Again he felt his brain being probed.

"At this time of the year, for every hour's daylight that you have in
summer, we have two."

"The heat is terrific--and yet somehow I don't feel so distressed by
it as I would have expected."

"I feel it more than usual. It's not difficult to account for it;
you have some of my blood, and I have some of yours."

"Yes, every time I realise that, I--Tell me, Joiwind, will my blood
alter, if I stay here long enough?--I mean, will it lose its redness
and thickness, and become pure and thin and light-coloured, like
yours?"

"Why not? If you live as we live, you will assuredly grow like us."

"Do you mean food and drink?"

"We eat no food, and drink only water."

"And on that you manage to sustain life?"

"Well, Maskull, our water is good water," replied Joiwind, smiling.

As soon as he could see again he stared around at the landscape. The
enormous scarlet desert extended everywhere to the horizon, excepting
where it was broken by the oasis. It was roofed by a cloudless, deep
blue, almost violet, sky. The circle of the horizon was far larger