
lonesome Eternities. And this I do tell unto you; that thereby may you
have some knowledge of the strangeness and the bitter loneliness of that
place; which, in verity, did seem the expressing of all the lonesomeness
of my wanderings.
And all the time as I did go downward of the great Gorge, there sounded
the blast of the roaring, that was presently afar to my back; and the
mountain sides did catch it here and in that place, and sent it offwards
with strange and improper echoings, as of a chill piping, or oddwise as
hushed whisperings of monstrous creatures; so that I did oft stoop to
hide a little among the boulders; for truly I knew not but that some
unnatural thing called from the darkness of the mountain side.
And for six hours I walked onward thus, and sometimes did hide, having a
sudden fear, as I have told.
And presently, in a great while, the roaring was sunk to a far and
monstrous piping; but in the end to no more than a far and uncertain
whistling, that yet did catch strange echoes in the night. And in the
end there was only a quietness. And yet, as you do perceive, there had
been always a silence in that Gorge, as I have told, and this to the
despite of the whistling. And I do hope that you have understanding with
me in this matter; for it was truly as I have told, and there is no
contrariness of telling in this matter.
Now in all this time that I had walked in the great Gorge, I had past
four of the far lights that I did see from the bottom of the Slope; and
the two first and the fourth were blue, but the third was green; and all
did dance and quake, and sent fitful shinings into the belly of the
Gorge. And there came also from them whistlings, and from the second one
a low and strange moaning noise; and I doubted not the gas did come
oddly and with trouble. And I past these things with no great thought;
for truly they were no matters for notice, after that which I had
beheld.
Now, as you shall mind, it was surely in the early Third of the seventh
day of my journey down the Mighty Slope that I saw the first shining of
the monstrous gas fountain; and from that time until now had there past
maybe sixteen hours. And, as you do wot, I had eat not in all my travel
since that I had seen the light; so that I was gone to a proper lack
inward; and moreover, it was full nineteen hours or more since that I
had slept; and all that while had I laboured.
And I ceased me from wandering, and lookt about that I should come to a
safe and proper place for my slumber; and this I saw very quick; for
there was dry stone and rock everywhere, and no failing of holes and
diverse places to my purpose; so that I was soon in a little cave
between two mighty boulders.
And here I eat four of the tablets; for truly so many were my due, and I
had not been violent had I eat more. And afterward, I made some of the
water, and it did fizz up in a moment; so that I perceived that but a
good pinch made a great cup-full. And this I set to the count of the
strong and heavy air, as I have told, which I did think to have a
greater power of chemistry.
And presently I slept, having my gear about me as ever, and the Diskos
to 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 the
hopefulness of the lights of the Gorge.
Now, whilst I slept, I dreamed that the Master-Word did presently beat
all about me in the night. Yet, as I do mind, I waked not; and because
that I continued to sleep, I have no sure knowing whether this was truly
a dream, or an Happening. And I minded me upon it, when I waked; but
this was after that I had slept seven hours; and I could have no
sureness anywise of the matter; but only that I was come safe through my
sleep; though heavy within my head and limbs, as that the air did call
me unto a further slumbering, as is like enough.
And after that I had eat and drunk, I put my gear about me, and the
Diskos to my hip, for I needed both my hands to the task of journeying
amid the great boulders. And I set forth again down the half-light of
the mighty Gorge, and through eighteen hours I made a strong going, save
when 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 and
slumber; and presently I was asleep in a place of the rocks. And that
day had I past three and twenty of the dancing gas fires; and five been
like a white fire; but the others blue and green. And all did dance and
made a strange and uncertain light within the great Gorge; yet was it a
peaceful thing unto my spirit that there was truly light, as you shall
understand.
And I slept six hours, and waked, and did want more sleep, as you shall
think. But I eat and drunk and put my gear upon me, and went on downward
of the Gorge.
