 Chapter 23 of Shee. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Red Abriss. Shee by H. Rider Haggard. The Temple of Truth. Our preparations did not take us very long. We put a change of clothing, a piece, and some spare boots into my Gladstone bag. Also, we took our revolvers and an express rifle each, together with a good supply of ammunition, a precaution to which, under Providence, we subsequently owed our lives over and over again. The rest of our gear, together with our heavy rifles, we left behind us. A few minutes before the appointed time, we once more attended in Asha's border and found her also ready, her dark cloak thrown over her winding sheet-like wrappings. Are you prepared for the great venture? She said. We are, I answered. Though for my part, Asha, I have no faith in it. Ah, my holy, she said, thou art of a truth like those old Jews, of whom the memory vexes me so sorely, unbelieving and hard to accept that which they have not known. But thou shalt see, for unless my mirror beyond lies, and she pointed to the font of crystal water, the path is yet open as it was of old time. And now let us start upon the new life which shall end. Who knoweth where? Ah, I called. Who knoweth where? And we passed down into the great central cave and out into the light of day. At the mouth of the cave we found a single litter with six beerers. All of them, mutes, waiting, and with them I was relieved to see our old friend Bilali, for whom I had conceived a sort of affection. It appeared that, for reasons not necessary to explain at length, Asha had thought it best that, with the exception of herself, we should proceed on foot. And this we were nothing lot to do, after our long confinement in these caves, which, however suitable they might be for Sarcophagi, a singularly inappropriate word, by the way, for these particular tombs, which certainly did not consume the bodies given to their keeping, where depressing habitations for breathing mortals like ourselves. Either by accident or by the orders of she, the space in front of the cave, where we had beheld that awful dance was perfectly clear of spectators, not a soul was to be seen, and consequently I do not believe that our departure was known to anybody, except perhaps the mutes who waited on she, and they were, of course, in the habit of keeping what they saw to themselves. In a few minutes time we were stepping out sharply across the great cultivated plain or lake bed, framed like a vast emerald in its setting of frowning cliff, and had another opportunity of wandering at the extraordinary nature of the site chosen by these old people of car for their capital, and at the marvellous amount of labour, ingenuity, and engineering skill that must have been brought into requisition by the founders of the city to drain so huge a sheet of water, and to keep it clear of subsequent accumulations. It is indeed, so far as my experience goes, an unequalled instance of what man can do in the face of nature. For in my opinion, such achievements as the Suez Canal, or even the Mount Senes Tunnel, do not approach this ancient undertaking in magnitude and grandeur of conception. When we had been walking for about half an hour, enjoying ourselves exceedingly in the delightful cool which about this time of the day always appeared to descend upon the great plain of car, and which in some degree atoned for the want of any land or sea breeze, for all wind was kept off by the Rocky Mountain Wall, we began to get a clear view of what Bilali had informed us where the ruins of the great city, and even from that distance we could see how wonderful those ruins were, a fact which with every step we took became more evident. The town was not very large if compared to Babylon, or Thebus, or other cities of remote antiquity. Perhaps its outer wall contained some 12 square miles of ground, or a little more. Nor had the walls so far as we could judge when we reached them being very high, probably not more than 40 feet, which was about their present height where they had not, through the sinking of the ground, or some such cause, fallen into ruin. The reason of this, no doubt, was that the people of Kar being protected from any outside attack by far more tremendous ramparts than any that the hand of man could rear, only required them for sure, and to guard against civil discord. But on the other hand they were as broad as they were high, but entirely of dressed stone, hewn, no doubt from the vast caves, and surrounded by a great moat about 60 feet in width, some reaches of which were still filled with water. About ten minutes before the sun finally sank, we reached this moat and passed down and through it, clambering across what evidently were the piled up fragments of a great bridge in order to do so, and then with some little difficulty over the slope of the wall to its summit. I wish that it lay within the power of my pen to give some idea of the grandeur of the site that then met our view. There, all bathed in the red glow of the sinking sun, where miles upon miles of ruins, columns, temples, shrines, and the palaces of kings varied with batches of green bush. Of course the roofs of these buildings had long since fallen into decay and vanished, but owing to the extreme massiveness of the style of building, and to the hardness and durability of the rock employed, most of the party walls and great columns still remained standing. In connection with the extraordinary state of preservation of these ruins after so vast a lapse of time, at least six thousand years, it must be remembered that core was not burnt or destroyed by an enemy or an earthquake, but deserted owing to the action of a terrible plague. Consequently the houses were left unharmed, also the climate of the plain is remarkably fine and dry, and there is very little rain or wind as a result of which these relics have only to contend against the unaided action of time that works but slowly upon such massive blocks of masonry. Straight before us, stretched away what had evidently been the main thoroughfare of the city, for it was very wide, wider than the Thames embankment, and regular, being as we afterwards discovered, paved or rather built throughout of blocks of dressed stone, such as were employed in the walls. It was but little overgrown even now with grass and shrubs that could get no depth of soil to live in. What had been the parks and gardens on the contrary were now dense jungle. Indeed it was easy even from a distance to trace the course of the various roads by the burnt appearance of the scanty grass that grew upon them. On either side of this great thoroughfare were vast blocks of ruins, each block generally speaking being separated from its neighbor by a space of what had once, I suppose, been garden ground, but was now dense and tangled bush. They were all built of the same colored stone and most of them had pillars which was as much as we could make out in the fading light as we passed swiftly up the main road, that I believe I am right in saying no living foot had pressed for thousands of years. Bilali told me that the Amahagar believed that the site of the city is haunted and could not be persuaded to enter it upon any consideration. Indeed I could see that he himself did not at all like doing so and was only consoled by the reflection that he was under the direct protection of she. It struck Leo and myself as very curious that a people which has no objection to living amongst the dead with whom their familiarity has perhaps spread contempt and even using their bodies for purpose of well should be terrified at approaching the habitations that these very departed had occupied when alive. After all, however, it is only a savage inconsistency, LHH. Presently we came to an enormous pile which we rightly took to be a temple covering at least eight acres of ground and apparently arranged in a series of coats, each one enclosing another of smaller size. On the principle of a Chinese nest of boxes, the coats being separated one from the other by rows of huge columns. And while I think of it, I may as well state a remarkable thing about the shape of these columns which resembled none that I have ever seen or heard of, being fashioned with a kind of waist at the centre and swelling out above and below. At first we thought that this shape was meant to roughly symbolise or suggest the female form as was a common habit amongst the ancient religious architects of many creeds. On the following day, however, as we went up the slopes of the mountain, we discovered a large quantity of the most stately looking palms of which the trunks grew exactly in this shape. And I have now no doubt that the first designer of those columns drew his inspiration from the graceful bends of those very palms or rather of their ancestors, which then some eight or ten thousand years ago as now beautified the slopes of the mountain that had once formed the shores of the volcanic lake. At the façade of this huge temple, which I should imagine is almost as large as that of El Karnaq, at the Thebes, some of the largest columns which I measured, being between 18 to 20 feet in diameter at the base, by about 70 feet in height, our little procession was halted and Asha descended from her litter. There was a spot here calibrates, she said to Leo, who had run up to help her down, where one might sleep. Two thousand years ago did thou and I and that Egyptian asp rest therein. But since then have I not set foot here, nor any man, and per chance it has fallen. And followed by the rest of us, she passed up a vast flight of broken and ruined steps into the outer court and looked round into the gloom. Presently she seemed to recollect and walking a few paces along the wall to the left halted. It is here, she said, and at the same time beckoned to the two mutes, who were loaded with provisions and our little belongings to advance. One of them came forward and producing a lamp littered from his brazier. For the Amahaggar went on a journey nearly always carried with them a little lighted brazier from which to provide fire. The tinder of this brazier was made of broken fragments of mummy carefully damped, and if the admixture of moisture was properly