t way out of this miserable land?" asked Maskull.

"It is easiest to go to Sant."

"Will we see it from anywhere?"

"Yes, though it is a long way off."

"Have you been there?"

"I am a woman, and interdicted."

"True. I have heard something of the sort."

"But don't ask me any more questions," said Tydomin, who was becoming
faint.

Maskull stopped at a little spring. He himself drank, and then made a
cup of his hand for the woman, so that she might not have to lay down
her burden. The gnawl water acted like magic--it seemed to replenish
all the cells of his body as though they had been thirsty sponge pores,
sucking up liquid. Tydomin recovered her self-possession.

About three-quarters of an hour later they worked around the second
corner, and entered into full view of the north aspect of Disscourn.

A hundred yards lower down the slope on which they were walking, the
mountain ended abruptly in a chasm. The air above it was filled with
a sort of green haze, which trembled violently like the atmosphere
immediately over a furnace.

"The lake is underneath," said Tydomin.

Maskull looked curiously about him. Beyond the crater the country sloped
away in a continuous descent to the skyline. Behind them, a narrow path
channelled its way up through the rocks toward the towering summit of
the pyramid. Miles away, in the north-east quarter, a long, flat-topped
plateau raised its head far above all the surrounding country. It was
Sant--and there and then he made up his mind that that should be his
destination that day.

Tydomin meanwhile had walked straight to the gulf, and set down
Crimtyphon's body on the edge. In a minute or two, Maskull joined her;
arrived at the brink, he immediately flung himself at full length on
his chest, to see what could be seen of the lake of fire. A gust of hot,
asphyxiating air smote his face and set him coughing, but he did not get
up until he had stared his fill at the huge sea of green, molten lava,
tossing and swirling at no great distance below, like a living will.

A faint sound of drumming came up. He listened intently, and as he did
so his heart quickened and the black cares rolled away from his soul.
All the world and its accidents seemed at that moment false, and without
meaning....

He climbed abstractedly to his feet. Tydomin was talking to her dead
husband. She was peering into the hideous face of ivory, and fondling
his violet hair. When she perceived Maskull, she ha