He sprang to me and seized my hand, asking how I fared and where I had been hidden away, a greeting of which, as I could see, the warmth was not lost upon Simbri, who stood by.
I answered, well enough now that we were together again, and for the rest I would tell him later.
Then they brought us palanquins, carried, each of them, by two ponies, one of which was harnessed ahead and the other behind between long shaft-like poles.

In these we seated ourselves, and at a sign from Simbri slaves took the leading ponies by the bridle and we started, leaving behind us that grim old Gate-house through which we were the first strangers to pass for many a generation.
For a mile or more our road ran down a winding, rocky gorge, till suddenly it took a turn, and the country of Kaloon lay stretched before us.

At our feet was a river, probably the same with which we had made acquaintance in the gulf, where, fed by the mountain snows, it had its source.

Here it flowed rapidly, but on the vast, alluvial lands beneath became a broad and gentle stream that wound its way through the limitless plains till it was lost in the blue of the distance.
To the north, however, this smooth, monotonous expanse was broken by that Mountain which had guided us from afar, the House of Fire.

It was a great distance from us, more than a hundred miles, I should say, yet even so a most majestic sight in that clear air.