sultriness and the boding were passed away, and the camels had ease
among them. And the Arabs said that the storm which was to be had
been, as was willed of old by God.

The sun set and the gloaming came, and we neared the junction of
Oonrana and Plegáthanees, but in the darkness discerned not
Babbulkund. We pushed on hurriedly to reach the city ere nightfall,
and came to the junction of the River of Myth where he meets with
the Waters of Fable, and still saw not Babbulkund. All round us lay
the sand and rocks of the unchanging desert, save to the southwards
where the jungle stood with its orchids facing skywards. Then we
perceived that we had arrived too late, and that her doom had come
to Babbulkund; and by the river in the empty desert on the sand the
man in rags was seated, with his face hidden in his hands, weeping
bitterly.

* * * * * * *

Thus passed away in the hour of her iniquities before Annolith, in
the two thousand and thirty-second year of her being, in the six
thousand and fiftieth year of the building of the World, Babbulkund,
City of Marvel, sometime called by those that hated her City of the
Dog, but hourly mourned in Araby and Ind and wide through jungle and
desert; leaving no memorial in stone to show that she had been, but
remembered with an abiding love, in spite of the anger of God, by
all that knew her beauty, whereof still they sing.