"Don't talk like that. I shall never forget your service to me...
Let us make haste, or we shall lose the sound."

Corpang started off more eagerly than Maskull. They walked fast in
the direction of the drumming. For upward of two miles the path went
along the ledge without any change of level. The mysterious radiance
gradually departed, and was replaced by the normal light of Threal.
The rhythmical beats continued, but a very long way ahead--neither
was able to diminish the distance.

"What kind of man are you?" Corpang suddenly broke out.

"In what respect?"

"How do you come to be on such terms with the Invisible? How is it
that I've never had this experience before I met you, in spite of my
never-ending prayers and mortifications? In what way are you
superior to me?"

"To hear voices perhaps can't be made a profession," replied Maskull.
"I have a simple and unoccupied mind--that may be why I sometimes
hear things that up to the present you have not been able to."

Corpang darkened, and kept silent; and then Maskull saw through to
his pride.

The ledge presently began to rise. They were high above the platform
on the opposite side of the gulf. The road then curved sharply to
the right, and they passed over the abyss and the other ledge as by a