Part 25 (1/2)

”Lead on.”

”Still, this isn't the sacrifice I mean,” said Tydomin quietly, as she went on in front.

Almost immediately they reached more difficult ground. They had to pa.s.s from peak to peak, as from island to island. In some cases they were able to stride or jump across, but in others they had to make use of rude bridges of fallen timber. It appeared to be a frequented path.

Underneath were the black, impenetrable abysses--on the surface were the glaring suns.h.i.+ne, the gay, painted rocks, the chaotic tangle of strange plants. There were countless reptiles and insects. The latter were thicker built than those of Earth--consequently still more disgusting, and some of them were of enormous size. One monstrous insect, as large as a horse, stood right in the centre of their path without budging. It was armour-plated, had jaws like scimitars, and underneath its body was a forest of legs. Tydomin gave one malignant look at it, and sent it cras.h.i.+ng into the gulf.

”What have I to offer, except my life?” Maskull suddenly broke out. ”And what good is that? It won't bring that poor girl back into the world.”

”Sacrifice is not for utility. It's a penalty which we pay.”

”I know that.”

”The point is whether you can go on enjoying life, after what has happened.”

She waited for Maskull to come even with her.

”Perhaps you imagine I'm not man enough--you imagine that because I allowed poor Oceaxe to die for me--”

”She did die for you,” said Tydomin, in a quiet, emphatic voice.

”That would be a second blunder of yours,” returned Maskull, just as firmly. ”I was not in love with Oceaxe, and I'm not in love with life.”

”Your life is not required.”

”Then I don't understand what you want, or what you are speaking about.”

”It's not for me to ask a sacrifice from you, Maskull. That would be compliance on your part, but not sacrifice. You must wait until you feel there's nothing else for you to do.”

”It's all very mysterious.”

The conversation was abruptly cut short by a prolonged and frightful cras.h.i.+ng, roaring sound, coming from a short distance ahead. It was accompanied by a violent oscillation of the ground on which they stood. They looked up, startled, just in time to witness the final disappearance of a huge ma.s.s of forest land, not two hundred yards in front of them. Several acres of trees, plants, rocks, and soil, with all its teeming animal life, vanished before their eyes, like a magic story.

The new chasm was cut, as if by a knife. Beyond its farther edge the Alppain glow burned blue just over the horizon.

”Now we shall have to make a detour,” said Tydomin, halting.

Maskull caught hold of her with his third hand. ”Listen to me, while I try to describe what I'm feeling. When I saw that landslip, everything I have heard about the last destruction of the world came into my mind.

It seemed to me as if I were actually witnessing it, and that the world were really falling to pieces. Then, where the land was, we now have this empty, awful gulf--that's to say, nothing--and it seems to me as if our life will come to the same condition, where there was something there will be nothing. But that terrible blue glare on the opposite side is exactly like the eye of fate. It accuses us, and demands what we have made of our life, which is no more. At the same time, it is grand and joyful. The joy consists in this--that it is in our power to give freely what will later on be taken from us by force.”

Tydomin watched him attentively. ”Then your feeling is that your life is worthless, and you make a present of it to the first one who asks?”

”No, it goes beyond that. I feel that the only thing worth living for is to be so magnanimous that fate itself will be astonished at us.

Understand me. It isn't cynicism, or bitterness, or despair, but heroism.... It's hard to explain.”

”Now you shall hear what sacrifice I offer you, Maskull. It's a heavy one, but that's what you seem to wish.”

”That is so. In my present mood it can't be too heavy.”

”Then, if you are in earnest, resign your body to me. Now that Crimtyphon's dead, I'm tired of being a woman.”