g to all foreseen probabilities, we should come to
Bar-Wul-Yann, and I should part from the captain and his sailors. And
I had liked the man because he had given me of his yellow wine that
was set apart among his sacred things, and many a story he had told me
about his fair Belzoond between the Acroctian hills and the Hian Min.
And I had liked the ways that his sailors had, and the prayers that
they prayed at evening side by side, grudging not one another their
alien gods. And I had a liking too for the tender way in which they
often spoke of Durl and Duz, for it is good that men should love their
native cities and the little hills that hold those cities up.

And I had come to know who would meet them when they returned to their
homes, and where they thought the meetings would take place, some in
a valley of the Acroctian hills where the road comes up from Yann,
others in the gateway of one or another of the three cities, and
others by the fireside in the home. And I thought of the danger that
had menaced us all alike outside Perdondaris, a danger that, as things
have happened, was very real.

And I thought too of the helmsman's cheery song in the cold and lonely
night, and how he had held our lives in his careful hands. And as I
thought of this the helmsman ceased to sing, and I looked up and saw
a pale light had appeared in the sky, and the lonely night had passed;
and the dawn widened, and the sailors awoke.

And soon we saw the tide of the Sea himself advancing resolute between
Yann's borders, and Yann sprang lithely at him and they struggled
awhile; then Yann and all that was his were pushed back northward,
so that the sailors had to hoist the sails and, the wind being
favourable, we still held onwards.

And we passed Gondara and Narl and Haz. And we saw memorable, holy
Golnuz, and heard the pilgrims praying.

When we awoke after the midday rest we were coming near to Nen, the
last of the cities on the River Yann. And the jungle was all about us
once again, and about Nen; but the great Mloon ranges stood up over
all things, and watched the city from beyond the jungle.

Here we anchored, and the captain and I went up into the city and
found that the Wanderers had come into Nen.

And the Wanderers were a weird, dark tribe, that once in every seven
years came down from the peaks of Mloon, having crossed by a pass that
is known to them from some fantastic land that lies beyond. And the
people of Nen were all ou