We reluctantly left our comfortable quarters, and started off with Kios through the darkness. The night was calm and beautifully fine--just one of those delicious evenings that make the tropics of Earth so sweet, when the broiling heat of the day is spent. Kios led us by a circuitous route down the wooded hillside; and we passed so near to Pamax, that the roar of its machinery sounded clearly in the night, and the glow from its thousands of furnaces shone against the sky like a mighty conflagration.
"The men of Pamax work late," remarked Temple, with a manufacturer's instinct, and thinking of his own noisy looms at home on Earth.
"The wheels of their machinery are never still," answered Kios. "The worker's lot is hard, but they are a cheerful community, if their greed of gain is great."
We soon passed Pamax, with its noise and fire, and reached the calm, quiet country again. At last the forest was left behind us, and we walked for an hour across a wide prairie, on which grew herbs of singular odour. Then we followed the banks of a wide river, and after passing through a dark and dangerous swampy jungle--something like the forest of reeds in which we first descended--Kios stopped and said:
"Men of Ramos, here I must leave ye. The night will be nearly spent ere I get back to the woods of Theloth, and there are those who must not see me return. Look ye at yonder group of stars," pointing, as he spoke, to a constellation something like Ursa Major, the Great Bear, in our own heavens. "Mark ye them well; keep them straight before ye; and in two hours' march ye will reach the sea. Strike north along the coast a short day's journey, until ye come to a rocky creek. Follow the stream that falls therein, skirting the base of a spent volcano; and in three days' more easy travelling, ye will sight the great observatory of Helmath, standing on a high hill on your right hand. Behind that hill is the city itself. Advance ye with caution; and hold no converse with the men of Gathma until ye reach Helmath; or swift and certain ruin will overtake ye. Now haste away, and fare ye well."
Without waiting to hear our words of thanks for all his kindness, Kios waved his hand to us in farewell, and walked away into the gloom. We travelled slower without his guidance, for the way was rough; and sometimes clouds obscured the stars, which were our beacon light, and we had oft to wait until they had drifted by. Instead, therefore, of reaching the coast in two hours, we were nearly six; and the day was breaking as the grey waters of the Gathma sea spread far and wide before us. We were both tired and hungry; and so amongst the rocks on the beach we made a fire, and had our breakfast. Then we sat and rested for two hours before beginning our march along the coast.