or Muspel. He intended to look for
water in which to wash the corpse of his beloved, and earth in which to
bury her.

When he had reached the boulder overlooking the landslip, on which they
had sat together, he lowered his burden, and, placing the dead girl
on the stone, seated himself beside her for a time, gazing over toward
Barey.

After that, he commenced his descent of the Mornstab Pass.

Chapter 20. BAREY

The day had already dawned, but it was not yet sunrise when Maskull
awoke from his miserable sleep. He sat up and yawned feebly. The air was
cool and sweet. Far away down the landslip a bird was singing; the song
consisted of only two notes, but it was so plaintive and heartbreaking
that he scarcely knew how to endure it.

The eastern sky was a delicate green, crossed by a long, thin band
of chocolate-coloured cloud near the horizon. The atmosphere was
blue-tinted, mysterious, and hazy. Neither Sarclash nor Adage was
visible.

The saddle of the Pass was five hundred feet above him; he had descended
that distance overnight. The landslip continued downward, like a huge
flying staircase, to the upper slopes of Barey, which lay perhaps
fifteen hundred feet beneath. The surface of the Pass was rough, and the
angle was excessively steep, though not precipitous. It was above a mile
across. On each side of it, east and west, the dark walls of the ridge
descended sheer. At the point where the pass sprang outward they were
two thousand feet from top to bottom, but as the ridge went upward, on
the one hand toward Adage, on the other toward Sarclash, they attained
almost unbelievable heights. Despite the great breadth and solidity of
the pass, Maskull felt as though he were suspended in midair.

The patch of broken, rich, brown soil observable not far away marked
Sullenbode's grave. He had interred her by the light of the moon, with a
long, flat stone for a spade. A little lower down, the white steam of a
hot spring was curling about in the twilight. From where he sat he was
unable to see the pool into which the spring ultimately flowed, but it
was in that pool that he had last night washed first of all the dead
girl's body, and then his own.

He got up, yawned again, stretched himself, and looked around him
dully. For a long time he eyed the grave. The half-darkness changed by
imperceptible degrees to full day; the sun was about to appear. The sky
was nearly cloudless. The whole wonderful extent of the mighty