hoes; he returned to the black shore and stood looking out over the
water, if such it could be called.

The luminous yellow vapour had now risen a height of ten or fifteen
feet, and formed a roof both over the land and over the red water, under
which it was possible to see for a great distance. The surface of the
red oil or viscid liquid was perfectly smooth, and, indeed, it did not
seem as if any wind could rouse a wave on it, much less that a swell
should be left after the gale had gone down. Disappointed in his search
for water to drink, Felix mechanically turned to go back.

He followed his luminous footmarks, which he could see a long way before
him. His trail curved so much that he made many short cuts across the
winding line he had left. His weariness was now so intense that all
feeling had departed. His feet, his limbs, his arms, and hands were
numbed. The subtle poison of the emanations from the earth had begun to
deaden his nerves. It seemed a full hour or more to him till he reached
the spot where the skeletons were drawn in white upon the ground.

He passed a few yards to one side of them, and stumbled over a heap of
something which he did not observe, as it was black like the level
ground. It emitted a metallic sound, and looking he saw that he had
kicked his foot against a great heap of money. The coins were black as
ink; he picked up a handful and went on. Hitherto Felix had accepted all
that he saw as something so strange as to be unaccountable. During his
advance into this region in the canoe he had in fact become slowly
stupefied by the poisonous vapour he had inhaled. His mind was partly in
abeyance; it acted, but only after some time had elapsed. He now at last
began to realize his position; the finding of the heap of blackened
money touched a chord of memory. These skeletons were the miserable
relics of men who had ventured, in search of ancient treasures, into the
deadly marshes over the site of the mightiest city of former days. The
deserted and utterly extinct city of London was under his feet.

He had penetrated into the midst of that dreadful place, of which he had
heard many a tradition: how the earth was poison, the water poison, the
air poison, the very light of heaven, falling through such an
atmosphere, poison. There were said to be places where the earth was on
fire and belched forth sulphurous fumes, supposed to be from the
combustion of the enormous stores of strange and unknown chemi