alls. In its wide halls may multitudes assemble, and
here hang the trophies of the ages. And the roof is of pure gold, set
upon tall pillars of ruby and azure, and having such carven figures of
gods and heroes that he who looks up to those heights seem to gaze upon
the living Olympus. And the floor of the palace is of glass, under which
flow the cunningly lighted waters of the Narg, gay with gaudy fish not
known beyond the bounds of lovely Cathuria."

Thus would I speak to myself of Cathuria, but ever would the bearded man
warn me to turn back to the happy shores of Sona-Nyl; for Sona-Nyl is
known of men, while none hath ever beheld Cathuria.

And on the thirty-first day that we followed the bird, we beheld the
basalt pillars of the West. Shrouded in mist they were, so that no man
might peer beyond them or see their summits--which indeed some say reach
even to the heavens. And the bearded man again implored me to turn back,
but I heeded him not; for from the mists beyond the basalt pillars I
fancied there came the notes of singer and lutanist; sweeter than the
sweetest songs of Sona-Nyl, and sounding mine own praises; the praises
of me, who had voyaged far under the full moon and dwelt in the Land of
Fancy.

So to the sound of melody the White Ship sailed into the mist betwixt
the basalt pillars of the West. And when the music ceased and the mist
lifted, we beheld not the Land of Cathuria, but a swift-rushing
resistless sea, over which our helpless barque was borne toward some
unknown goal. Soon to our ears came the distant thunder of falling
waters, and to our eyes appeared on the far horizon ahead the titanic
spray of a monstrous cataract, wherein the oceans of the world drop down
to abysmal nothingness. Then did the bearded man say to me with tears on
his cheek, "We have rejected the beautiful Land of Sona-Nyl, which we
may never behold again. The gods are greater than men, and they have
conquered." And I closed my eyes before the crash that I knew would
come, shutting out the sight of the celestial bird which flapped its
mocking blue wings over the brink of the torrent.

Out of that crash came darkness, and I heard the shrieking of men and of
things which were not men. From the East tempestuous winds arose, and
chilled me as I crouched on the slab of damp stone which had risen
beneath my feet. Then as I heard another crash I opened my eyes and
beheld myself upon the platform of that lighthouse from whence I had