And by this determination, I abode; and came down to that place with
labour; but was cheerful of heart that I had found so sure a shelter. And I eat my three tablets, and drank the water that I did get from the
powder. And so made to compose my body to sleep. Yet, at this time, a
thought did come to me, and I made calculation afresh; and laughed
somewhat at that my poor counting; for, indeed, I had thought to eat but
thrice in the twenty and four hours; yet by my arranging, I was made,
indeed, to eat four times, as you shall see immediately by a little
thought. And this thing came more strong upon my spirit than any might
think; for I did eat overmuch for the lasting of the food; though, in
verity, it was but little to my belly; as you must all think, and have
sympathy for my discomfort. And I considered a little, and had determined that I should afterwards
in my journeying, eat but two of the tablets to my meal; and this was a
wise thought, and like much wisdom, a discomposing thing. But so it was,
and I set it down that you may know the arranging of my ways at that
time. Now, in all this while of meditation, I had been setting my cloak about
me, and was fast set to my sleeping; for I had walked a weary way. And I
lay me down upon my left side, with my back to the rock, which did
overhang me something above; so that I was contented to feel hid from
things that might pass by in the Night. And I had the cloak about me,
and the Diskos close against my breast, within the cloak, and my head
upon my pouch and upon my scrip. And as I lay thus a moment easeful, I could see that so mighty was the
uprising of the Great Pyramid that it was not hid from me even thus, but
did stand upward into the night, and did shine, and was plain to be seen
above the further edge of that deep place where I did lie. And I fell upon sleep, looking upward at that Final Light, where, as
might be, the Master Monstruwacan did bend the Great Spy-Glass upon my
lonesomeness, as I lay there upon the ledge. And this was a thought of sweet comfort upon which to slumber; the which
I did; but my spirit lay wakeful within my breast, and did listen
through the night; and harked for all evil matters and things that did
make to come anigh. But also my spirit did whisper unto Naani as I went
into sleep; and so passed I into dreams. Now, it may be thought that I did act with a strange valiance, in that I
composed my body so properly to slumber, and with but a little trouble
of the heart concerning the coming of monsters. And in truth this hath
seemed somewhat so to me, thinking since that time; but I do but set the
thing that is truth; and make not to labour to an illusion of truth; and
so must tell much that doth seem improper to the Reality. Yet must all
bear with me, and have understanding of the hardness of setting forth
with true seeming the honesty of Truth, which, in verity, is better
served oft times by timely and cunning lies. And so shall you understand
this matter so well as I. And presently my spirit waked me there in the half dark of the Night
Land; and I looked swift about me, and upwards, and saw nothing to
fear. Then did I peer at my dial; and made to discover that I had slept
full over six quiet hours; and by this I knew the reason of mine
awaking; for it was so great impressed upon me by mine inward sense and
being. And this you shall understand, someways, who have thought, ere
sleep, to wake to a certain time of the morning; and by understanding
shall you believe and give me all your kind harking and human sympathy. And I made to have a smartness of going, which is ever hard to the newly
waked; and I eat two tablets, the while my belly did cry out for an
wholesome and proper filling; but I drank some of the water, and so did
ease somewhat of my hunger. Then did I wind my cloak to its shape, and put upon me my gear, which
was the scrip and the pouch, and the Diskos to my hip; and I clomb out
from that place of rest. Yet, before I did come rightly up into the
open, I peered about, and made some surety that no evil Brute was anigh. And then I gat me out, and stood upon my feet, and looked for a little
upwards at the mighty slope of the Great Redoubt, which did seem yet
very nigh unto me, by reason of it being so monstrous in bigness. And I wondered whether in that moment the Master Monstruwacan did look
down upon me, with the Great Spy-Glass. And afterwards I turned away
swiftly, and went on into the Night Land; for it did always make me
shaken with lonesomeness to look upon my Great Home. And so I did go
forward with a strong and uncaring stride; but grew presently to
quietness, and to have back the proper caution of my going. Yet had I
not gone all foolishly, for I had taken the Diskos from my hip, ere
this; so that I possessed it handily. Now there is one matter which shall seem but a small and natural
occurring unto you; yet was strong upon me in that time; and this thing
was that I did begin now to see the Night Land from the new outlooking
of my distance from the Mighty Pyramid. And it was as that a man of this
day did go from the earth to travel among the stars, and lo! should he
not find them to shift upon his vision; so that the Great Bear and this
and that shaping of the star clusterings, should make a new order, as he
did wander onwards; and so should he find that there was naught that was
truly fixed, as he did before then think; but all to alter according
unto the place whence the looking! And this thing shall be plain unto
you, though no thought be put to the matter; for it is of an evident
verity that doth need not argument to expound. And so shall you have
memory of me, there a-wander among those strange shapings and wonders of
that grim Land, the which I had never but supposed to seem but as my
memory did retain them, from the lookings of all my life within the
Great Redoubt. And so it was; and ever there did this thing and that
open out to a new view, and the Night Land take to itself a constant new
aspect to mine eyes which had never until that time had but the one
fixed vision of the same. And you shall understand with me how that when, about the fourteenth
hour of that day's travel, I did draw very nigh unto the monstrous
Watcher of the North-West, it did seem so utter strange from this fresh
aspect that I had been like to think that I did see a new Monster. For,
in truth, when I did come at last to creep to within a mile of it, among
the low moss-bushes, I was confounded that the mighty chin did come
forward towards the Great Redoubt, even as the upward part of a vast
cliff, which the sea doth make hollow about the bottom; for it did hang
out into the air above the glare of the fire from the Red Pit, as it had
been a thing of Rock, all scored and be-weathered, and dull red and
seeming burned and blasted by reason of the bloody shine that beat
upward from the deep of the Red Pit.