And we went then through three days of eighteen hours' journey each;
and alway I did carry Mine Own, from the twelfth unto the eighteenth
hour of each journeying; and this to be very dear unto me, and to give
me a new rejoicing that I did be strong and easy to carry Mine Own; and
she to lie in mine arms very content, when that she perceived how that I
did be so glad to go thiswise and that I had no weariness by the
carrying. And thus I did rest her feet, and wore not her dear and slender body
overmuch with the vigour of my going; and was abled to make a very good
speed. And Mine Own, this time and that, to make sayings of impudence unto me,
and to hide her naughty lips, when that I should kiss them; and to have
quaint nestlings unto me, and odd whiles to kiss me very dainty when
that I did be going thoughtful of the way. And surely never did there be
so dear a maid as Mine Own; so that I did go many a mile, and to be
scarce that I knew that I was gone any way, because of the stirrings of
my heart and the content of my spirit. And oft as we did go, there were great scorpions in the path, and odd
whiles they to have no heed to go from my way; but to be so great as my
head, and very fat and lazy, so that surely I kickt a good number, from
my path, even as you shall kick a ball with the foot; and three I burst
in this way. And truly it did be well that I had on me mine armour, else
had they been like to sting me very quick unto death; for they were so
great. And likewise, in this place and that, there were snakes; but none to
come anigh to me; and I to choose alway the open goings; for I did think
there to be many hid snakes and lesser monsters in the dark places
between the great boulders. And alway, when the Maid did walk, I to go
before, that I see clear her way, and this thing to be but a matter of
wiseness, as you shall think. And odd whiles, as I did carry Mine Own, she to talk a little with me of
her memory-dreams of the olden days; and mayhap you to think it strange
that we said not overmuch on this wise; but the way of our journey to
have been so utter bitter, as you have seen; and we to be more of that
far age, than we did be of this present age; and this present life to
seem but a dream of Memory, and we to be set then with the realness of
that life. And this telling, indeed, to be a plain thing to your
understanding. Yet did we have a greater talk to these ends, when that
we were come free of the Gorge; but yet, oft there to be an odd saying
and a sweet memory, like to an olden and forgot fragrance of dreams, to
pass between Mine Own and me. And do you to set your sympathy of
understanding with me in this thing, and to know how holy these things
did be, and far off, and to hold memory, as a mist that doth shine with
golden lights, that did make an holy pain upon the eyes of the spirit,
even as a quiet dawn of this day doth set a pleasure of vague pain upon
the heart. And once, as I did carry the Maid, I saw that she wept a little, very
husht unto herself; and I to say naught; for I saw that it did be a
natural sorrow for her father, and for the dead Peoples of the Lesser
Redoubt; that did be left for ever unto the desolation of Eternity. And
so, because I did be wise to leave her be, she to be eased presently,
and to wipe her eyes, quiet and secret, and mayhap to think that I did
not perceive; and then to nestle unto me; and so to be the more Mine
Own. And about the middle part of the second day, we came past the cave where
I did sleep on the upward journey; and I to tell Naani, and she to look
upward to the cave, and to wish that she might come a moment into it;
only that it did be twenty good feet upward, and I to desire that she
run no risk of her dear life, when that there did be no need. And so to go onward; and odd whiles to see strange things a-lurk among
the boulders; but none to come anigh to us; yet did I keep the Diskos
very ready in my hand, as you shall think; and had mine eyes alway to
look upon every side, and mine ears to be wary; and to use my spirit
alway to mine aid. And surely, as we did come lower in the Gorge, the Maid was all
a-wondered at the warmness that did grow, and something disturbed in the
first, by the new thickness, as it did seem, of the air. And she to
waste some of the water, because that it did fizz up so quick, even as
I, until that she was come used to this newness. And all this to be very
plain unto you. And in the end of every journey, we slept eight good hours in a safe
place; and so to go onward again; and the Maid to grow very eager as I
did tell her this thing and that of the Country that we did come
downward unto. And she askt me questions, time and oft, and much I told her, and she to
think upon it with a growing wonder and desire, even as a gladsome child
that hath never seen the sea, and doth be told that it shall presently
be there. And this to be but to shadow the way that Naani did be; for
truly she did be a very live and eager maid, in all things. And we to be still within the Gorge, and to go constant by the
fire-holes and the fire-pits, and to see the flames leap upward in this
place and that, so that the mighty walls of the Gorge would show very
plain in an instant; and immediately to come the shadows again, and
afterward the leaping of the flames. And so did it be forever. And oft
the muttering of the fire-pits; and oft the utter quiet and the shadows. And this time and that there did be a snake to go by us, and the
scuttling of the monster scorpions; and mayhap a moving in the shadows
of the great boulders, that did tell me there went maybe some peculiar
monster in that place; so that I did be very wary, and to have the
Diskos alway ready. And when the fourth day was come, I showed the Maid, in the sixth hour,
the ledge that did be my first sleeping place, when that I was entered
into the Gorge. Now presently, in the eleventh hour, after that we had gone five hours
in a gloom, there did show afar off a shining; and I caught the Maid,
and I pointed; and she also to perceive that it did be surely the
shining of the light of that great Country that I did tell upon. And immediately we did begin to run downward, and with sore stumblings
in this place and that; but not to halt us; for we did be so mad as two
children for the gladsome light. And we came down presently in the twelfth hour of that journey into the
warm light and wonder of the Country of the Seas. XIII

HOMEWARD BY THE SHORE


Now we came presently out of that sad and dreary place that did go
inward of the great mountains, and which I have named the Upward Gorge;
and we to halt soon between the feet of the mountains, beyond the
mouth-part of the Gorge. And Naani alway to look every way about her, and to breathe very quick,
and her eyes to be gone bright with wonder and the seeing of new things,
and the coming of freedom from so great a dread.