tars, faint and brilliant, appeared. Maskull saw no familiar
constellations. He wondered if the sun of earth was visible, and if so
which one it was.

They came to the head of a rough staircase, leading down the cliffside.
It resembled the one by which he had come up; but this descended to the
Wombflash Forest.

"That is your path," said Catice, "and I shall not come any farther."

Maskull detained him. "Say just this, before we part company--why does
pleasure appear so shameful to us?"

"Because in feeling pleasure, we forget our home."

"And that is--"

"Muspel," answered Catice.

Having made this reply, he disengaged himself, and, turning his back,
disappeared into the darkness.

Maskull stumbled down the staircase as best he could. He was tired,
but contemptuous of his pains. His uninjured probe began to discharge
matter. He lowered himself from step to step during what seemed an
interminable time. The rustling and sighing of the trees grew louder as
he approached the bottom; the air became still and warm.

He at last reached level ground. Still attempting to proceed, he began
to trip over roots, and to collide with tree trunks. After this had
happened a few times, he determined to go no farther that night. He
heaped together some dry leaves for a pillow, and immediately flung
himself down to sleep. Deep and heavy unconsciousness seized him almost
instantly.

Chapter 13. THE WOMBFLASH FOREST

He awoke to his third day on Tormance. His limbs ached. He lay on his
side, looking stupidly at his surroundings. The forest was like night,
but that period of the night when the grey dawn is about to break and
objects begin to be guessed at, rather than seen. Two or three amazing
shadowy shapes, as broad as houses, loomed up out of the twilight. He
did not realise that they were trees, until he turned over on his back
and followed their course upward. Far overhead, so high up that he dared
not calculate the height, he saw their tops glittering in the sunlight,
against a tiny patch of blue sky.

Clouds of mist, rolling over the floor of the forest, kept interrupting
his view. In their silent passage they were like phantoms flitting among
the trees. The leaves underneath him were sodden, and heavy drops of
moisture splashed onto his head from time to time.

He continued lying there, trying to reconstruct the events of the
preceding day. His brain was lethargic and confused. Something terrible
had happened, b