loomed up straight in front of them.

The green snow on the top of the gigantic pyramid had by now completely
melted away. The black, gold, and crimson of its mighty cliffs stood
out with terrific brilliance. They were directly beneath the bulk of
the mountain, which was not a mile away. It did not appear dangerous to
climb, but he was unaware on which side of it their destination lay.

It was split from top to bottom by numerous straight fissures. A few
pale-green waterfalls descended here and there, like narrow, motionless
threads. The face of the mountain was rugged and bare. It was strewn
with detached boulders, and great, jagged rocks projected everywhere
like iron teeth. Tydomin pointed to a small black hole near the base,
which might be a cave. "That is where I live."

"You live here alone?"

"Yes."

"It's an odd choice for a woman--and you are not unbeautiful, either."

"A woman's life is over at twenty-five," she replied, sighing. "And I
am far older than that. Ten years ago it would have been I who lived
yonder, and not Oceaxe. Then all this wouldn't have happened."

A quarter of an hour later they stood within the mouth of the cave. It
was ten feet high, and its interior was impenetrably black.

"Put down the body in the entrance, out of the sun," directed Tydomin.
He did so.

She cast a keenly scrutinising glance at him. "Does your resolution
still hold, Maskull?"

"Why shouldn't it hold? My brains are not feathers."

"Follow me, then."

They both stepped into the cave. At that very moment a sickening crash,
like heavy thunder just over their heads, set Maskull's weakened heart
thumping violently. An avalanche of boulders, stones, and dust, swept
past the cave entrance from above. If their going in had been delayed by
a single minute, they would have been killed.

Tydomin did not even look up. She took his hand in hers, and started
walking with him into the darkness. The temperature became as cold
as ice. At the first bend the light from the outer world disappeared,
leaving them in absolute blackness. Maskull kept stumbling over the
uneven ground, but she kept tight hold of him, and hurried him along.

The tunnel seemed of interminable length. Presently, however, the
atmosphere changed--or such was his impression. He was somehow led to
imagine that they had come to a larger chamber. Here Tydomin stopped,
and then forced him down with quiet pressure. His groping hand
encountered stone and, b