The Night Land Read online

  II

  THE LAST REDOUBT

  Since Mirdath, My Beautiful One, died and left me lonely in this world,I have suffered an anguish, and an utter and dreadful pain of longing,such as truly no words shall ever tell; for, in truth, I that had allthe world through her sweet love and companionship, and knew all the joyand gladness of Life, have known such lonesome misery as doth stun me tothink upon.

  Yet am I to my pen again; for of late a wondrous hope has grown in me,in that I have, at night in my sleep, waked into the future of thisworld, and seen strange things and utter marvels, and known once morethe gladness of life; for I have learned the promise of the future, andhave visited in my dreams those places where in the womb of Time, sheand I shall come together, and part, and again come together--breakingasunder most drearly in pain, and again reuniting after strange ages, ina glad and mighty wonder.

  And this is the utter strange story of that which I have seen, andwhich, truly, I must set out, if the task be not too great; so that, inthe setting out thereof, I may gain a little ease of the heart; andlikewise, mayhap, give ease of hope to some other poor human, that dothsuffer, even as I have suffered so dreadful with longing for Mine Ownthat is dead.

  And some shall read and say that this thing was not, and some shalldispute with them; but to them all I say naught, save "Read!" And havingread that which I set down, then shall one and all have looked towardsEternity with me--unto its very portals. And so to my telling:

  To me, in this last time of my visions, of which I would tell, it wasnot as if I _dreamed_; but, as it were, that I _waked_ there into thedark, _in the future of this world_. And the sun had died; and for methus newly waked into that Future, to look back upon this, our PresentAge, was to look back into dreams that my soul knew to be of reality;but which to those newly-seeing eyes of mine, appeared but as a farvision, strangely hallowed with peacefulness and light.

  Always, it seemed to me when I awaked into the Future, into theEverlasting Night that lapped this world, that I saw near to me, andgirdling me all about, a blurred greyness. And presently this, thegreyness, would clear and fade from about me, even as a dusky cloud, andI would look out upon a world of darkness, lit here and there withstrange sights. And with my waking into that Future, I waked not toignorance; but to a full knowledge of those things which lit the NightLand; even as a man wakes from sleep each morning, and knows immediatelyhe wakes, the names and knowledge of the Time which has bred him, and inwhich he lives. And the same while, a knowledge I had, as it weresub-conscious, of this Present--this early life, which now I live soutterly alone.

  In my earliest knowledge of _that_ place, I was a youth, seventeen yearsgrown, and my memory tells me that when first I waked, or came, as itmight be said, to myself, in that Future, I stood in one of theembrasures of the Last Redoubt--that great Pyramid of grey metal whichheld the last millions of this world from the Powers of the Slayers.

  And so full am I of the knowledge of that Place, that scarce can Ibelieve that none here know; and because I have such difficulty, it maybe that I speak over familiarly of those things of which I know; andheed not to explain much that it is needful that I should explain tothose who must read here, in this our present day. For there, as I stoodand looked out, I was less the man of years of _this_ age, than theyouth of _that_, with the natural knowledge of _that_ life which I hadgathered by living all my seventeen years of life there; though, untilthat my first vision, I (of this Age) knew not of that other and FutureExistence; yet woke to it so naturally as may a man wake here in his bedto the shining of the morning sun, and know it by name, and the meaningof aught else. And yet, as I stood there in the vast embrasure, I hadalso a knowledge, or memory, of this present life of ours, deep downwithin me; but touched with a halo of dreams, and yet with a consciouslonging for One, known even there in a half memory as Mirdath.

  As I have said, in my earliest memory, I mind that I stood in anembrasure, high up in the side of the Pyramid, and looked outwardsthrough a queer spy-glass to the North-West. Aye, full of youth and withan adventurous and yet half-fearful heart.

  And in my brain was, as I have told, the knowledge that had come to mein all the years of my life in the Redoubt; and yet until that moment,this _Man of this Present Time_ had no knowledge of that futureexistence; and now I stood and had suddenly the knowledge of a lifealready spent in that strange land, and deeper within me the mistyknowings of this our present Age, and, maybe, also of some others.

  To the North-West I looked through the queer spy-glass, and saw alandscape that I had looked upon and pored upon through all the years ofthat life, so that I knew how to name this thing and that thing, andgive the very distances of each and every one from the "Centre-Point" ofthe Pyramid, which was that which had neither length nor breadth, andwas made of polished metal in the Room of Mathematics, where I wentdaily to my studies.

