lips to it. The first taste was bitter and acrid, like the liquor of
long-steeped wood. At the second taste a shiver of pleasure ran through
me, and I opened my eyes and stared hard. The third taste grossness
and heaviness and chagrin dropped from my heart; all the complexion of
Providence altered in a flash, and a stupid irresistible joy, unreasoning,
uncontrollable took possession of my fibre. I sank upon a mossy bank
and, lolling my head, beamed idiotically on the lolling Martians all
about me. How long I was like that I cannot say. The heavy minutes of
sodden contentment slipped by unnoticed, unnumbered, till presently I
felt the touch of a wine-cup at my lips again, and drinking of another
liquor dulness vanished from my mind, my eyes cleared, my heart throbbed;
a fantastic gaiety seized upon my limbs; I bounded to my feet, and seizing
An's two hands in mine, swung that damsel round in a giddy dance, capering
as never dancer danced before, till spent and weary I sank down again
from sheer lack of breath, and only knew thereafter that An was sitting
by me saying, "Drink! drink stranger, drink and forget!" and as a third
time a cup was pressed to my lips, aches and pleasures, stupidness and
joy, life itself, seemed slipping away into a splendid golden vacuity,
a hazy episode of unconscious Elysium, indefinite, and unfathomable.




CHAPTER V

When I woke, feeling as refreshed as though I had been dreaming through
a long night, An, seeing me open-eyed, helped me to my feet, and when
I had recovered my senses a little, asked if we should go on. I was
myself again by this time, so willingly took her hand, and soon came out
of the tangle into the open spaces. I must have been under the spell