grasp what had happened.

"'I am Muremaker,' he cried in a scraping voice which shocked my
ears. 'All my life I have sorbed others--now I am sorbed. Nuclamp
and I fell out over a woman. Now Nuclamp holds me up like this.
While the strength of his will lasts I shall remain suspended; but
when he gets tired--and it can't be long now--I drop into those
depths.'

"Had it been another man, I would have tried to save him, but this
ogre-like being was too well known to me as one who passed his
whole existence in tormenting, murdering, and absorbing others, for
the sake of his own delight. I hurried away, and did not pause again
that day.

"In Poolingdred I met Joiwind. We walked and talked together for a
month, and by that time we found that we loved each other too well to
part."

Panawe stopped speaking.

"That is a fascinating story," remarked Maskull. "Now I begin to
know my way around better. But one thing puzzles me."

"What's that?"

"How it happens that men here are ignorant of tools and arts, and
have no civilisation, and yet contrive to be social in their habits
and wise in their thoughts."