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. IX

THE DARK PYRAMID


Now in two hours more I was come clear down out of the Gorge, and stood
in that Country; and for all that I did feel fresh troubled and
bewildered, yet was I rejoiceful, as you may believe, in the surprising
light and splendour of that sudden Land. And before that I had come down out of the great Gorge, I had stood high
within the mouth thereof, and lookt well out over the mighty Country. And I had counted seven and twenty great volcanoes, and this doth not
take heed of two monstrous ranges of fire-hills that burned afar off,
something unto my right. Neither doth it take account of an hundred
thousand lesser places of fire. And truly it did seem a very land of fire and water. For there was a
small fire-hill stood within a sea, as it did seem no more than a little
mile from that place where I did stand. And maybe a score to the back of
it, spread all about. And here shall I do proper to tell concerning the
seas. For there were of these, that I did count at that time, three that
were small, and a mighty sea that went onward for ever into the red
light of the fire-hills, so that it was gone utterly out of my sight,
and did show no ending. And there rose up out of the seas, islands; and on the islands,
volcanoes. But in other parts the fire-hills did come upward straightly
from the sea. And over the near sea, as it did seem, there lay a
plentitude of steam, as that the sea did boil at whiles and in diverse
places.