managed, this unholy compound would smolder away for hours. After all, we are not much in advance of the Amahaggar in these matters. Mummy that has pounded ancient Egyptian is, I believe, a pigment much used by artists and especially by those of them who direct their talents to the reproduction of the works of the old masters editor. As soon as the lamp was lit, we entered the place before which Asha had halted. It turned out to be a chamber hollowed in the thickness of the wall, and from the fact of there still being a massive stone table in it, I should think that it had probably served as a living room, perhaps for one of the doorkeepers of the great temple. Here we stopped, and after cleaning the place out and making it as comfortable as circumstances and the darkness would permit, we ate some cold meat. At least Leo job and I did for Asha as I think I have said elsewhere, never touched anything except cakes of flour, fruit and water. While we were still eating the moon which was at her full rose above the mountain wall and began to flood the place with silver. What ye, why I have brought you here tonight, my holy, said Asha, leaning her head upon her hand and watching the great orb as she rose, like some heavenly queen above the solemn pillars of the temple. I brought you, nay it is strange, but noest thou caligrates, that thou liest at this moment upon the very spot where thy dead body lay when I bore thee back to those caves of kar so many years ago. It all returns to my mind now, I can see it, and horrible is it to my sight, and she suddered. Here Leo jumped up and hastily changed his seat. However the reminiscence might affect Asha, it clearly had few charms for him. I brought you, went on Asha presently, that ye might look upon the most wonderful sight that ever the eye of man beheld, the full moon shining over ruined core. When ye have done your eating, I would, that I could teach you to eat not, but fruit caligrates, but that will come after thou hast lived in the fire. Once I too ate flesh like a brood-beast, when ye have done, we will go out, and I will show you this great temple and the God whom men once worshipped therein. Of course we got up at once and started, and here again my pen fails me. To give a string of measurements and details of the various codes of the temple would only be verisome, supposing that I had them, and yet I know not how I am to describe what we saw. Magnificent as it was, even in its ruin, almost beyond the power of realization. Code upon dim code, row upon row of mighty pillars, some of them, especially at the gateways, sculptured from pedestal to capital, space upon space of empty chambers that spoke more eloquently to the imagination than any crowded streets, and overall the dead silence of the dead, the sense of utter loneliness, and the brooding spirit of the past, how beautiful it was, and yet how dear. We did not dare to speak aloud. Asha herself was odd in the presence of an antiquity, compared to which even her length of days was but a little thing. We only whispered, and our whispers seemed to run from column to column, till they were lost in the quiet air. Bright fell the moonlight on pillar and coat and shattered wall, hiding all their rents and imperfections in its silver garment, and clothing their whore majesty with the peculiar glory of the night. It was a wonderful sight to see the full moon looking down on the ruined vein of car. It was a wonderful thing to think for how many thousand of years the dead orb above and the dead city below had gazed thus upon each other, and in the utter solitude of space poured forth each to each the tale of their last life, and long departed glory. The white light fell, and minute by minute the quiet shadows crept across the grass-grown coats like the spirits of old priests, haunting the habitations of their worship. The white light fell, and the long shadows grew, till the beauty and grandeur of each scene and the untamed majesty of its present death seemed to sink into our very souls, and speak more loudly than the shouts of armies, concerning the pump and splendour that the grave had swallowed and even memory had forgotten. Come, said Asha, after we had gazed and gazed, I know not for how long, and I will show you the stony flower of loveliness and wonders very crown. If yet it stands to mock time with its beauty and fill the heart of man with longing for that which is behind the wheel. And without waiting for an answer, she led us through two more pillared coats into the inner shrine of the Old Fane, and there in the centre of the innmost court that might have been some fifty yards square or a little more, we stood face to face with what is perhaps the grandest allegorical work of art that the genius of her children has ever given to the world, for in the exact centre of the court placed upon a thick square slab of rock was a huge round ball of dark stone some twenty feet in diameter and standing on the ball was a colossal winged figure of a beauty so entrancing and divine that when I first gazed upon it, illuminated and shadowed as it was by the soft light of the moon, my breath stood still and for an instant my heart seized its beating. The statue was hewn from marble so pure and white that even now, after all those ages, it shone as the moonbeam danced upon it and its height was, I should say, a triple over twenty feet. It was the winged figure of a woman of such marvellous loveliness and delicacy of form that the size seemed rather to add than to detract from its so human and yet more spiritual beauty. She was bending forward and poising herself upon her half-spread wings as though to preserve her balance as she leaned. Her arms were outstretched like those of some woman about to embrace one she dearly loved while her whole attitude gave an impression of the tenderest beseeching. Her perfect and most gracious form was naked save and here came the extraordinary thing, the face which was thinly wheeled so that we could only trace the marking of her features. A gauzy wheel was thrown round and about the head and of its two ends one fell across her left breast which was outlined beneath it and one now broken streamed away upon the air behind her. Who is she? I asked as soon as I could take my eyes off the statue. Canst thou not guess, O holy? answered Asha. Where then is thy imagination? It is truth standing on the world and calling to its children to unveil her face. See what is written upon the pedestal. Without doubt it is taken from the book of scriptures of these men of God and she led the way to the foot of the statue where an inscription of the usual Chinese-looking hieroglyphics was so deeply graven as to be still quite legible, at least to Asha. According to her translation it ran thus, Is there no man that will draw my wheel and look upon my face for it is very fair? Unto him who draws my wheel shall I be and peace will I give him and sweet children of knowledge and good works. And a voice cried, though all those who seek after thee desire thee. Behold, virgin art thou and virgin shall thou go till time be done. No man is there born of woman who may draw thy wheel and live, nor shall be. By death only can thy wheel be drawn. O truth and truth stretched out her arms and wept because those who sought her might not find her, nor look upon her face to face. Thou ceased, said Asha, when she had finished translating. Truth was the goddess of the people of Olkar and to her they built their shrines and her they sought knowing that they should never find still sought they. And so, I added sadly, do men seek to this very hour but they find out and as the scripture saith, nor shall they for in death only is truth found. Then with one more look at this wheeled and spiritualized loveliness which was so perfect and so pure that one might almost fancy that the light of a living spirit shone through the marble prison to lead man on to high and ethereal thoughts. The spoiled stream of beauty frozen into stone which I shall never forget while I live. We turned and went back through the vast moonlit coats to the spot whence we had started. I never saw the statue again which I, the more regret because on the great ball of stone representing the world whereon the figure stood, lines were drawn. That probably had there been light enough we should have discovered to be a map of the universe as it was known to the people of Kor. It is at any rate suggestive of some scientific knowledge that these long-dead worshippers of truth had recognized the fact that the globe is round. End of chapter 23. Recording by Red Abrus, January 2008 Chapter 24 of Shee. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Red Abrus. Shee by H. Ryder Haggard. Walking the Blank. Next day the mutes woke us before the dawn and by the time that we had got the sleep out of our eyes and gone through a pre-functory wash at a spring which still welled up into the remains of a marble basin in the center of the north quadrangle of the vast outer court we found Shee standing by the litter ready to start while old Bilali and the two birer mutes were busy collecting the baggage. As usual, Asha was veiled like the marble truth. By the way, I wonder if she originally got the idea of covering up her beauty from that statue. I noticed, however, that she seemed very depressed and had none of that proud and buoyant peering which would have betrayed her among a thousand women with the same stature even if they had been veiled like herself. Shee looked up as we came for her head was bored and greeted us. Leo asked her how she had slept. Il, my calicrates, she answered. Il, this night has strange and hideous dreams come creeping through my brain and I know not what they may potent. Almost do I feel as though some evil overshadowed me and yet how can evil touch me? I wonder. She went on with a sudden outbreak of womanly tenderness. I wonder if should ought happen to me so that I slept a while and left the waking. Thou wouldst think gently of me. I wonder, my calicrates, if thou wouldst tarry till I came again. As for so many centuries I have tarried for thy coming then without waiting for an answer she went on. Come let us be setting forth for we have