etched both arms aloft above his head, like a diver. He
seemed to be addressing the columns.

While they looked on, the electric spouts discharged themselves, with
a series of loud explosions. The stranger stood alone, uninjured. He
dropped his arms. The next moment he caught sight of the two, and stood
still, waiting for them to come up. The pictorial clarity of his person
grew more and more noticeable as they approached; his body seemed to be
composed of some substance heavier and denser than solid matter.

Tydomin looked perplexed.

"He must be a Sant man. I have seen no one quite like him before. This
is a day of days for me."

"He must be an individual of great importance," murmured Maskull.

They now came up to him. He was tall, strong, and bearded, and was
clothed in a shirt and breeches of skin. Since turning his back to the
wind, the green deposit on his face and limbs had changed to streaming
moisture, through which his natural colour was visible; it was that of
pale iron. There was no third arm. His face was harsh and frowning, and
a projecting chin pushed the beard forward. On his forehead there were
two flat membranes, like rudimentary eyes, but no sorb. These membranes
were expressionless, but in some strange way seemed to add vigour to the
stem eyes underneath. When his glance rested on Maskull, the latter felt
as though his brain were being thoroughly travelled through. The man was
middle-aged.

His physical distinctness transcended nature. By contrast with him,
every object in the neighbourhood looked vague and blurred. Tydomin's
person suddenly appeared faint, sketch-like, without significance, and
Maskull realised that it was no better with himself. A queer, quickening
fire began running through his veins.

He turned to the woman. "If this man is going to Sant, I shall bear him
company. We can now part. No doubt you will think it high time."

"Let Tydomin come too."

The words were delivered in a rough, foreign tongue, but were as
intelligible to Maskull as if spoken in English.

"You who know my name, also know my sex," said Tydomin quietly. "It is
death for me to enter Sant."

"That is the old law. I am the bearer of the new law."

"Is it so--and will it be accepted?"

"The old skin is cracking, the new skin has been silently forming
underneath, the moment of sloughing has arrived."

The storm gathered. The green snow drove against them, as they stood
talking, and it grew intensely