And at the sixth hour, after that I had eat and drunk, I came to a part
where the big gas fires did cease to dance, and there was a certain
darkness upon that place. Yet was it not a proper dark; for there came
the glimmer of a flame here and the glimmer of a flame there, as that
little flames came upward between the stones, and did vanish, and come
upward in another part. And so did light and die out constant and
forever amid the stones and the boulders of that lonesome Gorge; and
made a low-spread light, so that it did seem unto me that strange
shudders 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, and
horrid gases to come upward from the earth in odd puffings; and anon a
light would leap upward beyond the next stone, and afterward vanish, and
there would be an hundred thousand such upon every hand, running to and
fore; and afterward for a moment an utter dark, and again the little
flames everywhere; so that it did seem I went one moment amid the heart
of a strange country of fire, and immediately through a country of utter
night. And this was to me strange and a peculiar matter. Yet, as I do
think, the gases did bother me the more; for they did seem as that they
were like to hurt mine health utterly; for, in verity, oft did I seem as
that I should choke and breathe no more, by reason of the poison that
came upward from among the stones and the boulders.
And all that time, as they came or went, did the little flames make
small phlocks of sound in the Gorge as they did flash or die; and the
sounds did seem, to my likening, as stones cast into an utter silent
pool; for they but made apparent the everlasting quiet of the Gorge.
And afterward, I came beyond this place, and you shall see me going very
lonesome among the rocks of the Gorge, beyond. And by this, it was come
nigh unto the eighteenth hour; and I did find a place proper to my
slumber, 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 Powers
whilst I was in the great Gorge; for truly it did seem as that nothing
that ever did live came anigh to that wild and silent place of stone and
rock; but that I journeyed through it alone, and was surely the first
that did go that way for maybe a million years. And this feeling that
was upon me, I do hope you to perceive and take unto yourselves, and
thus have an understanding of my heart at that time.
And as you shall know, I went always unto slumber with sweet and with
troubled thoughts of the Maid. Yet, for a great while, I had been put so
mightily to the labour of my way that my heart did suffer less at this
time than should be thought; and truly it doth show me how I was drawn
unto that One with all my being, that I did surely think so oft and
sweetly upon her amid so many perils and matters of horror. And this
doth seem something strange to say, when that you do consider that I was
adventured unto these same perils and horrors but only for the sake of
the 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 more
properly come to wakefulness. And surely, as I did think before, this
was like to be put upon me by the weighty air of the place; but yet it
might 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, the
air was grown warm, and oft were the rocks pleasant to the seat, and all
of these matters did contrive to make me slumbrous.
Now, presently, the gas fires did cease utterly in the Gorge, and I
lookt downward, along that great place, and saw only a greyness, but
above the greyness there was, as it did seem, something of a vague and
ruddy shining in the night. And this did wake me to wonder what new
thing 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 gone
on awhile, I came to a place where the Gorge made a quick turning unto
my left, and at the end of the turning was a red and glowing light that
was very great and wonderful; so that I was utter keen to come to that
place, that I should discover what made the shining. And the place where
I was come then, was very dark, because that I was nigh under the mighty
wall of the mountain of the right side of the Gorge. Yet above, as it
did 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, I
discovered that I drew near to a second great turning, that went to the
right. And about the seventeenth hour, I came nigh unto the second great
turning. And here did I put caution upon me, and crept for a while among
the dark rocks of that place, that I should come to a sight of that
which made the monstrous red shining.
And presently, I was beyond the corner of the mountain, and did look
downward into a mighty Country of Seas, and the burning of great
volcanoes. 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. And
so shall you perceive me there among the rocks that did all stand upward
strange 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 and
eternity 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 of
thrillings and fancies that I was surely come to the place where the
Lesser Redoubt had been builded. And immediately I knew that this was
not so, for surer had not Naani told how that they were in a land of
darkness. And if this did be so, truly, how wondrous and dread a way had
I yet to go, if that this Country of Seas and mighty volcanoes stood
between.
Surely, it did seem to me then as that I must wander searching unto the
world's end. And so shall you be company unto me there with my trouble
and my thoughts, and the immediate wonder and strange glory of that
mighty Country.