Also I saw that the fire which shone through it rose from the crater of a volcano beyond.

Upon the very crest of this loop we rested a while, till the Shadow of Ayesha pointed downward with its hand, smiled and vanished.

Then I awoke.
"Horace, I tell you that the sign has come to us." His voice died away in the darkness, but I sat still, brooding over what I had heard.

Leo groped his way to me and, seizing my arm, shook it.
"Are you asleep ?" he asked angrily.

"Speak, man, speak!" "No," I answered, "never was I more awake.