  To the North-West I looked, and in the wide field of my glass, saw plainthe bright glare of the fire from the Red Pit, shine upwards against theunderside of the vast chin of the North-West Watcher--The Watching Thingof the North-West.... "That which hath Watched from the Beginning, anduntil the opening of the Gateway of Eternity" came into my thoughts, asI looked through the glass ... the words of Aesworpth, the _Ancient_Poet (though incredibly _future_ to this our time). And suddenly theyseemed at fault; for I looked deep down into my being, and saw, asdreams are seen, the sunlight and splendour of _this_ our Present Age.And I was amazed.

  And here I must make it clear to all that, even as I waked from _this_Age, suddenly into _that_ life, so must I--_that_ youth there in theembrasure--have awakened then to the knowledge of _this_ far-back lifeof ours--seeming to him a vision of the very beginnings of eternity, inthe dawn of the world. Oh! I do but dread I make it not sufficient clearthat I and he were both _I_--the same soul. He of that far date seeingvaguely the life that _was_ (that I do now live in this present Age);and I of this time beholding the life that I yet shall live. How utterlystrange!

  And yet, I do not know that I speak holy truth to say that I, in thatfuture time, had _no_ knowledge of _this_ life and Age, before thatawakening; for I woke to find that I was one who stood apart from theother youths, in that I had a dim knowledge--visionary, as it were, ofthe past, which confounded, whilst yet it angered, those who were themen of learning of that age; though of this matter, more anon. But thisI do know, that from that time, onwards, my knowledge and assuredness ofthe Past was tenfold; for this my memory of that life told me.

  And so to further my telling. Yet before I pass onwards, one other thingis there of which I shall speak--In the moment in which I waked out ofthat youthfulness, into the assured awaredness of _this_ our Age, inthat moment the hunger of this my love flew to me across the ages; sothat what had been but a memory-dream, grew to the pain of _Reality_,and I knew suddenly that I _lacked_; and from that time onwards, I went,listening, as even now my life is spent.

  And so it was that I (fresh-born in that future time) hungered strangelyfor My Beautiful One with all the strength of that new life, knowingthat she had been mine, and might live again, even as I. And so, as Ihave said, I hungered, and found that I listened.

  And now, to go back from my digression, it was, as I have said, I hadamazement at perceiving, in memory, the unknowable sunshine andsplendour of this age breaking so clear through my hitherto most vagueand hazy visions; so that the ignorance of, Aesworpth was shouted to meby the things which now I _knew_.

  And from that time, onward, for a little space, I was stunned with allthat I knew and guessed and felt; and all of a long while the hungergrew for that one I had lost in the early days--she who had sung to mein those faery days of light, that _had been_ in verity. And theespecial thoughts of that age looked back with a keen, regretful wonderinto the gulf of forgetfulness.

  But, presently, I turned from the haze and pain of my dream-memories,once more to the inconceivable mystery of the Night Land, which I viewedthrough the great embrasure. For on none did it ever come with w
earinessto look out upon all the hideous mysteries; so that old and youngwatched, from early years to death, the black monstrosity of the NightLand, which this our last refuge of humanity held at bay.

  To the right of the Red Pit there lay a long, sinuous glare, which Iknew as the Vale of Red Fire, and beyond that for many dreary miles theblackness of the Night Land; across which came the coldness of the lightfrom the Plain of Blue Fire.

  And then, on the very borders of the Unknown Lands, there lay a range oflow volcanoes, which lit up, far away in the outer darkness, the BlackHills, where shone the Seven Lights, which neither twinkled nor movednor faltered through Eternity; and of which even the great spy-glasscould make no understanding; nor had any adventurer from the Pyramidever come back to tell us aught of them. And here let me say, that downin the Great Library of the Redoubt, were the histories of all those,with their discoveries, who had ventured out into the monstrousness ofthe Night Land, risking not the life only, but the spirit of life.

  And surely it is all so strange and wonderful to set out, that I couldalmost despair with the contemplation of that which I must achieve; forthere is so much to tell, and so few words given to man by which he maymake clear that which lies beyond the sight and the present and generalknowings of Peoples.

