The words were spoken in a soft sotto-voce, and Sah-luma seemed not to hear.  He leaned, however, very confidingly and affectionately against Theos’s shoulder as he walked along, and appeared to have speedily forgotten his annoyance at the recent slighting conduct of the King.

“I marvel at the downfall of the Obelisk!” he said presently ...  “’Twas rooted full ten feet deep in solid earth, . . maybe the foundations were ill-fitted,—­nevertheless, if history speaks truly, it hath stood unshaken for two thousand years!  Strange that it should be now hurled forth thus desperately! ...  I would I knew the hidden cause!  Many, alas! have met their death to-day, . . pushed out of life in haste, . . all unprepared..  One wonders where such souls have fled!  Something there is that troubles me, . . methinks I am more than half disposed to leave Al-Kyris for a time, and wander forth into a world of unknown things—­”

“With me!” cried Theos impetuously—­“Come with me, Sah-luma! ...  Come now, this very day!  I too have been warned of evil.. evil undeclared, yet close at hand, ..let us escape from danger while time remains! ...  Let us depart!”

“Whither should we go?"...and Sah-luma, pausing in his walk, fixed his large, soft eyes full on his companion as he put the question.

Theos was mute.  Covered with confusion, he asked himself the same thing.  “Whither should we go?” He had no knowledge of the country that lay outside Al-Kyris, . . he had no distinct remembrance of any other place than this in which he was.  All his past existence was as blotted and blurred as a child’s spoiled and discarded copybook, . . true, he retained two names in his thoughts,—­namely “Ardath” and “The pass of Dariel” but he was hopelessly ignorant as to what these meant or how he had become connected with them!  He was roused from his distressful cogitation by Sah-luma’s voice speaking again half gayly, half sadly: 

“Nay, nay, my friend! ... we cannot leave the City, we two alone and unguided, for beyond the gates is the desert wide and bare, with scarce a spring of cool water in many weary miles,—­and beyond the desert is a forest, gloomy and tiger haunted, wherein the footsteps of man have seldom penetrated.  To travel thus far we should need much preparation, . . many servants, many beasts of burden, and many months’ provision.. moreover, ’tis a foolish, fancy crossed my mind at best,—­for what should I, the Laureate of Al-Kyris, do in other lands?  Besides, my departure would indeed be the desolation of the city,—­well may Al-Kyris fall when Sah-luma no longer abides within it!  Seawards the way lies open,—­maybe, in days to come, we twain may take ship and sail hence for a brief sojourn to those distant western shores, whence thou, though thou sayest naught of them, must assuredly have come; I have often dreamed idly of a gray coast washed with dull rain and swathed in sweeping mists, where ever and anon the sun shines through,—­a country cheerless, where a poet’s fame like mine might ring the darkness of the skies with light, and stir the sleepy silence into song!”