far to go and before another day is born in yonder blue should we stand in the place of life. In five minutes we were once more on our way through the vast ruined city which loomed at us on either side in the gray dawning in a way that was at once grand and oppressive. Just as the first ray of the rising sun shot like a golden arrow atward this storied desolation we gained the further gateway of the outer wall and having given one more glance at the whore and pillared majesty through which we had journeyed and with exception of job for whom ruins had no charms breathed a sigh of regret that we had not had more time to explore it passed through the great moat and onto the plain beyond. As the sun rose so did Asha's spirits till by breakfast time they had regained their normal level and she laughingly set down her previous depression to associations of the spot where she had slept. These barbarians swear that Kaur is haunted she said and of a truth I do believe they're saying for never did I know so ill a night save one. I remember it now it was on that very spot when thou did sly dead at my feet calligrates never will I visit it again it is a place of evil omen. After a very brief halt for breakfast we pressed on with such good will that by two o'clock in the afternoon we were at the foot of the vast wall of rock that formed the lip of the volcano and which at this point towered up precipitously above us for fifteen hundred or two thousand feet. Here we halted certainly not to my ashenessment for I did not see how it was possible that we should go any farther. Now said Asha as she descended from her litter doth our labor but commence for here do we part with these men and hence forward must we bear ourselves and then addressing Bilali do thou when these slaves remain here and abide are coming by tomorrow at the midday shall we be with thee if not wait. Bilali bored humbly and said that her august bidding should be obeyed if they stopped there till they grew old and this man oh holy said she pointing to job best is it that he should tarry also for if his heart be not high and his courage great perchance some evil might overtake him also the secrets of the place wither we go are not fit for common eyes. I translated this to job who instantly and earnestly entreated me almost with tears in his eyes not to leave him behind he said he was sure that he could see nothing worse than he had already seen and that he was terrified to death at the idea of being left alone with those dumb folk who he thought would probably take the opportunity to hot pot him I translated what he said to Asha who shrugged her shoulders and answered well let him come it is not to me on his own head be it and he will serve to bear the lamp and this and she pointed to a narrow plank some 16 feet in length which had been bound above the long bearing pole of her hammock as I had thought to make curtains spread out better but as it now appeared for some unknown purpose connected with her extraordinary undertaking accordingly the plank which though tough was very light was given to job to carry and also one of the lamps I slung the other onto my back together with a spare jar of oil while Leo loaded himself with the provisions and some water in a kid's skin when this was done she bathed Bilali and the six bearer mutes to retreat behind a grove of flowering magnolias about a hundred yards away and remained there under pain of death till we had vanished they bored humbly and went and as he departed old Bilali gave me a friendly shake of the hand and whispered that he had rather that it was I than he who was going on this wonderful expedition with she who must be obeyed and upon my word I felt inclined to agree with him in another minute they were gone and then having briefly asked us if we were ready Asha turned and gazed up the towering cliff goodness me Leo I said surely we are not going to climb that precipice Leo shrugged his shoulders being in a condition of half fascinated half expectant mystification and as he did so Asha with a sudden move began to climb the cliff and of course we had to follow her it was perfectly marvellous to see the ease and grace with which she sprang from rock to rock and swung herself along the ledges the ascent was not however so difficult as it seemed although there were one or two nasty places where it did not do to look behind you the fact being that the rock still sloped here and was not absolutely precipitous as it was higher up in this way we with no great labour mounted to the height of some fifty feet above our last standing place the only really troublesome thing to manage being jobs bored and in doing so drew some fifty or sixty paces to the left of our starting point for we went up like a crab sideways presently we reached a ledge narrow enough at first but which widened as we followed it and moreover sloped inwards like the petal of a flower so that as we followed it we gradually got into a kind of rut or fold of rock that grew deeper and deeper till at last it resembled a Devonshire lane in stone and hid us perfectly from the gaze of anybody on the slope below if there had been anybody to gaze this lane which appeared to be a natural formation continued for some fifty or sixty paces and then suddenly ended in a cave also natural running at right angles to it I'm sure it was a natural cave and not hollowed by the hand of man because of its irregular and contorted shape and course which gave it the appearance of having been blown bodily in the mountain by some frightful eruption of gas following the line of the least resistance all the caves hollowed by the ancients of core on the contrary were cut out with the most perfect regularity and symmetry at the mouth of this cave Asha halted and weighed us light the two lamps which I did giving one to her and keeping the other myself then taking the lead she advanced down the cavern picking her way with great care as indeed it was necessary to do for the floor was most irregular strewn with boulders like the bed of a stream and in some places pitted with deep holes in which it would have been easy to break one's leg this cavern we pursued for twenty minutes or more it being so far as I could from a judgment owing to its numerous twists and turns no easy task about a quarter of a mile long at last however we halted at its farther end and whilst I was still trying to pierce the gloom a great gust of air came tearing down it and extinguished both the lamps Asha called to us and we crept up to her for she was a little in front and were rewarded with a view that was positively appalling in its gloom and grandeur before us was a mighty chasm in the black rock jagged and torn and splintered through it in a far past age by some awful conversion of nature as though it had been cleft by stroke upon stroke of the lightning this chasm which was bounded by a precipice on the hither and presumably though we could not see it on the farther side also may have measured any width across but from its darkness I do not think it can have been very broad it was impossible to make out much of its outline or how far it ran for the simple reason that the point where we were standing was so far from the upper surface of the cliff at least 1500 or 2000 feet that only a very dim light struggled down to us from above the mouth of the cavern that we had been following gave on to a most curious and tremendous shock which jetted out in the mid-air into the gulf before us for a distance of some 50 yards coming to a sharp point at its termination and resembling nothing that I can think of so much as the spur upon the leg of a cock in shape this huge spur was attached only to the parent precipice at its base which was of course enormous just as the cock's spur is attached to its leg otherwise it was utterly unsupported here must we pass said Asha be careful lest giddiness overcome you or the wind sweep you into the gulf beneath for of a truth it hath no bottom and without giving us any further time to get scared she started walking along the spur leaving us to follow her as best we might I was next to her then came Job painfully dragging his blank while Leo brought up the rear it was a wonderful sight to see this intrepid woman gliding fearlessly along that dreadful place for my part when I had gone but a very few yards what between the pressure of the air and the awful sense of the consequences that a slip would entail I found it necessary to go down on my hands and knees and crawl and so did the other two but Asha never condescended to this on she went leaning her body against the gusts of wind and never seeming to lose her head or her balance in a few minutes we had crossed some 20 paces of this awful bridge which got narrower at every step and then all of a sudden a great gust came tearing along the gorge I saw Asha lean herself against it but the strong draught got under her dark cloak and tore it from her and away it went down the wind flapping like a wounded bird it was dreadful to see it go till it was lost in the blackness I clung to the saddle of rock and looked round while like a living thing the great spar vibrated with a humming sound beneath us the sight was a truly awesome one there we were poised in the gloom between earth and heaven beneath us were hundreds upon hundreds of feet of emptiness that gradually grew darker till at last it was absolutely black and at what depth it ended is more than I can guess above was space upon space of giddy air and far far away a line of blue sky and down this vast gulf upon which we were pinacled the great draught dashed and rode driving clouds and misty wreaths of vapor before it till we were nearly blinded and utterly confused the whole position was so tremendous and so absolutely unearthly that I believe it actually lulled our sense of terror but to this hour I often see it in my dreams and at its mere fantasy wake up covered with cold sweat on on cried the white form before us for now the cloak had gone she was robed in white and looked more like a spirit riding down the gale than a woman on or you will fall and be dashed to pieces keep your eyes fixed upon the ground and closely hug the rock we obeyed her and crept painfully