  How shall you ever know, as I know in verity, of the greatness andreality and terror of the thing that I would tell plain to all; for we,with our puny span of recorded life must have great histories to tell,but the few bare details we know concerning years that are but a fewthousands in all; and I must set out to you in the short pages of thismy life there, a sufficiency of the life that had been, and the lifethat was, both within and without that mighty Pyramid, to make clear tothose who may read, the truth of that which I would tell; and thehistories of that great Redoubt dealt not with odd thousands of years;but with very millions; aye, away back into what they of that Ageconceived to be the early days of the earth, when the sun, maybe, stillgloomed dully in the night sky of the world. But of all that wentbefore, nothing, save as myths, and matters to be taken most cautiously,and believed not by men of sanity and proved wisdom.

  And I, ...how shall I make all this clear to you who may read? The thingcannot be; and yet I must tell my history; for to be silent before somuch wonder would be to suffer of too full a heart; and I must even easemy spirit by this my struggle to tell to all how it was with me, and howit will be. Aye, even to the memories which were the possession of thatfar future youth, who was indeed I, of his childhood's days, when hisnurse of that Age swung him, and crooned impossible lullabies of thismythical sun which, according to those future fairy-tales, had oncepassed across the blackness that now lay above the Pyramid.

  Such is the monstrous futureness of this which I have seen through thebody of that far-off youth.

  And so back to my telling. To my right, which was to the North, therestood, very far away, the House of Silence, upon a low hill. And in thatHouse were many lights, and no sound. And so had it been through anuncountable Eternity of Years. Always those steady lights, and nowhisper of sound--not even such as our distance-microphones could havediscovered. And the danger of this House was accounted the greatestdanger of all those Lands.

  And round by the House of Silence, wound the Road Where The Silent OnesWalk. And concerning this Road, which passed out of the Unknown Lands,nigh by the Place of the Ab-humans, where was always the green, luminousmist, nothing was known; save that it was held that, of all the worksabout the Mighty Pyramid, it was, alone, the one that was bred, longages past, of healthy human toil and labour. And on this point alone,had a thousand books, and more, been writ; and all contrary, and so tono end, as is ever the way in such matters.

  And as it was with the Road Where The Silent Ones Walk, so it was withall those other monstrous things ... whole libraries had there been madeupon this and upon that; and many a thousand million mouldered into theforgotten dust of the earlier world.

  I mind me now that presently I stepped upon the centraltravelling-roadway which spanned the one thousandth plateau of the GreatRedoubt. And this lay six miles and thirty fathoms above the Plain ofthe Night Land, and was somewhat of a great mile or more across. And so,in a few minutes, I was at the South-Eastern wall, and looking outthrough The Great Embrasure towards the Three Silver-fire Holes, thatshone before the Thing That Nods, away down, far in the South-East.Southward of this, but nearer, there rose the vast bulk of theSouth-East Watcher--The Watching Thing of the South-East. And to theright and to the left of the squat monster burned the Torches; maybehalf-a-mile upon each side; yet sufficient light they threw to show thelumbered-forward head of the never-sleeping Brute.

  To the East, as I stood there in the quietness of the Sleeping-Time onthe One Thousandth Plateau, I heard a far, dreadful sound, down in thelightless East; and, presently, again--a strange, dreadful laughter,deep as a low thunder among the mountains. And because this sound cameodd whiles from the Unknown Lands beyond the Valley of The Hounds, wehad named that far and never-seen Place "The Country Whence Comes TheGreat Laughter." And though I had heard the sound, many and oft a time,yet did I never hear it without a most strange thrilling of my heart,and a sense of my littleness, and of the utter terror which had besetthe last millions of the world.

  Yet, because I had heard the Laughter oft, I paid not over-longattention to my thoughts upon it; and when, in a little it died awayinto that Eastern Darkness, I turned my spy-glass upon the Giants' Pit,which lay to the South of the Giants' Kilns. And these same Kilns weretended by the giants, and the light of the Kilns was red and fitful, andthrew wavering shadows and lights across the mouth of the pit; so that Isaw giants crawling up out of the pit; but not properly seen, by reasonof the dance of the shadows. And so, because ever there was so much tobehold, I looked away, presently, to that which was plainer to beexamined.

  To the back of the Giants' Pit was a great, black Headland, that stoodvast, between the Valley of The Hounds (where lived the monstrous NightHounds) and the Giants. And the light of the Kilns struck the brow ofthis black Headland; so that, constantly, I saw things peer over theedge, coming forward a little into the light of the Kilns, and drawingback swiftly into the shadows. And thus it had been ever, through theuncounted ages; so that the Headland was known as The Headland FromWhich Strange Things Peer; and thus was it marked in our maps and chartsof that grim world.

