was far out. The sands glimmered away for miles on each side of us;
we walked outwards through the dim coloured twilight, I was silent;
a strange ecstacy slowly took possession of me, as if drop by drop
an unutterable life was falling within; the fever grew intense,
then unbearable as it communicated itself to the body; with a wild
cry I began to spin about, whirling round and round in ever increasing
delirium; Some secretness was in the air; I was called forth by
the powers of invisible nature and in a swoon I fell. I rose again
with sudden memory, but my body was lying upon the sands; with a
curious indifference I saw that the tide was on the turn and the
child was unable to remove the insensible form beyond its reach;
I saw her sit down beside it and place the head upon her lap;
she sat there quietly waiting, while all about her little by little
the wave of the Indian sea began to ripple inwards, and overhead
the early stars began softly to glow.

After this I forgot completely the child and the peril of the waters,
I began to be conscious of the presence of a new world. All around
me currents were flowing, in whose waves dance innumerable lives;
diaphanous forms glided about, a nebulous sparkle was everywhere
apparent; faces as of men in dreams glimmered on me, or unconsciously
their forms drifted past, and now and then a face looked sternly
upon me with a questioning glance. I was not to remain long in
this misty region, again I felt the internal impulse and internally
I was translated into a sphere of more pervading beauty and light;
and here with more majesty and clearness than I had observed before
was the old man of my dreams.

I had though of him as old but there was an indescribable youth
pervading the face with its ancient beauty, and then I knew it was