along the quivering path against which the wind shrieked and wailed as it shook it causing it to murmur like a vast tuning fork on we went I do not know for how long only gazing round now and again when it was absolutely necessary until at last we saw that we were on the very tip of the spur a slab of rock little larger than an ordinary table that throbbed and jumped like any over-injured steamer there we lay clinging to the ground and looked about us while Asha stood leaning out against the wind down which her long hair screamed an absolutely heedless of the hideous depth that yawned beneath pointed before her then we saw why the narrow plank had been provided which job and I had painfully dragged along between us before us was an empty space on the other side of which was something as yet we could not see what for here either owing the shadow of the opposite cliff or from some other cause the gloom was that of night we must wait a while called Asha soon there will be light at the moment I could not imagine what she meant how could more light than there was ever come to this dreadful spot while I was still wondering suddenly like a great sword of flame a beam from the setting sun pierced the stygian gloom and smote upon the point of rock whereon we lay illumining Asha's lovely form with an unearthly splendor I only wish I could describe the wild and marvellous beauty of that sword of fire laid across the darkness and rushing mist threats of the gulf how it got there I do not to this moment know but I presume that there was some cleft or hole in the opposite cliff through which it pierced when the setting orb was in a direct line therewith all I can say is that the effect was the most wonderful that I ever saw right through the heart of the darkness that flaming sword was stabbed and where it lay there was the most surpassingly vivid light so vivid that even at a distance we could see the grain of the rock while outside of it yes within a few inches of its keen edge was not but clustering shadows and now by this ray of light for which she had been waiting and time her arrival to meet knowing that at this season for thousands of years it had always struck thus at sunset we saw what was before us within 11 or 12 feet of the very tip of the tongue like rock whereon we stood there arose presumably from the far bottom of the gulf a sugarloaf shaped cone of which the summit was exactly opposite to us but had there been a summit only it would not have helped us much for the nearest point of its circumference was some 40 feet from where we were on the lip of this summit however which was circular and hollow rested a tremendous flat boulder something like a glacier stone perhaps it was one for all I know to the contrary and the end of this boulder approached to within 12 feet or so of us this huge rock was nothing more or less than a gigantic rock stone accurately balanced upon the edge of the cone or miniature crater like a half crown on the rim of a wine glass for in the fierce light that played upon it and us we could see it oscillating in the gusts of wind quick said Asha the plank we must cross while the light endures presently it will be gone oh lord sir grown job surely she don't mean us to walk across that there place on that there thing as an obedience to my direction he pushed the long board towards me that's it job I hallowed in costly merriment though the idea of walking the plank was no pleasanter to me than to him I pushed the board on to Asha who definitely ran it across the gulf so that one end of it rested on the rocking stone the other remaining on the extremity of the trembling spur then placing her foot upon it to prevent it from being blown away she turned to me since I was last here oh holy she called the support of the moving stone had lessened somewhat so that I'm not certain if it will bear our weight or no therefore will I cross the first because no harm will come on to me and without further ado she trod lightly but formally across the frail bridge and in another second was standing safe upon the heaving stone it is safe she called see hold thou the plank I will stand on the farthest side of the stone so that it may not overbalance with your greater weights now come oh holy for presently the light will fail us I struggled to my knees and if ever I felt terrified in my life it was then and I am not ashamed to say that I hesitated and hung back surely thou art not afraid this strange creature called in a lull of the gale from where she stood poised like a bird on the highest point of the rocking stone make way then for calicrates this settled me it is better to fall down a precipice and die than be laughed at by such a woman so I clenched my teeth and in another instant I was on that horrible narrow bending plank with bottomless space beneath and around me I have always hated a great height but never before did I realize the full horrors of which such a position is capable oh the sickening sensation of that healing board resting on the two moving supports I grieved dizzy and thought that I must fall my spine crept and it seemed to me that I was falling and my delight at finding myself sprawling upon that stone which rose and fell beneath me like a boat in a swell cannot be expressed in words all I know is that briefly but earnestly enough I thanked Providence for preserving me so far then came Leo's turn and though he looked rather queer he came across like a roped dancer Asha stretched out her hand to clasp his own and I heard her say bravely done my love, bravely done whole Greek spirit lives in thee yet and now only poor Job remained on the farther side of the gulf he crept up to the plank and yelled out I can't do it sir I shall fall into that beastly place you must, I remember saying with inappropriate faciousness you must, Job, it is as easy as catching flies I suppose that I must have said it to satisfy my conscience because although the expression conveys a wonderful idea of facility as a matter of fact I know no more difficult operation in the whole world than catching flies that is in warm weather unless indeed it is catching mosquitoes I can't sir, I can't indeed let the man come or let him stop and perish there see the light is dying in a moment it will be gone said Asha I looked, she was right the man was passing below the level of the hole or cleft in the precipice through which the ray reached up if you stop there, Job, you will die alone I called, the light is going come be a man, Job, road Leo it's quite easy thus adjured the miserable Job with the most awful yell precipitated himself face downwards on the plank he did not dare, small blame to him to try to walk it to draw himself across in little jerks his poor legs hanging down on either side into the nothingness beneath his violent jerks at the frail board made the great stone which was only balanced on a few inches of rock oscillate in a most dreadful manner and to make matters worse when he was halfway across the flying ray of lurid light suddenly went out just as though a lamp had been extinguished in a curtained room a whole howling wilderness of air black with darkness come on, Job, for God's sake I shouted in an agony of fear while the stone gathering motion with every swing rocked so violently that it was difficult to hang on to it it was a truly awful position Lord, have mercy on me cried poor Job from the darkness oh, the plank slipping and I heard a violent struggle and thought that he was gone but at that moment his outstretched hand clasping in agony at the air met my own and I hauled ah, and how I did haul putting out all the strength that it has pleased Providence to give me in such abundance and to my joy in another minute Job was gasping on the rock beside me but the plank I felt it slip and heard it knock against a projecting knob of rock and it was gone great heavens I exclaimed how are we going to get back I don't know answered Leo out of the gloom sufficient to the day is the evil thereof I am thankful enough to be here but Asha merely called to me to take her hand and creep after her end of chapter 24 recording by Red Abrace January 2008 Chapter 25 of She This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Red Abrace She by H. Ryder Haggard The Spirit of Life I did as I was bid and in fear and trembling felt myself guided over the edge of the stone I sprawled my legs out but could touch nothing I am going to fall I gasped nay let thyself go and trust to me answered Asha Now if the position is considered it will be easily understood that this was a greater demand upon my confidence than was justified by my knowledge of Asha's character for all I knew she might be a very act of consigning me to a horrible doom but in life we sometimes have to lay our faith upon strange altars and so it was now Let thyself go she cried and having no choice I did I felt myself slide a pace or two down the sloping surface of the rock and then pass into the air and the thought flashed through my brain that I was lost but no in another instant my feet struck against a rocky floor and I felt that I was standing upon something solid and out of reach of the wind which I could hear singing away overhead as I stood there tanking heaven for these small mercies there was a slip and a scuffle and down came Leo alongside of me Hello all fellow he called out are you there this is getting interesting is it not just then with a terrific yell job arrived right on the top of us knocking us both down by the time we had struggled to our feet again Asha was standing among us and bidding us like the lamps which fortunately remained uninjured and also did the spare jar of oil I got out my box of walks matches and they struck as merrily there in that awful place as they could have done in a London drawing room in a couple of minutes both the lamps were a light and revealed a curious scene we were huddled together in a rocky chamber some 10 feet square and scared enough we looked that is except Asha who was standing calmly with her arms folded and waiting for the lamps to burn up the chamber appeared to be partly natural and partly hollowed out of the top of the cone the roof of the natural part was formed of the swinging