Branchspell set, the day faded, night with its terrible weight came
on, and through it all Maskull slept. Long before midnight, however,
he was awakened by a crimson glow in the sky. He opened his eyes,
and wondered where he was. He felt heaviness and pain. The red glow
was a terrestrial phenomenon; it came from among the trees. He got
up and went toward the source of the light.

Away from the river, not a hundred feet off, he nearly stumbled
across the form of a sleeping woman. The object which emitted the
crimson rays was lying on the ground, several yards away from her.
It was like a small jewel, throwing off sparks of red light. He
barely threw a glance at that, however.

The woman was clothed in the large skin of an animal. She had big,
smooth, shapely limbs, rather muscular than fat. Her magn was not a
thin tentacle, but a third arm, terminating in a hand. Her face,
which was upturned, was wild, powerful, and exceedingly handsome.
But he saw with surprise that in place of a breve on her forehead,
she possessed another eye. All three were closed. The colour of her
skin in the crimson glow he could not distinguish.

He touched her gently with his hand. She awoke calmly and looked up
at him without stirring a muscle. All three eyes stared at him; but
the two lower ones were dull and vacant--mere carriers of vision.
The middle, upper one alone expressed her inner nature. Its haughty,
unflinching glare had yet something seductive and alluring in it.
Maskull felt a challenge in that look of lordly, feminine will, and
his manner instinctively stiffened.

She sat up.