he asked a minute later.

"It must mean that life is wrong, and the creator of life too, whether
he is one person or three."

Corpang looked again, like a man trying to accustom himself to a
shocking sight. "Dare we believe this?"

"You must," replied Maskull. "You have always served the highest, and
you must continue to do so. It has simply turned out that Thire is not
the highest."

Corpang's face became swollen with a kind of coarse anger. "Life is
clearly false--I have been seeking Thire for a lifetime, and now I
find--this."

"You have nothing to reproach yourself with. Crystalman has had eternity
to practice his cunning in, so it's no wonder if a man can't see
straight, even with the best intentions. What have you decided to do?"

"The drumming seems to be moving away. Will you follow it, Maskull?"

"Yes."

"But where will it take us?"

"Perhaps out of Threal altogether."

"It sounds to me more real than reality," said Corpang. "Tell me, who is
Surtur?"

"Surtur's world, or Muspel, we are told, is the original of which this
world is a distorted copy. Crystalman is life, but Surtur is other than
life."

"How do you know this?"

"It has sprung together somehow--from inspiration, from experience, from
conversation with the wise men of your planet. Every hour it grows truer
for me and takes a more definite shape."

Corpang stood up squarely, facing the three Figures with a harsh,
energetic countenance, stamped all over with resolution. "I believe
you, Maskull. No better proof is required than that. Thire is not the
highest; he is even in a certain sense the lowest. Nothing but the
thoroughly false and base could stoop to such deceits.... I am coming
with you--but don't play the traitor. These signs may be for you, and
not for me at all, and if you leave me--"

"I make no promises. I don't ask you to come with me. If you prefer to
stay in your little world, or if you have any doubts about it, you had
better not come."

"Don't talk like that. I shall never forget your service to me... Let us
make haste, or we shall lose the sound."

Corpang started off more eagerly than Maskull. They walked fast in the
direction of the drumming. For upward of two miles the path went along
the ledge without any change of level. The mysterious radiance gradually
departed, and was replaced by the normal light of Threal. The rhythmical
beats continued, but a very long way ahead--neither was able to diminish
the dist