stone and that of the back part of the chamber which sloped downwards was hewn from live rock for the rest the place was warm and dry a perfect haven of rest compared to the giddy pinnacle above and the quivering spur that shot out to meet it in mid-air so said she safely have become the ones I feared that the rocking stone would fall with you and precipitate you into the bottomless depths beneath for I do believe that the cleft goeth down to the very womb of the world the rock whereon the stone resteth hath crumbled beneath the swinging weight and now that he nodding towards job who was sitting on the floor feebly wiping his forehead with a red cotton pocket handkerchief whom they rightly called pig for as a pig is he stupid hath let fall the plank it will not be easy to return across the gulf and to that end must I make a plan but now rest a while and look upon this place what think ye that it is we know not I answered wouldst thou believe oh holy that once a man did choose this airy nest for a daily habitation and did here endure for many years leaving it only but one day in every twelve to seek food and water and oil that the people brought more than he could carry and laid as an offering in the mouth of the tunnel through which we passed hither we looked up wonderingly and she continued yet so it was there was a man Noot he named himself who though he lived in the latter days had of the wisdom of the sons of Kor a hermit was he and a philosopher and greatly skilled in the secrets of nature and he it was who discovered the fire that I shall show you which is nature's blood and life and also that he who bathed therein and breathed thereof should live while nature lives but like on to thee oh holy this man Noot would not turn his knowledge to account ill he said was it for man to live for man was born to die therefore did he tell his secret to none and therefore did he come and live here where the seeker after life must pass and was revered of the Amhagar of the day as holy and a hermit and when first I came to this country Noist thou how I came calibrates and the time I will tell thee for it is a strange tale I heard of this philosopher and waited for him when he came to fetch his foot and returned with him hither though greatly did I fear to tread the gulf then did I bequeal him with my beauty and my wit and flatter him with my tongue so that he led me down and showed me the fire and told me the secrets of the fire but he would not suffer me to step therein and fearing lest he should slay me I refrained knowing that the man was very old and soon would die and I returned having learned from him all that he knew of the wonderful spirit of the world and that was much for the man was wise and very ancient and by purity and abstinence and the contemplations of his innocent mind had worn thin the veil between that which we see and the great invisible truths the whisper of whose wings at times we hear as they sweep through the grass air of the world then it was but a very few days after I met thee, my calicoids who had wandered hither with the beautiful Egyptian Aminatus and I learned to love for the first and last time once and forever so that it entered into my mind to come hither with thee and receive the gift of life for thee and me therefore came we with that Egyptian who would not be left behind and behold we found the old man noot lying but newly dead there he lay and his white beard covered him like a garment and she pointed to a spot near where I was sitting but surely he had long since crumbled into dust and the wind had borne his ashes hence here I put out my hand and felt in the dust and presently my fingers touched something it was a human tooth very yellow but sound I held it up and showed it to Asha who laughed yes she said it is his without a doubt behold what remained of noot and the wisdom of noot one little tooth and yet that man had all life at his command and for his conscience's sake would have none of it well he lay there newly dead and we descended wither I shall lead you and then gathering up all my courage and coating death that I might but chance win so glorious a crown of life I stepped into the flames and behold life such as ye can never know until ye feel it also float into me and I came forth undying and lovely beyond imagining then did I stretch out my arms to thee and bid thee take thine immortal bride and behold as I spoke thou blinded by my beauty did turn from me and throw thine arms about the neck of Aminatus and then a great fury filled me and made me mad and I seized the javelin that thou did spear and stabbed thee so that there at my very feet in the place of life thou did grown and go down into death I knew not then that I had strength to slay with mine eyes and by the power of my will therefore in my madness slew I with the javelin it will be observed that Asha's account of the death of calicrates differs materially from that written on the pot shed by Aminatus the writing on the shreds says then in her rage did she smite him by her magic and he died we never ascertained which was the correct version but it will be remembered that the body of calicrates had a spear wound in the breast which seems conclusive unless indeed it was inflicted after death another thing that we never ascertained was how the two women she and the Egyptian Aminatus were able to bear the corpse of the man they both loved across the dread gulf and along the shaking spur what a spectacle the two distracted creatures represented in their grief and loveliness as they toiled along that awful place with the dead man between them probably however the passage was easier than LHH and when thou wast dead I wept because I was undying and thou wast dead I wept there in the place of life so that had I been mortal anymore my heart had surely broken and she the swat Egyptian cursed me by her gods by Osiris did she curse me and by Isis by Nephthys and by Anubis by Sekhet the cat headed and by Set calling down evil on me evil and everlasting desolation I can see her dark face now lowering over me like a storm but she could not hurt me and I I know not if I could hurt her I did not try it it was not to me then so together we bore thee hence and afterwards I sent her the Egyptian away through the swamps and it seems that she lived to be her son and to write the tale that should lead thee her husband back to me her rival and thy murderous such is the tale my love and now is the hour at hand that shall set a crown upon it all things on the earth it is compounded of evil and of good more of evil than of good but chance and writ in letters of blood it is the truth not have I hidden from thee caligrates and now one thing before the final moment of thy trial we go down in the presence of death for life and death are very near together and who knoweth that might happen which should separate us from another space of waiting I am but a woman and no prophetess and I cannot read the future but this I know for I learned it from the lips of the wise man Noot that my life is but prolonged and made more bright it cannot live for ye therefore before we go tell me oh caligrates that of a truth thou dost forgive me and dost love me from thy heart see caligrates much evil have I done for chance it was evil but two nights ago to strike that girl who loved thee cold in death but she disobeyed me and angered me professing misfortune to me and I smote be careful when power comes to thee also lest thou too should smite in thine anger or thy jealousy for unconquerable strength is a sore weapon in the hands of erring man yea I have sinned out of the bitterness born of a great love have I sinned but yet do I know the good from the evil nor is my heart altogether hardened thy love caligrates shall be the great of my redemption even as a four time my passion was the path down which I ran to evil for deep love unsatisfied is the hell of noble hearts and a portion of the accursed but love that is mirror-backed more perfect from the soul of our desired doth fashion wings to lift us above ourselves and makes us what we might be therefore caligrates take me by the hand and lift my veil with no more fear than though I were some peasant girl and not the wisest and most beautiest woman in this wide world and look me in the eyes and tell me that thou dost forgive me with all thine heart and that will all thine heart thou dost worship me she paused and the strange tenderness in her voice seemed to hover round us like a memory I know that the sound of it moved me more even than her words it was so very human so very womanly Leo too was strangely touched hitherto he had been fascinated against his better judgment something as a bird is fascinated by a snake but now I think that all this passed away and he realized that he really loved this strange and glorious creature as alas I loved her also at any rate I saw his eyes filled with tears and he stepped swiftly to her and undeed the gauzy veil and then took her by the hand and gazing into her deep eyes said aloud Asha I love thee with all my heart and so far as forgiveness is possible I forgive thee the death of a stain for the rest it is between thee and thy maker I know not of it I only know that I love thee as I never loved before and that I will cleave to thee to the end now answered Asha with proud humility now when my lord doth speak thus royally and give with so free a hand it cannot become me to lack behind in words and be beggard of my generosity behold and she took his hand and placed it upon her shapely head and then bent herself slowly down till one knee for an instant touched the ground behold in token of submission do I bow me to my lord behold and she kissed him on the lips in token of my wifely love do I kiss my lord behold and she led her hand upon his heart by the sin I sinned by my lonely centuries of waiting wherewith it was wiped out by the great love wherewith I love and by the spirit the eternal thing that doth forget all life from whom it ebbs to whom it doth return again I swear I swear even in this most holy hour of completed womanhood that I will abandon evil and cherish good I swear that I will be ever guided by voice in the straightest path of duty I swear that