the dune over against them was towered
with infernal palaces, so weird was the place.

O'Shea's voice came out of the darkness; his form was hardly to be seen.

"Sit yourself down, Mr. Doctor, and have some bread and cheese--that is,
if ye've sufficiently forgotten the poies of the old maids. The things
that grow here are good enough to sit on, and that's all we want of
them, not being ponies."

The answer was once more an insult in its allusion to the pies (Caius
was again hungry), and in its refusal of simple information; but the
tone was more cheerful, and O'Shea had relaxed from his extreme brevity.
Caius sat down, and felt almost convivial when he found that a parcel of
bread and cheese and a huge bottle of cold tea were to be shared between
them. Either the food was perfect of its kind or his appetite good
sauce, for never had anything tasted sweeter than the meal. They all
three squatted in the darkness round the contents of the ample parcel,
and if they said little it was because they ate much.

Caius found by the light of a match that his watch told it was the hour
of seven; they had been at hard travel for more than four hours, and had
come to a bit of the beach which could not be traversed without more
light. In another hour the moon would be up and the horse rested.

When the meal was finished, each rested in his own way. O'Shea laid
himself flat upon his back, with a blanket over his feet. The boy
slipped away, and was not seen until the waving grass on the tops of the
highest dunes became a fringe of silver. Until then Caius paced the
valley, coming occasionally in contact with the browsing pony; but
neither his walk nor meditation was interrupted by more formidable
presence.

"Ay--ee--ho--ee--ho!" It was a rallying call, a shrill cry, from O'Shea.
It broke the silence the instant that the moon's first ray had touched
the dune. The man must have been lying looking at the highest head, for
when Caius heard the unexpected sound he looked round more than once
before he discovered its cause, and then knew that while he had been
walking the whole heaven and earth had become lighter by imperceptible
degrees. As he watched now, the momentary brightening was very
perceptible. The heights and shadows of the sand-hills stood out to
sight; he could see the line where the low herbage stopped and the
waving bent began. In the sky the stars faded in a pallid gulf of violet
light. The mystery of the place was less