in the waste of the liquid.

"Beware," said he, "that not a motion of the arm, not an inch of the foot,
pass the verge of the ring; and if the fluid be thus unhappily stinted,
reserve all that is left for the protecting circle and the twelve outer
lamps! See how the Grand Work advances! how the hues in the caldron are
glowing blood-red through the film on the surface!"

And now four hours of the six were gone; my arm had gradually recovered
its strength. Neither the ring nor the lamps had again required
replenishing; perhaps their light was exhausted less quickly, as it was no
longer to be exposed to the rays of the intense Australian moon. Clouds
had gathered over the sky, and though the moon gleamed at times in the
gaps that they left in blue air, her beam was more hazy and dulled. The
locusts no longer were heard in the grass, nor the howl of the dogs in the
forest. Out of the circle, the stillness was profound.

And about this time I saw distinctly in the distance a vast Eye! It drew
nearer and nearer, seeming to move from the ground at the height of some
lofty giant. Its gaze riveted mine; my blood curdled in the blaze from
its angry ball; and now as it advanced larger and larger, other Eyes, as
if of giants in its train, grew out from the space in its rear; numbers on
numbers, like the spearheads of some Eastern army, seen afar by pale
warders of battlements doomed to the dust. My voice long refused an
utterance to my awe; at length it burst forth shrill and loud,--

"Look! look! Those terrible Eyes! Legions on legions! And hark! that
tramp of numberless feet; they are not seen, but the hollows of earth echo
the sound of their march!"