How far we marched I have no conception, nor has Perry. Both of us
were asleep much of the time for hours before a halt was called--then
we dropped in our tracks. I say "for hours," but how may one
measure time where time does not exist! When our march commenced
the sun stood at zenith. When we halted our shadows still pointed
toward nadir. Whether an instant or an eternity of earthly time
elapsed who may say. That march may have occupied nine years and
eleven months of the ten years that I spent in the inner world,
or it may have been accomplished in the fraction of a second--I
cannot tell. But this I do know that since you have told me that
ten years have elapsed since I departed from this earth I have lost
all respect for time--I am commencing to doubt that such a thing
exists other than in the weak, finite mind of man.



IV

DIAN THE BEAUTIFUL


WHEN OUR GUARDS AROUSED US FROM SLEEP WE were much refreshed. They
gave us food. Strips of dried meat it was, but it put new life and
strength into us, so that now we too marched with high-held heads,
and took noble strides. At least I did, for I was young and proud;
but poor Perry hated walking. On earth I had often seen him call
a cab to travel a square--he was paying for it now, and his old
legs wobbled so that I put my arm about him and half carried him
through the balance of those frightful marches.