But there were no pines around us now, only osier, hazel, and grey-birch, and the deep moss under foot.
"A house!" whispered the Yellow Moth, pointing.
There it stood, dark and shadowy against the north.

Another loomed dimly beyond it; a haystack rose to the left.
We were in Catharines-town.
And now, as we crawled forward, we could see open country on our left, and many unlighted houses and fields of corn, dim and level against the encircling forest.

The murmur on our right had become a sustained and distinct sound, now swelling in the volume of many voices, now subsiding, then waxing to a dull tumult.

And against the borders of the woods, like a shining crimson curtain shifting, we could see the red reflection of a fire sweeping across the solid foliage.
With infinite precautions, we moved through the thicket toward it, the glare growing yellower and more brilliant as we advanced.

And now we remained motionless and very still.
Massed against the flare of light were crowded many people in a vast, uneven circle ringing a great central fire, except at the southern end.
And here, where the ring was open so that we could see the huge fire itself, stood a great, stone slab on end, between two round mounds of earth.