t of the first hours of morning, the mist rose, and
the fallen man roused slowly out of his deep stupor. And then through
the dim-lit halls of the great mansion rang a piercing cry. For when
he awoke, the curtain stood raised upon his life; and the sight of its
ghastly content struck wild terror to his naked soul.

He had dreamed as he lay there, dreamed while the mist was rising. He
thought he had been toiling with feverish energy through those black
hours, building a wall about the things that were his. And into the
design of the huge structure he had fitted the trophies of his
conquest. Gannette toiled with him, straining, sweating, groaning.
Together they reared that monstrous wall; and as they labored, the man
plotted the death of his companion when the work should be done, lest
he ask for pay. And into the corners of the wall they fitted little
skulls. These were the children of Avon who had never played. And over
the great stones which they heaved into place they sketched red
dollar-marks; and their paint was human blood. A soft wind swept over
the rising structure, and it bore a gentle voice: "I am Love." But the
toilers looked up and cursed. "Let us alone!" they cried. "Love is
weakness!" And over the rim of the wall looked fair faces. "We are
Truth, we are Life!" But the men frothed with fury, and hurled skulls
at the faces, and bade them begone! A youth and a tender girl looked
down at the sweating toilers. "We ask help; we are young, and times
are so hard!" But the great man pointed to himself. "Look at me!" he
cried. "I need no help! Begone!" And then the darkness settled down,
for the wall was now so high that it shut out the sun. And the great
man howled with laughter; the wall was done. So he turned and smote
his companion unto death, and dipped his hands in the warm blood of
the quivering corpse.

But the darkness was heavy. The man grew lonely. And then he sought to
mount the wall. But his hands slipped on the human blood of the red,
slimy dollar-marks, and he fell crashing back among his tinkling
treasures. He rose, and tried again. The naked, splitting skulls
leered at him. The toothless jaws clattered, and the eyeless sockets
glowed eerily. The man raised his voice. He begged that a rope be
lowered. He would go out once more into the sunlit world. But the
chill wind brought him only despairing moans.

Then he rushed madly to the wall, and smote it with his bare hands. It
mocked him with the stren