  And so I could go on ever; but that I fear to weary; and yet, whether Ido weary, or not, I must tell of this country that I see, even now as Iset my thoughts down, so plainly that my memory wanders in a hushed andsecret fashion along its starkness, and amid its strange and dreadhabitants, so that it is but by an effort I realise me that my body isnot there in this very moment that I write. And so to further tellings:

  Before me ran the Road Where The Silent Ones Walk; and I searched it, asmany a time in my earlier youth had I, with the spy-glass; for my heartwas always stirred mightily by the sight of those Silent Ones.

  And, presently, alone in all the miles of that night-grey road, I sawone in the field of my glass--a quiet, cloaked figure, moving along,shrouded, and looking neither to right nor left. And thus was it withthese beings ever. It was told about in the Redoubt that they would harmno human, if but the human did keep a fair distance from them; but thatit were wise never to come close upon one. And this I can well believe.

  And so, searching the road with my gaze, I passed beyond this SilentOne, and past the place where the road, sweeping vastly to theSouth-East, was lit a space, strangely, by the light from theSilver-fire Holes. And thus at last to where it swayed to the South ofthe Dark Palace, and thence Southward still, until it passed round tothe Westward, beyond the mountain bulk of the Watching Thing in theSouth--the hugest monster in all the visible Night Lands. My spy-glassshowed it to me with clearness--a living hill of watchfulness, known tous as The Watcher Of The South. It brooded there, squat and tremendous,hunched over the pale radiance of the Glowing Dome.

  Much, I know, had been writ concerning th
is Odd, Vast Watcher; for ithad grown out of the blackness of the South Unknown Lands a millionyears gone; and the steady growing nearness of it had been noted and setout at length by the men they called Monstruwacans; so that it waspossible to search in our libraries, and learn of the very coming ofthis Beast in the olden-time.

  And, while I mind me, there were even then, and always, men namedMonstruwacans, whose duty it was to take heed of the great Forces, andto watch the Monsters and the Beasts that beset the great Pyramid, andmeasure and record, and have so full a knowledge of these same that, didone but sway an head in the darkness, the same matter was set down withparticularness in the Records.

  And, so to tell more about the South Watcher. A million years gone, as Ihave told, came it out from the blackness of the South, and grewsteadily nearer through twenty thousand years; but so slow that in noone year could a man perceive that it had moved.

  Yet it had movement, and had come thus far upon its road to the Redoubt,when the Glowing Dome rose out of the ground before it--growing slowly.And this had stayed the way of the Monster; so that through an eternityit had looked towards the Pyramid across the pale glare of the Dome, andseeming to have no power to advance nearer.

  And because of this, much had been writ to prove that there were otherforces than evil at work in the Night Lands, about the Last Redoubt. Andthis I have always thought to be wisely said; and, indeed, there to beno doubt to the matter, for there were many things in the time of whichI have knowledge, which seemed to make clear that, even as the Forces ofDarkness were loose upon the End of Man; so were there other Forces outto do battle with the Terror; though in ways most strange and unthoughtof by the human mind. And of this I shall have more to tell anon.

  And here, before I go further with my telling, let me set out some ofthat knowledge which yet remains so clear within my mind and heart. Ofthe coming of these monstrosities and evil Forces, no man could say muchwith verity; for the evil of it began before the Histories of the GreatRedoubt were shaped; aye, even before the sun had lost all power tolight; though, it must not be a thing of certainty, that even at thisfar time the invisible, black heavens held no warmth for this world; butof this I have no room to tell; and must pass on to that of which I havea more certain knowledge.

  The evil must surely have begun in the Days of the Darkening (which Imight liken to a story which was believed doubtfully, much as we of thisday believe the story of the Creation). A dim record there was of oldensciences (that are yet far off in our future) which, disturbing theunmeasurable Outward Powers, had allowed to pass the Barrier of Lifesome of those Monsters and Ab-human creatures, which are so wondrouslycushioned from us at this normal present. And thus there hadmaterialized, and in other cases developed, grotesque and horribleCreatures, which now beset the humans of this world. And where there wasno power to take on material form, there had been allowed to certaindreadful Forces to have power to affect the life of the human spirit.And this growing very dreadful, and the world full of lawlessness anddegeneracy, there had banded together the sound millions, and built theLast Redoubt; there in the twilight of the world--so it seems to us, andyet to them (bred at last to the peace of usage) as it were theBeginning; and this I can make no clearer; and none hath right to expectit; for my task is very great, and beyond the power of human skill.

