th become a part of me for ever."

Then was Ralph exceeding glad of her words, and the Sage laughed
inwardly when he beheld them thus.

So they came adown from the rock and lay down presently under the fiery
heavens: and their souls were comforted by the sound of the horses
cropping the grass so close to their ears, that it broke the voice of
the earth-fires' thunder, that ever and anon rolled over the grey sea
amidst which they lay.

On the morrow they still rode the lava like to clinkers, and it rose
higher about them, till suddenly nigh sunset it ended at a turn of
their winding road, and naught lay betwixt them and that mighty ness of
the mountains, save a wide grassy plain, here and there swelling into
low wide risings not to be called hills, and besprinkled with copses of
bushes, and with trees neither great nor high. Then spake the Sage:
"Here now will we rest, and by my will to-morrow also, that your beasts
may graze their fill of the sweet grass of these unwarded meadows.
which feedeth many a herd unowned of man, albeit they pay a quit-rent
to wild things that be mightier than they. And now, children, we have
passed over the mighty river that once ran molten betwixt these
mountains and the hills yonder to the west, which we trod the other
day; yet once more, if your hearts fail you, there is yet time to turn
back; and no harm shall befall you, but I will be your fellow all the
way home to Swevenham if ye will. But if ye still crave the water of
the Well at the World's End, I will lead you over this green plain, and
then go back home to mine hermitage, and abide there till ye come to
me, or I die."

Ralph smiled and said: "Master, no such sorry story shall I bear back
to Upmeads, that after many sorrows borne, and perils overcome, I came
to the Gates of the Mountains, and turned back for fear of that which I
had not proved."

So spake he; but Ursula laughed and said: "Yea, then should I deem thy
friendship light if thou leftest me alone and unholpen in the uttermost
wilderness; and thy manhood light to turn back from that which did not
make a woman afraid."

Then the Sage looked kindly on them and said: "Yea, then is the last
word spoken, and the world may yet grow merrier to me. Look you, some
there be who may abuse the gifts of the Well for evil errands, and some
who may use it for good deeds; but I am one who hath not dared to use
it lest I should abuse it, I being alone amongst weaklings and f