right into the gap between the two dead lamps strode a gigantic Foot. All
the rest of the form was unseen; only, as volume after volume of smoke
poured on from the burning land behind, it seemed as if one great column
of vapour, eddying round, settled itself aloft from the circle, and that
out from that column strode the giant Foot. And, as strode the Foot, so
with it came, like the sound of its tread, a roll of muttered thunder.

I recoiled, with a cry that rang loud through the lurid air.

"Courage!" said the voice of Ayesha. "Trembling soul, yield not an inch
to the demon!"

At the charm, the wonderful charm, in the tone of the Veiled Woman's
voice, my will seemed to take a force more sublime than its own. I folded
my arms on my breast, and stood as if rooted to the spot, confronting the
column of smoke and the stride of the giant Foot. And the Foot halted,
mute.

Again, in the momentary hush of that suspense, I heard a voice,--it was
Margrave's.

"The last hour expires, the work is accomplished! Come! come! Aid me to
take the caldron from the fire; and quick!--or a drop may be wasted in
vapour--the Elixir of Life from the caldron!"

At that cry I receded, and the Foot advanced.

And at that moment, suddenly, unawares, from behind, I was stricken down.
Over me, as I lay, swept a whirlwind of trampling hoofs and glancing
horns. The herds, in their flight from the burning pastures, had rushed