  And when the humans had built the great Pyramid, it had one thousandthree hundred and twenty floors; and the thickness of each floor wasaccording to the strength of its need. And the whole height of thispyramid exceeded seven miles, by near a mile, and above it was a towerfrom which the Watchmen looked (these being called the Monstruwacans).But where the Redoubt was built, I know not; save that I believe in amighty valley, of which I may tell more in due time.

  And when the Pyramid was built, the last millions, who were the Buildersthereof, went within, and made themselves a great house and city of thisLast Redoubt. And thus began the Second History of this world. And howshall I set it all down in these little pages! For my task, even as Isee it, is too great for the power of a single life and a single pen.Yet, to it!

  And, later, through hundreds and thousands of years, there grew up inthe Outer Lands, beyond those which lay under the guard of the Redoubt,mighty and lost races of terrible creatures, half men and half beast,and evil and dreadful; and these made war upon the Redoubt; but werebeaten off from that grim, metal mountain, with a vast slaughter. Yet,must there have been many such attacks, until the electric circle wasput about the Pyramid, and lit from the Earth-Current. And the lowesthalf-mile of the Pyramid was sealed; and so at last there was a peace,and the beginnings of that Eternity of quiet watching for the day whenthe Earth-Current shall become exhausted.

  And, at whiles, through the forgotten centuries, had the Creatures beenglutted time and again upon such odd bands of daring ones as hadadventured forth to explore through the mystery of the Night Lands; forof those who went, scarce any did ever return; for there were eyes inall that dark; and Powers and Forces abroad which had all knowledge; orso we must fain believe.

  And then, so it would seem, as that Eternal Night lengthened itself uponthe world, the power of terror grew and strengthened. And fresh andgreater monsters developed and bred out of all space and OutwardDimensions, attracted, even as it might be Infernal sharks, by thatlonely and mighty hill of humanity, facing its end--so near to theEternal, and yet so far deferred in the minds and to the senses of thosehumans. And thus hath it been ever.

  And all this but by the way, and vague and ill told, and set out indespair to make a little clear the beginnings of that State which is sostrange to our conceptions, and yet which had become a Condition ofNaturalness to Humanity in that stupendous future.

  Thus had the giants come, fathered of bestial humans and mothered ofmonsters. And many and diverse were the creatures which had some humansemblance; and intelligence, mechanical and cunning; so that certain ofthese lesser Brutes had machinery and underground ways, having need tosecure to themselves warmth and air, even as healthy humans; only thatthey were incredibly inured to hardship, as they might be wolves set incomparison with tender children. And surely, do I make this thing clear?

  And now to continue my telling concerning the Night Land. The Watcher ofthe South was, as I have set to make known, a monster differing fromthose other Watching Things, of which I have spoken, and of which therewere in all four. One to the North-West, and one to the South-East, andof these I have told; and the other twain lay brooding, one to theSouth-West, and the other to the North-East; and thus the four watcherskept ward through the darkness, upon the Pyramid, and moved not, neithergave they out any sound. Yet did we know them to be mountains of livingwatchfulness and hideous and steadfast intelligence.

  And so, in a while, having listened to the sorrowful sound which cameever to us over the Grey Dunes, from the Country of Wailing, which layto the South, midway between the Redoubt and the Watcher of the South, Ipassed upon one of the moving roadways over to the South-Western side ofthe Pyramid, and looked from a narrow embrasure thence far down into theDeep Valley, which was four miles deep, and in which was the Pit of theRed Smoke.

  And the mouth of this Pit was one full mile across, and the smoke of thePit filled the Valley at times, so that it seemed but as a glowing redcircle amid dull thunderous clouds of redness. Yet the red smoke rosenever much above the Valley; so that there was clear sight across to thecountry beyond. And there, along the further edge of that great depth,were the Towers, each, maybe, a mile high, grey and quiet; but with ashimmer upon them.