I will eschew ambition and through all my length of endless days set wisdom over me as a guiding star to lead me on to truth and a knowledge of the right I swear also that I will honour and will cherish the caligrates who has been swept by the wave of time back into my arms till the very end commit soon I swear nay, I will swear no more for what are words yet shall thou learn that Asha hath no false tongue so I have sworn and thou my holy at witness to my oath here too are we wed my husband with the gloom for bridal canopy wed till the end of all things here do we write our marriage woes upon the rushing winds shall bear them ock to heaven and round and continually round this rolling world and for a bridal gift I crown thee with my beauties starry crown and enduring life and wisdom without measure and wealth that none can count behold the great ones of the earth shall creep about thy feet and its fair women shall cover up their eyes because of the shining glory of thy countenance the wise ones shall be abased before thee thou shalt read the hearts of men as an open writing and hither and thither shall thou lead them as thy pleasure listed like that old spinks of Egypt shalt thou sit aloft from age to age and ever shall they cry to thee to solve the riddle of thy greatness that doth not pass away and ever shall thou mock them behold once more I kiss thee and by that kiss I give to thee dominion over sea and earth over the peasant in his hovel over the monarch in his palace halls and cities crowned with towers and those who breathed therein wherever the sun shakes out his pierce and the lonesome waters mirror up the moon wherever storms roll and heavens painted bows arch in the sky from the pure north clad in snows across the middle spaces of the world to wear the amorous south lying like a bride upon her blue couch of seas breeds in size made sweet with the order of mittels there shall thy power pass and thy dominion find a home not sickness nor icy fingered fear nor sorrow and pale waste of form and mind hovering over humanity shall so much as shadow thee with the shadow of their wings as a god shall thou be holding good and evil in the hollow of thy hand and I even I I humble myself before thee such is the power of love and such is the bridal gift I give unto thee calibrates my lord and lord of all and now it is done now for thee I lose my virgin zone and come storm come shine come good come evil come life come death it never never can be undone for of a truth that which is ease and being done is done for a and cannot be altered I have said let us hence that all things shall be accomplished in their order and taking one of the lamps she advanced towards the end of the chamber that was roofed in by the swaying stone where she halted we followed her and perceived that in the wall of the cone there was a stair or to be more accurate that some projecting knobs of rock had been so shaped as to form a good imitation of a stair down this we began to climb springing from step to step like a camoess and after her we followed with less grace when we had descended some 15 or 16 steps we found that they ended in a tremendous rocky slope running first outwards and then inwards like the slope of an inverted cone or tunnel the slope was very steep and often precipitous but it was nowhere impassable with the lamps we went down it with no great difficulty though it was gloomy work enough travelling on thus no one of us knew wither into the dead heart of a volcano as we went however I took the precaution of noting our route as well as I could and this was not so very difficult owing to the extraordinary and most fantastic shape of the rocks that was strewn about many of which in that dim light carven upon medieval gargoyles than ordinary boulders for a long time we travelled on thus half an hour I should say till after we had descended for many hundreds of feet I perceived that we were reaching the point of the inverted cone in another minute we were there and found that at the very apex of the funnel was a passage so low and narrow that we had to stoop as we crept along it an Indian file after some 50 yards of the scraping the passage suddenly widened into a cave so huge that we could see neither the roof nor the sides we only knew that it was a cave by the echo of our dread and the perfect quiet of the heavy air on we went for many minutes in absolute odd silence like lost souls in the depths of haze Asha's white and ghostlike form in front of us till once more the place ended in a passage which opened into a second cavern much smaller than the first indeed we could clearly make out the arch and stony banks of the second cave and from their rent and jagged appearance discovered that like the first long passage down which we had passed through the cliff before we reached the quivering spur it had to all appearance been done in the bowels of the rocky by the surface of some explosive gas at length this cave ended in a third passage through which gleamed a faint glow of light I heard Asha give a shy of relief as this light dawned upon us it is well she said prepared to enter the very womb of the earth wherein she doth conceive the life that you see brought forth in man and beast a and in every tree and flower swiftly she sped along and after her we stumbled as best we might our hearts filled like a cup with mingled red and curiosity what were we about to see we passed down the tunnel stronger and stronger the light beamed reaching us in great flashes like the rays from a lighthouse as one by one they are thrown wide upon the darkness of the waters nor was this all for with the flashes came a soul shaking sound like that of thunder and of crashing trees now we were through it and oh heavens we stood in a third cavern some 50 feet in length by perhaps as great a height and 30 wide it was carpeted with fine white sand and its walls had been worn smooth by the action of I know not what the cavern was not dark like the others it was filled with a soft glow of rose colored light more beautiful to look on than anything that can be conceived but at first we saw no flashes and heard no more of the thunderous sound presently however as we stood and amazed gazing at the marvellous sight and wondering whence the rosy radiance flowed a dread and beautiful thing happened across the far end of the cavern with the grinding and crashing noise a noise so dreadful that we all trembled and job actually sank to his knees they are flamed out an awful cloud or pillar of fire like a rainbow many colored and like the lightning bright for a space perhaps 40 seconds it flamed and rode thus turning slowly round and round and then by degrees the terrible noise seized and with the fire it passed away I know not where leaving behind it the same rosy glow that we had first seen draw near draw near cried Asha with a voice of thrilling exultation behold the very fountain and heart of life as it beats in the bosom of the great world behold the substance from which all things draw their energy the bright spirit of the globe without which it cannot live but must grow cold and dead as the dead moon draw near and wash you in the living flames and take their virtue into your poor frames in all its virgin strength not as it now feebly glows within your bosoms filtered that too through all the fine strainers of a thousand intermediate lives but as it is here in the very fountain and seat of earthly being we followed her through the rosy glow up to the head of the cave till at last we stood before the spot where the great pulse beat and the great flame passed and as we went we became sensible of a wild and splendid exhilaration of a glorious sense of such a fierce intensity of life that the most buoyant moments of our strength seemed flat and tame and feeble beside it it was the mere effluvium of the flame the subtle ether that it cast off as it passed working on us and making us feel strong as giants and swift as eagles we reached the head of the cave and gazed at each other in the glorious glow and laughed aloud even job laughed and he had not laughed for a week in the lightness of our hearts and the divine intoxication of our brains I know that I felt as though all the varied genius of which the human intellect is capable had descended upon me I could have spoken in blank verse of sexperian beauty all sorts of great ideas flashed through my mind it was as though the bonds of my flesh had been loosened and left the spirit free to soar to the emperion of its native power the sensations that poured in upon me are indescribable I seemed to live more keenly to reach to a higher joy and sip the goblet of a subtler thought than ever it had been my lot to do before I was another and most glorified self and all the avenues of the possible were for a space laid open to the footsteps of the real then suddenly whilst I rejoiced in the splendid figure of a new found itself from far far away there came a dreadful muttering noise that grew and grew to a crash and a roar which combined in itself all that is terrible and yet splendid possibilities of sound nearer it came and nearer yet till it was close upon us rolling down like all the thunder wheels of heaven behind the horses of the lightning on it came and with it came the glorious blinding cloud of many colored light and stood before us for a space turning as it seemed to us slowly round and round and then accompanied by its attendant pump and sound passed away I know not wither so ashtonising was the wonderous sight that one and all of us save she who stood up and stretched her hands towards the fire sank down before it and hid our faces in the sand when it was gone Asha spoke now calibrates she said the mighty moment is at hand when the great flame comes again thou must stand in it first throw aside thy garments for it will burn them though thee it will not hurt thou must stand in the flame while thy senses will endure and when it embraces the suck the fire down into thy very heart and let it leap and play around thy every part so that thou lose no moiety of its virtue hearest thou me calibrates I hear thee Asha answered Leo but of a truth I am no coward but I doubt me of that raging flame how know I that it