Yet, bethink you, if one had lived in that far height of the dead world,
and come upon the edge of that mighty valley in which all life that was
left of earth, did abide, they should have been like to look downward
vaguely into so monstrous a deep that they had seen naught, mayhaps,
save a dull and utter strange glowing far downward in the great night,
in this place and in that. And surely, as you shall have seen, I have set the Great Deep of the
Valley to be, maybe, an hundred and fifty miles of night; for, as you do
mind, it was conceived that the Valley of the Night Land was an hundred
miles deep, and mayhap to be more; and I had come from that Place
downward of the Mighty Slope, and of the Gorge, a very great way. Yet,
in verity, I do believe in my heart this measuring was utter wrong; for
I think the deep to have been monstrous, beyond these miles that I do
give; yet have I no proving of this belief, and do set it down for no
more than it is. Now, presently, I had ceased from these vague thinkings and half
dreamings, and was gone truly to sleep. Yet, nowise did I sleep very
strong; but did seem to come anigh to wakefulness, this time and that. And, as it did chance, this was mayhaps a very good thing for my life;
for I did presently come awake more surely, and did turn on the great
branch; for there was a noise in the air, that was not the noise of the
great fire-hill. And the noise did grow, very heavy and lumbersome. And, in a moment,
there came seven Humped Men, running among the trees, as that some
monstrous thing did pursue. And immediately they were beneath the tree
in which I did lie; so that a great fear came upon me, and I loosed the
belt from the branch, that I should be free to fight. And, directly upon this, I saw that the men did leap upward into the
tree, beneath me; but not as that they did wot of me or make to come at
me; but as that they did pay a great heed to some creature or happening
that was far off among the trees. And surely, the noise did seem to come
from that part, and did grow loud and mighty, and the Humped Men did all
crouch very silent, and did make no noise or motion one to the other;
but were quiet upon the lower branches. And, as I did look now more to my ease, I perceived that they had each a
great stone, and bloody, that did seem as that it were split to a
certain sharpness, even as a stone doth break very natural. And they
carried the stone under this arm or under that arm, so that they had
their hands free to all matters. And, alway the noise did come the more anigh, and I saw that a Humped
Man did come running from among the trees, and did run beneath that
place where the seven Humped Men did be on the branches. But they made
no sign to the man, to save him; yet truly it was very plain that some
monster pursued the man. And immediately I saw how this thing was; for the Humped Man upon the
ground, did not run so fast as might be; and I conceived that he did act
to make some creature to come after him, to pass under the men within
the tree. And surely this thing did prove to be; for there came very
quick, a great and ugly thing, that had an ugly way of putting down the
feet, and did have seven feet to each side, which was very strange; and
the back was as that it were horny, and the belly of the thing did seem
to brush heavy upon the earth, and it grunted, as it went, and shook the
earth with the weight of it; so that a monstrous noise came from it,
upon so hasty a journey. And I did wot that it was not such a thing as
did properly pursue after matters of food; but did rather eat of that
which did need little haste, but a monstrous strength, to gain. And that
it did so make after the man, was in truth because that it had been
wounded and made fierce; for, indeed, there came blood from the creature
from great wounds upon the back; but how these were made, I could not
know in that instant. And it did go under the tree in which I was hid; and in that moment when
it past under the tree, the seven Humped Men did leap out of the
branches, and did catch to the brute by the great horns of the spine;
and I saw that the wounds were in the joints of the spine, as was plain
when the back did work, with the going of the creature. And the seven
Humped Men took the sharp stones from under their arms, and did strike
very brutal in the wounds that were in the joints of the spine; and the
creature roared and cried, and went onward into the trees at a great
speed; and in all the time that it ran, the Humped Men ceased not to
strike with the stones. And sudden, when it was gone a distance off, it did roll very swift over
upon the back, first to the right, as that it would go that way; so that
the Humped Men did leap off upon the other side. And immediately the
creature rolled to that side; and there ran clear of the brute only four
of the Humped Men; so that I knew that three were slain. And afterwards,
they that lived, ran beyond the beast, and gat up into a second tree,
and the one that was chased, did entice the creature to follow, and so
did tease it once more to pass beneath the other men; and they very
swiftly again to the back of the creature; and so from my sight,
striking with the great stones, and the beast bellowing very loud and
piteous. And how many of the Humped Men there were to the beginning of
that strange hunting, I know not; but surely there were few that lived
to the end. And surely there were such things as this thing in the beginning of the
world, and again was it thus in the end; and I did ponder this a little
while, as I did sit upon the great branch, and hearken unto the sound of
the hunting, that was now gone a great way off, and was presently beyond
my hearing. And afterward, I gat me to the earth, and did look this way and that
way, to see that no beast was anigh, neither any of the Humped Men; and
afterward, I eat two of the tablets and drank some of the water. And when I had gat this far to a readiness for my going, I minded me
that I should try the compass again, as I did intend. And surely the
machine did point between the North and the South, upon the Westward
arc, even as Naani had told unto me; yet, as it did seem, with somewhat
more of a Southward pointing than she had made me to think. And because
of this telling of the compass, a great ease came upon my spirit; for,
surely, was not this but a sure sign that I did go direct unto that
hidden place of the world where the Lesser Refuge did abide; but yet was
not come over-close, so that the pull of the Mighty Earth-Current of the
Great Redoubt was something stronger than in the place where was the
Little Pyramid. And all this did I think very swift to myself, and had a glad uplifting
of the heart, as you do perceive; so that I went forward upon my
journey, with a great stride, and did scarce fear any strange thing that
all the Country did hold, in that moment.