"What have you and Nightspore been doing during the last four days, Krag? What happened to the torpedo?""You're just about on the same mental level as a man who sees a brand-new palace, and asks what has become of the scaffolding.""What palace have you been building, then?""We have not been idle," said Krag. "While you have been murdering and lovemaking, we have had our work.""And how have you been made acquainted with my actions?""Oh, you're an open book. Now you've got a mortal heart wound on account of a woman you knew for six hours."Maskull turned pale. "Sneer away, Krag! If you lived with a woman for six hundred years and saw her die, that would never touch your leather heart. You haven't even the feelings of an insect.""Behold the child defending its toys!" said Krag, grinning faintly.
Maskull stopped short. "What do you want with me, and why did you bring me here?""It's no use stopping, even for the sake of theatrical effect," said Krag, pulling him into motion again. "The distance has got to be covered, however often we pull up."When he touched him, Maskull felt a terrible shooting pain through his heart.
"I can't go on regarding you as a man, Krag. You're something more than a man - whether good or evil, I can't say."Krag looked yellow and formidable. He did not reply to Maskull's remark, but after a pause said, "So you've been trying to find Surtur on your own account, during the intervals between killing and fondling?""What was that drumming?" demanded Maskull.
"You needn't look so important. We know you had your ear to the keyhole. But you could join the assembly, the music was not playing for you, my friend."Maskull smiled rather bitterly. "At all events, I listen through no more keyholes. I have finished with life. I belong to nobody and nothing any more, from this time forward.""Brave Words, brave words! We shall see. Perhaps Crystalman will make one more attempt on you. There is still time for one more.""Now I don't understand you."
"You think you are thoroughly disillusioned, don't you? Well, that may prove to be the last and strongest illusion of all."The conversation ceased. They reached the foot of the landslip an hour later. Branchspell was steadily mounting the cloudless sky. It was approaching Sarclash, and it was an open question whether or not it would clear its peak. The heat was sweltering. The long, massive, saucer-shaped ridge behind them, with its terrific precipices, was glowing with bright morning colours. Adage, towering up many thousands of feet higher still, guarded the end of it like a lonely Colossus. In front of them, starting from where they stood, was a cool and enchanting wilderness of little lakes and forests.