will not utterly destroy me so that I lose myself and lose thee also nevertheless will I do it he added Asha thought for a minute and then said it is not wonderful that thou shouldst doubt tell me calibrates if thou ceased me stand in the flame and come forth unharmed will thou enter also yes he answered I will enter even if it slay me I have said that I will enter now and that will I also I cried what my holy she laughed aloud me thought that thou would not of length of days why how is this nay I know not I answered but there is that in my heart that calleth me to taste of the flame and live it is well she said thou art not altogether lost and folly see now I will for the second time bathe me in this living bath faint would I add to my beauty and my length of days if that be possible if it be not possible at least it cannot harm me also she continued after a momentary pause is there another and a deeper cause why I would once again dip me in the flame when first I tasted of its virtue full was my heart of passion and of hatred of that Egyptian Aminatis and therefore despite my strivings to be rid thereof have passion and hatred been stamped upon my soul from that sad hour to this but now it is otherwise now is my mood a happy mood and fill am I with the purest part of thought and so would I ever be therefore calcrate will I once more wash and make me pure and clean and yet more fit for thee therefore also when thou dost in turn stand in the fire empty all thy heart of evil and let soft contentment hold the balance of thy mind shake loose thy spirit's wings and take thy stand upon the utter verge of holy contemplation a dream upon thy mother's kiss and turn thee towards the vision of the highest good that hath ever swept on silver wings across the silence of thy dreams for from the germ of what thou art in that dread moment shall grow the fruit of what thou shalt be for all unrecogned time now prepare thee prepare even as though thy last hour were at hand and now was to cross the land of shadows and not through the gates of glory into the realms of life made beautiful prepare I say end of chapter 25 recording by red abrus january 2008 chapter 26 of she by age rider haggard this is a librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox.org recording by christine she by age rider haggard chapter 26 what we saw then came a few moments pause during which I should seem to be gathering up her strength for the fury trial while we clung to each other and waited in utter silence last from far far away came the first murmur of sound that grew and grew till it began to crash and below in the distance as she heard it I should swiftly through of her gozy wrapping the golden snake from her and then shaking her lovely hear about her like a garment beneath its cover slipped the curdle off and replaced the snakey belt around her and outside the messes of her falling hair there she stood before us as Eve might have stood before Adam clad in nothing but her abundant looks hailed round her by the golden band and no words of mine can tell how sweet she looked and yet how divine nearer and nearer came the thunder views of fire and as they came she pushed one ivory arm through the dark messes of her hair and flung it round Leo's neck oh my love my love she murmured wilt thou ever know how I have loved thee and she kissed him on the forehead and then went and stood in the pathway of the flame of life there was I remember to my mind something very touching about her words and that embrace upon the forehead it was like a mother's kiss and seemed to convey a benediction with it on came the crashing rolling noise and the sound of it was as the sound of a forest being swept flat by a mighty wind and then tossed up like so much grass and thundered down a mountainside nearer and nearer it came no flashes of light forerunners of the revolving pillar of flame were passing like arrows through the rosy air and now the edge of the pillar itself appeared I should turn towards it and stretched out her arms to greet it upon it came very slowly and lapped her round with flame I saw the fire run up her form I saw her lift it with both hands as though it were water and pour it over her head I even saw her open her mouth and draw it down into her lungs and a dread and wonderful sight it was then she paused and stretched out her arms and stood there quite still with a heavenly smile upon her face as though she were the very spirit of the flame the mysterious fire played up and down her dark and rolling locks twining and twisting itself through and around them like threads of golden lace it gleamed upon her ivory breast and shoulder from which the hair had slipped aside it slid along her pillar throat and delicate features and seemed to find a home in the glorious eyes that shone and shone brightly even than the spiritual essence how beautiful she looked there in the flame no angel out of heaven could have worn a greater loveliness even now my heart feints before the recollection of it as she stood and smiled at our avid faces and I would give half my remaining time upon this earth to see her once like that again but suddenly more suddenly than I can describe she came over her face a change which I could not define or explain but nonetheless a change the smile vanished and in its place there came a dry hard look the rounded face seemed to grow pinched as though some great anxiety were leaving its impress upon it the glorious eyes too lost their light and as I thought the form its perfect shape and erectness I rubbed my eyes thinking that I was the victim of some hallucination or that the refraction of from the intense light produced an optical delusion and as I did so the flaming pillar slowly twisted and thundered off with her so ever it passes to in the bowels of the great earth leaving Aisha standing where it had been as soon as it was gone she stepped forward to Leo's side it seemed to me that there was no spring in her step and stretched out her hand to lay it on his shoulder I gazed at her arm where was its wonderful roundness and beauty it was the getting thin and angular and her face by heaven her face was growing old before my eyes I suppose that Leo saw it also certainly here coiled a step or two what is it my callicritis she said her voice what was the matter with those deep and thrilling notes they were quite high and cracked why what is it what is it she said confusedly I feel dazed surely the quality of the fire had not altered can the principle of life alter tell me callicritis is there odd wrong with my eyes I see not clear and she put her hand to her head and touched her hair and oh horror of horrors it all fell upon the floor oh look look look shrieked job in a shrill false setter of terror his eyes nearly dropping out of his head and foam upon his lips look look look she is shriveling up she is turning into a monkey and down he fell upon the ground foaming and gnashing in a fit true enough I faint even as I write it in the living presence of that terrible recollection she was shriveling up the golden snakes that had encircled her gracious form slipped over her hips and to the ground smaller and smaller she grew her skin changed color and in place of the perfect brightness of its lustre it turned dirty brown and yellow like a piece of withered parchment she felt at her head the delicate hand was nothing but a claw now a human talent like that of a badly preserved Egyptian mummy and then she seemed to realize what kind of change was passing over her and she shrieked ah she shrieked she rolled upon the floor and shrieked smaller she grew and smaller yet till she was no larger than a monkey now the skin was packered into a million wrinkles and on the shapeless face was the stamp of an terrible age I never saw anything like it nobody ever saw anything like the frightful age that was graven on that fearful continent no bigger now than that of a two month child so the skull remained the same size or nearly so and let all men praise they never may if they wish to keep their reason at last she lay still or only feebly moving she who by two minutes before had gazed upon us the loveliest noblest most splendid woman the world has ever seen she lay still before us near the masses of her own dark hair no larger than a big monkey and hideous ah two hideous for words and yet think of this at that very moment I thought of it it was the same woman she was dying we saw it and thanked God for while she lived she could feel and what must she have felt she raised herself upon her bony hands and blindly gazed around her swaying her head slowly from side to side as a tortoise does she could not see for her whitish eyes were covered with a horny film oh the horrible pothos of the sight but she could still speak Kallik writes she said in husky trembling notes forget me not Kallik writes have pity on my shame I shall come again and shall once more be beautiful I swear it, it is true oh and she fell upon her face and was still on the very spot were more than 20 centuries before she had slain Kallik writes the priest she herself fell down and died I know not how long we remain thus many hours I suppose my eyes the other two were still outstretched upon the floor the rosy light yet beamed a celestial dawn and the thunder wheels of the spirit of life yet rolled upon their accustomed track for as I awoke the great pillar was passing away there too lay the hideous little monkey frame covered with cringled yellow parchment that once had been the glorious she alas it was no hideous dream it was an awful and unparalleled fact what had happened to bring this shocking change about had the nature of the life giving fire changed did it perhaps from time to time send forth an essence of death instead of an essence of life or was it that the frame once charged with its marvelous virtue could bear no more so that were the process repeated it mattered not at what lapse of time the two impregnations neutralized each other and left the body on which they acted as it was before it ever came into contact with the very essence of life this and this alone would account for the sudden and terrible aging of Aisha as the whole length of her two thousand years