versation I left him to steal away unobserved on
his own account, and set out for a ramble in the hope of encountering
Rima and winning her to talk to me.

My quest did not succeed: not a glimpse of her delicate shadowy form did
I catch among the trees; and not one note from her melodious lips came
to gladden me. At noon I returned to the house, where I found food
placed ready for me, and knew that she had come there during my absence
and had not been forgetful of my wants. "Shall I thank you for this?" I
said. "I ask you for heavenly nectar for the sustentation of the higher
winged nature in me, and you give me a boiled sweet potato, toasted
strips of sun-dried pumpkins, and a handful of parched maize! Rima!
Rima! my woodland fairy, my sweet saviour, why do you yet fear me? Is it
that love struggles in you with repugnance? Can you discern with clear
spiritual eyes the grosser elements in me, and hate them; or has some
false imagination made me appear all dark and evil, but too late for
your peace, after the sweet sickness of love has infected you?"

But she was not there to answer me, and so after a time I went forth
again and seated myself listlessly on the root of an old tree not
far from the house. I had sat there a full hour when all at once Rima
appeared at my side. Bending forward, she touched my hand, but without
glancing at my face; "Come with me," she said, and turning, moved
swiftly towards the northern extremity of the forest. She seemed to
take it for granted that I would follow, never casting a look behind nor
pausing in her rapid walk; but I was only too glad to obey and, starting
up, was quickly after her. She led me by easy ways, familiar to her,
with many doublings to escape the undergrowth, never speaking or pausing
until we came out from the thick forest, and I found myself for the
first time at the foot of the great hill or mountain Ytaioa. Glancing
back for a few moments, she waved a hand towards the summit, and then
at once began the ascent. Here too it seemed all familiar ground to her.
From below, the sides had presented an exceedingly rugged appearance--a
wild confusion of huge jagged rocks, mixed with a tangled vegetation
of trees, bushes, and vines; but following her in all her doublings, it
became easy enough, although it fatigued me greatly owing to our rapid
pace. The hill was conical, but I found that it had a flat top--an
oblong or pear-shaped area, almost level, of a soft, crumbly sands