CHAPTER V: THEY COME UNTO THE ISLE OF RANSOM



So the sun grew low, and it set; the stars and the moon shone a while
and then it clouded over. Hallblithe still rowed and rested not,
though he was weary; and the big man sat and steered, and held his
peace. But when the night was grown old and it was not far from the
dawn, the alien said: "Youngling of the Ravens, now shalt thou sleep
and I will row."

Hallblithe was exceeding weary; so he gave the oars to the alien and
lay down in the stern and slept. And in his sleep he dreamed that he
was lying in the House of the Raven, and his sisters came to him and
said, "Rise up now, Hallblithe! wilt thou be a sluggard on the day of
thy wedding? Come thou with us to the House of the Rose that we may
bear away the Hostage." Then he dreamed that they departed, and he
arose and clad himself: but when he would have gone out of the hall,
then was it no longer daylight, but moonlight, and he dreamed that he
had dreamed: nevertheless he would have gone abroad, but might not
find the door; so he said he would go out by a window; but the wall
was high and smooth (quite other than in the House of the Raven,
where were low windows all along one aisle), nor was there any way to
come at them. But he dreamed that he was so abashed thereat, and had
such a weakness on him, that he wept for pity of himself: and he
went to his bed to lie down; and lo! there was no bed and no hall;
nought but a heath, wild and wide, and empty under the moon. And