took effect upon her I have not the slightest doubt myself but that the frame now lying before me was just what the frame of a woman would be if by any extraordinary means life could be preserved in her till she at length died at the age of two and twenty centuries but who can tell what had happened there was the fact often since that awful hour I have reflected that it requires no great imagination to see the finger of providence in the matter Aisha locked up in her living tomb waiting from age to age for the coming of her lover walked by the small change in the order of the world but Aisha strong and happy in her love closed in immortal youth and goddess beauty and the wisdom of the centuries would have revolutionized society and even perchance have changed the destiny of mankind thus she opposed herself against the eternal law and strong though she was by it was swept back to nothingness swept back with shame and hideous mockery for some minutes I lay faintly turning these terrors over in my mind while my physical strength came back to me which it quickly did in that buoyant atmosphere then I besought me of the others and staggered to my feet to see if I could arouse them but first I took up Aisha's cartel and the golden scarf with which she had been want to hide her dazzling loveliness from the eyes of man and averting my head so that I might not look upon it covered up the dreadful relic of the glorious dead the shocking epitome of human beauty and human life I did this hurriedly fearing less Leo should recover and see it again then stepping over the perfume masses of dark hair to lay upon the sand I stooped down by Job who was lying upon his face and turned him over as I did so his arm fell back in a way that I did not like and which sent a chill through me and I glanced sharply at him one look was enough our old and faithful servant was dead his nerves already shattered by all he had seen and undergone had utterly broken down beneath this last dire sight and he had died of terror or in a fit brought on by terror I had only to look at his face to see it it was another blow but perhaps it might help people to understand how overwhelming awful was the experience through which we had passed we did not feel it much at the time it seemed quite natural that the poor fellow should be dead when Leo came to himself which he did with a groan and trembling of the limbs about ten minutes afterwards and I told him that Job was dead he merely said oh mind you this was from no heartlessness for he and Job were much attached to each other and he often talks of him now with the deepest regret and affection it was only that his nerves would bear no more a harp can give out but a certain quantity of sound however heavily it is smitten well I set myself to recovering Leo who to my infinite relief I found was not dead but only fainting and in the end I succeeded as I have said and he set up and then I saw another dreadful thing when we entered that awful place his curling hair had been of the ruddest gold now it was turning grey and by the time we reached the outer air it was snow white besides he looked twenty years older what is to be done old fellow he said in a hollow dead sort of voice when his mind had cleared a little under a collection of what had happened forced itself upon it try and get out I suppose I answered that is unless you would like to go in there and I pointed to the column of fire that was once more rolling by I would go in if I were sure that it would kill me he said with a little laugh it was my course hesitation that did this if I had not been doubtful she might never have tried to show me the road but I'm not sure if fire might have the opposite effect upon me it might make me immortal and old fellow I have not the patience to wait a couple of thousand years for her to come back again as she did for me I had rather die when my hour comes and I should fancy that it isn't far off either and go my ways to look for her do you go in if you like but I merely shook my head my excitement was as dead as ditch water and my distaste for the prolongation of my mortal span had come back upon me more strongly than ever besides we neither of us knew what the effect of the fire might be the result upon she had not been of an encouraging nature and of that exact causes that produced that result we were of course ignorant well my boy I said we cannot stop here till we go the way of those two and I pointed to the little heap under the white garment and to the stiffened corpse of poor Job if we are going we had better go but by the way I expected the lamps have burned out and I took one up and looked at it and sure enough it had there is some more oil in the vase certainly or indifferently if it is not broken at least I examined the vessel in question it was intact with a trembling hand I filled the lamps luckily there was still some linen wick unburnt then I lit them with one of our wax matches while I did so we heard the pillar of fire approaching once more as it went on its never-ending journey if indeed it was the same pillar that passed and repast in a circle let's see it come once more said Leo we shall never look upon its life again in this world it seemed a bit of idle curiosity but somehow I shared it and so we waited till turning slowly around upon its own axis it had flamed and sundered by and I remember wondering for how many thousands of years the same phenomenon had been taking place in the bowels of the earth and for how many more thousands it would continue to take place I wondered also if any mortal eyes would ever again mark its passage or any mortal ears be thrilled and fascinated by the swelling volume of its majestic sound I do not think that I will I believe that we are the last human beings who will ever see that unearthly sight presently it had gone and we too turned to go but before we did so we each took jobs caught hand in ours and shook it it was a rather ghastly ceremony but it was the only means in our power of showing our respect to the faithful dead and of celebrating his obstacles the heap beneath the white garment we did not uncover we had no wish to look upon the terrible sight again but we went to the pile of rippling hair that had fallen from hair in the agony of that hideous change which was worse than a thousand natural deaths and each of us drew from it a shining lock and these locks we still have the soul memento that is left to us of Aisha who knew her in the fullness of her grace and glory Leo pressed the perfumed hair to his lips she called to me not to forget her he said hoarsely and swore that we should meet again by heaven I never will forget her here as were that if we live to get out of this I will not for all my days have anything to say to another living woman and that wherever I go I will wait for her as faithfully for me yes I thought to myself if she comes back as beautiful as we knew her but supposing she came back like that note what a terrifying reflection it is by the way that nearly all our deep love for women who are not our kindred depends at any rate in the first instance upon their personal appearance if we lost them and found them again dreadful to look on though otherwise they were the very same should we still love them end of the note well and then we went we went and left those two in the presence of the very well and spring of life but gathered to the cold company of death how lonely they looked as they lay there and how ill assorted that little heap had been for two thousand years the wisest loveliest proudest creature I can hardly call her woman in the whole universe she had been wicked too in her way but alas such is the frailty of the human heart her wickedness had not detracted from her charm indeed I am by no means certain that it did not add to it it was after all of a grand order there was nothing mean or small about Aisha and poor job too his presentment had come through and there was an end of him well he has a strange burial place no Norfolk hind ever had a stranger or ever will and it is something to lie in the same sepulture as the poor remains of the imperial she we looked our lust upon them and then indescribable rosy glow in which they lay and then with hearts far too heavy for words we left them and crept then broken down man so broken down that we even renounced the chance of partitially immortal life because all that made life valuable had gone from us and we knew even then that to prolong our days indefinitely would only be to prolong our sufferings for we felt yes both of us that having once looked Aisha in the eyes we could not forget her forever and ever while memory and identity remained we loved her now and for all time she was stamped and carboned on our hearts and no other woman or interest could ever raise that splendid die and I there lies the sting I had and have no right to sing thus of her as she told me I was not to her and never shall be through the unfathomed depths of time unless indeed conditions alter and the day comes at last when two men my love one woman and all three be happy in the fact it is the only hope of my broken-heartedness and a rather faint one beyond it I have nothing I have paid down this heavy price all that I am worth here and here after and that is my sole reward with Leo it is different and often I often I bitterly invite him his happy lot for if she was right and her wisdom and knowledge did not fail her at the last which arguing from the precedent of her own case I think most unlikely he has some future to look forward to but I have none and yet marks the folly and the weakness of the human heart and let him who is the wise learn wisdom from it yet I would not have it otherwise I mean that I am content to give what I have given I must always give and taking payment so scrumps all from my mistresses table the memory of a few kind words the hope one day in the far undreamed future of a sweet smile or two of recognition a little gentle friendship and a little show of thanks for my devotion to her and Leo if that does not constitute true love I do not know what does and all I have to say is that it is a very bad state of affairs for a man on the wrong side so end of the chapter 26