which surely will be
soon enough.'"

"Good words, Umslopogaas, but they should have been spoken ere ever we
set out on this journey."

"Not so, Macumazahn, since that journey we were fated to make to save
one who lies yonder, the Lady Sad-Eyes, and, as they tell me, is
well again. Also Zikali willed it, and who can resist the will of the
Opener-of-Roads? So it is made and we have seen many strange things
and won some glory and come to know how deep is the pool of our own
foolishness, who thought that we could search out the secrets of Death,
and there have only found those of a witch's mind and venom, reflected
as in water. And now having discovered all these things I wish to be
gone from this haunted land. When do we march, Macumazahn?"

"To-morrow morning, I believe, if the Lady Sad-Eyes and the others are
well enough, as She-who-commands says they will be."

"Good. Then I would sleep who am more weary than I was after I had
killed Rezu in the battle on the mountain."

"Yes," I answered, "since it is harder to fight ghosts than men, and
dreams, if they be bad, are more dreadful than deeds. Good-night,
Umslopogaas."

He went, and I too went to see how it fared with Inez. I found that she
was fast asleep but in a quite different sleep to that into which Ayesha
seemed to have plunged her. Now it was absolutely natural and looking
at her lying there upon the bed, I thought how young and healthy was
her appearance. The women in charge of her also told me that she had
awakened at the hour appointed by She-who-commands, as it seemed,
quite well and very hungry, although she appeared to be puzzled by
her surroundings. After she had eaten, they added that she had "sung
a song," which was probably a hymn, and prayed upon her knees, "making
signs upon her breast" and then gone quietly to bed.

My anxiety relieved as regards Inez, I returned to my own quarters. Not
feeling inclined for slumber, however, instead of turning in I sat at
the doorway contemplating the beauty of the night while I watched the
countless fireflies that seemed to dust the air with sparks of burning
gold; also the great owls and other fowl that haunt the dark. These had
come out in numbers from their hiding-places among the ruins and sailed
to and fro like white-winged spirits, now seen and now lost in the
gloom.

While I sat thus many reflections came to me as to the extraordinary
nature of my experiences during the past few days. Had any