tain speed; and by the tellings of the
Maid, we did be surely come beyond the place of the Land where the
Poison Gas did lie.

And by this, it did be something after seventeen hours since we did
sleep; and surely we did be very ready to have rest; for we had gone
forward strongly, and with anxiousness; and truly my hurts did be come
upon me, so that my whole body did ache; for the quick fight had been
bitter, and I had been thrown very hard and brutal; and, indeed, it was
wondrous that I had not been all smashed, only that the armour did save
me.

And this doth show truly how hard and strong I did be; and Naani did
speak upon this, and was oft a-wonder, and at that time did beg me that
I make some rest to cure my hurts; for she had not conceived that a man
did grow so strong and hardy; and, in verity, the men of the Lesser
Redoubt did be soft-made and lacking of grimness, as I did perceive,
both through my reason and from her tellings; for they did lack the
strong life that doth breed where is the beat of the Earth-Current, as
we to have in the Mighty Pyramid. And this thing I have said somewise
before this time.

And because that we did be so wearied, I said unto Naani that we find a
place for our slumber, and she very willing, as I have shown, and to
counsel me likewise.

Yet did we search about in that gloom for a great hour more, and found
no cave or hole to give us a safe refuge for our sleep.

And when that we could not find such, I told Naani that we should put
the boulders together, somewhat, and so have them about us, that we be
greatly hid; and, in truth, even as I began to tell her my plan, she did
have the same words in her mouth, so that we caught our little fingers,
there in the dark of that grim Land in the end of the world, even as she
and I had done oft in the early years, before that eternity, when that
she did be Mirdath the Beautiful. And we did both be silent, and after
that we had wished very solemn and earnest, we said each a name; even as
lad and maid shall do in this age; and so to laughter and kist one the
other. And truly, the world doth seem not to alter in the heart, as you
shall think. And this was what I did find.

And we set-to, and gathered together the boulders which did be very
plentiful in that part. And she carry those that did be thin and flat,
and I to roll those that did be great and round. And I made a place that
did be long and narrow; and afterward, I set the flat stones