About half an hour after all the other life forms had vanished,
another plant-animal was precipitated out of space, in front of their
eyes. It was as tall as Maskull himself, and had a brilliant and
vigorous appearance, as befitted a creature just out of Nature's
mint. It started to walk about; but hardly had it done so when it
burst silently asunder. Nothing remained of it--the whole body
disappeared instantaneously into the same invisible mist from which
it had sprung.

"That bears out what you said," commented Maskull, turning rather
pale.

"Yes," answered Leehallfae, "we have now come to the region of
terrible life."

"Then, since you're right in this, I must believe all that you've
been telling me."

As he uttered the words, they were just turning a bend of the ravine.
There now loomed up straight ahead a perpendicular cliff about three
hundred feet in height, composed of white, marbled rock. It was the
head of the valley, and beyond it they could not proceed.

"In return for my wisdom," said the phaen, "you will now lend me your
luck."

They walked up to the base of the cliff, and Maskull looked at it
reflectively. It was possible to climb it, but the ascent would be
difficult. The now tiny brook issued from a hole in the rock only a