en Records; but were never seen anigh to the Pyramid;
though I had thought, odd times, to see men, as of mist, through the
Great Spy-Glass, when I was within the Tower of Observation. But they
were always a mighty way off; and some would say it was but a bright
vapour that did move; yet would others be in doubt, and so is it ever in
such matters.

And here let me take chance to say how that it is a hard thing to speak
of such happenings to men of this age, and to make the truth proper unto
them; and because of this, oft am I tempted to say no word upon many
things that I did see; yet must I tell my tale, or suffer from the
weight of it within me. And so shall you hark to me and give me your
sympathy and human understanding. And concerning these mist-men, I have
wondered oft whether they were the visible shape of some of those many
Forces that were abroad in the Night Land; for they did truly seem to me
as that a thing of Strange Life were half shown to my human eyes; yet I
do not know, and am but telling of my natural thoughts and ponderings.

Now, as I did say, those mist-men were never seen nigh unto the Pyramid,
and were, as I did hint, always so far off that they were half given
over to the fables of the olden days, in the beliefs of the Peoples of
the Mighty Redoubt; and set about with an halo of unrealness, for none
within the Great Pyramid had ever beheld them with surety.

And because that now I saw them anigh to me, it was borne in afresh upon
my spirit how greatly I had wandered away, and how that I stood afar in
the lonesomeness of that Land of Night; as it had been that a man of
this Age did wander amid the stars, and perceive a great comet to go by
him very close; for then he should know in his heart how that he was far
off in the Void. And this I do say to you, that you may know somewhat of
the emotions of my heart in that moment.

Yet, presently I shook free of my melancholy and lonesomeness and rose
up out of the moss-bushes, and went onward. And, as ever, I thought much
upon the Maid that I did search for; yet strove to think quietly
concerning her state; else should I have turned to running, and wrecked
my body before that I had gone any great way.

And that day, I passed seven large fire-holes, and two that were small;
and always I came softly unto them; for there were oft living things
about the warmth. And at the sixth fire-hole, I did see that which I did
think to be a great man, that did sit t