  Beyond these, South and West of them, was the enormous bulk of theSouth-West Watcher, and from the ground rose what we named the EyeBeam--a single ray of grey light, which came up out of the ground, andlit the right eye of the monster. And because of this light, that eyehad been mightily examined through unknown thousands of years; and someheld that the eye looked through the light steadfastly at the Pyramid;but others set out that the light blinded it, and was the work of thoseOther Powers which were abroa
d to do combat with the Evil Forces. Buthowever this may be, as I stood there in the embrasure, and looked atthe thing through the spy-glass, it seemed to my soul that the Brutelooked straightly at me, unwinking and steadfast, and fully of aknowledge that I spied upon it. And this is how I felt.

  To the North of this, in the direction of the West, I saw The PlaceWhere The Silent Ones Kill; and this was so named, because there, maybeten thousand years gone, certain humans adventuring from the Pyramid,came off the Road Where The Silent Ones Walk, and into that place, andwere immediately destroyed. And this was told by one who escaped; thoughhe died also very quickly, for his heart was frozen. And this I cannotexplain; but so it was set out in the Records.

  Far away beyond The Place Where The Silent Ones Kill, in the very mouthof the Western Night was the Place of the Ab-humans, where was lost theRoad Where The Silent Ones Walk, in a dull green, luminous mist. And ofthis place nothing was known; though much it held the thoughts andattentions of our thinkers and imaginers; for some said that there was aPlace Of Safety, differing from the Redoubt (as we of this day supposeHeaven to differ from the Earth), and that the Road led thence; but wasbarred by the Ab-humans. And this I can only set down here; but with nothought to justify or uphold it.

  Later, I travelled over to the North-Eastern wall of the Redoubt, andlooked thence with my spy-glass at the Watcher of the North-East--theCrowned Watcher it was called, in that within the air above its vasthead there hung always a blue, luminous ring, which shed a strange lightdownwards over the monster--showing a vast, wrinkled brow (upon which anwhole library had been writ); but putting to the shadow all the lowerface; all save the ear, which came out from the back of the head, andbelled towards the Redoubt, and had been said by some observers in thepast to have been seen to quiver; but how that might be, I knew not; forno man of our days had seen such a thing.

  And beyond the Watching Thing was The Place Where The Silent Ones AreNever, close by the great road; which was bounded upon the far side byThe Giant's Sea; and upon the far side of that, was a Road which wasalways named The Road By The Quiet City; for it passed along that placewhere burned forever the constant and never-moving lights of a strangecity; but no glass had ever shown life there; neither had any light everceased to burn.

  And beyond that again was the Black Mist. And here, let me say, that theValley of The Hounds ended towards the Lights of the Quiet City.

  And so have I set out something of that land, and of those creatures andcircumstances which beset us about, waiting until the Day of Doom, whenour Earth-Current should cease, and leave us helpless to the Watchersand the Abundant Terror.

  And there I stood, and looked forth composedly, as may one who has beenborn to know of such matters, and reared in the knowledge of them. And,anon, I would look upward, and see the grey, metalled mountain going upmeasureless into the gloom of the everlasting night; and from my feetthe sheer downward sweep of the grim, metal walls, six full miles, andmore, to the plain below.

  And one thing (aye! and I fear me, many) have I missed to set out withparticularness:

  There was, as you do know, all around the base of the Pyramid, which wasfive and one-quarter miles every way, a great circle of light, which wasset up by the Earth-Current, and burned within a transparent tube; orhad that appearance. And it bounded the Pyramid for a clear mile uponevery side, and burned for ever; and none of the monsters had power everto pass across, because of what we did call The Air Clog that it didmake, as an invisible Wall of Safety. And it did give out also a moresubtile vibration, that did affect the weak Brain-Elements of themonsters and the Lower Men-Brutes. And some did hold that there wentfrom it a further vibration of a greater subtileness that gave aprotecting against the Evil Forces. And some quality it had trulythiswise; for the Evil Powers had no ability to cause harm to anywithin. Yet were there some dangers against which it might not avail;but these had no cunning to bring harm to any _within_ the Great Redoubtwho had wisdom to meddle with no dreadfulness. And so were those lastmillions guarded until the Earth-Current should be used to its end. Andthis circle is that which I have called the Electric Circle; though withfailure to explain. But there it was called only, The Circle.

  And thus have I, with great effort, made a little clear that grim landof night, where, presently, my listening heard one calling across thedark. And how that this grew upon me, I will set out forthwith.